Thank you again as your advice has been some of the most accurate that I’ve received.
I did have an L4-5 TLIF on 6/19/19. Since then, there has been almost no change in my symptoms which are still sometimes worse at night (lateral leg/foot pain, foot burning and pins and needles to numbness of the left foot. The same triggers like standing, sitting for more than a few minutes, and walking on concrete all exacerbate the pain as they did prior to surgery.
I’m told that because I was compromised for almost 2 years prior to Worker’s Comp approving the surgery that it just may take time for the pain to resolve. At my follow up in November, I was told that another MRI was to be ordered with continued PT. My comp company denied payment for both, so I’ve continued the prescribed PT routine as tolerated and I just paid out of pocket for another upright MRI with results pending.
Is continued pain, in your experience, common or potentially chronic in cases such as mine? It was also suggested (again) that it may be my Piriformis muscle, but I have trouble believing that as the symptoms seem like they’re still nerve root related and there is nothing at all that alleviates it including narcotics, NSAIDS, gabapentin, CBD/THC, or a TENS unit. I had hoped that surgery was going to resolve this.
Thank you,
Meri
