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Member
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paininfoot
So for 12 months I have had excruciating pain in my right foot. MRIs showed there was nothing wrong with the foot itself - my GP then thought it might be a peripheral neuropathy but seeing as the main causes of this are diabetes and alcoholism and I don't have either then this is unlikely . I then saw a pain specialist who said that the cause was in my back as a lumbar MRI showed an L5 S1 disc herniation. I had a series of four nerve blocks/ steroid injections into L5 S1 and three of these relieved the foot pain completely ( temporarily). It came back and last week I had a discectomy on L5S1 but this has done nothing for the foot pain - it is still there as strong as ever. My question is : were they on the right track saying the source was in the nerve root ( as evidenced by the success of the nerve blocks) or could this pain have a local cause in the foot itself ??
I have never heard of anyone getting peripheral neuropathy in just one foot have you ?
Does the success of the nerve root blocks 100% confirm that the cause is in the nerve root or could a nerve root block stop pain that has a source elsewhere ???
I am very confused as to what the success of a nerve root block actually shows ??
Thoughts please !
Many thanks.
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Frustrating, I know. Successful ESI in your case strongly suggest root problems so that combined with a positive MRI and favorable blocks make a discectomy a reasonable consideration. A lesser thought would be post-surgical CRPS. Diabetic neuropathy should be evident with proper lab evaluation. Might want to check in with an endocrinologist to complete your work-up. Since you have no surgical resolution, a follow-up MRI with contrast looking to differentiate between recurrent disc hernia vs. scar tissue would be prudent. Perhaps even repeat EMG/NCV and even add SSEP's. Good luck!
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