Things going very wrong after Dynesys

[LC in UK]

Well done Nigel, it all sounds good. You were discharged even quicker than me!
Glad you got some info on the procedure, I think it helps a lot to know what was actually done and why.
Your experience of pain medication was exactly the same as mine. In the second week - I think - I did get some severe pain which worried me and I had to take Arcoxia (now banned I think) but soon went back on paracetamol for the same reasons as you. The more you can move around the quicker your recovery I think.
I'm very angry at the moment as my first outpatient appointment for my cervical fusion has been delayed for a further 2 months, from January 7th to March 3rd.
Thats despite letters from my GP and Mr S at Hastings. Wonderful. Not my happiest weekend.
Anyway, glad to know you're on the up!
Be in touch
Lynette

[fireyangel76]

Nigel,
Glad to hear your experience with the dynesys surgery wasn't as painful as you thought it might be, and welcome to the small handful of us here that have had it.
I would have taken constipation with the pain meds....all I got was vomiting! Needless to say I came off those quick.
I hope you continue to have a uneventful recovery and your discomfort be minimal.
Did you have leg pain pre-op? If you did, is it less already?

[nigel]

Hi I did not have anyleg pain as my problem was more the degenerating discs. Before I had my disc out 6 years ago leg pain was the main problem but not this time as no nerves were involved. I'm sorry your meds made you so ill I guess constipation was not so bad after all just real painful at the time. Have gone back on the codeine phos today as constipation gone and want to suffer as little as poss. I won't really know if all has been a success until op pain has all gone but I must say I don't seem to have the same pain as I did have but am reluctant to commit myself as I don't want to set myself up for a fall if you see what I mean. Anyway please keep in contact. Many regards Nigel

[steveb872]

Hi, new to this, posting from the UK. I work in an operating theatre that does spinal surgery, the consultant I work with did a Dynesys fusion on my in the summer of 2006, I was back to work in 10 weeks. Since then its all been downhill, lol. I am off work at the minute with raging back pain, I am taking 20mg morphine every 6hrs. A recent MRI shows the screws are in place an have not migrated. My surgeon stopped doing the Dynesys about 12 months ago because he was not convinced about the long term sucess rate. I have now been refered to a different consultant, my symptoms seem to point to a facet joint problem, boy is it painful, so hopefully nothing to do with the original surgery, but on reading various web sites not 100% convinced. See ya

[mmglobal]

Steve... thanks for the update. It's pretty hard to get our head wrapped around so many new technologies. We've seen some wonderful successes with Dynesys and too many not-so-successful surgeries too. Real world experiences like yours will help us to evaluate our options more effectively.

Is there anything unique about your configuration that makes the doctor understand why you were not a good candidate, even though the indications were there for him?

I hope you find some relief... thanks for sharing.

Mark

[johnb]

I've been in touch with a UK patient from another board that had good initial results from dynesys but has gone downhill after time. She had a battery of tests but the screws looked okay. She also said it has fallen out of favor in the UK according to her surgeon. It has created additional leg pain for me. It started very soon after surgery and an MRI with contrast didn't point to scar tissue. I'm having mine removed without further spine surgery. It isn't worth irritating the disc above it.

John

[eternaloptimist1]

I started this thread in June 2007. Only this week have I finally been given a diagnosis for the leg weakness and pain I've had since then. I finally gave up on the major London neurology hospital as they said they "knew I had a problem somewhere but couldn't find the cause of it."

I went private and found a good surgeon well experienced in complex spinal surgery who ordered a cat scan and now all is revealed and it's shocking.
First off, the anterior fusion done in 1995 at L4/S1 has not healed and the staples are coming out, in fact the L4/5 staple can be clearly seen almost completely out.

The Dynesys screws ( L3/4 ) are badly placed and some of them have protruded through to the far side (anterior) of the vertebrae, the threading on the screws can be clearly seen on the "virtual reality" pictures poking out.
The screws have damaged the facet joints and there are fragments of bone loose in my spine.

The disc above the Dynesys has prolapsed also.

Plus the surgeon says my leg weakness IS due to cord compression in my neck.
I'm getting revision surgery soon and I've been told to contact the surgeon immediately if my neck/arm symptoms get any worse.
I'm devastated to learn how much damage has been done to me but hugely relieved to have been given the truth at last.

[nigel]

Hi Lynette sorry to hear about your newest delay. I guess these people can't feel your pain and to them you are just a name. Did they say why the delay. It doesn't seem fair. I have always been lucky and once in the system things have always moved fast for me. I hope you get some joy soon its horrid just sitting around waiting for something to happen. Good luck to you. Regards Nigel

[ddavie1]

There are a few posts related to the uncertainty of the volume of dynesys occurring in the US. I have no clue how often it happens but I know I've had it. Sincerely, since the surgery my feet and legs are literally perfect. Prior to the surgery I had already endured 2 laminectomy's (sp) and COUNTLESS "pain relief" injections such as facet blocks and the RF stimulations to "burn" the nerve endings. Nothing was working.

The dynesys has done an excellent job relieving the leg and foot pain but my lower back is a train wreck to this day. I am and IT professional and spend a great deal of time at a computer workstation. I have plenty of opportunities to move around as well because of other workstation support for company users but the time is still spent in near agony with my lower back itself. It's as if the surgery corrected only the issues with my appendages and not my lower back. I am still taking Norco, oxycodone, valium (muscle relaxer) and occasionally I am still taking fentanyl (200mcg) which is given to most cancer patients who are in dire straits.

It's driving me insane to have gone through so much for the last 4 years with 3 surgeries, countless injections and so many many prescriptions I want to vomit. If I had that Rx money back I could buy my own private jet!

Anyone else having similar discomfort in this fashion...basically only a partial fix? It is so tiring to live in perpetual back pain because it drains you personally and those around you that do not have it or have not experienced it just can't understand the limitations it creates.

[dshobbies]

ddavie1,

I am so sorry, after all you've gone through, that you're still in such pain. I know you want to scream at the world. Spinal 'fixes' are still in research infancy though with so many sufferers, you'd think we'd be further along by now. I met a man yesterday who had 3 fusions and is scheduled for his forth. (I think he'll call you Mark)

Partial relief is also a common tale but in this instance, no one wants their misery to have company. You might want to give Mark a call too... you'll never know where it can lead.

Welcome to the forum and I hope your cure is out there somewhere.

Dale

[mmglobal]

Such a high percentage of problems w/spine surgery have to do with our inability to understand the relationship between the pathology seen on the films and the pain generators. As Dynesys has unfolded in the past several years, I've been wondering how it's all going to shake out. It's a technology that appears to be a much easier surgery than ADR, but it is a motion limiting device, not a motion preserving device. Because of this, many of the surgeons who are committed to motion preservation consider Dynesys to be something applied further down the line than ADR. Others consider it an easy fix to a complex problem... and have some success with it.

I have many clients with Dynesys... some with excellent success and some with much less. Many of the 'less than successes' have experienced the dramatic reduction in leg pain, but no help with the low back pain. The hope that the surgeons have is that even though the painful disc is left in place, offloading the posterior annulus and reducing motion will relieve or reduce the LBP.

Nigel, would you mind starting a thread to discuss your Dynesys experience? DDavie, would you do the same? Your experiences will be important to anyone researching dynamic stabilization, as has Lynettes. They tend to get lost when embedded in another long thread.

DDavie, did you have discography, or has it been suggested as a next step?

Mark

[ddavie1]

I have not been introduced to discography...my "back" story (use both definitions of the word back there (LOL)) I'll go into in my new thread. According to my surgeon the dynesys was my best bet at my age and the type of issues I have had. And it was great during "recovery" sans the residual surgical pain. I was in surgery for over 7 hours, have 2, approx 12 inch scars on my back so I'm sure it was an ordeal even my surgeon won't soon forget. I remember him telling my family and I that it was typically about 2 to 3 hours...certainly not seven. I believe my particular problem on the table came from having to complete yet another laminectomy prior to the dynesys, the scar tissue that was so prevalent because of previous surgeries and the amount of muscle to contend with at 3 levels.

Anyway - rather than type this all twice, I'll start the new thread and try to be as specific as I can for those that are looking for input and opinion on this procedure. I appreciate the support here - I did a lot of "medical" research on dynesys prior to having the surgery but never once wandered into a forum...I read nothing but doctor's papers, background material, production notes, etc. Honestly I was trying to avoid a lot of patient opinion because I wanted more expert opinion so to speak and quite honestly I was just so ready to do anything that eliminated the pain I almost didn't want to squelch the possibility it held for me.

So again, thank you for the responses...and thank you to the founders here. A lot of people think internet "support groups" are useless but I have to say that the connection here between people, their problems and quite apparent true concern is invaluable - just my 2 cents!!

And please - call me Dennis!