Question
I had s1 l5 fusion 4 month ago and been it alot of pain in the lower back area and bad pain in my feet,cold as ice up to the knees,loss of feel and numbess up to my knees.  DR. told my wife that some nerves were tangled up and surgery took solong 51/2 hrs. That night i could tell something was wrong with my right foot it hurt loss of feelinng  and now it both feet and get worst.  Saw me to day and he took x-rays and show me that verything looked fine to him. He told me i don't know what wrong from his exam something going on but he a surgen and he see it he fixs it and he fix by back and he can not do anything about this and that i need to see another dr. Is can this happen from fusions and got idea to ;point me in  direction as what kind doctor to see. thank steve

Answer
Hi Steve,

Unfortunately your case is all to common, spine surgery rarely if ever turns out do to an infinite amount of possible screw ups and scar tissue proliferation. I would immediately go get therapeutic ultrasound treatments to break up the scar tissue and speed healing, then I would see a Chiropractor with a flexion/distraction table indicated for post-op failures.
Then I would go to the local Walgreens and get an OTC bottle of glucosamine sulfate with MSM and take 3 grams a day to ward off osteoarthritis. I would then back it all up with a neurologist and possibly sue the doctor if the surgery was done without first having decompression or flexion/distraction therapy done first.

This works in 87-99% of the HNP cases and avoids surgery altogether. That is still no ethical reason not to inform the patient of a safe, proven, extremely effective and FDA cleared method of treating disc herniations just so he doesn't loose a surgery.
If he left that out and only suggested certain failed techniques such as epidurals and rehab then I would get litigation involved.
They get away with this far to often, not so in Illinois.  Other states seem to be run by the AMA, neuro and orthopedic surgeons with a license to maim, kill, disfigure, disable and permanently ruin lives.

The ultimate insult is the bill!

Good Luck!

Dr. Timothy Durnin