Foraminotomy: Anyone have any experience with this procedure?

I am happy that I found this forum. It has addressed many of my concerns. Although, my situation is a tad more complex. Background, 1985 car accident, 3 months in hospital. I broke my neck and I have a C3-5 wire and fusion. I have had little to no issues with my neck and I count my blessing for that. I am unable to have any steroid injections due to the reaction to them. I have chronic Lyme, (from blood tansfusions from the car accident). Steroids surpresses my immune system. I have severe bilateral foraminal narrowing at C5-6 and C6-7. Will be having an MRI soon. I have been researching treatment and found this page. I live 2 hours north of Mayo and am already in their system. Not sure how this will pan out but it gives me hope.

I am curious also cause I have a nerve being compressed because of the foraminal stenosis. I am hoping or wondering if I got the foramenotomy my nerve wouldn't be compressed anymore and that would take the pain away and I could walk more. Is that correct?

@annie1
If your surgeon believes that your nerve is being compressed and the source of your pain, and it is compressed due to foramina stenosis due to bone overgrowth, a foraminitomy may help give your nerve root/nerve more space and a chance to heal. Nerve healing takes time but it can’t heal if compressed.

Thanks for that. I'm having to look for a new surgeon though because the guy I had who did my first laminotomy obviously failed to correct the whole problem and also his nurse practitioner is very nasty so I don't want to have to deal with her again. I was just going to ask people on this chat how many people ask a surgeon in an interview for other patients outcomes. They can always say HIPAA won't let them give out any information but I thought I read somewhere that you could always ask to speak to another patient who had a good surgery with them or my dreaming that up? It's hard to tell with the reviews because the guy I went to had stellar reviews but apparently it didn't work out so well with me. I'm thinking of calling the Cleveland clinic. The Mayo clinic has a lot of waiting time and they rejected my case the first time without telling me why. I could try them again but it'll be probably at least a month or more before they give me an answer.

So what are the symptoms that you have of the nerve damage and how do you control the pain or the symptoms? I'm thinking maybe I should have my surgery before my nerve compression gets worse and my nerves get more damaged. Do you have any thoughts about that or recommendations? I just had an epidural injection two days ago I don't know if that's going to really help anything. They say I have to wait up to 2 weeks to see if it has any effect.

I had foramenotomy on left neck on two vertebra. I bled too freely during the surgery which made it so hard for the Micro-Neuro-Minimally Invasive Neurosurgeon to see the area. They almost had to give me a unit of blood. I highly recommend getting your clotting time checked three weeks before the surgery and be sure to get off of fish oil, flaxseed oil (and flaxseeds), garlic, turmeric, ginger and any other foods of spices or supplements that slow clotting time. I did not get off of fish oil in time bc I caught a cancellation and hurriedly flew to Allegheny Hospital and had the surgery. Bc the bleeding made details hard to see, the surgery took 4 hrs instead of the two the dr told me it would take. I came out of the surgery unable to move my left arm but after lots of physical therapy over mos, I regained use of my arm. But it ached and burned for a yr plus I had Fibromyalgia so I got on Lyrica. It helped and continues to help hugely! I’ve been on it 21 yrs. It does have some difficult side effects at first. By 2017, pain of the surgery plus Fibromyalgia increased until I had to get on Medical Cannabis too. Indica cannabis is for sleep and Sativa is for am to 2:30pm, and no later, bc it may cause difficulty going to sleep. I would not be alive today if I had not gotten on Med Cannabis for sleep. I only use Sativa during a few winter mos when my nerve pain is high. If I have to drive I wait until the Sativa Cannabis has worn off. Don’t take Opioids. Keep your arms strong. Don’t have forward head posture!

I too am interested. L5 S1 stenosis and PT, epidurals aren't working anymore. Antiinflammatories are all about played out too. I'm ready to invest in surgery if it helps for a while. Even if it has to be done every couple of years. I would love to know about the experience others have had. My stenosis is not from degenrative issues or damaged discs. Started when I was 12 months apart on flares until now at the age of 55 it's consistent. Since my Dad and other sibblings have similar issues, I figure it's hereditary. My job as an auto repair tech for 30 years may have sped it up a bit due to leaning over cars most of the time. I'm thinking this is why my hamstrings are ridiculously tight and seem to affect my pain. Stretching them is about the only relief I've got now but that doesn't last long. Looking for some positive words on surgery.

I just had a major surgery where I had 5 discs fused and foremanal clearing. I am 1.5 months post op. My problem, besides slipped discs, pain and previous unstable fusions, was that my legs would become fatigued after walking 3 yards, extremely heavy and would NOT go anymore until I rested several minutes.This had been going on for 2 years, 6 months before I had triple bypass and I thought for sure my legs would be fixed after that. NOPE. Not at all. Anyway I kept telling the surgeon about my symptoms. His PA saw me one day and said, you have all the symptoms of neurogenic claudication. I read about it and she was right! My dr. warned me that the surgery may not work because he could not see the evidence of nerve compression on the MRI. He said it would be 50/50 chance. I tool that chance and IT IS GONE!!!!!! It's a miracle. I am working with PT now to get my weak back muscles strengthened so I can stand up straight without the walker. It sure worked for me!!!!! Blessings and luck to you!

Thanks for your reply. So my situation is different, My surgeon said that I have no disc left, I think at S 1 L 5 but I have to clarify with him. I do have nerve compression at that area. He explained that the best thing would be to do fusion, however he admitted that there are often problems above and below the fused area. So he isn't giving me a clear answer. My symptoms are in my legs, twitching, throbbing and severe spasms if I walk too much or move around too much.
Where are you located ? I am open to consulting surgeons all over the country to get a best explanation and what to do for it.
Another surgeon said a foraminotomy wouldn't really do enough to stop the symptoms.
Thanks,

I had minimally invasive surgery at L3-4 for severe stenosis which helped a great deal for only four months. Then when I got active again my legs started to twitch and throb, my original symptoms basically came back. So I'm not the best person to recommend surgery or not.