More Search Tools: Doctors Videos
Degenerative Disc Disease
Welcome to Spine-health’s Degenerative Disc Disease patient community. You can also read doctor approved Degenerative Disc Disease Articles and watch Degenerative Disc Disease Videos.
2 replies [Last post]
February 21, 2010 - 8:11pm
Clio
Clio's picture
User offline. Last seen 19 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 10/07/2009
Posts: 12
Points: 24
Severe leg pain after lumbar fusion - damage to nerve from screw?

Hi everyone
I wonder if anyone out there has had the type of problem post lumbar fusion that I am having.
I am 38 and had an anterior L4/5 lumbar fusion in Oct 09. I had back pain only and no nerve pain in my legs. After the operation I had new severe right leg shooting nerve pains. After 6 weeks they realised from an MRI and CT that one of the fixation screws had been placed into my nerve root by about 10-15mm, instead of into the bone of the vertebral pedicle. The screw had effectiely gone out the back of my vertebral bone and right into the nerve space. They took it out Dec 16 09 and replaced it with a shorter screw.
I was doing ok until about 3 weeks ago and now I have SEVERE and constant shooting pains in my right leg - across the thigh and into the lateral calf and foot. Lyrica and steroid injections haven.t helped. I cant sit or stand for long and I cant sleep on my right side.
I had a CT myelogram last week and they cant find anything.
My neurologist wonders if the screw that was at the nerve or even in it, has damaged it and they dont know how long it will take or even if it will ever recover. I might end up with chronic pain. I am devastated as I was a healthy young woman (im actually a dr) before all this and now I feel my life is ruined.
If anyone else out there has had problems with hardware/screws upsetting or damaging their nerves I would really like to know how you did in the long term.
Thanks for reading this. Good luck to all of you !
Clio

Top
February 21, 2010 - 8:36pm
#1
gwennie17
User offline. Last seen 2 years 1 week ago. Offline
Banned after receiveing more than 4 formal warnings
Joined: 12/30/2008
Posts: 3043
Points: 6230
Hello Clio ~

Being a doctor, I'm sure you can guess at this better than any of us on the board. But I would think that if the nerve was damaged at the time of the original surgery, wouldn't the pain have been continuous rather than being gone for awhile after surgery # 2 and then returning three weeks later?

The fact that you were more or less free of leg pain for a three week period after surgery makes me think that it might be scar tissue attaching to the nerve.

Try not to be devastated. You are very early in your recovery. I imagine the nerve was very traumatized, even if it has not been permanently damaged. As you know, it can take forever for a nerve to calm down or recover. Most spine surgeons will say it can take up to a year, but I have had other professionals tell me they can still recover after that point.

Can you take Lyrica or Neurontin for the nerve pain?

I'm sorry this happened to you. It would seem this is an "accident" that should not have happened. Try to be patient and have faith that the nerve will heal and the pain will resolve.

You might want to ask your surgeon if it could be scar tissue, and you might want to pursue a hands-on treatment that might aid in trying to break it up while it is still "new."

Good luck.

_____________

I have no medical training. Comments are based on personal experience and lots of research and reading.
PLIF @ L4-5 with Peek cage, rods and screws Jan 2008
Lami-foraminotomy L5-S1 Jan 2009
Fusion L3-S1 coming up -- 1 June

Top
December 28, 2011 - 8:01am
#2
mkmann77
mkmann77's picture
User offline. Last seen 21 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 12/28/2011
Posts: 2
Points: 4
Wow... PLEASE HELP!!!!!

OH MY Gosh... You are an answer to my prayers... The same exact thing just happened to me... I went in on Dec 2, 2011 for L5/S1 Discectomy with fusion and instrumentation. Prior to surgery I had minimal leg pain from the disc on the left side, somewhat of a "shooting" pain, but the majority of it was on the right. I also have RSD in my left foot. So, when I awoke from surgery, I was in excruciating pain - screaming bloody murder - not from the pain in my lower back, but from a "charley horse" type pain that was in the bend of my leg between my thigh and calf. This pain shot all the way up and down... This went on for 3 days before the doctor decided to do an MRI.. The MRI revealed that there was a loose screw - obviously that had fallen during surgery, b/c I woke up with this pain, and like I said, I had NO pain like this prior to surgery!!! Therefore, they went BACK in on December 10, 2011 and did another surgery to locate and reposition the screw. When I woke up from that surgery, the pain was 100x worse than before!!!! However this time, it went all the way up into my left buttocks, where there was a severe burning sensation, covering the entire buttocks, and in the middle, a major stabbing feeling as if someone was literally driving a knife into my buttocks.. 3 days later, they did another MRI and found NOTHING!!!!! The doctor sent me home on December 14, and here I am! I am already on 320mg of Oxycontin 3 times a day, which I was on prior to the surgery, due to the severity of my pain. The doctor put me on Robaxin and Neurontin in the hospital and sent me home with it. I stay at about a pain level of 7-8!!! I am 34 years old!!! I feel like my life is over!!! I dont understand any of this!!! I know I signed a release in the hospital, so I screwed myself. I see that your surgery was about a year ago.. Can you PLEASE tell me how you are doing now???? Thank you so much!!!

Yours Truly,

Melissa

Top
Jump to: