Had disctomey surgery on L5/S1 in Feb 09. still have numbness in right leg, foot and alot of scitaca pain. Surgeon ordered another MRI on 5/13/2009, this is what it says(please help me, I want to understand why the surgery didn't work when doc said I would be 100% back to normal.

1. Evidence of prior right laminectomy at L5/S1, with enhancing granulation tissue extending through the surgical defect, through the overlying ligamentum flavum and partially surrounding the posterior margin of the descending S1 nerve root.

2. Disc bulging within the mid to lower lumbar spine as described above, with moderate right facet degenerative change at L5/S1. There is no exiting root compression or significant central stenosis.

I also had a discetomy at the left side of L4/L5 4 years ago and had no problems after the surgery, so I can't unerstand why this one waasn't the same. I cannot drive, sit for to long, ancle is really swollen and have extreme nerve pain.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

SP

I also have had am MRI and all they tell me is that have a Herniated Disk and one nearly herniated (what does “nearly” mean?). Around 30 years ago was told disk spaces are small (but it appears small gaps does not correlate with pain and therefore question that meaning as well).

As also new to spine-health you are probably going all over the place on this web site and there is so much information it is sometimes difficult but take your time. You are talking about Lumbar region so suggest you go to the page on: http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/back-pain/mri-scan-spine then the page http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/lower-back-pain/lower-back-pain-s... which states “Ironically, the severity of the pain is often unrelated to the extent of physical damage”. While it could be interpreted that they look at your pain / symptoms which are then correlated with what they find in the MRI. I am actually not sure if that means they are diagnosing and then get the MRI leads them to conclude their diagnosis rather than the MRI being the primary diagnostic tool. As a simple analogy it almost sounds like if I broke my arm then XRAY would confirm but if took Xray of arms that would not be able to be used to conclude I had a broken arm! If you go to http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/herniated-disc/whats-a-herniated-... then there is also a stated confusion over some of terms which are used interchangeably “many different terms used to describe spinal disc pathology and associated pain, such as “herniated disc”, “pinched nerve”, and “bulging disc”, and all are used differently by doctors”. Your pain and the MRI should be used in together to diagnose your condition according to some web pages.

As the anatomical conditions described in the MRI (which you can investigate and see pictures and video’s on spine-health and others sites found via google) however they may or may not produce pain and you may need to find someone that can explain and correlate them with full information. You will also find people on this site with similar conditions and experience but as there is not a perfect correlation between the anatomical condition and pain others may have different experience. Your research will put you in a very good position to discuss your situation with your doctor and get information (and may possibly get a 2nd opinion). I hope you get a good doctor (who is also a good communicator) to step you through the report and correlate it with your symptoms/pain.

You did not indicate your level of pain, incapacity or impact on your life which I hope is manageable. As you have had an MRI you are clearly taking the right steps to manage your health so keep up the good work, continue this approach (particularly for medication and side effects) and most importantly keep your spirits up.

Best wishes

Hello and welcome! Have you been to the ordering doctor about your MRI yet? He's going to be your mainline to understanding the results. We can offer support, but we're not doctors, so any information you get needs to be verified by your doctor.

Many doctors will get upset at you if you even hint at having "heard" that this or that on your MRI is bad/good news, so take any advice you get here as it is: someones personal experience, not a doctors knowing eye!

Good luck and I wish you the best!