Degenerative Spinal Stenosis fusion opp

SueHeath

Hi all
I was referred to what I think, is a better hospital for my condition, with the hope that the surgeon there would do the fusion operation on my spine, I have already had xrays mri scan and he wanted me to have a CT scan which is a new one for me. I had the scan 3 weeks ago.
I had the telephone appointment today, he can't do it, at least he was honest. 
He told me my spine was not stable enough and the fusion would/could cause more problems, if not now but in the future.
He hasn't gave up on me, which is a good thing, he wants to try me with a cocktail of injections if they don't work he's said there's other things he can look at.

Oxonlady

Hi @SueHeath , I'm glad to hear that your surgeon was honest with you. I had a lumbar fusion (L4-L5) in 2012 and have had several complications since. Three months after my operation I was still in a great deal of pain and was sent for a scan. This revealed that some of the screws had come off inside me, so the operation had to be repeated. This was very painful.
Since then, I have suffered from "Adjacent segment syndrome". This happened because of the fusion. Please ask your surgeon to explain this to you, as It is a real and extremely painful consequence of fusion. My spine is now so messed up that I am unable to walk and even trying to stand up is painful. I hope that my experience may help you in some way. All the best to you Sue. 

Alex_Alumni

Thanks for sharing your own experience @Oxonlady and I'm sorry to hear there were so many complications. I'm sure you have helped, and will help any future members in similar situations as well

chiarieds

Hi @SueHeath - on the one hand I'm sorry that spinal fusion is not an option in your case, on the other, as Oxonlady sadly identifies with, it's way better to find this out prior to surgery.

As your surgeon has said, this could cause the 'Adjacent segment syndrome' that Oxonlady mentions; in some patients, dependent on the site of surgery, instability (& other problems) can occur above/below such a surgery site.

It is definitely good that your surgeon is looking at other options for you; sounds like you have a good one there. Adding my best wishes.

SueHeath

Oxonlady said:

Hi @SueHeath , I'm glad to hear that your surgeon was honest with you. I had a lumbar fusion (L4-L5) in 2012 and have had several complications since. Three months after my operation I was still in a great deal of pain and was sent for a scan. This revealed that some of the screws had come off inside me, so the operation had to be repeated. This was very painful.
Since then, I have suffered from "Adjacent segment syndrome". This happened because of the fusion. Please ask your surgeon to explain this to you, as It is a real and extremely painful consequence of fusion. My spine is now so messed up that I am unable to walk and even trying to stand up is painful. I hope that my experience may help you in some way. All the best to you Sue. 

Thank you for your post.
I am so sorry to hear about your suffering, it's not good is it.
Thanks for sharing your experience, if i had read your post Weeks ago i would have told the hospital "NO" straight away when they mentioned opp.
Is there anything else they can do for you as regards pain control. x

Oxonlady

Hi @SueHeath, thank you for your comments. The problem is that I am allergic to all opiates, so meds like codeine and morphine are out. I can't even take paracetamol, as my liver can't process it. I'm on Diclofenac (only out of desperation, as Ibuprophen wasn't doing anything but most hospitals have banned Diclofenac ) and Nefopam. Even the maximum doses don't control the pain well. It's not just my back, I have severe pain in both shoulders, both arms and my broken right hip. I've been told not to have any more surgery, as apparently I almost died during my fifth spinal operation.... It seems that spinal surgery rarely comes without further problems. I don't mean to put you off, Sue but sometimes neurosurgeons don't reveal the whole picture.
To be honest, I take it day by day and try to cope with prayer. I have at least 22 separate health conditions, so I'm rarely out of pain. Having to inject insulin on top of everything else, since January, has been quite difficult for me.

I hope you are more tolerant to painkillers than I am. Can you walk? Unfortunately I don't think I'll ever walk again...

Take care. 

SueHeath

I am so glad of your honesty @Oxonlady
I to have had a life time of pain killers, i also have osteo arthrites which is  inherited from all the lady's on my mothers side.
Yes i am extremly lucky i can still walk at the moment, albeit not far now. But i feel blessed as i was diagnosed when i was very young and up to the last three years i have led a very good life health wise, just the odd moments that kept me of work for a few weeks, with the help of the dreaded pain killers and anti this and anti that ha ha.
I know what you are saying with intolerance to meds i was on Diclofenic for a number of years unfortunately they did cause problems to my stomach so that means i can not have anti inflam meds.

But we have to deal with what we have been given - take care too.

Sandy_123

Hi @SueHeath hopefully your consultant can come up with something that suits you. I can't have diclofenic as it upsets my lungs and causing shortness of breath. 

SueHeath

It just annoys me @Sandy_123 that they dish these drugs out to try on us and call it "quality of life at the time" and yet in the long run they can cause more damage then you already have. All this i feel was to keep me at work for as long as possible, i say this because i feel 65% better already for being at home and not at work. x

Alexander13

Sorry the
answer with surgery was the solution you had hoped. Have you discussed nerve ablation where they try and burn the nerves away? It didn’t work for me, but i can and do take pain killers everyday. 

I spoke to the pain consultant and he said that he would consider spinal treatment carefully because as your surgeon said it can cause more issues. 

Hope you find some relief soon. 

SueHeath

Thank you @Alexander13 oh i will i don't usually let it get to me - i will brush myself down and start again - once i've got my head round things. Thanks for the input anyway.

How are you doing.