[Rehabilitation / Postoperative Spine Surgery Questions] Distraction pain

[dagmountain]

Hi everybody-

I just had a three level lumbar adr surgery about three weeks ago and the last three days I've been expriencing a burning sensation in my legs. Can anyone give me an estimate as to when this might subside? Thank you in advance to anyone who responds to this post.

-David

[KBear]

David- I'm thinking I had leg/hip pain for 3 months or so after surgery. I had never had it before, so it knew it was from surgery; but it has since healed completely.

[Katie]

Hi David,

I had this on and off for a few weeks post-op. It started about day four and while annoying, mine wasn't 'bad' like pre-op pain, certainly very different. I think it was gone within a month.

If I hadn't learned about it here beforehand, I'm sure I would have been very worried and upset. I hope it goes quickly for you.

[Justin]

Hi everybody-

I just had a three level lumbar adr surgery about three weeks ago and the last three days I've been expriencing a burning sensation in my legs. Can anyone give me an estimate as to when this might subside? Thank you in advance to anyone who responds to this post.

-David

After my 2-level artificial disc replacement surgery, I had distraction pain for ~ 4.5 months.

[Cindylou]

After my 3 level lumbar adr's, I had distraction pain about as long as Justin. It was nasty.

[WPKat]

Hi everybody-

I just had a three level lumbar adr surgery about three weeks ago and the last three days I've been expriencing a burning sensation in my legs. Can anyone give me an estimate as to when this might subside? Thank you in advance to anyone who responds to this post.

-David

David,

I had 2 level ADR surgery 10 weeks ago today. Distraction pain for me feels like a strong stretching/aching sensation in my lower back radiating downwards; which definitely increases with activity but is less of an issue now than shortly after ADR surgery. The severe leg pain I had before surgery was for the most part gone. However, recently I started waking up in the middle of the night in sigificant pain that was radiating into my legs. At the same time, my pain levels started creeping upwards during the day and I was experiencing an intense achiness that refused to go away for long.

After communicating with another ADR patient who was a month ahead of me, I decided to try Gabapentin again. The affect was immediate and dramatic. I feel so much better now! The intense achiness is all but gone, my pain levels dropped quite a bit, I am sleeping well and my activity level has increased quite a bit. While I still do have "pain episodes" during the day; they are coming fewer and farther between with less severity overall.

Before ADR surgery, my nerve pain had manifested in severe leg pain. Since that was all but gone, I did not realize that the pain I was experiencing was related at all to my nerves. After my first back surgery in March of 2009, however, my local surgeon had said that it could take up to a year before my nerves settled down. And it also makes perfect sense, since my spinal nerves were severely pinched on multple levels for quite some time before ADR surgery. Personally, I am just relieved that Gabapentin does such an excellent job relieving my pain.

I am taking between 1500 to 1800 mg of Gabapentin every day. Since going back on it, I have been able to get by on just 10 mg of Vicodin a day most of the time. I also started taking 1600 mg of Ibuprofen a day in the hopes of one day being able to completely wein off the Vicodin. I prefer to be on Gabapentin rather than Vicodin, especially when it does a better job of relieving my pain.

I am not sure if my experience will help you, but it's food for thought anyway.

K

[Cindylou]

Kat,

Did your doctor prescribe the 1600 mg of Ibuprofin a day? Either way, I would be getting regular blood tests to check your liver function....that's alot of Ibuprofen. Just my 2 cents. Glad the Gabapentin is helping control your nerve pain so well. :thumpup:

[dalhousie]

I've been reading this thread over the last few days to see what other peoples' experiences are. I had single level ADR 16 months ago in the UK. At 12 months I managed to reduce my meds to 20 mg Amitriptyline at night but shortly after that aggravated things big time by eating out & sitting on a wood chair without any cushioning. Since then I had to go back on Lyrica & increase my Amitriptyline. Pain-wise I felt I'd gone backwards by 6 months.

Three months on it has improved a bit since then but is still pretty bad especially today. It's so darned annoying. At 16 months post op I do start to wonder if I'm ever going to be free of it but I've read on here that a patient was told it can take up to 2 years to go so there's hope yet .

Quite a few people (especially in the UK) seem to have it in their legs but I've only ever had it in my spine.

[dagmountain]

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences with distraction pain. Alerts of your posts were not sent to my e-mail so I apologize for the late thank you's. The distraction pain has left my right leg and is now only in my left foot, it feels like pins and needles. I am taking 150mg of lyrica a day but if the pain doesn't subside in a week I've been advised to get a lumbar x-ray to send over to Germany. I'm really nervous about implant migration although I think my mind is playing tricks on me.

[WPKat]

Kat,

Did your doctor prescribe the 1600 mg of Ibuprofin a day? Either way, I would be getting regular blood tests to check your liver function....that's alot of Ibuprofen. Just my 2 cents. Glad the Gabapentin is helping control your nerve pain so well. :thumpup:

Cindylou,

You bring up an excellent point. Back when I was taking a lot more daily pain medication and Ibruprofen, my ALT level came back slight elevated. I immediately stopped taking the Ibruprofen and a few weeks later, my ALT level went back to normal. No worries on my account, because during my appointment next week I plan to ask for another test to be sure.

Although I am aware of the risks; some folks may not be. A lot of pain medication contains Tylenol. There is a limit to how much Tylenol and/or Motrin (Ibruprofen) you can have in a day without adversely affecting your liver. If you are taking pain medication, you should periodically be tested to make sure your levels stay within the norm.

Thanks for bringing it up!

K