Spinal stenosis pain in AM MD suggests EPIDURAL of STEROID

@tct
Yes. I had/have severe central canal stenosis (have a congenitally narrow spinal canal to begin with), degenerative disc disease, cervical myelopathy (spinal cord compression injury), neurogenic claudication and small fiber neuropathy. I have had ACDF surgery on C5-C6 (2022) and C6-C7 (2025) and decompression/fusion on L3-L5 (2024).

Before my lumbar surgery, I had significant pain, numbness and weakness from low back, hips, buttocks, thighs down to my feet, especially if I stood or walked more than 5-10 minutes. This improved/reduced significantly after surgery. I need to maneuver a little differently with the fusion and get stiff in my hips if I sit too much but have no regrets about getting the surgery.

Due to my narrow spinal canal from birth, I will most likely need more surgeries throughout my lifetime. My pain started in my early 40s (soon after having my one and only child at 40) and I am not in my mid-50s.

It is critically important to research orthopedic spine specialists/surgeons with excellent reviews and ratings. Meet with a couple and only work with one that is respectful, a good communicator, and highly qualified/experienced doing the procedure needed.

Unable to find out more info regarding this method. Could you please explain.

@shrinkette
I have had over 6 injections. They helped some at first but then stopped working. Over time, injections can cause issues with joints so not good to get too many for too long. It sounds like you are able to manage well without them. After my injections stopped helping, I moved to lumbar decompression and fusion surgery.

Look for Esther Gokhale's book, Eight Steps to a Pain Free Back. It's on Amazon, cheap. Her "glidewalking" technique worked wonders for me. Hope you find relief.

I’ve had 3 injections at L4-5 four months apart; they all worked very well. At which point did they stop working for you? Also, I’m curious why you did not try an ablation before fusion surgery?

I’ve had 3 injections at L4-5 four months apart; they all worked very well. At which point did they stop working for you? Also, I’m curious why you did not try an ablation before fusion surgery?

@sue4
Great questions! 🙂

I started getting injections at L4-L5 which was severely stenotic in late 2020. My first 2-3 injections worked for at least 2-3 months and one time it lasted for 4-5 months. My lumbar spine symptoms worsened in 2023 (worked a desk job for 9-12 hours per day so sitting long periods has not been kind to my spine). I started getting monthly injections December 2023, January 2024 and February 2024 when my feet would totally go numb when standing or walking. They didn’t help anymore and my symptoms worsened March through June 2024 so I started working with my surgeon to plan surgery.

The reason surgery was needed and not ablation is because there was not just one spinal nerve to ablate. I had bilateral symptoms of neurogenic claudication and my L4-L5 central spinal canal was totally blocked by bone overgrowth plus herniated discs. My surgeon needed to cut away a lot of bone to open up space for spinal canal and nerve roots/blood vessels. My L4 vertebrae was also slipping over my L5 vertebrae (spondylolisthesis) so my lumbar spine was not stable and required fusion/hardware.

Thanks for your responses. Did your fusion work well & how long was your recovery?

@sue4
Yes, my surgery was a success and I am fused L3-L5 now with hardware. They went through my back for open surgery so it was extremely painful (worst pain I ever experienced and due to cutting muscle and cutting away bone/drilling in hardware. My cervical spine surgery was nowhere near as painful as the lumbar surgery.

I only stayed overnight at the hospital and left the next day midafternoon after drainage reduced. I took pain medications for about a week and then started to taper down. The significant pain started to reduce after the first few weeks and so had 2 week, 6 week and 3 month follow-up appointments to check wound healing, etc. I was not able to shower for a couple weeks but found ways to do sponge baths and wash my hair hanging over the bathtub. I used grabbers to reach things done you cannot bend or twist for a while. I had many pillows in my bed to help me change positions and prop myself up/put pillows between knees, etc. I had a walker in the hospital and leaned on when getting out of bed and putting on shoes. A bed bar helped a lot to turn over in bed and reposition myself (long arm fits between mattress and box spring and a used the bar next to the bed to pull myself over to change positions).

The first month was the hardest but as the weeks and months passed, the pain reduced and my movement improved. It takes about 3 months to fuse and my physical therapy didn’t start until 2.5 months (really important not to smoke, take NSAIDs or twist while recovering/fusing) and 6-12 months to fully heal and see how your surgery addressed your pre-surgery symptoms. My year anniversary is early August and my pain in lower back is much less and the numbness in my legs/feet is mostly gone. I still have some weakness in my hips/legs but not sure if this is also tied to my cervical spinal cord injury (which can also affect lower body).

Do you have surgery planned soon?

@tct
Yes. I had/have severe central canal stenosis (have a congenitally narrow spinal canal to begin with), degenerative disc disease, cervical myelopathy (spinal cord compression injury), neurogenic claudication and small fiber neuropathy. I have had ACDF surgery on C5-C6 (2022) and C6-C7 (2025) and decompression/fusion on L3-L5 (2024).

Before my lumbar surgery, I had significant pain, numbness and weakness from low back, hips, buttocks, thighs down to my feet, especially if I stood or walked more than 5-10 minutes. This improved/reduced significantly after surgery. I need to maneuver a little differently with the fusion and get stiff in my hips if I sit too much but have no regrets about getting the surgery.

Due to my narrow spinal canal from birth, I will most likely need more surgeries throughout my lifetime. My pain started in my early 40s (soon after having my one and only child at 40) and I am not in my mid-50s.

It is critically important to research orthopedic spine specialists/surgeons with excellent reviews and ratings. Meet with a couple and only work with one that is respectful, a good communicator, and highly qualified/experienced doing the procedure needed.