sciatica and scoliosis

[jayne]

Hi there everyone!

I had surgery (Harrington Rod) 25 years ago, although I'm rather ignorant as to exactly what fusion I had done. I will be applying for my GP notes though to do some research very shortly.

I'm really ignorant on a lot of matters to do with my scoliosis - everyone on this forum appears to be so knowledgeable that I feel quite ashamed that I only know a fraction. So please forgive me if I ask an obvious question:

I've read sciatica mentioned a few times by people who have scoliosis. In the past few months, I have had some bad attacks of sciatica down my right hip and my right leg. It sometimes leaves me feeling very sick indeed and ordinary painkillers do not seem to help. I never thought of a connection with scoliosis, but if anyone could enlighten me I would be very grateful.

Also, I wonder if anyone could e-mail me with recommendations of specalists. I never give up hope that further improvements can be made to my scoliosis, despite the fact it's been 25 years since my archaic surgery. Specialists I have seen over the years have all told me it would be too risky to attempt to reduce my curvature. I was even told a while ago that no surgeon would risk his reputation attempting a correction from the front, and if anyone attempted a correction from the back then it would most certainly damage my lungs as they are too close to my ribcage "hump" to operate safely.

I know that specialists here in the UK do not necessarily have the experience or amenities available to them that specialists in the USA may have. So - I would be really grateful if anyone could e-mail me with names of surgeons and where they are based, so I can draw up a list, investigate and come to some positive conclusions.

I don't really want to give up on this one, but I know that I have to explore EVERY POSSIBILITY before I do.

Thanks everyone!

Jayne

[LindaRacine]

Hi Jayne...

Please don't be ashamed of how little you know about your scoliosis. We were all that way or one time.

I think that the reason we have sciatica is that one of the discs in our lumbar spine are being pushed against the sciatic nerve root. I think that in people with previous long spinal fusions, the problem is usually below the original fusion. Before my own scoliosis surgery, I had several bouts of pretty severe sciatic pain. In the past few years, I've started having light sciatic pain. Since I know from x-rays that my L3-L4 disc is shot, I'm guessing that's where the problem lies.

If you have questions about spinal anatomy, here's a good resource that should be helpful:

http://www.spine-health.com/dir/spine.html

Regards,
Linda

[jayne]

Thanks Linda

Every piece of information I receive is going to be really helpful to me as I put together some research material.

Jayne