Looking for anyone who had Lumbar Foraminotomy

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.

I found several months ago by accident that great relief for a couple of weeks came if I ate some trail mix from my local grocery store that had hazelnuts, peanuts, raisins, and pumpkin seeds. That motivated me to try every supplement that research showed as being part of one of those three. I now have two boxes of supplements I can't use but finally found it-L-Tyrosine 500mg. I started with 500mg and no pain at all after over three years worth. It actually seems to work every bit as well as the epidural cortisone shots did at first. It is absolutely amazing. BUT, after 3 weeks pain started coming back again. And my pain has finally progressed to where it even hurts sitting down. SO, I upped it to 1000mg and the pain is gone again. I'm going on 3 weeks and figure it won't last forever but can hopefully figure out some sort of cycle between it and Meloxicam to feel better. I won't risk taking more than the 1000mg. I think it has something to do with dopamine and neurotransmitter activity. It does make me a bit hyper some parts of the day. I had to cut out a cup of coffee so I could sleep at night when taking it. I'll come back and update on how long this double dose helps.