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50 days post L5-S1 PLIF w/ shock pain

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Posted 9/20/2012 3:00 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a 48yo male, a bit overweight, but not much, non-smoker, no diabetes, no other major health problems.

I chose fusion as the last ditch attempt to repair lumbar damage which was causing increasing pain. Now 50 days after surgery I'm on oxycontin and hydromorphone, and the original symptoms are fixed! Most of the other surgical pain is also decreasing, but still get a bizarre occasional extremely strong "electric shock" type pain right at the surgical site. No pain in extremities at all. This "shock" is so severe that it drops me and if I have nothing to hold on to I will hit the floor. This worries me because of what I might hit on the way down - could I re-injure my back? I really cannot control my knees buckling the pain is so intense. It's so strong that it literally makes me shout in pain. Unusual for me. Has anyone had this type of pain after fusion surgery? If so, did it go away? How long did it take? Does anyone know what actually causes this kind of intense pain or triggers it? Thanks for any input!
Posted 9/20/2012 5:14 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, sorry you have had more issues after your surgery. Have you seen your surgeon for post op check up? I think you should get a professional opinion we are not drs here we are patients with varying types of chronic pain. I had a fusion L5-S1 the end of March, I have seen my surgeon at least 3-4 times and my pain management doctor about 3 times and my family dr at least 6-7 times. I have X-rays taken so my surgeon can watch the healing process.
Posted 9/20/2012 2:27 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there...welcome to the boards..

First off it sounds like good news that your original symptoms are gone and that the post surgical pain is decreasing as well.

I've had 3 fusions over the last 11 years so I'm pretty familiar with those "shock" like sensations that can come up. You are still pretty new in the recovery process at a month and a half out. A fusion can take up to a year to finally take place.

There are tons of nerve endings that get disturbed when a fusion is done on a patient. Then there is our bodies getting used to the titanium hardware that is in our bodies that can shift the tiniest bit and this can rub up against a nerve. This happens more often in the first months of recovery until the scar tissue forms around it.

As Rose asked...have you gone to your post op appt. yet? You can certainly speak with your surgeon about this and they can put you on a nerve pain medication if needed. I only see you mention opiates and those really don't touch any type of nerve pain.

I hope that you continue to heal and things start calming down in the next month or so!

Keep us posted..
Posted 9/20/2012 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
 

        Hello Yummy!...and Welcome to the chronic pain forum!

      I'm a bit surprised that you are still on Oxycontin, however that is a choice of your surgeons. If it's for other pain problems, then yes I see that. I also have cervical issues, so even if I had a lumbar surgery, I would expect to recieve meds for the cervical problems. If...for the post lumbar surgery...then it seems to be a rare thing.

       The pain you describe was the same for me, after my double lumbar fusion surgery back on 2010. I know full well what you are going through...but not sure what causes it. I can only guess though...and one thought is that it takes at least 12 months and up to 18 months for a complete fusion to take place. I had this same shock happen every once in a while clear up to the 12 months mark of recovery. For me it happened if I took a misstep or was lifting something heavy on one side of my body.

    It can drop a person to their knees very quickly, and I bet you let out a hoop of a holler too!

      When is your next checkup?...I would mention it then and see if they have an answer for you.

   Take care, and again!...welcome to the forum

       SE wink

Posted 9/20/2012 2:46 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Yummy

I did and at often times still do feel the shock that you are enduring. But I had 2 fusions in the past and one revision. I am also surprised that the would still have you on Oxycontin after 2 months. You stated that you do not have pain in your lower extremeties, You should thank the man above that your fusion appears to be doing what its intentions are. Unlike most of us who are deemed Chronic pain sufferers from failed back surgery. Fusions do take a long time to heal and I am still waiting for my last one 6 months ago. So again, I am glad for your healing and pray that the shocks will eventually deminish.
Posted 9/20/2012 3:05 PM (GMT 0)
good morning

i wanted to welcome you to our chronic pain forum

glad you found us but sorry you are still hurting post surgery

it is good news though, that your surgery was successful

i would see your surgeon to talk to him about your concerns

wishing you luck and keep us posted

suzane

Posted 10/3/2012 2:31 AM (GMT 0)
Rose, Yes, getting Doc's input. Although my fear was realized last night. I was walking in the dark, got a massive shock, and hit the floor waking the whole house. Going in tomorrow to see if I caused damage from this fall. Am bothered the surgeon did not seem to take this seriously, or seem concerned at all. Even a little. My wife and I call this the "I already have my money" effect. I see more people have commented (yah hoo!) but I haven't had time to read it all, so will have to do that tomorrow. Thanks you guys for the warm welcome and experienced comments!

-Yum
Posted 10/3/2012 5:16 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Yum -

Just a quick note to welcome you to the CP forum of HealingWell.

Look forward to getting to know you better.... I'm off to bed, but just wanted to take a moment to welcome you yeah

--Tina
Posted 10/4/2012 12:19 AM (GMT 0)
Welcometo HW! I hope that you got a good report from your dr today. I had three falls after my L5-S1 lumbar fusion in the first six weeks. One fall was going up the steps, another I fell down 8 steps face first landed on my knees at the bottom, and another I hit the floor in the kitchen.

Of course I had major anxiety related to these falls even though I had no significant increase in pain or new backpain. My surgeon told me that I would need to fall from a second story window to damage the hardware or surgical site. He explained a one level at that location is pretty sturdy. Of course its always better to get check, verses finding out later that something has shifted.

Hope all is well, let us know how it went!
Posted 10/5/2012 1:40 PM (GMT 0)
Snowbunny, thanks for your input. You've given a far more succinct description of what has happened than the surgeon did. He wasn't really "familiar" with the shock-like pains. That sort of blew my mind. The guy make $800k/year I'd sort of think he should know this kind of thing. My wife's observation is "he already has your money, in his mind he'd done with you." I think that's probably true.
Lynn, I'm sorry to hear you've had to go through this repeatedly. There is something evolutionarily wrong with the human spine (I have read in the past at least). We're not "done" evolving to walk upright and our spines are still trying to deal with it. True? No idea, sounds good though ;) The oxycontin and dilaudid are pretty much take care of the pain at this point. 8 weeks today I had the surgery. I called the surgeon to ask what make and model hardware they put in me because I'm having another MRI and wanted to read up on how MRI affects the hardware. They couldn't tell me. (!?!) They referred me to the hospital facility! Blows my mind.
Tina, thank you for the warm welcome. Thanks all of you :)
Shell74, HOLY CRAP! Well if your hardware survived that, it gives me a little more confidence that mine is holding. I'm extremely nervous about making sure this fusion takes hold. Is bending too far going to ruin things? How far is too far? If I reach for the lamp on the nightstand is that twisting too far? Nobody ever told me. I have no idea.
They put me on prednisone because of the pain after that fall and it's helped immensely, leading me to believe that much or all of the pain I have is from the inflammatory response. After two months, wouldn't all the soft tissue have healed? One doc was able to point out what inflammatory response looked like on the MRI, and I apparently had a lot of it before surgery on the surrounding bone (bone gets inflamed? apparently yes) And as we all know, we're not allowed to take NSAIDs. Yes, this IS tough. I had no idea the ensuing year would be more challenging than dealing with the original pain. Trial by fire. Well, at least I know I'm alive, have no massive infections.
My work has set me up with sit/stand table and a special ortho-chair that allows many different sitting positions including essentially standing. This has helped a LOT. I think if I could just spend all day standing/walking, then sleeping normally without any lifting or bending or twisting at all, this would be going faster, but the reality is there is no way I can just "give up all lifting". Have any of you really been able to just stop lifting things? I don't see how that's even possible if one is working full time and has kids. I get my MRI/xray in 45 min so will let you know how it goes. Thanks again for the warm welcome you guys. I look forward to hearing more about your experiences and learning from you.
-David
Posted 10/29/2012 9:04 PM (GMT 0)
Just an update. It's now been 84 days since surgery. Doc switched me from hydromophone to fentanyl patch and that has helped tremendously. Pain
control is better and I'm not as groggy and spacey. I still get sensitive towards the end of the day, but am not as consumed by regular jabs of pain through the day. I think this really goes a long way towards helping attitude. Have also been working on some brief meditation several times a day which I think also helps, since the back pain leads to tension and frustration which just leads to more back pain. "Turning off" that cycle with meditation helps a lot by itself. I was also lucky enough to get a really good back rub the night before last, and that also helped a lot. Areas around the rods/screws are a bit painful especially if I get bumped or put pressure directly on them. Does anyone else feel pain from the hardware? Thanks for all your input!

-Yum
Posted 10/29/2012 10:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Yummy, so glad to hear that you are finally seeing improvement all the way around. Its amazing when things finally get in synch how much better a person can feel. Meditation is something that can work well for so many different reasons, very glad it is helping you. As the old saying goes, sometimes we just gotta do what we gotta do. I do not have hardware, but can tell you that I have heard others with hardware say the very same thing you have said. My thinking is as more time goes by and more scar tissue builds up this may go away.

Take care....Susie
Posted 10/30/2012 1:47 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Yummy!

I had my fusion in 2008. I swore to everyone that I could "feel" my hardware. I could feel it when it was cold and I could feel it just in general. I was having severe pain which no one could identify on xrays/mris. I begged the doctor to open me up and just see what was going on. He did and while he was there, he removed the hardware because my fusion had "taken". He also found a 1 inch bone spur that had begun growing into my spinal cord. First level of nerves was destroyed but we caught it before it hit the second level. The bone spur didn't show up on anything. He removed the spur and to this day I would say I am OK. I don't have consistent pain but as the day wears on, I get "sore" in my lower back. By the weekend, I usually spend one whole day reclined to help with the soreness. Currently, I just take motrin for the soreness.

I still lift things but nothing over about 15 pounds- My kids are older and everyone at my job protects me because for 11 years, they saw the pain I went through. I am careful still about sweeping or any movement like that. I am now much more mindful of using my knees and upper body instead of my back.

I too had the shooting pains you first described. Mine lasted for about 8 months or so and then subsided.

Good luck to you!
Michele
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