ongoing back L5-S1 problems

I don't know what to say other than you should have been admitted and checked for cauda equina. Everything you read about this says you have to have treatment promptly and I am disgusted that someone presenting with your symptoms was sent home. I hope for your sake the consultant takes you seriously this afternoon. Please don't be fobbed off and actually make him answer why you are having accidents. The one thing I have been told by consultants and physios is that if I ever have trouble going or not going to the toilet to go straight to A&E. I am sure you are aware of the problems that can happen if cauda equina is left and I just hope for your sake they haven't left you when treatment was needed.

Please let me know how you get on and I am keeping my fingers crossed that you are dealt with properly.

Wend x

Thank you for replying wendy. I am very worried as ive heard if left to long cannot be fixed.
I will let you know later what he has said xxxxx

So ive been sent home. They have asked for an emergency mri and will ring me tomorrow with the date. Apparently nothing they can do till they have the results, which I dont believe xx

The mri is the best way to get an idea of what is actually causing the problem. They do need to know what the problem is before they can decide what the best thing to do is. I hope it can be sorted out asap

Oh I understand all that, but they have already got one from only last week, I cant understand why they need another one x

hi karen
mine is a long story but im having falls at the moment due to nerve compression i have no warning it just happens i also have shooting pains from top of buttock to foot can't feel my toes from time to time i lose balance all the time i have to go out in wheelchair which makes pain worse, i had two failed discectomies in feb had them within two weeks of one and other having two level fusion on tuesday im also getting scared as pain is now in both legs and falls are getting worse i apologise i didn,t read your first post very sorry im just in a lot of pain today and morphine and valium kinds of makes me not reading very well i know that sounds stupid, please if you get any worse go back to a and e

love clare xxxxxxxxx

Also karen if I was you id go and mither like hell even phone ambulance then would have to admit you even for pain management don't know where you live but my hospital was very good with me I was admitted just a few weeks ago and my surgeon got me a date for fusion please keep at them just say you're not coping at home and that you're scared of falling with bad consequences keep us informed love clare xxx

also karen sorry im mithering you but im not ashamed to say ive wet myself in bed last night and the other night but im not numb in saddle area but i got told by surgeon that inflammation can cause incontinence while having large disc prolapse no idea how that can be,

but again if i was you id go back to hospital and tell them your not managing pain at home with all your symptoms they should and have to admit you even in observation ward and for pain management. xxxxxxxxx

hi karen 2013,
OMG!!!!!!!, what a way to be treated at a and e, surely you should have been admitted, losing control of your bladder usually means you are taken in, your 1st visit was bad enough but your 2nd, after examinations, surely warrented urgent attention, it's disgusting:mad:, no way should you be waiting for another m.r.i.. some of these a and e are useless, in fact so are many surgeons, when it comes to slipped,herniated, crushed discs, they are so slow with c.t. and m.r.i that by the time they find out the problem its to damn late!, the sciatic nerve by then can be permanenty damaged, and numbness, with horrible crushing sensations. if its a broken leg then its visible and mended, but because it cant be seen its always a long process. then they fob you off with crap medication that never works followed by 'take 2 paracetamol 4 times a day' crap:mad:. unless they truly realise what the pain is really like they will never get rid of it, keep in touch, everyone on here are lovely genuine people:). all the best to you, daveyam.

It is extremely frustrating, just hope the surgeon is true to his word and rings me tomorrow with a date which is not to far away for the m.r.i.
I hate to ask this because it is really embarrassing, and I would never ask family or friends. But does anyone know what reduced anal tone means?
Thank you everyone for your comments, its a bit hard trying to explain to family what its like. They don't really understand xxxx
Yogi, I also have a fusion booked, I hope yours is successful and please let me know how you are afterwards. Ill be thinking of you xxx

hi it's just when they put finger up your bottom and you have to squeeze as hard as you can and if they don't feel any muscle tone then that's what's one of the signs of ces.

sorry for going on last night i was in so much pain and i was obviously symphathasing with you excuse spelling.

and yes i will let you know how my fusion goes,

when i went to my hospital a few weeks ago i went because of my falls and the immense pain i was in and they admitted me and i was in for two weeks had mri the next day i suppose every hospital is different hope your ok

love clare xxx

not long now!

hi clare, well, only 5 days to go and i bet you cant wait!!! how are you today? are you having your op at hope hospital?, if so whats the name of the surgeon?. my pain is so horrible i cant even put a good fitting sock on my right foot coz of the pain, even though the pain comes from my trapped nerve in my back, weird! hope you not feeling to bad today.
take care, daveyam.x

Hi my surgeon name is mr George he's clinical lead in complex spinal surgery I think I posted to you before I think you should get another mri and request to see him my last surgeon who did my discectomy in February was called Mr patel didn't like him he was a very patronising he can't do fusions which im glad. Also I met second surgeon as there will be one at each side he's very nice. Im getting nervous about op as it's gonna take at least eight to twelve hours but hopefully I'll be ok. U sound like there's nerv compression I hope you get it sorted soon. Clare xxx

hi clare, blimey, thats a really long time for an op, having said that at least you know that it's not going to be rushed and every little detail will be taken care of. i've not heard of mr george. i've been at hope for 13 years. in 2001 2 brilliant surgeons called dr spanswick and dr mcdowell fitted me a spinal cord stimulator,(internal tens machine) it worked for awhile but the leads in my back kept moving so it was'nt covering my pain area, i had 2 revisions with the leads to put them back in the right place, this was done while i was awake! every they had to inch the lead up my back,from bottom to top, the spasms were unreal!. after 3 years or so the leads were removed but the battery implant was left in, in case i had to have it done again as the procedure of placing the leads has improved over the years. i cant have an mri coz i've still got the implant in so i had to have a ct scan instead, now i'm waiting for another ct scan but this time with a dye put in me. i had the implant at hope coz they were reluctant to operate after my 2 failed lasor surgeries at the spinal foundation, rochdale which left me crippleing nerve damage:(, which im sure i've posted somewhere on here. dr spanswick went to work in canada an dr mcdowell is at preston royal i think. both wonderfull doctors.up to feb this year i have been having regular epidurals but they dont seem to work now,:( never mind,nothing lasts forever! i have comfort up in my bedroom playing queen albums on my laptop,while my wife watches her soaps and my youngest daughter plays with her 3 month old puppy,he's adorable!

take care, daveyam

Hi yogi,
Just wanted to say good luck for tomorrow. Hope all goes well and is a success. Please let me know how your recovery is going.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

aww
thank you so much karen i will do i'll be bringing my phone in with me and i'll post probably on wednesday just a bit nervous more because of how long it's gonna take but just let's hope it does the job'

and karen im so sorry your suffering i'll obviously be letting you know what happens after and all the information i'll receive so you have a good idea before your fusion.

lot's of love clare xxxxxxxxxxxx

hi karen2013

hi karen 2013, how are you?, from your 1st post i did'nt know you actually had a fusion booked, i thought you were waiting for another mri so they could decide what to do next.. when and where are having your fusion? hope you don't mind me asking.

take care:) ,daveyam.

hi, i havent had my letter with op date yet but ive had my pre assessment. it was on the day of my assessment i had a fall and things became worse.i have got a mri scan for 7:30pm tomorrow evening, to see what further damage has been done. But god only knows when ill get the results of those and get to see my surgeon again.
The hospital where i am getting my operation is north tees general hospital in stockton on tees. xxx

aww karen

hope mri results are given to you soon and hopefully your fusion will be sooner rather than later;)

love clare x

Hi Karen,
I have just read all of your posts and cannot believe that you have had to wait to be seen!
I'm curious as to whether its orthopaedics or neurosurgeons who are carrying out your surgery. I'm guessing from your post that I live in a similar area to you, I have only had a discectomy but was referred to neurosurgery at James cook hospital ,I saw mr prassad.
I do hope that following your MRI you get some answers and treatment quickly.

Em

Hi, my surgeon is an orthopaedic surgeon.
Regarding your referral to james cook, how did you go about getting that.? Ive been told that once you have a surgeon, trying to get referred to another is almost impossible? Xxx

Yogi....
Was just thinking of you and I hope that your operation went well. Get well soon xxxx

Update

Hi, ok so had my mri on tuesday 25th june and was told by the nurse there that my surgeon would be in touch within 2 days.
Got to thursday and i had an appointment with my doctor for my pain medication. He went into my mri scan and was mortified that noone had been in touch with me over it.
I have l5s1 disc prolapse, but i only had half left of the disc anyway as it was removed last year during a discectomy. Unfortunatly its in pieces and digging into my spinal cord which is why im having the problems im having. However was also told that another 2 discs have prolapsed one on the oppisite side and the other just above.
Doctor was discusted and got on the phone immediatly arguing the toss with my surgeons secretery, while he was doing this i had a phonecall from surgeons nurse saying operation will be on the 18th july. But doctor still wasnt happy with that. I am waiting for a call from surgeons nurse again today as doctor told them it was dangerous leaving me like this may have already missed the 24-48 window.:mad:.
My question is now has anybody had a left transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion. I know what the operation involves but was wondering how long is the stay in hospital and the recovery rate. Would love to hear your stories, be it bad or good.
Thanks to all in advance.
P.S Hope your feeling better soon clare. Thinking of you everyday xxxxxx:)

Hi Karen

I had PLIF of L4-S1 two years ago. I had surgery on a Friday afternoon and was sent home on Sunday afternoon. I think I am a bad example as it was way too early. A junior doctor made the decision without even speaking to me or my consultant. I fell down the stairs two days later! An average time seems to be about five days, but all consultants are different. Mine wanted me up and moving as soon as I came round and no back brace, whereas others keep you in bed for 24-48 hours and insist you wear a brace. Check with your consultant at your pre op, I would take a list of any questions you need answering.
Hope this helped a bit.

Wend xxx

Thank you wend
My good god, you have been through the mill. I hope you are feeling alot better by now and bit more like yourself xxxx

Hi karen as you know im still in hospital ive written on another thread tgat wend set up I had lots of problems that didn't show on scan I had pieses of disc lying on my left so basically had nerve damage on both sides not sure if you're aware but op was complicated and lasted 11 hours I also had a lot of scar tissue and my nerves were bleeding im not gonna lie to you but pain afterwards was bad cos of the position I was in I've got awful blisters on chin and I feel like ive got sunburn on front of body. I still can't walk need two helper but my left leg is still feeling like I've got sciatic think im having ct scan my xray looks well all the instruments are in right place think ill be in for another few days. But karen everyday is getting better apart from left leg . Im glad they are getting things done for you u will post to you again I wished you all the best clare xx

And karen please don't be scared just be aware of after pain. Keep me posted ill be better in a dew days a skin doc is coming to look at my chin im so glad my husband didn't take pics they would be all over face book lol . My thoughts are with you x