Person in Severe PainI have been dealing with back pain since I was 18 when I hurt myself lifting roofing shingles from the ground to the back of a pick op truck. It was almost the end of the day and I bent over to pick up a bundle of shingles and I felt a sharp pain in my lower back and i temporarily passed out from it and caused me to drop to the ground. I wasn't able to stand up and it took all I had in me to pull myself into the truck. Well I went to a Dr and they did every test under the sun and said that I had herniated discs in my L3/L4, L4/L5.I didn't want to have surgery at the time and went to many doctors and many back specialists and pain management and physical therapy with no relief. I was out of work for 8 years due to my condition. I went back to work driving a truck for 4 or 5 years until I couldn't take the pain any longer. I was out of work again for a few years and decided to try to run my own business to make an income to cover all my hospital and doctor bills etc, I was in pain a lot but tried to push through it hoping I would miraculously get better. When I came home one day I was exhausted and plopped in my chair and when I did it felt like my back snapped in half!!It was a massive pain in my lower back and started to go down my right buttock and leg. I was hoping that I just pulled a muscle so I waited for a few weeks and it didn't get better. I was unable to sit or lie down for any length of time and I couldn't sleep due to the pain. This went on for until one day my leg and back hurt so bad it brought tears to my eyes and my wife had to call the ambulance to take me to the hospital. Got there in severe pain and they did an MRI and shot me full of drugs and sent me home. I rested some that night due to the drugs, but when I woke up the next morning the pain was back and more intense so back to the hospital I went. They had to give me 5 huge shots of dilaudin to stop the pain. The chief residence saw my MRI from the previous day and said I need emergency surgery because I crushed my L5-S1 and that it pinched my sciatic nerve. I went and had surgery and he removed my L5/S1 disc and as soon as I woke up my right leg and foot was numb and I had a burning and pins and needles that will not stop. My surgery was over a year ago, I've lived every moment with pins and needles and burning and back pain with no relief with any medication. I just went through intense physical therapy for 2 weeks and they said they couldn't help because it was something internal. I've had injections in my back with no relief. I had an EMG that shows I have severe damage to my L5-S1 nerve and they say its due from the surgery. I had a follow up MRI done 7 - 8 months after surgery and the doctor says there’s nothing wrong but I got a copy of the MRI and took it to another doctor and he said I have herniated discs in my L-3/L4, L4/L5 and asked what the surgeon told me he could do about it. I told him the surgeon said nothing was wrong with me. The new doctor looked very puzzled and said I can see there’s a problem that’s showing up on the MRI. Then he said I see in the report that it shows there were some complications that occurred during your surgery and that my nerve might have been cut during the procedure which explains the pins and needles and burning in my leg. I've been out of work for over a year and I'm in constant pain and looking for anyone that could help me. I don't know what or who to believe because the surgeon doesn't want to see me and says that I'm ok while the entire time I'm in constant pain unable to do anything, I rely on a cane to get around my house and I have pins and needles 24 hours a day with no relief. I'm just looking for others opinions on what is wrong because I'm worse now after surgery then before, and I'm afraid to have another surgery because I might wake up and have the same thing happen to my other leg or worse become totally paralyzed. - Person in severe pain
|
