sorry your having such nerve pain issues....that sucks....hope you do the next right thing....

I'm probably stating the obvious. Are you seeing a psychologist who has experience with pain patients in addition to depression? How about a sleep study? This was a tremendous help to me. Have you applied for SSI? You have too much to cope with to not get lots of support from a variety of specialists and a wide group of supportive friends, support groups etc...I would get more than two opinions from Neuro docs, considering this type of surgery is a big step. Who knows, maybe the third doc will have a solution that others haven't considered.

Just sad that you are going through such a difficult ordeal.

I have chronic nerve damage in my face from traumatic fractures, bone infection and many surgeries. I can very much relate to what you are saying, even though it is a completely different body part.
My denervation is diagnosed strictly by physical exam as there no nerve conduction study for my type of problem.
I had surgery ( 1.5 years after injury ) to debride and decompress facial nerve which greatly improved my pain and muscle strength, but it took at least 4 months to start noticing any change.
I ve done extensive research on nerve damage and what i know about is that the outcome depends on several factors - length of compression time and severity ( the longer and the harder compression is, the lesser chances of recovery). Also, the nerves are wrapped in at least 2 layers of tissue and micorneurosurgeons are able to actually open up the outer layer and look under microscope millimeter by millimeter to examine if the nerve is dead or alive and whether reconstruction is possible. In some cases nerve grafting is possible and the nerve can regenerate almost completely.

When i worked for a neurosurgeon group, many of our patients who had neck or thoracic surgeries were able to recover their nerve function and later muscle function after surgery. Once the nerve was decompressed, in most cases it came back to function, for some only 50% , for others 90 to 100 %.
I know from my experience that when the nerve is decompressed it hurts like a son of a bitch.. I thought the surgery didnt work at first because the pain was so bad. Then later on, creepy crawly sensations began and my nerve started to regenerate and pain, weakness and numbness subsided.
One surgeon told me that because of my condition the damage will be permanent, but i beat all the odds!
I will never be 100% but i ve certainly come a long way.

So, my thoughts are - go to several surgeons to talk about this. I even drove to Boston Medical in another state to see a microneurosurgeon and it was a really good experience.

I hope you feel better and hope you get the care you need.

I'm sorry your suffering so much too. I was the same as you, 2 discs in my lower back herniated then collapsed and they were hitting nerves all the time and I had bone on bone. After getting 4 different opinions I had to have surgery, not only because of the agonising pain but because I was on the verge on permanent damage and ending up with bladder and bowel probs.

so I agree with others about talking to more docs and, if you do have surgery, ask the surgeon about the risk of the surgery itself causing nerve damage. I was told before my op that I might end up with a small patch of numbness on my thigh but I ended up with extra permanent nerve damage in my leg that is slowly spreading and means I still have chronic pain. I'm not saying this scare you, apparently this is a known risk, but I was totally unprepared for it and its taken a big psychological toll. Good luck! I hope another doc can help or suggest alternatives to surgery for you. Keep us posted on how your going.

my advice is one day at a time

one check mark at a time

You can never stop trying to get better, or you roll over and die. Yet, you can never set your hopes that this next thing is going to fix it. Now, sometimes the next thing does fix it, at least for a little while, but on the chance that it doesn't your heart can't take being broken that many times.

so take it one day at a time

one check mark at a time

yadlim

Interestingly enough Denervation is typically a treatment/surgical intervention to help cure neuropathy (nerve pain).

Has your Neuro tried you on any of the Meds that are used to treat Nerve Pain, such as Cymbalta, Neurontin, Lyrica, etc. Many people get relief from these classes of meds as most neuropathy does not respond to narcotics/opioid's.

If you haven't tried any of these it might be something to talk to your Dr. about, see if you can get any relief.

As for the Depression, as you most likely know it's fueled by the lack of steady sleep, constant pain, loss of ability to be productive (working), like you said a vicious cycle. Seeing a Psychiatrist or Psychologist to get some help learning coping skills to deal with all these things or try an anti-depressant to help, would probably be a good move in the right direction for you.

Handling all these stressful things and trying to keep your mood in check is just really hard and sometimes just having someone to unload it on and get advice on how to deal with the different stressful things that have become a part of your daily life can be a big help.

As someone else suggested there are Pdocs (psychiatrists) and Tdocs (psychologists) who work specifically with Chronic Pain patients. If you have someone like that in your area they'd probably be a good place to start. If you don't a regular Pdoc or Tdoc have the tools/skills to help you with these problems as well.

I hope things lighten up and your load lessens....

Kat

Thank you every one for ur valuable inputs .. much appreciated
Underwent needle ENMG , needle jabs all over
hardly able to type :( , will post my detailed version shortly and seek ur advice again


Thanks again and warm regards

hugs and strength!!!!