3rd June 2008
HI Kyma - so very sorry you're having such a rough time. You have such high hopes that with the surgery you'll be pain free... now you have another that wasn't there before.
My 2nd surgery L4 thru S1 in Dec /05 sounds similar to your situation. It is likely your nerves taking their first "breath" in a long while. While I pray that is the right answer, please know that there's a possibility that it isn't temporary.
When you have numbness like you've described, especially if it doesn't go away completely in a very short period of time, it would be prudent to do another MRI. With hardware, they'll need to do it with the contrast and it may not be an easy read but they need to rule out slipped hardware or floating bits, or whatever.
I couldn't take Neurontin or Lyrica either. Finally 2 weeks ago he prescribed Baclofen (a muscle relaxer for MS or spinal cord injuries) and after over 4 years, I finally have periods in my day where I'm pain free.
Mine pain and numbness turned out to be permanent nerve damage which showed up on the series of EMGs my PM did. It was the only explaination as nothering showed up on the x-ray, CT myleogram or MRIs
I used to stand on one foot with the other, bent at the knee and resting on my standing knee. My family started calling me "Stork". It would have been funny if I wasn't in so darn much pain.
One caution though. Do not spend more than a few brief moments sitting upright. It is the worst possible position for you for a long time after this surgery.
Rest laying in your bed and continue taking these rest periods for months if your body is still showing signs of pain. This surgery takes a long time to heal properly. You are growing bone over the hardware to solidify the fusion. That can take months. Do your body a favor and rest so it can do the job of mending.
These pain meds do a good job for the most part of masking the pain. It is the pain post surgery that tells you to slow down.
I hope you find the answer to your pain. I hope even more that the pain just goes away and you are pain-free.
Eva
My 2nd surgery L4 thru S1 in Dec /05 sounds similar to your situation. It is likely your nerves taking their first "breath" in a long while. While I pray that is the right answer, please know that there's a possibility that it isn't temporary.
When you have numbness like you've described, especially if it doesn't go away completely in a very short period of time, it would be prudent to do another MRI. With hardware, they'll need to do it with the contrast and it may not be an easy read but they need to rule out slipped hardware or floating bits, or whatever.
I couldn't take Neurontin or Lyrica either. Finally 2 weeks ago he prescribed Baclofen (a muscle relaxer for MS or spinal cord injuries) and after over 4 years, I finally have periods in my day where I'm pain free.
Mine pain and numbness turned out to be permanent nerve damage which showed up on the series of EMGs my PM did. It was the only explaination as nothering showed up on the x-ray, CT myleogram or MRIs
I used to stand on one foot with the other, bent at the knee and resting on my standing knee. My family started calling me "Stork". It would have been funny if I wasn't in so darn much pain.
One caution though. Do not spend more than a few brief moments sitting upright. It is the worst possible position for you for a long time after this surgery.
Rest laying in your bed and continue taking these rest periods for months if your body is still showing signs of pain. This surgery takes a long time to heal properly. You are growing bone over the hardware to solidify the fusion. That can take months. Do your body a favor and rest so it can do the job of mending.
These pain meds do a good job for the most part of masking the pain. It is the pain post surgery that tells you to slow down.
I hope you find the answer to your pain. I hope even more that the pain just goes away and you are pain-free.
Eva