In 2013 I had L5/S1 fusion due to compressed nerve root along with debilitating Sciatica and excruciating back pain, I pushed on at work for 8 years when really I should have downed Tools through my own doing and not having my body forcing me, litterally unable to carry out the smallest of Jobs in the factory.
A few weeks agoI simply lent over to Pickpick up a pen off a chair next to me and I heard all sorts of cracks and pops in my spine.. knowing what those noises and what i felt were i called for an ambulance because of how much pain i was in... it turns out discs L1, L2 & L4 had slipped Which were causing Sciatica down both legs(POST L1-L4 HOWEVER COMPOUNDED THE PAIN), Pain in my lover back, aprox 04/03/2022 I started with muscle spasms in my calves, the spasms spread into my back, around the outside and inside my hips also my left inner groin/ deep inside hip I have nerve irritation that increases sciatic nerve irritation within my hip. I've very painfull thighs which also feel constantly drained aswell as myself Physical & mentally. It's at a point where the pain is unbearable and I would happily let the surgeon remove the damaged nerve root & sciatic nerves to simply Not be in Pain
To make matters worse -
Ive no fluid in either of my knees
All my cartlidge has worn away therefore bone is sImply rubbing on bone and grinding away
Lastly, both of my knees have fluid on the outside
When I spoke with my GP about the notion of having my nerve root removed he was actually fully compassionate and looked at me as if to say - I wish I could do something to actually help you
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Can you ask about a radio frequency ablation on the affected nerves? I just had it done on both sides of my spine and the bad sciatica pain I had has pretty much diminished. It is supposed to last around 9 months.
I have multiple things wrong with my spine but L5-S1 is the major cause of pain for me. The sciatica on that side has bothered me for many years. Because I have kidney disease, I cannot take NSAIDS such as Ibuprofen any longer. That's what prompted me to see a pain specialist. We started with steroid injections for the first year and a half and then she started offering me other options one of them being RFA. She has also been filling prescriptions for Hydrocodone this whole time. Because my main source of pain is down in the L4-L5 area, that is where she has been concentrating her efforts. Mainly because of my insurance carrier (US), I had to undergo the 2 sets of nerve blocks before they would approve the RFA. She did an injection on each side where the sciatica comes out of the pelvis. Like you, the nerve blocks did nothing for me either. Right after the first set of injections, she asked me how I felt. I told her there was no difference. I take a Hydrocodone every morning when I wake up and in about an hour, my pain subsides quite a bit and stays that way throughout the day so that's probably why it didn't feel like it affected me. The RFA however, has helped a great deal with the sciatica pain on my right side. It's supposed to last about 9 months so we will see. It appears that the nerve blocks don't work very well for this type of pain. Here is the results of an MRI that I had done for the pain doctor.
Many thanks again.......this is all very interesting to me as it seems we have very similar problems with our spines. I'm also male and almost your age at 67, but live in the UK.
The surgeon who administered the nerve blocks would be willing to try RFA, so going on your experience so far, it might well be worthwhile for me . My only reservation is that we are treating the symptoms, not the cause. One other consideration is the possibility of the the S1 and L5 fusing together, which is a worry.
With this in mind I recently contacted a private hospital ( The Harley St Hospital, London ) where they can replace worn discs with artificial ones. Amazingly this is done under local anaesthetic as a 'day case' ! So I think I will investigate this further before committing to the RFA.
If it is of interest, I would happily let you know further details of this procedure after I have had a consultation there.
Hey Alex, I want you to know that the RFA is not a big deal. Mine was performed in a clinic setting and took about 15 minutes. I was laying face down on a narrow padded table and she uses an Xray type of machine to visualize the nerves. She gave me several injections of local anesthesia on each side of my spine. They put sticky pad on the back of my one calf which is one of the electrodes. Then she uses a needle like probe to touch the nerve and that is the other electrode. The machine sends a pulse about once every second and it does that about 15 times. She ran it through the cycle twice on each side. It's not painful during the procedure but when it was pulsing on the nerve on my bad side, there was a feeling of pressure. BTW, say a prayer for me. I'm in Tampa Florida and there's a major hurricane heading my way in the next few days.
i'm already working with a Neurologist. Whenever I request a referall for spinal issues, I make sure that I always book an appointment with the same GP as I've dealt with him for as long as hes been at the practice. I always make sure they refer me to the same Neurologist as hes the only Surgeon I trust, after taking a cancellation op (the post op mri is my header picture) when going for op review the stand- in Surgeon was happy to leave half of my disc buried in my nerve root also L5-S1.
Obviously, I requested a 2nd opinion from my initial Surgeon, who told me instantly the disc was coming out & spinal fusion.
Im on enough medication to take out a Rhino and two Elephants currently
He had previously removed oran arachnid cyst from the top of my spine, possibly caused an industral accident where 13½kg of plastic wound round an industrial cardboard tube fell 40ft and landed directly on my head, at the impact point you could see my skull.. 1-2" either way and it would have been Good Night Vienna for me...
Hidden i Just read your MRI report (after having that many MrI's and seen so many images at reviews) I noticed that it says there are spurs at L5-S1 with what sounds like some calcification - this would stop any steroid injection
Hi I’ve been left with chronic pain after I bent over and felt the most horrendous pain ever and I had a slipped disc had a splint in my spine and that didn’t help so I had the offending disc L4/L5 out and a cage in but due to my first surgery they had to pull the nerves away from the disc it’s done the damage.
That was over 10 years ago and yes everyday is different some I wake up after having a bad night and others waking up after a good ish sleep and it can be both equally painful and others feel like the last decade has been a dream until I pull myself up on my bed rail and feel the pain immediately. I’ve always thought about literally chopping my leg off and having complete relief but it’ll not help. Good luck hope you get something sorted.
I've considered taking a chainsaw to my legs, if the surgeon offered to use me as a guinea pig to see if the nerve root could be removed aong with the sciatic nerve I'd beat the front of the queue 🦵🦵🪓🪓
Hi my husband has terrible back pain, and fusion that did not fuse correctly. Currently looking into other intervention. Have you looked into the following Intracept?
I promise this isn’t a “whose di#k is bigger post” but I get it. At 42 I had already had my 20 plus orthopedic surgeries including dual total knees, dual hip replacements and dual ankle arthrodesis. So while it sucks there are those of us who understand. At 52 it coupled with peripheral neuropathy (idiopathic not diabetic) ended my career and caused me to close my business of 30 years. Mostly, 90% of the time now, in a wheelchair. So we understand, sucks but out cross to bear.
Sorry to hear your story. I had L5-S1 surgery in 1984 but the surgeon didn't work on L4-L5 which he was supposed to do so as well. I lived with ongoing pain for years. One thing I did learn was that when the pain was worse my right hip had rotated back and used a technic of lying face down with a yoga pillow (hard rubber) under the opposite hip and pushed the other rotated one into the bed, a massage table would be best. In 2021 I had a hip replaced and shortly after that my back problems became much worse to the extent that I was falling had no balance and both legs extremely weak and could not lift my body weight with my toes. All this to say I finally got a surgeon who 3 months ago did 5 laminectomies from T-12 to L-5. I now have my balance back but am still weak in the legs which is going to take a while to rebuild. I am male age 78 and according to the surgeon there is scoliosis in my spine and if this doesn't work fusion at all levels would be the only solution.
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