Hi all,

Hope you all had good weekends. I had a great one socially :) - friends we haven't seen for a year visited and gave me the chance to get out of the house and into the real world, but pain wise it was the worst couple of days ever. Talk about putting on a brave face. I did very little walking or standing, no more than a few minutes at a time, but everytime I did, severe claudication started within a minute. Anyhow, this is worse than usual but nothing new.

However, last night, after they left, I had the post severe pains in my butt. The only way to describe it is as if someone was putting a poker (not hot though) up my backside and poking hard to the left (where my problems are). Couldn't use the muscles to do a #2 or anything, but thankfully, once #2 came and went, they (slowly) disappeared. Guess I won't know if this is a permanent development until later today if you get my drift...

Also, I had bolting electric shocks in my right arm for about an hour or so on Saturday (but not since). Praying this is because I just overdid it somewhat and was compensating for my lumbar problems with bad upper body posture and not a sign that I've done some damage further up my spine. I couldn't face that.

Anyhow, should I mention these things to the docs do you think, or are they just "typical" progressions of the stenosis/sciatica with my lumbar probs?

Anyhow, after all this I'm convinced my 2nd injection didn't work again one bit. No relief at all, and if anything worse (although if that's teh injection or just a "busy" weekend, I don't know). I'm now on day 8.

Anyhow, now, after a bad weekend and wanting to get moving on the treatment, I'm confused of who to see next?

I have an appointment to see the consultant (who's actually a radioologist prof at the hospital, but not just a technician..;difficult to explain, sorry) in Mid-April. But he's already said with no relief with the 2nd injection he won't do another injection and I'll need to talk about surgery. He's not a surgeon so I guess all I'll get is an opinion and a referral. I have the latest CT scans (from the inejction) from him, but not a report.

Then I have the neurosurgeon who referred me to the hospital who back in january said to come back to him if the injections didn't work. But I don't know if 1-2weeks post injection is too early to see him (if he prescries oral steroids as he talked about then I assume there's a necessary timelag between injection and oral steroids) and if he'll need a referral/report from the hospital guy.

Then I have the GP, who could surely give me the referal to the neurosurgeon again, but I don't know if he'll need a report/information from the hospital guy.

I'm so confused :confused: Its a bit much for my french to just phone the various secretaries and find out from them what the system is, and a lot to explain in english to ask a french friend to call on my behalf. ANy ideas? Do you think I should just visit my GP to ask him or attempt calling one of the other guys?

Sorry for the long thread and many thanks if you made it to the end..
ALice

Alice if the injectons did not work I would return back to the neurosurgeon personally. He is the only one that can really decide if the next step is surgery or if there is anything left to do. My doctor tried epidural injections, pt, meds, nerve blocks/discograms, MRI/CT then surgery.

If you are having bowel problems by all means bring this up to your neurosurgeon right away. Don't wait until you next appt. Tell the secretary and be very pushy to speak to the doctor if you need to.

I am so sorry you are having problems and pray that you find some relief soon.

They told me if they are going to help you would see some signs and if they aren't to quit at 2. I guess I never had any relief from them so not a big fan of getting the needle shoved in my spine, no thanks in enough pain.

I would say ditto to what diet said.

Hope you get to feeling better!! vettte

When I was having flare-ups shortly after my last surgery, I would also notice increased pain prior to a bm. I supposed it was the bowel actually pushing against the inflamed nerves/area and then when things had passed, the constriction was relieved. I was glad it was relatively temporary but I also slowed down more until the flare-up subsided.