Lower back and left leg pain

jim181818

on December 28th 2015 I was hurt at work. After mri pt and guided injections I had a decompression surgery on l5 s1 in April 2016. After 6 weeks my dr let me back to work no restrictions or limits it pt. since then my leg pain has been very very bad. Numbness at any time weakness feels very heavy and constant throbing and aching. Just had anothe rmri and I was reading it today and it says no problems with the surgery. Now I am confused cause I have a nerve study tomorrow could they have miss read my m r I? Will the nerve study pick up what I am feeling? Is this just a way for the dr to ash his hands of it?

Kimmy72

Hello, Jim181818!

The nerve study might possibly pick up what's going on if there's a problem.  Is your pain limited to one side?  Did you experience any relief at all from the decompression?  I had fusion surgery in January, and at about two weeks out, the sciatic pain came back with a vengeance!  I seriously wondered if I had made the right choice by having the operation.  I was told by my surgeon that it's quite normal to experience a resurgence of sciatic nerve pain like this after lumbar procedures.  He put me on a prednisone taper to ease the inflammation, and although it didn't immediately relieve the pain, I felt 100% better about four days after the taper was finished.  Perhaps you could ask your surgeon what his recommendations might be to help you out with your nerve pain--naturally, depending on what the outcome is from your nerve study!  I don't know if it's so much about the doctor "washing his hands" of your situation as it is him feeling that your symptoms are a natural byproduct of healing nerves.  I can tell you from firsthand experience that once they're freed up, decompressed nerves can be pretty angry!!

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jim181818

Thank you,
How long after your decompression did you go back to work?

Kimmy72

I was one of the unfortunate minority of people who had complications which prevented me from returning to work.   I ended up developing problems with internal scar tissue at the surgical site,  which I had removed in June.   My fusion surgery was in January,  and I was only recently allowed to start physical therapy!  My ssurgeon said to expect an increase in pain after I got started with physical therapy,  and he was absolutely right.   I wasn't thinking about that when I first read your post, but that could be another reason you're having trouble with increased pain.  I just said to one of the other moderators that recovery can be a real female dog sometimes!