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Continuing upper back and neck pain 7 months after surgery

Posted , 4 users are following.

mark1225
mark1225

Hi again,

first, thanks to everyone who replied to my post last month. 

So frustrated. Still dealing with chronic upper back and neck pain, now seven months after surgery for Cauda Equina Syndrome.

In February I saw my surgeon and a physiatrist. They both believe that my ongoing back pain is due to the nerve damage in my left leg and hip and in particular, my glute muscle. This muscle (in the buttock) helps stabilize when I walk and because it is weak I am recruiting other back muscles to do the job. It is also a very large muscle and would take the longest to recover from nerve damage (if it recovers 😡wink.

That is the theory they are going with, anyway. I'm not entirely convinced. The explanation makes more sense with the ongoing lower back pain, but I don't understand why my neck and upper back have also been stiff and sore off and on for five months now (the neck pain actually started when I was still an outpatient in physio back in October 2017...the physiotherapist gave me some stretches back then and it went away until December 2017).

I am interested in what the MRI shows, but I have to wait until mid-April for that.

Again, I really appreciate people's feedback. There is so little information out there about how CAS people do post-surgery. Even the physiatrist here in Vancouver (a city of over a million) had only seen a couple of CAS patients. I could write a whole other post on how frustrating it has been to get doctors to take seriously my continuing back pain and another post on trying to get sone income support from the government. I feel like that guy in the movie "I, Daniel Blake"!

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • chrioli
    chrioli mark1225

    Posted

    Mark, I believe it’s best to get over dr responses and focus your attention on what’s going on, keep telling what you are experiencing and someone will eventually listen. I was made to feel like I was crazy till I saw a pain specialist. He reordered an mri and long story short version I have 5 bulging discs with one still at the surgical site for CES. My back is jacked  but it’s the permanent injury due to CES that I find hard to handle. Best of luck
  • mark1225
    mark1225

    Posted

    All good advise. It's finding that balance between staying positive and fighting to get your pain taken seriously. 

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