numbness after cervical spine surgery - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

Nennie · 08-20-2006, 10:34 PM

Hi, I had lamenectomy on C-5, C-6 on 7-12-06. After my surgery I had alot of numbness and weakness, especially on my right side. It has gotten better but I still have alot of numbness in my right hand, arm, and side. I also have alot of stiffness on my entire right side. I had NONE of these symptoms before surgery. It was a have-to situation as the blood flow in my spine was being compromised and I was starting to get clumsey. My NS says it will all go away and I will be 100% but that it will take a while. They did an MRI after surgery because of the symptoms and said everything looked great. Has anyone else had this problem??? And if so how long till it got better? All that was done was part of my vertebra which was deformed was taken off. They didn't have to do any fusion. Please Help, this is kind of scarey.

Thanks so much, Nennie

mthu2189 · 08-20-2006, 10:40 PM

Hey there Nennie

I would say the neuro surgeon is right, all things like that take time to heal. Due to the spinal cord being compressed it obviously was pushing on the area of your right side, and that would be why you have the numbness etc, but the nerves can heal themselves, slowly but it is possible, chin up and be confident that you will heal, our body is amazing, it just takes nerves a little longer.

sunshine221 · 08-21-2006, 06:32 AM

I'm one of the few laminectomies posting here. My surgery was 9-2-05 so I'm coming up on one year. My symptoms sound similar to yours. I went to the doc because my walking gait was off and I didn't even realize how weak my right side had been getting. My surgery was considered "urgent" and was done within three weeks of diagnosis. After surgery I had some numbness, twitching of fingers, etc. that I don't remember having before surgery. I took about 10 months for it to 90% go away. (My gait is still off, might be permanent damage at this point, but other symptoms are significantly improved.)

Hang in there. I played 9 holes of golf yesterday and I'd like to try tennis, but I'm a bit worried about the stress of hitting the ball causing tremors.

My understanding with a laminectomy is that it "frees" the cord to move and that can cause intermittant problems. Also, the results aren't as immediate as people see with an ACDF.

I'll try to watch for your posts.
-Gloria

jentaylor728 · 08-22-2006, 04:07 AM

Hi,
It's good to hear that it will eventually go away!!!

I'm experiencing symptoms very similar to yours also...It's been 5 months since c5/c7 ACDF....In addition to right sided numbness, I'm now having the following symptoms...my entire head is numb, I'm now experiencing pins and needles, and some very brief, very intense head pain....

The neurosurgeon referred me to a neurologist...I just had a lower back MRI and an EMG (nerve testing on the right side of my body).....he also told me that my pre-op brain MRI showed some ischemic abnormalities on the right side of the brain, but he attributes that to age (I'm ONLY 41!!).....that kinda scares me!

I go to see him for test results in 2 days. Here's hoping for good news!!

Have a wonderful day!
Jennifer