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still in pain after back surgery

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Posted 11/29/2015 4:48 PM (GMT 0)
I am a 36 year old male who is a federal police officer. I have always been very active, running, weight lifting etc. I began having pain in 2008, it would start in the lower right side of my back, go down into my butt and down my leg. I tried everything so I would not have surgery like physical therapy, stretching, nerve block, massages, acupuncture. After dealing with this pain for so long I could not take the pain anymore. I went to see my doctor and he prescribed prednisone and oxycodone and ordered a MRI. I had a ruptured disc that was pushing on my sciatic nerve and was scheduled for surgery on Aug 13, 2015. Well it is now Nov 29, 2015 and I am still in a lot of pain. It is the same as before the surgery so I went to see my neurosurgeon. He ordered another MRI and the results did not show any herniation or anything wrong except spinal stenosis. Does anyone else have the same problem as me? It is getting more and more difficult to just walk. I have another appointment with my neurosurgeon on the 1st and will update after.
Posted 11/29/2015 5:52 PM (GMT 0)
Hello Spark & welcome to the chronic pain forum. Exactly what kind of back surgery did you have? Not sure if you had a fusion or what. You are almost 4 months post-op & that is still considered pretty fresh from surgery. Probably not what you wanted to hear but its true.

When dealing with nerve issues such as yours the nerves have to heal on their own. There is no magic time frame on when those nerves will heal as everyone is different. Nerves are a completely different set of issues. The good news is your MRI was clean. Patience is the best thing I can tell you. After surgery did you follow yours drs post op instructions to the letter? This is where we see a lot of people falter & really mess things up. They will have a few days of feeling pretty good & do things they shouldn't & cause a setback. The setbacks are difficult to make a comeback from. Depending on the type of surgery has your dr put you on a short script of steroids to get some of the inflammation down? This sometimes helps a great deal with the inflammation. The nerves are really in an uproar so to speak. This happens after surgery a whole lot more than you realize with back & neck surgery when the nerves are pinched or compressed. The drs cannot say you should be fine in x amount of time because everyone heals differently.

Time is your best friend in this situation. I can assure you trying to rush things along thinking it will help your recovery will only prolong your recovery. Take care.
Posted 11/29/2015 10:58 PM (GMT 0)
A nerve that has been compressed by a herniated disc, as your was, becomes inflamed and irritated and the nerve hyper-sensitive to afferent stimuli.

The good news: You have had successful surgery that has decompressed the nerve root.

The bad news: Your nerve remains irritated. Nerves have "memory." A nerve once irritated is often not quick to return to normal. Nerves can remain irritable and hostile for 6-8 months after successful decompression surgery.

Helpful ideas: Short-term use of steroids at a low dose (prednisone or a Medrol pack) can often be helpful. Be mindful to not overuse corticosteroids, as there are serious consequences of indiscriminate use (secondary adrenal insufficiency, the most serious).

Perhaps re-visiting your physical therapist. Healing can lend to the development of scar tissue along a nerve's protective sheath of connective tissue. Tethering of scar tissue can irritate an otherwise healing nerve and trigger a cycle of irritation, pain, more irritation, more pain. Your PT has at his/her availability specific modalities and stretches that should promote healing.

Medications to dampenen nerve threshold, gabapentine, lyrica, neurotin.
Posted 11/30/2015 9:52 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome Spark to the CP forum at HW and sorry you have had to search us out. Knowing what you had done will help us better advise you but as others have said your still in the post-op time frame for healing and like stated healing of nerves is a slow and tedious process. We don't want to discourage you since you are likely where you should be at this stage.

Not knowing what type of work or anything I would suggest taking a look at the thread in blue at the top of the page titled CP 101 and in there is some very good post op suggestions we put together, some won't apply at all because they're referring to cervical repair but a lot of will be helpful to you no matter what part of the spine we are talking about. Take a look and let us know what you had done and we will try to help you however we can.
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