Extreme Fatigue After Decompression

[lindseyk221]

Hi everyone! I'm 9 months post-op (decompression, laminectomy, and duraplasty). I was wondering if anyone else has dealt with extreme fatigue AFTER their decompression. I was not really affected by fatigue before my surgery, but over the past 9 months it has slowly gotten worse and worse. I'm only 20 years old and have absolutely no energy. I am not depressed or on any medications that would make me tired. I sleep 8-10 hours every night and take a few hour and a half naps a day. It has gotten so bad that it brings me to tears all the time. I hate being so tired all day long no matter how much sleep I get, it's absolutely miserable. I still get headaches occasionally, but they aren't too bad. Has anyone else had this problem or anything similar? I would love to know that I'm not alone in this.

Lindsey

[selmaS]

  lindsey, you should have had MRI's of the thoracic and lumbar spine done to rule out disk issues, Syringomyelia, and tethered cord......AND yes, a MRI at some point post op to make sure all is well....depending on how the patient is doing can determine at what point post op that MRI is done.....mine was at 1 yr post op while others may have it at 6 months....

It is very important to rule out related conditions as they can affect how you recover from this surgery.....and if you might need more surgeries.....

Syringomyelia is one that is caused by the disruption of CSF..this forms a cyst like sac to form and it can grow slowly or rapidly causing compression of the nerves....left untreated it can cause perm nerve damage. The main treatment they do is the decompression surgery with hopes the syrinx shrinks, but it would need to be monitored.....

POTS, sleep apnea, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, CCI, ICP, are a few others we should rule out.....

The hairy patch is often a criteria for tethered cord...not spina bifida...but I have a sacral dimple no hairy patch and I do have tethered cord...so just looking for that does not give a complete picture as to what is going on

Spina bifida is a related condition and most times is when an area of the spinal cord does not close....but is also found with MRI even when there is no opening.....so more testing would need to be done to rule this out.

[lindseyk221]

Hi Selma, thank you for your response. I wasn't really tested for any other conditions. My neurosurgeon ruled out spina bifida because he did not see a hairy patch. But other than that he did not discuss any other possible conditions. I only had the CT and MRI of my brain before my surgery. Should he have scheduled another CT to see how my brain now looks after surgery? Or should I have had scans of my spine done?

[selmaS]

  Hi Lindsey and welcome back ! So sorry you are having this issue...I did have fatigue b4 and continued to have it as well post op...

Did you have related conditions ruled out b4 your surgery? It is possible that post op another underlying condition was triggered and is in a flare...could be why you have the fatigue....