Spinal Stenosis???

Colleen

Colleen

Senior Member
Location
Pennsylvania
My husband, who's 80, and has always been an active, strong man has been diagnosed recently with spinal stenosis. At first, they thought it might be Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is really bad, but, thankfully, an MRI ruled it out. However, the pain is excruciating for him and he can't stand or walk. He has to "sleep" in his recliner. Yesterday, we had an appointment with a Neurosurgeon and he said my husband has 3 choices: 1) live with it and get on with living in pain the rest of his life; 2) injections, which he said usually don't work and probably wouldn't in his case and would only be a short-lived solution; 3) surgery (Laminectomy at L4 and L5).

Has anyone dealt with this and what was your outcome?
 

Colleen, my sympathy to your husband. I too have spinal
stenosis, it is so bad that the surgeon Will NOT do surgery.,..
They said it would take 5 lbs of metal screws and plates and rods and it may still hurt like hell.....I have only about 15 mins of standing time at a time, and all the pain is stiffening me up...
Also of course i have bad hips and the doc won't do anything about them either....I have been homebound for 2+ years...
Have the husband get more than one opinion please..I had a laminectomy and it only worked for a few years and that was 50 yrs ago!!!!
Good luck and God Bless......don
 
Colleen said:
My husband, who's 80, and has always been an active, strong man has been diagnosed recently with spinal stenosis. At first, they thought it might be Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is really bad, but, thankfully, an MRI ruled it out. However, the pain is excruciating for him and he can't stand or walk. He has to "sleep" in his recliner. Yesterday, we had an appointment with a Neurosurgeon and he said my husband has 3 choices: 1) live with it and get on with living in pain the rest of his life; 2) injections, which he said usually don't work and probably wouldn't in his case and would only be a short-lived solution; 3) surgery (Laminectomy at L4 and L5).

Has anyone dealt with this and what was your outcome?
Click to expand...
I had both the injections and the laminectomy.

The injections worked great, but they wear off and doctors only recommend 2 or 3 treatments per lifetime. For me, the effects lasted about 5 or 6 months the first time and only about 6 weeks the second time. It all depends on the doctor's accuracy while s/he's injecting the chemicals.

The laminectomy was very successful and will last the rest of my life. My recovery time was brief. Had to use a walker but I was up and around in a few days and got around without the walker within 2 weeks. Three months after the surgery I could actually jog! Overall, my pain decreased by a good 60%, and that's a lot.

Before surgery I was in a wheelchair. Today I can run a little, hike a little, play a little soccer, ride a bike... I do have to be careful about bending and lifting, but the laminectomy was a life-changer.
 

Murrmurr said:
I had both the injections and the laminectomy.

The injections worked great, but they wear off and doctors only recommend 2 or 3 treatments per lifetime. For me, the effects lasted about 5 or 6 months the first time and only about 6 weeks the second time. It all depends on the doctor's accuracy while s/he's injecting the chemicals.

The laminectomy was very successful and will last the rest of my life. My recovery time was brief. Had to use a walker but I was up and around in a few days and got around without the walker within 2 weeks. Three months after the surgery I could actually jog! Overall, my pain decreased by a good 60%, and that's a lot.

Before surgery I was in a wheelchair. Today I can run a little, hike a little, play a little soccer, ride a bike... I do have to be careful about bending and lifting, but the laminectomy was a life-changer.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the encouraging story! The Neuro doc yesterday said he didn't like to do the injections because of the short-term results and since my husband is in such good shape (other than this), surgery would be the better choice for him. The doc also said he thought he saw a small cyst on the cord when he looked at the MRI and he should remove it with the surgery.

All-in-all, my husband has been through far worse things in his life and he's a tough old bird...haha. He was even electrocuted back in 1970's. It was work related but he never got a dime from the company. It naturally stopped his heart and he had the skin on his hands burned to the bone. He was holding a boom cable at the time when it happened. The electricity went through his body, out his left hip (he calls it his blow-out patch) and left foot. The ER doctor's couldn't believe it didn't fry his organs and that he was still alive. He had skin grafts to his hands but he recovered. About 9 years ago he fell from a ladder in our garage and shattered his left ankle. He had 4 surgeries within a 10 week period and had sepsis that almost killed him. He has no left ankle bones and he has a specially made brace made to keep his ankle stiff. It was rough for both of us because I took care of him at home. Thank God I had some nursing background.

So, this will be easy compared to other things he's been through. I'll relay your story to him. He needs some positive things to think about. :)
 
Colleen said:
My husband, who's 80, and has always been an active, strong man has been diagnosed recently with spinal stenosis. At first, they thought it might be Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is really bad, but, thankfully, an MRI ruled it out. However, the pain is excruciating for him and he can't stand or walk. He has to "sleep" in his recliner. Yesterday, we had an appointment with a Neurosurgeon and he said my husband has 3 choices: 1) live with it and get on with living in pain the rest of his life; 2) injections, which he said usually don't work and probably wouldn't in his case and would only be a short-lived solution; 3) surgery (Laminectomy at L4 and L5).

Has anyone dealt with this and what was your outcome?
Click to expand...
Have him try Cymbalta. I’m 67 and had similar pain symptoms you described. Specialist ordered MRI and I also have spinal canal stenosis, disc protrusion and other problems. We talked about treatment and Cymbalta is a drug that is a non narcotic and inhibits pain receptors. It doesn’t always work, and can sometimes have unwanted side effects ( like most drugs). So I tried it and wow, I’m almost back to normal and sleeping regular again.
 
Colleen said:
My husband, who's 80, and has always been an active, strong man has been diagnosed recently with spinal stenosis. At first, they thought it might be Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is really bad, but, thankfully, an MRI ruled it out. However, the pain is excruciating for him and he can't stand or walk. He has to "sleep" in his recliner. Yesterday, we had an appointment with a Neurosurgeon and he said my husband has 3 choices: 1) live with it and get on with living in pain the rest of his life; 2) injections, which he said usually don't work and probably wouldn't in his case and would only be a short-lived solution; 3) surgery (Laminectomy at L4 and L5).

Has anyone dealt with this and what was your outcome?
Click to expand...
Well, I have spinal stenosis and several other back issues. I get the shots which work for me. I also use pain creams, two different types and a pain patch. Sometimes I am in a wheelchair but not very often. I’d try the shots first. Laminectomies don’t always work either and, it is my understanding, they can cause other discs to fail.
 
Murrmurr said:
I had both the injections and the laminectomy.

The injections worked great, but they wear off and doctors only recommend 2 or 3 treatments per lifetime. For me, the effects lasted about 5 or 6 months the first time and only about 6 weeks the second time. It all depends on the doctor's accuracy while s/he's injecting the chemicals.

The laminectomy was very successful and will last the rest of my life. My recovery time was brief. Had to use a walker but I was up and around in a few days and got around without the walker within 2 weeks. Three months after the surgery I could actually jog! Overall, my pain decreased by a good 60%, and that's a lot.

Before surgery I was in a wheelchair. Today I can run a little, hike a little, play a little soccer, ride a bike... I do have to be careful about bending and lifting, but the laminectomy was a life-changer.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I can get shots every three to six months depends on my stupid insurance. The rules always change.
 
@Colleen, my mother had very painful spinal stenosis that eventually put her in a wheelchair full-time. Her docs recommended against surgery for reasons unknown to me (at that time she was still managing her medical appointments). Maybe they thought she was too old.

She spent ages 77-92 in constant, debilitating pain despite being addicted to the hydrocodone that the docs freely prescribed to her.

It's unfortunate that she didn't have surgery. TBH, except for dying on the table, her outcome couldn't have been much worse.

I wish you and your husband well.
 
I have spinal stenosis, an hip issues, but I am able to walk short distances at a time. As for pain, it varies and when I have a real flare up, I simply take aspirin to reduce the inflammation and rest. What works for me isn't necessarily good for others.
 
UPDATE: My husband had a laminotomy on 6/21 and he is pain free and his back is all healed up. He had a lumbar x-ray last week and everything is good. Now, he just needs to get that blasted knee replacement done, which is on the 30th of this month, and get healed up from that so we can make more plans to move in the Spring back to PA :)
 
Murrmurr said:
I had both the injections and the laminectomy.

The injections worked great, but they wear off and doctors only recommend 2 or 3 treatments per lifetime. For me, the effects lasted about 5 or 6 months the first time and only about 6 weeks the second time. It all depends on the doctor's accuracy while s/he's injecting the chemicals.

The laminectomy was very successful and will last the rest of my life. My recovery time was brief. Had to use a walker but I was up and around in a few days and got around without the walker within 2 weeks. Three months after the surgery I could actually jog! Overall, my pain decreased by a good 60%, and that's a lot.

Before surgery I was in a wheelchair. Today I can run a little, hike a little, play a little soccer, ride a bike... I do have to be careful about bending and lifting, but the laminectomy was a life-changer.
Click to expand...
I also had both with surgery working the best. I started out with taking pain pills, then shots and finally surgery. Bingo! No more pain since 2010.
 
oldman said:
I also had both with surgery working the best. I started out with taking pain pills, then shots and finally surgery. Bingo! No more pain since 2010.
Click to expand...
That's awesome, Oldman. I still have pain because there's a couple problems they can't repair. But I don't have any pain from where they replaced the disks and straightened the lower spine (scoliosis). Plus, I got back almost an inch and a half of the 2" in height that I'd lost.
 
Colleen said:
UPDATE: My husband had a laminotomy on 6/21 and he is pain free and his back is all healed up. He had a lumbar x-ray last week and everything is good. Now, he just needs to get that blasted knee replacement done, which is on the 30th of this month, and get healed up from that so we can make more plans to move in the Spring back to PA :)
Click to expand...
Great news, Colleen. Thanks for posting an update.
 

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