I had back surgery last year due a a large disc herniation. I have nerve damage meaning my lower leg is hyper sensitive and numb. It has flared up occassionally (so it feels like someone is pouring boiling water on it and I have medication for it).
I am back exercising (as it helps manage the pain from my other condition which I am currently trying to avoid surgery for). My back hurts, which is normal. But it seems to be causing more frequent bouts of burning which are incredibly painful.
Has anyone had anything similar? Anyone find anything that helped?
I am getting a bit frustrated at being in additional pain.
Thanks
D
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Devils_Advocate
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I know it is frustrating.I hope I don't need another surgery.I had mine last October and ive been in pain again since March.Ive been referred for another mri scan.
pain is a perception like other perceptions, like vision and hearing, and as such is actually processed in the brain. Sometimes though the brain gets its wires a bit crossed and perceives some feelings that are just touch as if they were pain. This can happen where there is nerve damage and the brain has to do its best to figure out what is going on. It can also happen as nerves are damaged and regrow, they get wired up wrong.
I had foot surgery which cut through a side branch of one of the main nerves in the ankle. when it grew back my brain had to recalibrate it. The heat receptors were really mixed up so anything hot felt like pain, but also just warm water felt wrong and made everything confusing for my brain. For example if I was walking in the hydrotherapy pool it felt like I was walking on glass.
I knew that my brain was getting this mixed up, so I gentle and slowly kept rubbing the bottom of my foot wrong foot at the same time as my right foot, in warm water, telling my brain that this was normal feeling I should have, and to forget the cut glass feeling on the other foot.
So some of you feelings of hypersensitivity may well be your brain getting its wiring mixed up and confusing a normal touch sensation with something else. And sometimes just knowing how pain is processed in the brain can help us understand what is going on, and help us to reinterpret those confused signals into something else.
Having said that, always make sure that there isn't a pinched nerve somewhere first. If you have been given the all clear from your surgeons, then it might be time to have a chat with your brain and help it sort itself out.
Thanks for this, I will definately give it a go. The surgeon said my nerve was damaged and that this was likely to be permanent (numbness etc). I can deal with that, it is the burning sensation I can't cope with. I dont want any more scans or surgery x
Hi sorry to hear all about your back and leg. Well I wouldn’t know where to begin. I had a fusion of my back plus a bone implant taken from my hip bone, because previous to that I had 2 discs removed, well I have serious nerve damage since all the op 2 years ago. I am on Gaberpentine and I use a cream called Nervex from America I had sent for. It gets me halfway through the night then I use Biofreeze spray which I use then a few times. That cools it down and freezes it. It’s the only way I get through each night. Sorry to sound so miserable but it does get you down. My nerve pain is chronic. I hope yours doesn’t develop worse, my advise try and avoid surgery.
Hi, sorry to hear about your pain. Tou do not sound miserable, chronic pain is frustrating and exhausting. I have had a lot of surgery (I have endometriosis), so I am beyond keen to avoid more. I also really can't cope with the side effects of most the medication I am prescribed. I might try cream and cooling it down as a few people have recommended that. X
Hi there I had 3 microdiscectomies due to a large herniated disc but it popped out again so just before covid I had a fusion. Now initially it seemed a bit better but lately my back is killing me and I get on and off burning in my leg and numbness in my foot. Had an MRI which ruled out anything wrong with the fusion but it showed bad deterioration of the facet joints at multiple levels which explains the back pain. The sciatic nerve has scar tissue wrapped round it which would explain the referred pain. So due for multiple level facet joint block injections and an injection to try and help with the sciatic pain. The burning pain is particularly bad at night and I have to get up several times to walk around a bit to calm it down but then walking sets of the back pain. If the injections help they will do a denervation next. While I am waiting for all this I do take pregabalin and dihydrocodeine and paracetamol. That combination does seem to help a bit at night. During the day I find that cold not heat helps the nerve pain so I will use ice packs to cool it down a bit and the freeze pain cream you can buy over the counter which does give some relief. It’s a difficult balancing act for me as my back is so sore. Hope you get some relief for the burning as it’s just horrible.
Yes, I have poor genetic makeup. And so spine issues caused leg,feet arms hands. Left side worse. Pain is daily for years now. Medical marijuana and cbd help pain. Still not sure what is genetic and what is primary Ms. New brain MRI shows Ms and new lesions. I just cried. Trying to figure out. Celebrating my birthday instead.
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