New Member
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 5
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New Member
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 5
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I'm new, here's my story...
I'm 66 years old and have been living with chronic back pain and fibromyalgia for 30 years. Back pain is lumbar, along with nerve pain that has come and gone down one leg or the other and at times both at the same time. Last year it became more than I could handle; I really felt my quality of life was really low, causing me serious depression and anxiety. I did my research/homework and found a top notch neurosurgeon, who then recommended an orthopedic surgeon and they together performed laminectomy and fusion L3/4, L4/5 in December 2016. Since then, the nerve pain down both my legs has worsened. I've gone through phys therapy on 3 separate occasions and have been seeing a pain mngmnt doc who keeps wanting to do nerve injections which I continue to refuse, having had way more than I ever should have had over the course of 30 years. Yesterday I had a nerve/muscle test, EMG/NCV which showed moderate/severe nerve damage from L2 through S1 on the right and the same on the left, L5/S1. No reflex in right knee or ankle. So, where do I go from here? Ortho surgeon recommends I go back to pain doc and see what he recommends. I cannot take gabapentin or Lyrica, or any steroid medication. Not sure what's left? And, what's really upsetting me is I went ahead with the surgery because of the nerve compression; I was told I had severe spinal stenosis and spondylolisthesis and after surgery, the neurosurgeon told me he decompressed the nerves, but they were much worse than he anticipated, that was 11 months ago. And now I'm told I have compressed/damaged nerves at that location? I'm at a complete loss.
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