No Pain, But Doctor Recommends Laminectomy! Posted: 11-18-07 02:31am
I have no pain anywhere in my body, but to
find out why I developed a slight limp in
my right leg about 6 months ago, an MRI
was ordered, and it turns out that a have
"lumbar radiculopathy". So a neurosurgeon
suggested a laminectomy, no mention of
steroid injections or anything else.
The nerve root in L4-L5 which fires a
calf muscle is pinched, and the muscle is
atrophying. My brother had extreme leg
pain due to a herniated disc in L4-L5, and
with two shots in 5 years, his pain has
completely disappeared. I guess
excrutiating pain is LESS serious than a
muscle weakness with NO pain! Go figure!
Anyway, I'm much more nervous about
spinal surgery than I was about my open
heart surgery to repair a bad valve last
year! The neurosurgeon said that there is
a 20% chance that the laminectomy would
fail and need spinal fusion.
Is this surgery absolutely necessary?
Should I get a second opinion? If I don't
get the surgery will the nerve (and
muscle) die completely eventually?
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RichT
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 22 Jul 2007 Posts: 901
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Second Opinion Posted: 11-18-07 10:06am
Hello Portwes,
Welcome to the forum.
Without a doubt get a second opinion, and
even a third.
This past March I started to have pain in
my leg which progressed to a tingling
sensation in my lower leg. One doctor
told me surgery may be a good idea, a
second spine surgeon said I needed to have
surgery within 6 months, and my PM doc,
and another highly recommended spine
surgeon said NO WAY did I need to have
surgery at this time. The end of April I
had an epidural injection with a
corticosteroid and within a week the pain
in my leg was gone and is still gone. It
took about a month for the tingling
sensation to go away. END RESULT - The
corticosteroid (doc used Kenalog) reduced
the inflammation/swelling around where the
nerve was/is pinched. No cure, but I have
no pain.
For me, I'm going to atay away from the
knife as long as I can. As long as there
is onlly a little back pain, and I can
function (that means gardening, etc.) no
surgery for me.
Portwes, get those 2nd and 3rd opinions.
Of concern of course is the muscle
weakness and the doctors and best advise
you on this.
Do stay in touch as I'm most interested in
what the other doctors say.
Also, I would invite you to the "Laser
Spine Surgery" thread. A great group of
people.
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littleonefb
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 11 Aug 2007 Posts: 207 Location: ,
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Second Opinion Posted: 11-26-07 14:14pm
I agree with Rich. You need to get a
second opinion and maybe even a 3rd as
well.
I'm surprised that your doc is not even
talking about a laminotomy instead of a
full laminectomy or fusion.
On the other hand, personal experience has
taught me that neurosurgeons are more
likely to do a laminectomy.
I would suggest that you try to find a
sports medicine orthopedic surgeon who
specializes in spines for another opinion,
or just an orthopedic surgeon that
specializes in spines.
I would do nothing about surgery until you
have had at least one other opinion if not
more.
