Nov. 14, 2008 had another Neurosurgeon visit , and he is stumped . Had second MRI , EMG , Myelogram , Emg showed nerve root irritation , but everything else he said looks good . I am now on Gabapatein 300 mgm , do not know if this will help. What can I expect ??

I slipped and fell in december and as a result I have a bulging disc at L5 and an SI joint disfunction. I have nerve damage in my lower back and both my legs which was discovered after an EMG. I am always in terrible pain and have to walk with a cane. I have pain in my back
And both my legs constantly. Some days I can hardly walk. I have tried 15 weeks of physical therapy and nothing has worked. I am scheduled for an epidural injection tomorrow. I was Just wondering how effective this will be and if it will make all my pain go away. Also how will I feel after I have the injection? Will I have increased pain? Will I be stuck in bed for a couple of days? OverLl just want to know if this is going to work and if I will finally be able to get my life
Back. Thanks for all your responses.

it is in my neck and then the doctor giving the test asked me if I was diabetic because of something he saw on the EMG, when I said what are you talking about he said "don’t worry I will talk to your primary doctor. What could it be???
Also . what do I do about a pinched nerve in my neck?

I’ve had pain and burning in my thighs severe enough to go on long term disability from my job. (I stand 10 hrs a day there, and standing makes it worse) I had an MRI which said I had congenital lumbar spinal stenosis and arthritis in my spine. I was sent to an ortho-surgeon. The ortho dismissed the stenosis since i’m relatively young – in my 30′s – before even looking at the mri. After looking at it, he back-pedaled a bit, but still stood his ground saying it wasn’t bad enough to cause that much pain. He ordered an EMG, which came back normal since the lateral cutaneous nerve, the problem nerve, isn’t checked in the test. The doc who did the EMG said it was likely meralgia parasthetica in the report.
When I went back to the ortho for the follow-up, he spent all of 2 minutes with me and said he was referring me to a physiatrist since meralgia was a MUSCLE problem!
Should I trust him or get a second opinion on the stenosis? Can stenosis cause the meralgia?

I had an EMG and for=und no nerve damage. I have been in therapy for six weeks and have found some relief but my symptoms keep coming back. The cervical spine is unstable and the muscle tone in my body is extremely poor. Could this be the onset of MS

Had surgury on june 1st of this year and i’m still in pain. My c5-c6 disc was bulging and laying on my nerve. My right hand and arm is still numb and tingling. I just had an emg done on my right arm and the nerve test came out fine. I’m tired of pain! Still i haven’t been able to work since December of last year and i filed for ssd and was denied and now i appealed it. I can’t survive like this- financially,physically and emotionaly!
Yes, I’m still going to therapy. So far i;ve had almost 20 session since surgery.
My after surgery cat scan showed that my cervical fusion was not fused yet. The doctor says its typical since i’m in my 50′s and i can’t bounce back like a 19 year old.

For about 2 months now I have been having pain on the right side by the waist area and back. It started off on the right side by the waist and the back and then now it is on my right leg. I did 2 abdominal cat scans. One showed liver enlgarged and the other (done with contrast) showed normal. At first one of the liver enzymes were slightly elevated but then a couple of weeks later they were not. However the sonogram showed liver enlarged. A few doctors said that the pain can be from a pinched nerve from the back but the MRI showed normal. Can it still be a pinched nerve from th spine even the the MRI was normal? I went to a neurologist and they said I should do an EMG to find out if it is a nerve pain or not. They also said that it can be from the epidural I took when I was in labor for my 4 months old son. The GI said that the enlarged liver can be from the pregnancy. Is this true? I am confused about all this. IF anyone has any suggestions let me know. Thanks.

should i add all dr / medical bills. and physical therapy?
1)dr bills ,000+
2) EMG- ultasound ,000+
3) MRI ,000+
4) physical therapy ,000
5) surgery ,000
more

please help i am doing my own right now. no time to hire a lawyer…only 3 months left .
i am not stingy, my lawyer was, and he did not get what he wnated, so he dropped 2 months ago. i did not know what to do all that time, and time is passing, and running out.
please help how to settel this thing on my own.
it was not my fault, i have 0,000 under insured motorist, and the other driver have at least 0,000.
I am worried to contact the other driver’s insurance to settle, becasue i have no knowledge to how to procceed.

thank you so much, and have a nice day!

am 25 female who slipped and fell landing on my left side almost 1 1/2 years ago. I landed primarily on the hip, elbow, and slamming my leg.

My first concern when I fell was my neck and right shoulder because they were previously injured and I have pins in the shoulder due to open stabilization surgery. I did not have immediate pain but when I woke up I had exteme pain and could barely walk. I went to ER and an x-ray showed I chipped the left hip at the outside of the socket. I was told it may be previous injury but I have never had so much pain in my hip my entire life before this injury. I was not put on crutches until the second week due to the left elbow pain, and previous right shoulder injury.

I was told the "chip" was no big deal and the back could be causing the pain. So I was sent for an MRI of the back and it showed bulging disks from L2-S1, mainly at L4-L5 and a radial tear at the same level.

My treatment has included cortisone shot in the hip without relief. An Epidural Steroid Injection into L4-L5 L5-S1 without relief. A negative EMG and QSART test. Many months of PT to realign my SI joint without benefit. The use of a SI belt without relief due to the pressure it causes and the fact I do not stay aligned. I have seen a hip surgeon 8 months after injury who does believe I can still be having hip pain. I have also seen two back surgeons who are afraid to do surgery because it is a multi level injury and it is not specific what the direct cause of pain is.

Even though I have been told the hip pain is caused by the back it is my belief that I have separate injuries because my pain is in two separate areas and patterns. Around my SI joint the pain goes into my butt and down the back of my thigh into my lower leg to the big toe side of my foot. The pain I believe due to my hip injury goes from around the socket, into the groin area, and down the outside of my leg into my knee and continues down the outside of my calf. I have a lot of pain sitting, walking, and climbing stairs. Usually laying down gives me relief but often I cannot get relief. I have been prescribed 1/2 of 5mg Loritab at bedtime for the pain but it does not give me relief. Many times I cannot walk for more than 1/2 hour or be in a vehicle and even that long puts me out of commission for the rest of the day. I also walk with a limp and at times have to use crutches to take the weight off my hip.

I am looking for any advice or information that may help me with pain relief. I am also wondering if there are any tests that may help in diagnosing the injury correctly
ED TEACH— I can feel my left SI joint sticking out, there is litterally a bump that I can feel and the pain is located around the bump, goes into the bottom of my butt (my sit bone) and down the back of my leg. I also have pain that originates around the hip socket where I chipped it (see other article you responded to) and goes down the outside of my leg to my foot. I get pains from tenderness to touch, to stabbing, to shocks of pain and tingling into my leg due to the L5-S1 injury. They say this is the area that causes the most SI joint pain and sciatica.

fortunately I might have just gotten as lucky as can be because I was given a 9% rating for my back and I have disputed the rating and the doctor who is supposed to give me a new rating is now under investigation for falsifying medical reports to benefit insurance companies, so I be able to get to the one who is not going to hurt me in the long run