Does anyone know of anything that can help this problem, I have it in both feet and slowly it seems to be getting worse.
It is caused so I am told by the problems I have with my lower back as below:
I had a private consultation with a spinal consultant who made his own diagnosis of an MRI scan, which was that degenerative scoliosis was producing narrowing @ L4/5 and L5/S1 plus grade 1 spondyolisthesis @ L4/5 level. He suggested a lateral recess decompression surgery which I had December 2017, this did not improve matters therefore I am on pain killers as there is nothing else they can do.
Thanks for any replies.
Written by
Spursboy
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Injections failed so was on high dose opioids for a very long time.
This is just a thought but thought it worth mentioning & I'm by no means saying this could be the cause, as it may of course be the narrowing & pressure on your nerves.
I saw a Neurologist 2 years ago & was diagnosed with small fibre neuropathy, damage to the nerves in my feet.
This wasn't caused by my back problems, but from a vitamin B12 deficiency & Pernicious Anemia, all caused by the high dose of high strength medication I'd been taking for years.
As I don't know what pain killers you're on or for how long, it may have nothing at all to do with the problem you have mentioned, but just thought it was worth mentioning.
Thanks for your reply, I believe my problems are caused by the narrowing & pressure on nerves in my back, which I assume is causing the problem with my feet.
At the moment I am trying Gabapentin as suggested by my GP, but I think that may well only help the back pain and not the feet.
Here goes a long post for you to read, so get comfortable if you can. I fell back in 2010 and it ended my working career. Over the years I have tried almost everything on the market, so Finally, I had enough and asked my doctor how about surgery, after about 8 or 9 years after the accident. At one point he told me that you can take a huge amount of Gapentain a day, okay something like 3,000 to 5 thousand a day, I THINK. Here is his sad story for me, I have all 5 lumbar discs herniated, plus I had one in the neck too, that one they removed a long time ago. So over the years I saw my legs just dying, no feeling at all in them and my feet I could not even stand to stand on them pins and needles. Now this tells you that I am in pretty bad shape right? It gets better! Remember I said I asked my doctor about surgery? He told me the because of my age they would not do surgery unless something just flat out broke in my back, so his answer was no surgery, period, besides I had waited too long after the accident to do the surgery anyway. I felt doomed at this point, no help was on the horizon. About two or three months ago I came upon so exercises designed for the back, so I bought the product and I started to use the exercises, wow I am so happy that I bought that product. Now I am pain-free, let me say that again, I am pain-free!!! Here is my problem now, I want to share what I have found out that works to stop the pain but I am afraid the moderators will admonish me for placing a link to them on this site. So can someone give me some directions as to how to do this I believe that a whole lot of people will be helped to get rid of the pain.
PS; I had to leave a lot of my story out because it spans ten years, okay, this is the real condensed story. Good luck Gilbert Gray
There are other drugs beside Gabapentin that can work for this sort of thing so if Gabapentin doesn't work don't be afraid to go back to your GP and try something else.
I'm so sad that you're going through this. You've probably already worked with a physical therapist, but that's what has helped me. She identified hyper-mobility which has been allowing all sorts of nerve pinching and damage over the years. Some may be permanent for me, but learning to move and take care of my body properly has been life changing. Gabapentin has helped before, too.
I identify with this very very strongly. Been that way for a long time and it developed more and more also very hot burning feeling, so intense like cat on hot tin roof at worse. I did some investigating online and came up with long term spinal verve injury as poss cause and i do have long term spinal injure issue.
However as well as this it turned out I also have Reynaurds Phenomena. Cold hands being something the Dr picked up on.
Sent me to see hospital consultant who diagnosed Reynaurds Phenomena, He did very through examination. He prescribed me Nifedipine.
What a result it helped with the cold hands.
As well as this it seems to make a great difference to the soles of my feet and the white bits on my toes that had been developing for some time that i had not really thought about all vanished completely. I was amazed.
I find I can almost judge if i need to make a pill by the sensation on souls of my feet.
I certainly would advise taking this up with your Dr.
it seems to increase blood supply to skin extremities in fact all the skin on my legs seemed improved.
Good luck to you
You are one of only a few other people that I have heard describe my feet conditions so well. x
I have read thru a lot of the post here so I am new with this site, please be patient with me, okay? Let me say this I am a male of 71 years of age. I have MRIs' to back up about what I am to say. I have 5 discs in my lower back that are herniated with two of them on nerves, so I can sympathize with anyone suffering from low back pain. Over the years I have tried a lot of things for my lower back; like drugs, acupuncture, etc. I have had a combination of shooting pain down both legs, numbness in both legs and feet, and pins and needles in both feet that made me dread to stand up on my feet let alone walk. Now, this is what has finally given me relief, some relief, Pregabalin Caps plus the Gabapentin. This has made or given me a lot of relief, yes the Pregabalin is for diabetes. Now I also have received a lot of help in the form of Acupuncture which helped a lot. However, you will need to be on the table for about 3 hours while the work on sending electric shocks through the neves and the must be done of a continuous ten days. My doctor, there is no help for me now just take more of his pills. I am too old of the operation unless I become critical. I hope that this helps you on your journey of controlling back pain. I am not a doctor I am only stating what has helped me in the past, okay?
I have just started a course of Gabapentin, only seven days in, and I believe that you need to give it 14 days to see any improvement but GP is doubtful if it will help the feet issue.
I tried acupuncture mid-way through this journey but the acupuncturist gave up after many tries as she could not detect any improvement.
I'm so sorry for what you are going through. Just reading your symptoms and how you feel it sounds like perriferal neuropathy. My Mom was diagnosed with " non-diabetic perriferal neuropathy". ( Plz excuse my misspellings ). She saw many Neurologist and Orthopedic Drs. They said it was almost always found in diabetics. She was finally diagnosed & successfully treated at a nerve center/hospital on the John Hopkins "campus'. They were so kind, caring, and very thorough. Her symptoms started when she was in her mid 60s. I hope you find answers and most important, successful treatment to ease your pain regardless of what you have. May God bless you every moment of every day.
My Mother had surgery on one of her feet. The procedure she had was relatively new in the US. The surgeon used a laser to cut a very small but badly damaged nerve and then move and reattach both ends back together with an almost microscopic piece of healthy tissue. My Mother was 80 years old when she had this done. My main worry was that at her age anesthesia is very stressful on her heart and respiratory system. Luckily the procedure took less than an hour and she only spent one night in the hospital. Normally the patient would wake up in the recovery room, be monitored three to four hours and then go home. Being her age I expressed my concerns to her surgeon and he gladly wrote up the procedure orders as needing a twenty four hour stay so her health insurance paid for the entire procedure and stay. The reason for her neuropathy was a vitamin B12 deficiency. Luckily this was discovered before both feet were so damaged. Her B12 level had been checked on numerous occasions but her levels were so low that her healthcare providers always assured her that there must have been a mistake in her lab work and she had nothing to worry about. She always listened to and trusted her small town doctors and would never question them or ask for another opinion. Then I started accompanying her to all medical appointments and I had learned through my own experience that you as the patient cannot just blindly accept what these doctors tell you. You must be proactive, quite vocal and never be shy or embarrassed by questioning your healthcare provider. Doctors are only human and make mistakes like everyone else. After a three week recovery time and getting B12 injections my Mother could even dance again. If you do not stick up for yourself no one else will. It is so hard for me to accept and get used to the way healthcare is today. It is so seldom that your healthcare provider even knows your name or actually looks you in your eyes when speaking to you. It seems like you are just another faceless patient who feels so rushed during a medical appointment. With all the advances in "modern medicine" it feels like medicine has actually taken a few steps backwards. What happened to the humanity, the relationships and the trust that we used to have many years ago with our doctors? I know there are excellent caring doctors still around and if you have a doctor like that hold on tightly to them. I apologize for such a long post for a short question. You all make this such a safe and caring place. No judgements but true concern and compassion. Thank you all for the positive and uplifting experiences and responses.
I've been lucky to have a couple amazing doctors as friends too who were cutting edge and, for instance, gave thumbs down on the WHO horrible Women' Initiative Study that ended up costing at least 50,000 women heart attacks and strokes due to denied HRT post-menopausal. Now I see the WHO again, with their bad information and backing China's hiding the corona virus outbreak, is not only in the news but in the White House! smh. Yes, I hold on to my good doctors!
I hope I can get to the root of this neuropathy. Probably from running, triathlons, etc. but I am sure once nailed down, it can be reversed and will also stop the restless leg syndrome.
Hi I also have pins and needles from my toes to my knees. This was due to lower back pain and Sciatica, resulting in first a decompression and then a fusion. I also have at least one spontaneous fracture in my thoracic spine. Have you looked into spinal simulators? I have one and it does help.
Did the surgery decompression help? I'm finding surgery should be the last resort but it seems a simple procedure if a neurosurgeon knows what they are doing?
Well, I just found a darn TOTAL RELIEF from this crazy RLS after taking the usual mix of meds. I’ve been using my Marc Pro (TENS) device for electrical stimulation on lower back. After 30 minutes of no relief I put the pads on MY LEGS back of thigh and calf and total relief. I’m sure ‘it’ is still there but the light electrical pulse eclipses the jumpy legs. HAPPY 😃.
Pregabelin is for neuropathic pain and does help any pain in the legs but not necessarily pins and needles. Have you been to a pain management clinic. I'm guessing from your football preferences that you live in London. I'm in Shropshire and we have the best orthopaedic hospital in Europe. You can be referred from all over the country - it's the Robert Jones and Agnes hunt hospital in Gobowen near Oswestry. I had my stimulator fitted in St Thomas hospital in London. They do all the follow up with you. It definitely helps
Hi- it's a stimulator, not a simulator. Although it's sometimes called a spinal cord stimulator or a neuromodulator. There are now hospitals that do it all over the country and you can be referred by anybody medical involved in your care. The hospitals I know of are St Thomas, Liverpool, Oxford and Newcastle. There might be one near you but you'd have to look it up. If you look online you can see one of the operations so you can see exactly what happens. If you want any more info drop me a line
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Feet
Pain and spasms in feet
Feet
Bursitis & numbness in thigh
