Trapped nerve

[Janbuck]

Is it possible than an aborted attempt at an epidural could have caused my husband's sciatica-like pain in his back and leg?
He had an knee replacement op and they tried an epidural but couldn't do it so they gave up and gave him a general instead. Since then he has suffered pains, numbness etc in his back and leg. The doc thinks it's a 'trapped nerve', but my husband reckons it was caused by the failed epidural attempts.
Has anyone else encountered this problem?

[PatriciaH]

Yes my sister, she had an epidural 32 yrs ago and has had a "trapped nerve" since then and has been in a lot of pain over the years, she hasnt ever found why, ( not put two and two together ) youve just brought this to light for me so maybe thats whats happened to her all those years ago,they had trouble administrating this but eventually succeded with it - to late to try and prove anything now .... i have had 2 epidurals and ive been ok touch wood , keep me posted on this and i hope he gets some relief soon , good luck xx

[Janbuck]

Thanks Patricia
Pete's having an MRI scan soon which might determine the cause. He swears it was caused by the epidural but how do you prove it? The docs all stick together, don't they?
Sorry to hear your sister has suffered for so long. Pete's put up with it for about 2 years now. We'd just like to know one way or the other what the cause was and get it sorted.
Will let you know how he get's on. Not having the scan for about 3 weeks, after our holiday.
Cheers Janet

[Eve]

I had a lumbar puncture for suspected meningitis (turned out to be a swollen brain virus thing) and have lots of problems after though never said anything as they'd potentially saved my life.

I was referred to neurology some years later due to the pain and lots of numbness and pins and needles and other scary symptoms and initially they suggested MS but brain MRI was ok despite other signs (eg babinski's reflex) and kinda fell out of the loop with moving and things getting a bit better.

Still have a lot of pain but do have arthritis and other things which cause/contribute.

My osteo, when he found out about the LP, said that they see a lot of people who have problems after LP's and epidurals as it's sent the spine into some kind of shock, like a whiplash I guess.

My physio says some of my back and leg pain is caused as a result of problems leading to my muscles round my hips getting really weak and not functioning properly and lack of core strength and stability so have exercises to work on them to help build them back up so that kind of thing might be worth looking into.

[sqad617]

Janbuck........MRI scan is the important point here in that if it shows an abnormality, the symptoms cannot be due to the "failed epidural" as the abnormality would be deemed "pre-epidural"

If the MRI is normal, then you don't have to prove that the epidural is the cause of the symptoms, only that it is "likelier than not" that his symptoms are due to the failed epidural and that will be decided on medical evidence.

It is a common myth that Dr's will stick together, believe me this is not so and given the chance to stab his colleague in the back, he certainly would.

See what the MRI shows.

[Janbuck]

Thanks very much for the interesting and informative posts. Will keep you posted.