Hi and welcome.
I'd guess your disc maybe giving you chemical radiculopathy.
I too am suffering from leg pains (L5-s1 dermatone) in both legs and numbness in both feet that comes and goes after a L5-s1 microdisectomy. Initially i had a large herniated disc pushing on the s1 nerve root, causing right leg pain. 5 weeks after the op, all I had was post op pain. I had a very small stumble at work and its was downhill from there. Pins and needles going down both legs, sharp sciatic pain above the right buttock. numbness reappeared but not just in the right foot but also slightly in the left. coldness in the feet and I couldn't stand for long nor sit. It has gotten better now about 6 months post op. Still can't sit for long and activity flairs it up. Initially I had NO back pain just the leg pain. Its now starting to reverse.
Naturally I have no idea, but i'm not suprised you are getting similar symptoms as I am with a possible crapped out disc at l5-s1.
I would have thought that it would make sense to do a discogram before getting your hardware removed? or does having hardware preclude you from having a discogram?. That way you'll know if l5-s1 is definitely the pain generator.
If it is. The hard question would be, can the disc at l5-s1 be removed and fused? how? could they do it? risks involved, would it affect the exisitng hardware, does it mean the hardware has to come out anyway? could they do it with the dynesys hardware still there? Is the pain getting worse over time to warrant another operation.
it may seem like an easy thing to do i.e. take out your hardware and in the doctors words "I hope it makes you feel better" but doing another op which has the potential to make you worse off, plus the fact that the doctor has admitted he isn't sure what is causing your pain, would just make me hesitate if I was in your shoes.
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