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9 replies

Lower back pain with lack of feel in right leg

D darealfooMember
Hello everyone,

First of all I want to say this site has been a godsend during all these changes that are happening in my life. Quick background: I was diagnosed with proctitis in 2007 while in high school; didn't take it seriously and only took mesalamine for a few months before resuming my life. My life really changed May 2011 when things got bad. My hemoglobin dropped below 5 and I was diagnosed with pancolitis. After a year of trying combinations of mesalamines, prednisone, 6mp, and remicade, I gave up and opted for a J-pouch. Just had to get through my final year of college (hope that didn't make things even worse!!) So finally this summer, I started the journey. Had the subtotal colectomy in May and the J-pouch construction with proctolectomy just two weeks back. Step three hopefully in October. Things after Step 1 were great. I felt better than I had in over a year. Was on my feet again in 2 weeks and back on the tennis court in 4 weeks. Step 2 is a different case. With the loop ileostomy, I've had numerous spills (had none with the end ileostomy). But that's all cool. My real concern is this:

Since coming home from surgery, I've had some really weird changes. My weight when I left the hospital to this point (about 12 days) has dropped 17 pounds (I'm a male btw). My back has been hurting SO bad. When I'm sitting around, it's fine. However, if I move around or stand a while to take a shower/change the back, it gets bad. We initially thought it was a UTI (I had some of the other symptoms, so my doc put me on antibiotics and all that cleared up, except for the back pain). Further, the skin on my right quadricep lacks some feel to it. I can move it fine and when I slap it, I feel it all fine. But a gentle touch goes unnoticed. I'm getting a CT scan done tomorrow to see what's cooking. Has anyone felt these symptoms right after surgery? I wasn't worried at first but am starting to consider nerve damage and freaking out a bit.

Again thanks to everyone. I love this site. Cool
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C Casie130Member
First off, I've not had 'the surgery' yet. But this pain sounds like something similar that I had after having my hysterectomy and again one other time after that. Mine ended up being a kidney stone on both occasions. It actually caused me to walk bent over because I eventually couldn't even stand up straight until it passed. My right leg was slightly numb as well. Hopefully this pain has nothing at all to do with you pouch surgery. Post what they find in the CT scan. Hopefully you won't have to wait forever for the doctor to read it and tell you what is. Definitely sounds like kidney stones. Maybe surgery knocked it/them loose.
D darealfooMember
I did the CT scan (dang it was painful going in from the back LOL). Doc says everything looks completely normal (yay no leaks in my pouch). But this back pain is terrible, even heavy doses of Advil (or Percocet haha) do not work to relieve it. So baffled by this. Now I'm hoping it's just swelling from the surgery and it'll be better soon. Thanks so much for your response Casie; I talked to my doctor about it but he says it can't be a stone so that's been crossed out. Good luck with your UC, hopefully you won't need the surgery!
mgmt10mgmt10Member
Glad to hear the ct scan showed all was normal. I had that horrible back pain you are describing after my step one surgery and it turned out to be an abscess/infection in my pelvic area that needed to be drained. They found it with a ct scan. The abscess was so large it was pressing on a nerve causing the pain. That was no fun! I also was running a fever.

Hope you feel better soon!
D darealfooMember
Marianne: doc says there's no sign of an abscess or infection (as per the CT scan) so he wants me to see a neurologist now.

Solomin: that's what I've been thinking is my issue; lower back pain near the coccyx and numbness in my leg seem to be clinical signs of nerve issues (especially since the CT was normal). Did you eventually resolve your issue? And if so, how long did it take you?

Thank you guys so much for responding. It's great knowing I'm not alone during this!
TE MarieTE MarieMember
I think your back pain is caused by your pouch and nerves. Our pouches are right there and our nerves, other organs and and every thing was moved around and received trauma during the surgery.

I too ended up with a large abscess between my surgeries and they cut it out during take down. It was 2" long x 2" deep x 1" wide, my husband just had to measure it and it was right under my incision. I had your surgeries 1 & 2 together and was in the hospital 16 days afterwards. My take down was 8 weeks after my #1. I also had incisional hernia surgery 6 months after take down.

These are just the problems that I've had and I forgot to mention my adhesion/scar pain. I have places on my abdomen that have no feeling - like your leg. It is just a humongous and difficult surgery on our bodies. A five foot organ was cut out and it was not just free floating inside. They had to deal with a huge artery as well. I think every surgeon that can perform this surgery is a miracle worker.

I have worn out 2 heating pads since January and am on #3 . Heat does wonders. It's a bit difficult with a stoma and bag but it really helps. I hope your take down surgery is soon and that recovery is better than this one.
BD Blake D.Member
I had a lot of back pain after all 3 of my surgeries. Totally normal. I believe it was because after the surgeries, you don't stand fully erect for quite a while/ mixed with laying around a lot. I would always walk with my head and chest forward a bit because I didn't want to stand fully erect because I was afraid I would stretch out my incisions or something. Bye the way, I did this unconsciously to protect my body. It never sank in till after I had my 3rd surgery and the back pain was back. My back pain would always go away after about 2 weeks when I started getting more physically active.
D darealfooMember
Thanks for your input guys. It's been exactly 3 weeks since surgery and it's not going away (though I have been physically exerting myself a lot more). I'm going to see the neurologist today just to be sure it's nothing serious. Yeah, it's a massive surgery that puts tremendous stress on the body so no complaining here! It's amazing we can function so well without a 5-6 foot organ. Cool

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