Fluid buildup in L-4 / L-5 area?

I ha back surgery last month to fix a bulge on L-5 which was pinning the sciatic nerve. The procedure involved removing the ruptured material in order to give the nerve the space it would have under normal circumstances.. Two weeks after surgery I started having a repeat flairup of the pain I was experiencing prior to surgery which in the past week has come back with a vengence. Last Weds I had a followup MRI done to see if it could reveal what was going on. In talking with the surgeon's nurse today, she says that the MRI revealed a fluid buildup taking place..That my surgeon is on vacation this week and next, but he did get a chance to review the MRI and left his thoughts with her. That if she heard from me indicating that the switch from Gabapentin to Lyrica was not giving me any appreciable relief, that a " nerve root block injection ?" would be the next step to see if that can get this pain under control.

Has anybody in here ever found themselve's in the position that I find myself at the moment? Are you familar with this "injection" approach that he is asking me to consider? What exactly is this this substance and how would this help?

Any feedback would be most appreciated..I'm in unfamilar territory here and looking for any information that you all could share on this....David

[IBKleen]

Hi,

I think you would get more responses if you posted in the back community or the pain mngt community. But you may get someone here that is familiar. I had several epidural injections but that is different.

Best of luck and I hope you find relief from the pain.

[Dav125]

I'll give it a shot..Thanks dear :)

[GoingToMakeIt]

The nerve pain block might help, but be careful if they use cortisone. If you do have to go back in for surgery, cortisone hinders the healing process!

[GoingToMakeIt]

You can also try these forums.

Neurology, http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Neurology/show/135

Neurology/Neurosurgery, http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Neurology-Neurosurgery/show/639

[Dav125]

Thanks friend..I told his nurse I was going to think on this a couple days..I'd like to discuss it with him, but he's out for vacation..The next best thing is asking for feedback here..Thanks again,,David

[dominosarah]

Did you get any responses on the other forums?

[Dav125]

Evening Sara,,yes, I got a couple so far..I need some quiet time though to take my time and read thur the material I have been pointed toward...A little at a time :)

[avisg]

yes for some they can be very helpful. Were you still on the pain meds from the surgery or had you gone off ?

[dominosarah]

I am glad you have some info that you can check out....Hope you are having a good night.

[Cantdothisanymore]

So sorry to hear of your issues. I can;t help with your question but sure hope it all works out for you. I just wanted to jump in and say hey - 39 days for me now and counting.

[Dav125]

I had just started a taper with my primary doctor when everything went bust avisg. So now I'm back on the same meds I had prior to surgery. Rather disappointed here. But boy, if I thought I had pain before, I was mistaken. When it goes into flairups now, getting off my feet is the only way to get it to reverse..The lyrica nor the pain meds have any effect on it when it hits that level..And it appears I'm starting to get the same type of morning hangover from the lyrica that I was getting from the gabapentin so I think I'll be putting that down soon too..Makes it real hard to get up and going not to mention oversleeping.

I did get 2 very informative comments in the pain management forum though. Since my surgeon is on vacation I am waiting on my other doctor to get back with me and give me his thoughts. He has the films of both MRI's I have had done in the past couple of months so I want to see what thoughts he has before deciding what to do here...Whatever this injection is, from what they said over in the other forum, its a little involved but not too terribly bad....David