prolapsed disc

Presuming your poor husband has had an mri? Anthing that affects the saddle or genital area may need careful watching. Ha he tried chiropractic or physio? I so sympathise, I know what the pain is like, it does get better over time, but that's not much help is it. I would ask for new opinion and new mri. It sounds like it is more than one disc to affect so many areas.

Good luck xxxx

hi,
,he did see a surgeon and he said that if he operated it wouldn't make that much of a difference and gave him a 70 per cent chance of getting full usage of his legs back has anyone got any suggestions on what i could or should do,

jacky

Hiya Jackie.

Your husband’s symptoms are the similar to mine, and I had an L4/5 bone spur impingement of my sciatic nerve root and I still have an L5/S1 disc impingement of my right lateral nerve root. The pain in the groin, testicles and thigh is typical of lumber spine nerve compression/s. If he has the pain largely in the front of his leg, It is more likely to be problems at the L4/5 level. If he is having more pain in the back of his leg, it is more likely to be a L5/S1 level problem. Don’t forget that multi-level lumber problems can confuse the diagnosis greatly and affect the front & back of the leg simultaneously.

To start with, tell him to take a look at these web sites, in order for him to better understand his suffering and the mechanics behind it!
<a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="www.spineuniverse.com">www.spineuniverse.com
<a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="www.doctorfoster.com">www.doctorfoster.com
also search (MISS) Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery as an alternative to open spinal surgery.

Best wishes and good luck.

SPINELF

Still Having problems after back surgery for prolapsed disc

hi all,
i have had a prolapsed disc for over 15 years,in March 2010, i had surgery for this, after the operation the surgeon told me he had to remove a lot more of the disc than he thought he would have.

since the operation i have been having back spasms,a constant & painful ache in my both of my legs, i had to have back injections to block the pain,these did not work,however they did get a needle stuck in my back,then 2 days later while lay in bed at night i had a severe pain shoot into my neck,because of this i was unable to move at all for a while.most days,because of the damaged sciatic nerve in my back making my legs hurt massively i seriously wished i could rip the nerve out of my back & would cut my own legs off.

i am now due more back injections & to be honest i am dreading them.

I feel for anyone who has problems with their back,i know how you feel.

Hiya Steve.

I understand your feelings, as I'm sure do many other members. I often have the same thoughts as you and just wish the pain would stop, no matter what the consequences!

I have had nerve root block injection, 2 good (correct positon), and 2 useless (wrong level). They are not a great experienece and If your lumber muscles are in spsam
before any injections, tell the Consultant, and they should then give you a muscle relaxant drug to prevent reactive spasms.

On my second injection, the Radiographer refused to give me a muscle rexalant, even though I had fallen earlier that morning and caused a flare up. The pain was so bad, and the reactive spasm so great, I nearly bounced off the table when he tried to push the needle in to the hardening back muscles.

If you have had 2 or more unsuccessful injections, you need to consider the real
probability, that these injections are at the wrong level/s. A good nerve root injection, trageted at the correct pain producing level, will reduce your pain levels!

I would suggest that a new MRI scan needs to be carried out where you feel the pain the most, and I would recomened a private MRI clinic as far away from your Trust/PCT area as possible, in order to avoid NHS costings and procedural bias by your Consultant. Make sure you purchase your own copies of the images and written report.

Best wishes

SPINELF

Injections

Just because injections are unsuccessful does not necessarily mean that the injections were at the wrong level. I had a CT guided nerve root injection which hit the correct spot (about 6 weeks ago). It made no difference to my pain or resulted in any reduction in inflammation. When I mentioned this to my neurosurgeon he said that cortisone injections are 50/50 at the best of times. I have successfully been treated with injections many years ago (L4/L5) but not this time (different location). I had a L2/L3 far right lateral microdiscectomy on 24 June (day 18 post-op now) and I had a large prolapse. So far I have been extremely pleased with the results. The pain before surgery was just so debilitating and I saw surgery as my only option. I wasted no time before deciding to have surgery. I think the fact that I was in good overall shape before surgery (athlete) and I only waited 6 weeks from the initial onset of severe symptoms to the date of surgery also assisted in my recovery. Certainly tried all of the non surgical options first (chiro, physio,cortisone (tablets and injection). Lots of the research on medical sites on the internet seemed to indicate that the longer that one waits, the less chance there is of making a full recovery. My symptoms justified having surgery, my condition deteriorated over this time and I had a weakness in one of my legs caused by the nerve damage. The other consistent theme in these medical articles was that 90% of people recovery without surgery. Each case still needs to be treated seperately of course.

Core Strengthening

I would suggest strengthening his core to prevent more weight being placed on his verterbrae.