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Has anyone had sciatic pain 10 weeks after laminectomy?

Posted by pattyo1 @pattyo1, Jan 11 9:09pm

Has anyone had onset of sciatic nerve pain and muscle spasms 10 weeks after laminectomy? I had severe lumbar stenosis l2 thru l4. The surgeon said I had sensitive nerves at l3/l4 during surgery. He also noted dense scar tissue from herniated discectomy 10 years ago. I was doing well until about 8 weeks postop. I now have excruciating sciatic pain several hours each morning. I am on my 2nd week of Gabapentin with no relief. I have a PT consult next week. The PA told me my nerves are "waking up" .

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dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | Jan 12 6:42am

@pattyo1
I can empathize with you. I had decompression and fusion of l3-l5 in August 2024 and was doing well and progressing the first 8 weeks then I started to get excruciating nerve pain in my hips/hip flexors. I had severe stenosis l4-l5 which caused neurogenic claudication pain/weakness and numbness in back, hips, buttocks and legs/feet but this pain was new/different. My hope is my nerves are regenerating after being severely compressed for over 12 years. Gabapentin and Lyrica don’t do too much for me except to make me dizzy. Have you tried Salonpas lidocaine nerve pain patches or other nerve pain creams? It may be good to research other options for calming nerve pain while they are healing/regenerating. Praying for you to get some relief and healing.

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1 reply
pattyo1 | @pattyo1 | Jan 12 11:30am

Thank you for responding. How are you doing now? I am grateful that I no longer have claudication or "dead" toes.

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pattyo1 | @pattyo1 | Jan 12 11:36am
In reply to @dlydailyhope "@pattyo1 I can empathize with you. I had decompression and fusion of l3-l5 in August 2024..." + (show)
@dlydailyhope

@pattyo1
I can empathize with you. I had decompression and fusion of l3-l5 in August 2024 and was doing well and progressing the first 8 weeks then I started to get excruciating nerve pain in my hips/hip flexors. I had severe stenosis l4-l5 which caused neurogenic claudication pain/weakness and numbness in back, hips, buttocks and legs/feet but this pain was new/different. My hope is my nerves are regenerating after being severely compressed for over 12 years. Gabapentin and Lyrica don’t do too much for me except to make me dizzy. Have you tried Salonpas lidocaine nerve pain patches or other nerve pain creams? It may be good to research other options for calming nerve pain while they are healing/regenerating. Praying for you to get some relief and healing.

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Our symptoms sound very similar! I actually applied Capzasian last night and have a PT evaluation this coming week. This is definitely different from the stenosis symptoms. I am hopeful that my nerves heal with time.

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njbay | @njbay | 4 days ago

Yes, I had laminectomies from L3 to L5 and some other clean outs. I was going well after surgery, and then all of a sudden I developed severe sciatica from my rear down to my ankle, and it was brutal. It turned out that, although I followed doctor and PT directions, I developed scar tissue, and a piece of it broke off & was stuck/lodged in the area where the nerve root came out. I went to get an epidural and the doctor was actually able to flush it out of place during the epidural and I had instant relief.

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1 reply
pattyo1 | @pattyo1 | 4 days ago
In reply to @njbay "Yes, I had laminectomies from L3 to L5 and some other clean outs. I was going..." + (show)
@njbay

Yes, I had laminectomies from L3 to L5 and some other clean outs. I was going well after surgery, and then all of a sudden I developed severe sciatica from my rear down to my ankle, and it was brutal. It turned out that, although I followed doctor and PT directions, I developed scar tissue, and a piece of it broke off & was stuck/lodged in the area where the nerve root came out. I went to get an epidural and the doctor was actually able to flush it out of place during the epidural and I had instant relief.

Jump to this post

Did you have imaging before your epidural? I am scheduled for an EMG and wonder if that is the proper test.

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1 reply
njbay | @njbay | 4 days ago
In reply to @pattyo1 "Did you have imaging before your epidural? I am scheduled for an EMG and wonder if..." + (show)
@pattyo1

Did you have imaging before your epidural? I am scheduled for an EMG and wonder if that is the proper test.

Jump to this post

Yes, I had an MRI before the epidural. I'm not really sure about the EMG because I've never had one of them. My MRI showed probable scar tissue in the area and my doctor at the time suspected that could have been the cause of my pain. I guess when they did the epidural, they were able to see it via fluoroscopy (live xray), so then they successfully flushed it out with the epidural.

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