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L5-S1 Radiculopathy...

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rpowell01

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I am curioius about something that is bothering me. I do have L5-S1 radiculopathy caused by OA. Yes I am one of those ppl who the VA has cursed to die on some waiting list on seeing a surgeon. So next week I am going to a private surgeon's office and if he says surgery should have been done or I need it then I am going to do my best to force the VA to pay for the surgery. I want my quality of life back but the VA is hampering this.

My question is for those who have or had L5-S1 radiculopathy in both legs, feet and toes. I have the normal pain and numbness and the ice cold feet. But what is bothering me is if anyone of you who had these issues also caused the feet and toes to turn purple/blue when the ice cold comes on? It comes and goes with the ice cold feeling. My feet use to turn red with the ice cold but now they turn purple/blue.

Good news is the VA lied to me when they said there is no surgery. How is that good news? Well my brother in law just had surgery last week for L5-S1 radiculopathy caused by OA which in turned caused his L5 joint to become week and it fractured. The surgeon told him that they see this all the time with OA patients. Bad news is the VA didn't add the post views of my last TWO MRIs, this is the view of the BACK of the spine where they could see if there is a fracture.

Anyway I am going to pray and hope the surgeon can get me back on track.

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I know a guy that got it and it changed his life for the better, so I guess it will vary.

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There are several diagnostics exams they can do. Bilateral medial branch blocks, X-rays with dye, EMG and the one painful one is the discogram. I know this and I know I can get it from the VA in a year or two from now if I were lucky. I'm running out of time and soon I will be forced to retire from my career. Of course docs have been telling me that for close to 3 years now. It sucks. I empathize with you completely. Most days I wish someone would stab me in the sweet spot and twist so I wouldn't have to feel the pain anymore. Too self destructive and morbid, yes I know, but I'm there. The mind over matter aspect can only go so far for only so long. Good luck my friend. Oxycodone. To the rescue.

Edited by ArNG11
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