After back surgery my right foot burns it hurts worse then my back did

Nerves can become irritated after surgery. That causes burning pain and sensitivity in the distribution of the particular nerve (in this case L5, between the big toe and second toe). Swelling, debris, or stretch can be the cause of such irritation. Since six weeks have passed since the surgery, electrodiagnostic testing can be helpful to determine if there is nerve damage.

 

Sometimes, complications lead to a second surgery. Acute, severe nerve damage would be a reason for utilizing this last option. If the nerve is functioning normally, then the nerve symptoms can improve with medications like anti-inflammatories, anti-convulsants, and anti-depressants.

 

Keep in close contact with your surgeon anytime you experience complications after surgery.

Dr. Christina Lasich, MD

WOW!  I had the same surgery on June 4th and then again on June 5th.  I new right after surgery something was wrong.  My left foot hurt so bad.  At first it felt my calf had a "charlie horse" all the time and it was very painful and my foot was tingling and painful.  The next morning they took xrays and did a second surgery that evening.  I sleft for about 3 weeks after surgery so I didn't think much about my foot but now it's been about 6 weeks and my foot hurst so bad.  I tell everyone it feels like a I have terrible sunburn and every now and again it feels like someone runs by me and snabs me with an ice picks.  Sometimes it feels like someone is sticking the ice pick under my big toe nail.  I can't wear anything but flip flops and that hurts pretty bad too.  Today I saw a pain mgmt doctor and got an epidural (sp) shot in my back and he gave me Lidocaine patches to apply on my foot.  I don't know yet if it's going to be helpful but glad to hear I'm not imaging this.  It's caused much stress for me but I'm not letting it get to me yet.  I've always been very independent so it's hard having to depend on so many people to help.  It hurts to walk more then 5 or so minutes because my foot swells so bad.  It feels like it's going to explode.  Sorry to hear your going through the same thing.  I can totally relate.

Michelle in Round Rock

It sounds like you have the same surgeon that I had. Had Back surgery June 6, 2006. Had server nerve pain from my back to my toes that I couldn't touch my skin, My hips, legs were so sensitive to the touch,

Now 2 years later it still hurts to the touch and for shoes forget it I have to wear Crocs so nothing touches my feet my toes on both feet burn like hell. IM going to see my neurologist next week to have some kind of shoes made. Medicare should pay most of it. Hope we both get relief.

                                Donna NY

yea!! someone else with the same problem. sorry for all of your pain but it is so nice to know i'm not crazy.  i have horrible pain in my left foot on top right under my second toe.  the one next to the big toe.  i can't stand it.  i know it from my back surgery.  i had surgery on dec. 17th 2007 and it is now july 28th 2008.  tomorrow back for my 3 shot after surgery.  had a disc replacement 5/1  this has been horrible.  i have had both my knees replaced and had no trouble recoverying.  this back has been a b***h. i just want to feel better.  i'm only 50 and my body feels 80.  good luck all

patty in oklahoma city, oklahoma

Please go to a pain management doc or a neurologist. I had foot surgery on March 23, 2007. Afterward, I had the same symtoms you all describe: intolerance of heat or cold, severe burning on the top of my foot and my first and second toes; sharp pains like an ice pick on on my toes. Even a breeze on my foot caused deep burning. My skin is normally warm but in the eveninings the foot on which the surgery was performed becomes cold and aches. A year later and I wear Crocs. Redness and swelling of both legs go up to my knees and at times up to my thighs and even my abdomen. Sometimes my skin looks blue. I still can't do many ADLs. My diagnosis: Complex Regional Pain Symdrome, commonly known as RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy). I'm planning to have a neurostimulator implant to break up nerve signals from my limbs to my spine. The earlier the disease is diagnosed and treated, the better the results. Google the disease's name to look up information on legitimate medical websites like the NIH NINDs site. If you think you have RSD, contact your doctor and discuss the possibility. If he/she won't listen, then go to another doc. It's your pain and you know if your recovery from surgery is abnormal. Good luck.

 

Nan

I'm reading so many horror stories here! I had terrible terrible lower back pain all the way down to my left foot. I've been through it all. I mean everything!!! The problem I'm seeing here with most everyone who posted before me, is: bad doctors. Get a good doctor like I was lucky to have my surgery done by and life will be better. Best of luck folks!!!

I just had back surgery on August 17th and I also have a shooting pain in my right knee and also feel a burning from the back of my thigh to my calf. I thought I pulled my hamstring because thats the way it feels. No relief from Vicodin, Lyrica or Nerotin.

Any body have any idea of how to get rid of the pain?  

I have had spinal surgery on 13 October 1995 and as a result suffered nerve root damage. I was paralysed for about three weeks and was unable to stand without the help of a zimmer frame. Both my feet were dead and eventually I felt some sensations and I started to wiggle my big toe on my right foot. But with the return of the sensations the pain set in too. There was stabbing and burning all the way from my toes to my bottom and the pain was almost unbearable. I eventuall learned to walk on my own again but 13 years later my right foot is completele numb up to above my ankle and the right side of my bottom and the back of my right thighe. Sitting and walking/standing is very unpleasant, there is constant burning and my foot feels like I am walking on spikes and pebbles. I also can't bear hot or cold water on my foot, especially hot water feels like a burning sensation. I have been to many pain clinics and specialists but there is no hope of ever getting better. I am being treated at present at a Hospital for Neurology and Neurological Diseases and various painkilling infusions have been administered but nothing has helped.

I was told by one Neurologist 13 years ago that nerve ends will regrow the first three years following damage but what doesn't come back in that time will never improve. As your operation was only carried out recently you have a good chance that things will improve, I sincerely hope so and I wish you all the best in the future. Whatever you do, don't give up. I am carrying on with my life as best as I can, I like cooking for instance and I spend may hours producing beautilful food and it seems to help me to cope with my situation.

All my best wishes

Elisabeth

Up date from Racheal I am doing so much better. My back pain is nothing anymore but it gets i guess what you would say tired now and as for my right foot it is so much better the doctor have me to take lycira 75mg at night and it has help 90%. I'M so glad I had the surgery now and it helps to have a great doctor as I did Dr Robert Ingram in Knoxville Tennessee is the best and his nurse staff is great I love them all and now can live a normal life again thanks to him. Thanks for all your story and help along with prayers my are with each and everyone of you all Racheal

I can relate.I had a slipped vertebre due to a birth defect which was a bone missing in my spine. The surgeon planned to put in a cage but change his mind at the last minute. He said it would be too dangerous for me. So he aligned my spine, put in an atificial bone and rods and screws. It's been 6 weeks and my back feels better but the nerve pain in my left foot is getting worse and is unbareable. I can't stand for anything to touch my foot not bed sheets, not even a sock. The doctor gave me nuerontin for nreve pain but the only way it helps is if I take more than the dosage he prescribed. It is the most miserable feeling. It wakes me up at night. The top of my foot is so sensitive to touch and it feels like it has been severely burnt and my big toe feels like I am being stabbed constantly with a sharp knife. The Doctor says to be patient because I had a lot of nerve damage but that is easier said than done. You can't know how it feels until you have experienced it. Does anyone know how long this lasts? My job is wanting me to come back to work but I can't even wear a shoe and with all the pain meds I just don't feel like I can return to work yet.

I had some pain in my right foot but after my 2nd surgery my foot went numb on the outter side and my leg also.The pain in my foot was not cured,only getting worse,after standing a while it burns and hurts like hell.I ask the surgeon  and my regular doctor and they have no answer for me,I had a 2 disrepair surgerys of the L-4 and L-5 then I suppose during surgery my s-1 is messed up.Havent had an mri since 04.I know Im worse,I never get a straight answer so now I just suffer.

I have just been reading all your stories. I hurt my back nursing and now after 6 years i am going to have surgery to decompress l4/l5/s1 with a fusion.I have nerve damage to my right leg with pain,burning down into my foot. I can't stand anything touching my foot my doctor said it is called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy. It is the worst pain i have ever felt and so hard for people to understand. I am only hoping that after i have the surgery the nerve will be fixed 2 as it now affects my bladder 2. I recomend that you ask your doctor's about Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy.

Hey all.  I found this article searching for the whole back surgery to burning foot linkage.  I had back surgery 6 weeks ago and everything has been going great.  I had a herniated l5-s1 disc and it was fixed in out-patient surgery.  I began working this week and after 3 days of work, I woke up one morning with the burning sensation in my left foot.  The siatic nerve was part of my initial injury, so it was expected that I have wierd pains.  I was mostly coming out on the web to confirm the doctor's diagnosis that this will improve slowly.  I was told it is part of the nerve's healing process.  After 3 days of the burning and slight swelling, I have been trying a few different medications to cool my foot, but still about the same.  I will come back and give an update soon, but my doctor seems really good and I trust her.  I was more concerned with my black toenail(also from soccer) being a cause of this symptom than the surgery, but this all sounds consistent with my back surgery. 

 

.. continuing from my post a few days ago, I have reached the deadline adn still have the burning, pain and swelling symptoms.  It seems to have gone down a bit, but it is still pretty painful at times.  My doctor prescribed LYRICA to help calm the pain for now until it fully heals.  I will update as to how that works later.

Ok, 1.5 weeks after the initial burning foot and 5 days after taking Lyrica, my foot feels much better.  I complimented Lyrica with 3 500mg Naproxin and 3 tylenol per day and things are very manageable.  I still have some foot pain, and a small burning sensation, but it is nothing compared to what it was.  I am wearing loose fitting shoes and driving since yesterday.  I don't know if it has actually healed at all due to the drugs, but my small medicinal cocktail has made my stress much less getting so close to Christmas.

 

Anyway, if anyone needs more followup info, just send an email to spam@awd-design.com.  I will try to post an update if things change or I slow the meds down.

 

Good luck!!

On Dec. 02, 2008 I had the same procedure, L-5-S-1 fusion. The scary thing is it's as if I wrote your summary of events. My big toe hurts and the top of my foot feels like the skin was ripped off! My surgeon said that it is unusual but that the only recourse is to go back in and see what is pushing against the nerve. 2 days ago he prescribed Lyrica but I have not seen a difference yet. I will wait it out and see what happens.

Have you seen a difference? Hopefully, since it's been 7 months you are "back" to normal.

Status Update:  I am pratically back to normal now.  I was taking 75mg Lyrica twice daily, but since Sunday I have taken 1 50mg Lyrica per day.  I am trying to slowly reduce my Lyrica until I am done with it in case it comes back.  I have been hiking and enjoying the incredibly crappy weather.  Heh.  I can tell you that I have also been talking someone else through the recovery and it seems like you are right in line with ours.  It took about 5 days for the pain to start reducing.  At 7 days, I was wearing shoes again.  4 weeks later I am now weening myself from the meds.  My Surgeon told me they were not related, but I see a lot of the same comments on the web.  Each person I talk to with this issue it manifests itself in the front half of the foot.  I am not a doctor, but Lyrica either helped or just the 5-7 days of putting up with the pain helped.   :)

 

I will post again once I am fully off the meds, but it is looking really promising now.  The friend I am talking to is having a second MRI, so we can use that comparison to.  All I can say is just hang in there... it is a scary time for sure but there is hope!!!

 

Tony

I had back surgery in 1995. I had a fragmented disk between L4-L5 and had a plate and screws that fuzed the bones. I was cut on my left side about 10 inches and was stapled shut. Within a year I started having a strange thing happen, my foot turned purple and got so cold the bones felt like a tooth ache. I used to just pass it off and my husband would massage the foot to try to get it warm. I began to notice when I took a shower that the water felt warm on my body, but felt like boiling water on my foot. It never got better. I went to a rheumatologist and he said it was "RSD"-reflex sympathetic dystrophy. He referred me to Dr. Kirkpatrick at USF Medical Center in Tampa, FL. He is the leading Dr. in the country for RSD. I had sympathetic ganglion nerve blocks performed by him.   The first block had the foot get warm for a week, then back to cold. I was told if I had caught it earlier the blocks would have been more successful. Sadly, after six blocks the foot no longer got warm at all and is very touch sensative still. I have learned to deal with it. Cold damp weather is a killer! I don't know if this is what you have, but don't hesitate to consider the possibility of RSD.

Well, last update I guess.  I quit takeing the medication 4 days ago and now I am still pain free.  No more burning foot, no more pain otehr than a stiff back now.  I have returned to doing some light hiking with no issues.  Good luck and take care all! 

yes my left foot feels le it has a hot wire wrapped around and spreads my toe thigh tight can not sleep  at six weeks post opp  deep breathing  helps nouro pathic  origin try lyrica or gaba penttln

i had typed in the search engine pain worse after neck surgery. and i found this site. i had neck surgery oct30,08 it is now feb.11,09.  i hurt so bad i can't sit up right but 15 minutes.  i have to lay down, does anyone know why that helps.  when i sit up it hurts so bad an try to explain it to people and don't know how but it goes down shoulders and back, and feels like a burning feeling too, i also get bad headaches.  i tried telling doctor and he won't listen. if anyone can give me some input please. biloxibell34@yahoo.com

I had surgery on January 21st.  I had minimally invasive decompression of L2/3, L3/4, L4/5, L5/S1. When I woke from surgery the horrible pain was gone but my right leg was pretty numb. Within a week the numbness went away to be replaced with a burning on my shin and top of my foot. Also, the joint in my upper thigh has ached unbearably. After a week the doctor prescribed neurtorin, steriod 6 day pack, and more pain pills. Now after 4 weeks post surgery I've gotten better and a couple of hours yesterday I was even pain free. Today the pain was back with a venegence. Why is it intermittent? When it strikes it's horrible. I have a fear it won't go away. Everything I've read it will just take time or not go away at all. I need encouragement! Help!

     Although it is a shame to hear of so many other women in pain, it is a comfort to know that I too am not crazy.  I did not have back surgery like all of you, although I suffer from chronic pain from a head injury from 1996.  The injured nerve affects the right side of my body and I suffer from constant headaches.  I use neurontin and topamax to help me.  I did have a surgery but it was on my foot and I am suffering and have been since last summer, all of the same symptoms that you have been writing about ...the burning, the stabbing pains, the inability to wear a shoe or a sock or have the sheet on your foot...pain shooting up the leg, the redness, the swelling, difficulty standing and walking for any length of time... 

     Last spring I broke a bone in my right foot and after 8 weeks it still hadn't healed.  The doctor operated and removed the shattered bone and told me I would heal in 1-2 weeks. This was not the case and when I asked him why I was still in so much pain after 4 weeks he told me it was probably due to my head injury. He felt that when he opened me up it aggravated the nerves. The burning and stabbing pains were so bad that I was on crutches well into September and finally started driving again in October.  I began physical therapy in August and am still going...baby steps...that is what they keep telling me. 

      They tell me this because just like all of you the pain is such that I couldn't even wear a sock let alone a shoe.  I would get sick to my stomach when the pt would work on me and that was just rubbing his hand across the top of my foot and moving my toes around.  I still sleep with my right leg out from under the covers and up on two pillows.  I have tried to put it under the with the weight of the sheets but it is too uncomfortable.  I put ice packs on my foot and the side of my leg several times a day and the doctor also prescribed lidocaine patches which are very helpful.  He also just prescribed Solaraze Gel.   It must be pretty new because my neurologist and the physical therapists had never heard of it.  I put it on top of my foot and it does ease the pain.  I am very happy to be off the vicodin which I was on for about 5 months.  I am also happy to say that I bought a new pair of sneakers and I am wearing them but just a little bit each day...most of the time the right foot is bare.  I really try to keep the sock on but that even bothers me after awhile. That is why the ice packs feel so good...they really help when the toes are burning so much...

     My neurologist recently put me on Welbutrin because I was getting so depressed about not walking well and not driving and just being in pain all the time...I am 45 with three teenagers and feel lousy that I can't do more with them some days...a lot of days.  Well...since they were little....okay....enough of that...I wrote this to say that the patches and gel are helpful so maybe they can help some of you.  Also...although some days I have resigned myself that I am going to have this pain forever...just like my head pain...I think that it is better than it was back in June and I have to stay somewhat positive or I would truly lose my mind.     Thanks for reading!!  Good luck to all...hope everyone is feeling a little better...I don't know about you but I always feel better in the better weather...right? 

Oh my God!  I am so glad that I am not the only one going through this.  I had back surgery in Feb 2009.  I had fusions at L5-S1 and L4-L5 with decompression.  I am now 7 weeks post-op and am experiencing the same exact foot pain that you all are writing about.  I too cannot wear any type of shoe, sheets hurt, socks hurt.  When I wear flip-flops I have to put a million band-aids on my foot and toes to stand the irritation. The burning stabbing pain is soooo irritating and depressing.  If it were'nt for the foot pain I would be doing great.  I have been taking neurontin since before surgery and it helps a little with the foot pain now.  After reading "cornitas27" stories I am now going to ask my doctor to prescribe Lyrica. Hopefully I will have the same success that she did..  Ice seems to make my foot feel a little better.  I will keep you updated.

wow i have had 4 back surgerys in the last 5 years the last 4  years with with burns in my feet and pain in my legs  and my back.  just will not stop. now iam having skin prodlens on my feet.  going in for #5  I can not ever go back to work i am now disabled and i am 48

I am only 28. i have just had surgery on my L5S1 On June 3rd. before the surgery the doc said i would be up walking after my surgery within an hour and feeling 90% better the next day my husband went down stairs and delayed his surgery to bring him up to see me after an MRI he said that my disk had sliped back out and he would repeat the surgery in the morning. Two surgeries with in 3 days and the only problem when I left the hospital was a numb foot. It was so irritating until the burning started now it is horrific. I cant sleep at nignt I feel like I cant do anything to make the pain go away.

I went in to the have my stiches out yesterday (10 days) and there was one stitch that they had to call a surgeon in to get. He was one that had helped on my second surgery but my regular neursurgeion was out of the office. I told him about my problem and he gave me a steriod pack said that it would take 3 days to kick in and if it didnt help that he would perscribe Lyrica.

I also have this stabbing pain that runs to my toes and causes the burning to be at its worst every time I have a bowl movement. None of you have said this before. I wanted to ask the doctor about it but before I got any questions out he decided that he needed to check me for pressuer spots under and on my breast and after that I just felt so uncomfortable that I couldnt wait to get out of there. I dont know if he just imberessed the crap out of me or if he was way out of line. I ve never had a surgeron talk about how he centered my breast into bolisis (the things we layed on during our surgery) and then started talking about pressur sores on nipples Im sure he was just way out of line. So after reading all of your stories I feel like I have a chance of this going away My questions is about the pain when going to the restroom and if it is some thing completely different

And has any doctor shared his concerns about your breast after your surgery (not sure if all of the doctors give this lecture and exam after surgery) I would really like to feel more comfortable talking to this surgeon if I have to see him again before my doc comes back so i can take care of these issues before they get worse And please understand I am not easy to blush I am In nursing school now. and have been a home care nurse for 9 years. but one on one with a doc discribing how he centers you on a table when you have told him you have absolutely not visible marks on you and he still is asking "May I See" is quiet uncomfortable. Only its not as bad as the pain and burning in my foot and now starting to go up my shin.

I have the same thing and I am so sorry that anyone else has to go thru it but I am really glad I found this site and see that I am not alone or crazy!!! I am a 29 yr old female from East Tennessee. I had my first surgery at 23 in Aug. of 2004, before this surgery I had pain that went from my lower back all the way down to the tip of my toes and sometimes I would have pains so severe that I didn't know what to do. I had went to every kind of Dr possible and they said everything from that I had bruised my hip to that I was just faking. Then finally I got a new family Dr that sent me to a neurologist. He did 1 scan and said that I had 2 disc that were pinching my siatic neve. He secheduled the surgery and when he did it I felt so much better I was practitally running and jumping for joy to be out of pain after 8 yrs of it.

       I had absolutely no pain what so ever and was lovin it. I went back to work and thought everything was great and that I was fixed!!! I was so very wrong though. In Jan. of 2007 my lower back started hurting and I ignored it, it was different from the pain that I had before so I didn't think anything about it and just took more and more Excedrin everyday. At the time I was a salaried manager at a fast food restaurant, and I just thought maybe I was working too hard. By the end of May, I couldn't stand it anymore and got another referral to the same Dr that I had previously seen. After he took the scans he said that 2 more disc on top of the 2 he did microdisctomies on in 2004 were herniated completely out and my only option was another surgery. He said he was going to have to do a fusion and it would take at least 8 weeks to heal and I would have to wear a brace for atleast 6 weeks so that the hardware, screws, and bone could heal properly. He did this surgery in Oct. of 2007 and I knew right after he did it that something was not right, something had to be wrong for me to be in more pain after than I was before. I wore the brace and did everything he said to do and nothing would help the pain. He did an MRI with dye and said that Jan. of 2008 was the soonest he could do another surgery because he thought one of the screws he put in could be causing all my pain.

I was hurting so bad that I didn't care as long as I got relief. On Jan. 17, 2008 he did the 3rd surgery. The very next day I knew something really bad was wrong, my left leg and foot were severely swollen and discolored and I had never felt pain that extreme in my life. Nothing would help and my Dr said he didn't know what in the world could be wrong. He had the hospital do nerve blocks, scans, and pain meds like you wouldn't believe and none of it helped at all. Then one of my nurses told me and my aunt who had been with me the whole time that her husband had RSDS and how it affected him. It was exactly what I was going thru. My Dr said that he didn't do anything except he had to move a nerve and scrape to remove bone growth off of it. After another 9 days in the hospital I got to go home with the RSDS diagnosis. I honestly wanted to die because I was hurting so bad. I was told that Dr. James Wyke at St. Mary's Pain Management Clinic was the only Dr in Knoxville that knew anything about RSDS at all. I started seeing him and had to go every 2 weeks and have nerve blocks and all kind of stuff done. I thought my left leg from the knee down was going to either explode from the swelling or was going to have to be removed. I couldn't walk, couldn't let anything touch my leg or foot, and wasn't sleeping well at all. I was on the brink of suicide out of pure pain. Finally after months of the blocks and instead of regular PT he had me do aqua therapy in warm water. In April I prayed to God that He please just let me die and not hurt anymore and not have to be a burden on friends and family anymore. The pain meds that I had been taking had made me really constipated and the only place I could actually stand to be was in a warm bath, I stayed in the tub for 4 days and when I finally got relief from the constipation, the swelling in my leg was gone and I could walk again. I know that only God helped me thru that part. After that my left leg and foot never got feeling back in them, and I was told they never will. I still had pain and my surgeon said he would take the other side of the hardware out and he did in Oct. 2008.

Now I have RSDS in both my legs, my back is worse than before, and I am in so much pain that it is affecting every aspect of my life. I am trying to get a 2nd opinion from a neurologist, find a pain Dr. because my house was broke in to and they stole my meds I got discharged from St. Mary's, and trying to find a General Dr as well. I see a psyc. Dr and try to make it thru the days. Some days are harder than others but I am losing everything and everyone because of this and it's affects on me. My Fiance doesn't understand no matter how hard I try to explain it, my psyc. Dr thinks that the pain is not as bad as I say, and when the RSDS decides it wants to flare up I never know when, where, or for how long I am going to be parallized. All that keeps me getting up each day is knowing I have a Fiance that loves me and needs me and LOTS AND LOTS OF PRAYER. I still cry from the pain and wish it would go away or atleast lessen but right know there isn't anything that we can do but Pray. I hope the best for everyone who has posted on this issue, I hope everyone can find something or some way of helping the pain, and I will keep everyone of you in my prayers!!!

 

 

                                                           In Pain But Praying: Knoxville

 

hey guys i to had back sugery a month ago when i wokeup the day of surgery my left leg which was'nt any problem before surgery was numb for the knee down and my left arm was numb from the elbow down but i did have alot done i had decompression discectomy and and rods put in at L5 S1 the feeling in my arm came back the next day i still have numbness in my calf but i can deal with the numbness if you know what i mean but after the first month my right foot started getting weird i have needle like pain numbness and burning in just my big toe and the next toe and the ball of my foot glad to hear that others are dealing with this to and your posts have been helpful going to call my doc in the morning and see if he can help .  

I am a 49 year old women who thought she was going crazy! Went to the store and practically crawled in the door today. My husband found this website and showed me all the hits. It made me cry. 

 

I had 3 back surgeries in the past 3 years. I had a discectomy the first time, second was a fusion and the third was all new hardware and a new surgeon with a fusion.

 

A spacer the first Dr. put in had slipped out of place and was sitting on a nerve. The pain was awful...barely able to function.

 

My new Dr. operated on me for almost 8 hours! The first question I remember him asking me after the surgery was how is your foot? He said the nerves were so damaged he had his work cut out for him.

 

I have a lot of faith in this Dr. We had done our homework on him and he is a Very well respected surgeon, and he is Chief of Nero Surgery.

 

After the surgery I felt immediate relief in my lower back;however, the other symptoms I was experiencing was a whole new ballgame.

 

I was admitted BACK into the hospital after I was released...four days. I had a temperature and was extremely tired...exhausted. There were a series of test done, including a MRI . As it turned out I was anemic. I am still a little weak, but getting stronger. I had the surgery July 21st of this year.

 

My problem is my FOOT. I feel like someone lit a match, and placed it on my middle 3 toes on my right foot. I also am very sensitive to touch. I could hit the roof if my jeans just touch my thigh. I too sleep with my leg away from the sheets. I Also want to mention that I had no reflexes in my rt leg prior to surgery and I still don't. I got a charlie horse while in the hospital, and I feel like I am constantly on the verge of getting another on. I can almost feel it there. I cut my socks thinking it would help, no dice. I feel my best with no shoes on, but that is impossible to do all the time.

 

I saw my surgeon the other day and had a laundry list of concerns. He listened quietly and when I was done he said a screw was resting on the nerve for so long it may take six months to a year to heal. I was on the Gabapentin and told him I could not tolerate it any longer ( 900 mg). I was too tired while on it.He then told me he was going to try Lyrica. I take vicodin as needed also for pain. I have been taking 150 mg a day, on my forth day. Increase to 300 in two weeks. I have not felt any relief as of today. I know it is early on but I have been trying to maintain a normal life for so long....I JUST WANT IT TO WORK.

 

The Dr. told me to walk,I have been, but the pain is so intense. I am so frustrated. I have been to pt, try to do my exercises on a daily basis and the pain is still there.

 

I guess I am looking to see if anyone out their has lost their reflexes,if they came back.I also can feel the nerves jumping in my rt thigh! It is a creepy feeling.

 

I am due to go back to work in a couple of weeks and want to go. The Dr. said we have to wait and see if the Lyrica will work.

 

I feel so much compassion to all that are going through this. I know there is light at the end of the tunnel. There has to be.

 

 

 

I had back surgery in Dec of 2003  in L4 s1 and I am still fighting with leg and foot pain more then my back. I tryed everyting that I can think of. even a Tense Units for the nerves. I cann't do half the thing I  used to do in High school. with the pain and numbness and tighing in my leg I am always tryed and weak.

has same surgury on sept 30 2009 L5 S1 fusion from front called anterior lumbar interbody fusion replaced disc w cage have 13 staples in belly when i got home 3 days later my right foot is tender feels like battery acid was poured on it  the slightest  touch  is soo painful .today is oct 11 2009  11 days after surgury and went to er did ultrasound to make sure no blood clots was neg. now what  . I'll call my dr. in am to c what he says . staples come out thursday. have pain meds  percocet and dosent even touch my foot pain hope this dosent go on much longer .foot pain is worst then surgury. glad Im not crazy

It is just so sad that so many of us have had to endure this and we all have been told so many different things. I stummbled across this sight about a month ago trying to figure out why I was having this horrific pain in my right foot if it was just me of if it was common with back surgery and then I started reading all of these posts and I was so discouraged that there was nothing that could be done to correct the issue or alleviate at least some of the excruciating pain. I had, as many of you had, an L5, S1 fusion done and when they did the surgery one of the screws did not go into the bone, it went into a nerve on my left side. They went back several days later and "corrected" the first surgery. I have what I think may be permant nerve damage on my left side which I just resigned myself to live with, it is annoying but not painful. Then about a month ago I started experiencing the pain in my right foot the stabbing pains under my tonails and it felt like someone was taking a Brillo pad and scrubbing a blistered sunburn and my fool ached 24/7. I am on Oxycodone Oxycotin and Lyrica and NOTHING was touching the pain.  I kept bugging my nuerosurgion and kept telling them that the Lyrica was not working. So he scheduled me for an MRI and it was discovered that I had scar tissue that had developed and it was pushing on this nerve. So my Dr. requested that I stay on the Lyrica and that I go into the hospital and have injections into my back to break-up the scar tissue to see if it would relieve pressure off of the nerve. I was skeptical but I was in so much pain and was climbing the walls so how much worse could it get? I was already having to walk with a walker all of the time due to the instability of my left side and now the pain in my right foot. So I went in last Friday for the injections and I will tell you it has been 6 days since the injection and I am starting to have relief. I no longer have the stabbing pain. The burning is a great deal better, it is still there but I am able to get a shoe on for part of the day and I no longer scream every time something brushes my foot. I guess it is more of an irritant than a pain at this point. All that said, I do not know if it is the Lyrica, the injections or both but I am able to sleep for the first time in weeks. I still am having minor issues but it is much improved. I am am happy to give more detail if you are interested. I do not know if this is a permanent fix or if I will have to continue with the injections. My dr. also mentioned doing another surgery to remove the scar tissue near that nerve and that there was some sort of barrier that they could put in that would keep the scar tissue away from that particular nerve. I hope this helps some of you... I felt so helpless when I first started reading theses posts but I am here to tell you that I understand and that the pain is to the point where I can function again which a month ago I did not feel was possible.