Pinched Nerve

I just got off the phone with a close friend who had surgery the beginning of February.
She told me she is suffering from a pinched nerve in her left leg.  It is a siatic nerve
going all the way up her leg almost to her waist. When she questioned the problem
with the surgeon he told her that sometimes when you are in surgery for a long time
you can get a pinched nerve in the leg.  He did not seem to want to discuss the
problem so she asked her primary care physician about it and was told there isn't
much that can be done about it except pills for pain.  She is furious.  They seem to be
walking around the point that it is quite painful and has resulted from the position
they had her legs in during the surgery.  Has anyone else had to deal with siatic
pain following surgery, and what did you do?

 Yep! I developed sciatica while in the hospital as well and am still dealing with it. I didn't know what it was at first, but I received pretty much the same explanation. The operating table is very hard and you are in one position for a couple of hours or more. Then during the hospital stay you are mostly on your back. My PCP said its not uncommon with any type of surgery. My surgery was on 11/28, but it is way better now, more of an annoyance than anything else. Seeing a really good chiropractor regularly is what has helped me. I don't see this as being anyone's fault, just a complication from the surgery.

I know any surgery is risky, and there can be complications. It is no one's fault.
I am glad you are better, and yours is more manageable.  Hopefully her problem
will improve.  I don't like to see anyone suffering after going through such an
ordeal.  Surgery is not an easy decision to begin with. Thank you for the info.

A co-worker had DS in 2009. She had the same problem, it went on for about 6 months. She looks great and has no nerve problems now!

It is reassuring to know it can heal. Seems more common than I thought.

 I seem to be having this same issue. I am waiting for my follow up to address this issue.

I hope it goes well for you.  I only had to deal with the siatica nerve years ago and
I remember how painful it was just to deal with stairs. Let me know what they tell you,
and good luck to you.

Ah the siatica nerve...that awful nerve that forever plagues me.
My problem with this nerve was long before surgery.

Here's how the damn thing works.

this nerve runs down along your spine. When your spine is compressed, in my case suddenly lifting something heavy and twisting, it can bulge the disk.
the disk is like a jelly filled donut.

When it bulges, it pinches the nerve.

My pain runs into my calf of my leg.
I know when my calf hurts I've done something to aggrevate the disk.

what makes it worse? Sitting in a reclining position. While I'm sitting it feels soooo much better but in all actuality it's because I am bulging the disk but while I'm sitting the nerve pressure cannot travel down my leg. But when I get up...well that hurts.

When it first happened I went to physical therapy and I was put in traction which helped to alleviate the bulging and thus reduced the pressure on the nerve.
It took a few months for it to get to a point where it did not hurt me.
that was about 6 years ago.

Now only certain things aggrevate it. Being extra heavy (fat), sitting on planes (fat), no muscle (fat).
After losing the weight and gaining some muscle I feel a lot better and rarely have a flare up.

I hope this helps.
Good luck
donna

I was just wondering how common this condition is. I don't have my surgery date yet,
and I don't want to have to deal with nerve damage.  I felt a bit nervous when my friend
told me they wouldn't really give her any explanation.  She is in severe pain and they
are currently giving her pain medication--one pill every hour until they can see how
many pills it will take to help the pain. Kind of scary. It does appear that quite a number
of people have had nerve issues.  You certainly have had a lot to deal with. Thank
you very much for the info.

Barbara