How long were you in pain before you had surgery?? - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

babsinga · 10-18-2007, 02:21 PM

Hi,

I was wondering how long you were in pain before you even considered surgery? I have had slow going stenosis that didnt really bother me terribly for a while for the last 4 years when I cough or laugh or strain myself. Mostly heavy duty tingling.

Then a second car accident started a trail of pain ranging from acute , scary and tingly, BURNING and sometime just low grade numbness in my arm. First one and now both. Depends on what I am doing (which lately is mostly sitting)!

Decided after 5 months of pain, meds and needles that I am going for it. 2 level ACDF. Really tired of waiting for it to go away.....

What about you????? Whats your story?

Babs

BobM · 10-18-2007, 07:34 PM

Hi babs!
I see you are still somewhat new to this forum - welcome!

I've had two ACDFs (2004 & 2005) that have fused C4/5/6/7. I trace my troubles back to 1992 and a head/neck injury I had that caused a concussion, but never detected the problem in my C Spine until 2004. I was in pain for most of that 13 or 14 years, but it was never diagnosed or treated. Things took a sudden turn for the worse in Jan of 2004, such that I lost all the strength in my left arm and hand, and that is when my problem was 'discovered'. By then I was so far gone, that my neurosurgeon adjusted his schedule and I was in surgery in less than two weeks.

Some neurosurgeons will operate to relieve pain, but it seems that a combination of pain plus other symptoms (numbness, tingling, atrophy, etc) is what makes surgical treatment less 'optional'. It also depends on whether the neuro problems are on the nerve branches that leave the spinal cord (often call radiculopathy), or the spinal cord itsself (called myelopathy).

If pain is the 'only' symptom it can be more of a choice on whether to have surgery or not. However, there are people here that talk about having permanent nerve damage from waiting too long.

Best advice is to find a medical team you trust, and then go with their recommendations. You can get a lot of info here from other peoples' experiences, but none of us know the details of your case like your medical team should.

Best wishes!
Bob

PS - I was lucky -even after such a lengthy time with this problem, I recovered more than 90% of the strength in my arm and hand. I still have some chronic pain (more likely the outcome after fusing multiple levels, multiple surgeries, etc) but it is so much better now than in 2004

SpineAZ · 10-18-2007, 09:06 PM

The pain started about 3 years before my surgery. Epidural Steroid Injections helped for a while but when the pain got much worse I chose surgery. I think the question is not so much how long you are in pain but the level and impact of that pain (in terms of quality of living/functionality).

Monty44 · 10-19-2007, 05:11 PM

You should really have a talk with your surgeon to see if he thinks this surgery will relieve your pain. My surgeons were very clear that these types of surgery are primarily to stabilize your spine and to prevent further nerve damage. There was never any guarantee that my pain would be relieved and so far, three years after the last surgery, I still have constant and considerable pain. I just don't want you to expect more than is possible. Good luck!

SKZ · 10-20-2007, 09:56 AM

I was in pain for 5 years before I had a 2 level fusion last Jan. I tried every single thing a person can try, so I finally gave into having surgery. I am glad I did, personally.