Severe lumbar spinal stenosis

I would try stopping statins first, a known side effect of these is muscle pain and aches

I would agree, but I had two spine surgeons say that even if statin is exacerbating the aches, mri shows impingement of nerves in three locations.
I am slowly resigning myself to surgery. Unless I go for third opinion

I have had L1 to L5 fused and still have pain and nerve damage down my leg. I wish I had never had surgery down. But in saying that, these surgeries can be very successful and give you your life back.

From what I hear, there doesn't seem to be an overwhelming approval for this procedure. I am only an engineer and don't speak with authority however. I had xrays done that show arthritis and collapsed spine. I have the same problem and am/was also very active and I have resolved to not have the surgery, at least at this point. I have purchased an invert table with heat and message and it seems to be the most effective relief so far. I did a month and a half of Physical Therapy, was on Gapabend, (sp) exercising and massage and none of them gave me much relief. Outlook seems bleak for this malady and have almost accepted the fact I may have to deal with this pain the rest of my life.

I am getting third opinion from weill cornell.
My local surgeon is supposedly excellent but can give no assurances.
Main reason i would do it is to prevent further damage. I was told 10% get worse, 10 % are the same , and 80% have improvement. Sounds likeyou are in the 20% worse or the same, bummer.
When did u have it done?
Did surgeon screw up?

Hello, I had surgery for spinal stenosis in 2010 fused 2 to 5 with hardware in place. Now I am having a hard time walking. They say it’s due to the surgery. I use a tens unit and heat on my back at home,also PT from time to time.MRI showed my nerves were being crushed so much to my legs and in time would cause my legs to stop working ,so I took my chances and had the surgery.I believe it kept me from needing to use a wheel chair for many years.I can not walk far,use a cane due to loss of balance.I rent a scooter when I need to. I make the best of my situation.always could be worse.wish you all the best..

Thanks. So you were glad you did it because you got 10-13 years of normalcy?

Also, how did your level of pain change after surgery?

I whole heartedly second this recommendation. I tried numerous stains (always doing it on beaverton ski the doc wouldn't say it was due to overuse. Within a few days on each, I could barely walk.

Interesting thread. I am six months post L2-5 decompression and fusion. Arthritis. I had the work done at Mayo JAX with a neurosurgeon. Summary: The whole process was very challenging but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Here are some things I learned: (1) Every spine surgery is different and it's difficult and confusing to hear of other's experiences/results and infer you will have the same outcomes… good or bad. (2) I used a neurosurgeon and I would chose no other doc. (3) Generally – it took me three months to feel OK. At six months I'm back to being pretty active. It will take 12 months (I figure) to reach maximum recovery. (4) Despite the challenges, which were sometimes extreme, I'm thrilled with my results.