Re: Hi!/Cheryl in AZ

[Guest guest]

You mentioned peripheral neropathy and that your feet were numb. We just came

home from the neurosurgeon who said my husband had spinal stenosis and something

about his peripheral vein. He cant move his feet and cant walk at all.

The dr sent him for additional x-rays of his spine and we have to go back on

Friday. He indicated surgery. He works with another dr who he conferred

with. Would you get another opinion.

I'm just wondering if they will suggest to do this immediately before it gets

worse. He's not in any pain. Any advice would be appreciated.

--------Cheryl in AZ moderator wrote:

About a month ago my " good " foot/leg became completely paralyzed because of what

turned out to be a peripheral neuropathy in my knee - it has recovered a lot,

but I'll always have some loss there too now. The sad truth is that I was always

clumsy, so I can't blame all the tripping and stumbling on my feet! <gg>

Hope you find this group helpful.

[Guest guest]

--- Nineteen2@... wrote:

>

> You mentioned peripheral neropathy and that your feet were numb.

We just came home from the neurosurgeon who said my husband had

spinal stenosis and something about his peripheral vein. He cant

move his feet and cant walk at all.

>

> The dr sent him for additional x-rays of his spine and we have to

go back on Friday. He indicated surgery. He works with another dr

who he conferred with. Would you get another opinion.

Hi Nineteen -

I'm sorry to hear about your husband's problems. I've never even

heard of a " peripheral vein, " so I'm sorry I can't offer any

insight. My most recent problem was due to damage in a very specific

nerve in my knee - the peroneal nerve - not due to anything in my

back like my stenosis. They did assume that it was my back at first

(they thought a disk had herniated) and were intending to do surgery

immediately to try to recover movement in the foot, but they were

completely wrong! Thankfully I didn't go through with the surgery -

that would have been tragic.

So, I would *definitely* get a second opinion before going through

with any back surgery. If all they've done are x-rays, that's not

enough. I'm not a doctor, but in my own experience they should have

also have MRIs, possibly a catscan, and an EMG-Nerve Conduction Study

to help diagnose the exact location of the damage.

They actually put me in the hospital for four days of testing etc

with a bunch of different doctors - neurosurgeons and neurologists

both - working on diagnosing my case I became suddenly completely

paralyzed in one leg/foot. I'm frankly surprised they aren't treating

your husband's case more as an emergency like they did mine. Has he

been this way long?

If it came on suddenly, if he is actually completely paralyzed and

not just numb, and/or if he is having bladder/bowel problems as well -

those are all signs that this is an emergency situation. But don't

let that stop you from getting a second opinion - even in the

hospital you can request another opinion and they can bring in

another surgeon to look at the films independently of the first.

Good luck. I hope you find answers soon.

Cheryl in AZ

Moderator