s1 nerve damage

[lmcnaug]

My mother was involved in a car accident 2 years ago, for numerous reasons it took over a year for her to be seen by a consultant who gave the opinion that "it is unlikely that her back & neck are related as they came on 3 weeks after the accident" he then turned his attention to stating that her biggest problem is anxiety & mental distress".  Since this time my mother has received physiotherpy suggested by him which helped ease the pain but did not look at the cause. She now suffers from numbness in her right leg and at the extreme in her whole right hand side. Her GP has now (18 months after the accident and a new GP) referred her to the pain clinic for S1 nerve damage discussed in the consultants report and started her on Anti-epilepsy medicine to help control the pain. My question is this, can S1 nerve damage take time to present itself? After the accident my mother was put on strong painkillers which may have disguised the pain is this possible? Can it be a pure coincidence that this pain started after the accident? Can we do anything to prove this? Manythanks

[Tuckamore]

Hi Imcnaug,

welcome to the Pain Mangement forum. I am glad that you found us at MedHelp but extremely sorry to hear about your mothers injury and resulting pain. First let me say that she is very fortunate to have your concern. Bless you.

I am sure I do not have all the information that was available to your mom's physicians. Plus I am far from an expert. That said I cannot imagine what type of  "consultants" your mother saw that said her injury had nothing to do with the MVA because of the time frame. Is your mother involved in litigation due to the MVA? Only that could explain his comment. though even that does not make it right.

I feel like the MVA queen! :)  I was involved in a non-survivable MVA that I survived. Out of respect for time and a better word, "Things" were missed. One of the "things" that was missed was the injury to my SI Joint.  It is my primary reason for disability. It's a very long story but let's just say that it did not present in severity until months later. So indeed the S1 nerve damage could be attributed to injured sustained in the MVA, in my humble opinion.

Proving it will be next to impossible. Had she sought the advice of a "consultant" as soon as the pain began she would have had a better argument. How a year later it could be argued that it is totally unrelated.

I do encourage you to have your mom seeks additional opinions. It is encouraging that her PCP is referring her to a PMP. Hopefully she will at least obtain some relief from her chronic pain which once again, in my opinion is more important than proving the cause of her injury.

Please keep in touch and let us know how your mom is doing. she should feel free to join our community also. I wish her well and commend you for your involvement in her care. Best of luck to you and your mom.

Peace,
~Tuck

[caregiver222]

There appears to be a great deal of mismanagement going on.

Your mother needs to see a specialist in what are called subluxion injuries.

These involve chronic pain that develops eight months to a year after flexing of the vertebra, generally from an automobile accident. They are commonly called "whiplash injuries".

Usually the damage is in the cervical area C1-C-5, but it is possible to have such an injury in the lumbar area S1, etc.

She appears to suffer from sciatica. Do a search on this site and elsewhere for suggestions.