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Had Discectomy Followed By Another, Having Sciatic Pain, Numbness On Both Buttocks. Further Surgery Required?
I have had a discectomy, followed by another discectomy and now have two lg. ruptered disc's one above and one below the fusion. Dr has talked about extending the fusion as I am having 24/7 sciatic pain on the right side. The last discectomy relieved the pain on rt.side somewhat, but not completely and am plagued with numbess in both buttocks.Should I consider further surgery?
Thu, 5 Sep 2013
hi
thanks for your question.
yes I would recommend further surgery by an expericiend renown surgeon.
Meanwhile you can use morphine for pain.
In addition physiotherapy would be useful
Hope I answered your question.
thanks for your question.
yes I would recommend further surgery by an expericiend renown surgeon.
Meanwhile you can use morphine for pain.
In addition physiotherapy would be useful
Hope I answered your question.
I find this answer helpful
3 Doctors agree with this answer
Hi
Thank you for your question.
The symptoms you have described are of a problem called adjacent segment degeneration. When a fusion is done in spine theoretically the adjacent segment tend to degenerate faster as a result of increased movement. Treatment for sciatica associated with adjacent segment changes is on similar lines as the primary disease. The options are
1 Analgesic medications like NSAIDS, tramadol or even stronger ones like oxycodone.
2 Nerve specific medications like pregabalin or gabapentin are helpful.
3 Oral steroids like methylprednisolone can alleviate acute pain exacerbation.
4 Physical therapy is helpful once the acute pain is controlled.
5 Epidural steroid injections can be done. These may be challenging to perform because of scarring in spine which can be detected on MRI.
If all these measures have been tried for significant time and not helping for pain relief surgery is needed. It is advisable to delay surgery as much as possible as there will be new adjacent segments after this surgery which may become symptomatic.
Thank you for your question.
The symptoms you have described are of a problem called adjacent segment degeneration. When a fusion is done in spine theoretically the adjacent segment tend to degenerate faster as a result of increased movement. Treatment for sciatica associated with adjacent segment changes is on similar lines as the primary disease. The options are
1 Analgesic medications like NSAIDS, tramadol or even stronger ones like oxycodone.
2 Nerve specific medications like pregabalin or gabapentin are helpful.
3 Oral steroids like methylprednisolone can alleviate acute pain exacerbation.
4 Physical therapy is helpful once the acute pain is controlled.
5 Epidural steroid injections can be done. These may be challenging to perform because of scarring in spine which can be detected on MRI.
If all these measures have been tried for significant time and not helping for pain relief surgery is needed. It is advisable to delay surgery as much as possible as there will be new adjacent segments after this surgery which may become symptomatic.
I find this answer helpful
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