Nerve Damage S1/L5

[Griffen]

Housemd89,

Two years ago I had exactly the same symptoms.Persistent pain in lower back,buttocks,legs & feet.Also tender swelling in lower back. In my case the pains & pins & needles were due to trapped nerves in the L5 & L4 area. The swelling was due to inflammation. I had an X ray which showed an old gardening injury left untreated for 20 years was now causing problems. I then had an MRI to give a clearer picture.

In my case I have an unstable spine so have just completed a course of physio therapy. Some of the exercises actually made it worse so you do need to be aware that not all exercises will be beneficial. The main thing is to exercise everyday so you keep as flexible as you can. I find walking the easiest & most beneficial followed by stretching. What also helps is getting the correct medication for your condition. In my case something for pain with an anti inflammatory component. The swelling has gone & the pain is mostly controlled. My lifestyle has had to change too as I need to move about a bit every hour or so or I get very stiff.

Hope this helps.

[housemd89]

blg814 - Sorry to hear that, sounds bad. I'm the same as you with some days being worse than others. I just really want to know what's causing this, my GP has put me on the list to see a senior physiotherapist which could take up to 3 months (even though i asked to be reffered to a neurologist). All I want is an MRI to see exactly what's up but she basically said unless i can't walk or having uncontrolable bowel movements they wouldn't send me for a scan. I've only been on neurotin for a few weeks and not noticed much difference but going to finish the course and see how it goes.I hope you get some relief from the pain.

Griffen - Thanks for that, my physio hasn't gone well at all. I do keep trying to do the basic exercises and try to get out for a walk now and then but it's too much pain. My swelling has been random, sometimes it pops up when i do nothing or when i've been trying to exercise. After new year i think i'm going to pay for a scan privately seen as the NHS has been useless so far. Quite worried incase like you it's been an old injury that's been untreated.

[Griffen]

Once you know what is going on & learn to adapt it is nowhere near so worrying.There are good days & not so good days but you kind of get use to it.

My advice would be to make an appointment to see a private consultant. Then, if an MRI etc is needed, ask if you could have that as an NHS patient. If nothing else you may be seen & get a scan quicker.

If you go down that route write up a kind of "victim impact statement" making a list of all your symptoms,how it is affecting your life,treatments to date & any questions you have. Dress up smartly & take it with you so that you can make sure you don't forget anything.I found you get better results if you are fairly business like about the whole thing. Strange but true.

[housemd89]

Originally Posted by Griffen

Once you know what is going on & learn to adapt it is nowhere near so worrying.There are good days & not so good days but you kind of get use to it.

My advice would be to make an appointment to see a private consultant. Then, if an MRI etc is needed, ask if you could have that as an NHS patient. If nothing else you may be seen & get a scan quicker.

If you go down that route write up a kind of "victim impact statement" making a list of all your symptoms,how it is affecting your life,treatments to date & any questions you have. Dress up smartly & take it with you so that you can make sure you don't forget anything.I found you get better results if you are fairly business like about the whole thing. Strange but true.

Thanks alot for that. Just curious, were you're feet always cold as well?

[Griffen]

I didn't suffer from cold feet.Instead, pain along the arch of the foot,aching ankle/ankles,sore knees & feeling as tho my legs were being slapped with really awful stinging nettles,crawling sensations, aching pains in the buttocks & sore lower back. Sometimes it only affected one leg sometimes both. I also found it was difficult to walk sometimes because I lost power to the legs.

The thing I have learnt is that pain sensations are only error messages issued at random & depend on the degree of nerve pinch.In my case any inflammation will pinch the nerves more & cause the "heavy leg" feeling.

[jsewell]

I have always had cold feet as long as i can remember. I have had some significant spine surgery in the last 5 years and am pretty much fused except for the upper cervical levels and the lowest lumbar level. It has been painful at times. Related to the issue of nerve problems in the lumbar area effecting the legs and lower back, i had surgery in Aug 2012 to repair 2 fractures as well as fuse L4-5. Well i woke up from that one in so much pain, i can't even explain it. I could NOT put any weight on my right leg and little on my left leg. Pain even when not weight bearing. I went home from the hospital after a week and came home able to do nothing except get to the toilet (with lots of pain) and get back to bed. Every 4 days i would suffer the trip upstairs to the shower. It was horrible. I had to wait for my insurance co to approve the surgery to go backwards and reverse what had been done. It was approved quickly as an emergency basis, then i had to wait for my doc to have a free moment on his schedule. Unfortunatley the whole waiting period was 5 weeks.
I felt pretty darn good after the surgery, the weakness of the legs was still there, but no pain , except surgical pain and the back pain was back. It is a long road to regain as much spine health as possible. It sucks!! I used to be a mountain trail runner 4 years ago. Then reduced to hiker and now i dont even go for a walk. The leg pain has come back in the opposite leg that caused the most problem, i have had epidural injections that have helped things, but this must be an ongoing process.
sorry this has been such a long long post.
Oh my ct after the first surgery while i was in excrutiating pain showed nothing abnormal. A few weeks before the second surgery it showed that the screws were pulling out.
so just wanted to share and maybe give someone some insight. Any questions feel free to ask.
Everyone get better!!!
judy

[housemd89]

Originally Posted by jsewell

I have always had cold feet as long as i can remember. I have had some significant spine surgery in the last 5 years and am pretty much fused except for the upper cervical levels and the lowest lumbar level. It has been painful at times. Related to the issue of nerve problems in the lumbar area effecting the legs and lower back, i had surgery in Aug 2012 to repair 2 fractures as well as fuse L4-5. Well i woke up from that one in so much pain, i can't even explain it. I could NOT put any weight on my right leg and little on my left leg. Pain even when not weight bearing. I went home from the hospital after a week and came home able to do nothing except get to the toilet (with lots of pain) and get back to bed. Every 4 days i would suffer the trip upstairs to the shower. It was horrible. I had to wait for my insurance co to approve the surgery to go backwards and reverse what had been done. It was approved quickly as an emergency basis, then i had to wait for my doc to have a free moment on his schedule. Unfortunatley the whole waiting period was 5 weeks.
I felt pretty darn good after the surgery, the weakness of the legs was still there, but no pain , except surgical pain and the back pain was back. It is a long road to regain as much spine health as possible. It sucks!! I used to be a mountain trail runner 4 years ago. Then reduced to hiker and now i dont even go for a walk. The leg pain has come back in the opposite leg that caused the most problem, i have had epidural injections that have helped things, but this must be an ongoing process.
sorry this has been such a long long post.
Oh my ct after the first surgery while i was in excrutiating pain showed nothing abnormal. A few weeks before the second surgery it showed that the screws were pulling out.
so just wanted to share and maybe give someone some insight. Any questions feel free to ask.
Everyone get better!!!
judy

Thanks for the reply, that sounds a hard journey you've been through, hopefully you get better soon.

My cold feet are weird as I don't feel them cold but when i touch them they are always freezing, is yours the same? I notice in your sig you had hammertoe correction and was curious how did it start? My toes are always cramping up and bending in weird ways and it's very hard to get them back to normal and every i'm praying they don't stick like that. What caused your spine problems?

I'm just furious that i've had this since last April and not had one diagnostic test.