Back Doctor
 

Need recommendation from anyone who has experienced Spinal Stenosis corrective surgery.

ouch, what insurance do u have?

If you are able to do so get more than one opinion.
Most spine surgeons will pursue physical therapy and or steroid injections before recommending surgery. I tried the physical therapy and then the spinal injections. The latter, while effective did not last very long, hence on to surgery.
Be sure to understand whether your condition allows for minimally invasive repair vs open surgery.
Another consideration, is to pursue seeing a neurosurgeon....they specialize in the entire spine and the brain.

Do self educate to be able to ask good questions and make an informed decision.

Good luck.

good

Can you recommend a Dr?

My expertise is that my back hurts. I have a high tolerance for pain BUT..... Trying to get straight answers is frustrating at best. A good book to read is called CROOKED. It is a bit out of date in how it discusses Opioids. As I understand it. Spinal surgery has a high failure rate-like half. You can end up worse than it was and repeated surgeries are common. Steroids are a temporary cover up but it does help to relieve pain and better pinpoint where the problem is. I've never taken opioids in my life but they are the best pain killers. Thanks to attempts to prevent improper use a doctor will only issue a prescription for a month.

Recommend a Dr.? I'm lost in pain-it is BAD. My GP sent me for an MRI, took ??? weeks to get an appointment. Waited weeks to see the guy he suggested, suffering in real PAIN. After about SIX weeks waiting I was sent to some JUNIOR DOCTOR. He sent me to yet another doctor. I called a helpful lady in the offices. She called in a favor and got my appointment move forward ONE WEEK. I just discovered that appointment is with yet another not on the masthead doctor? I have an appointment monday.

If, I wasn't in so much pain I would not put up with this. OBVIOUSLY I CANNOT RECOMMEND ANY OF THEM.

Back Surgery
 

First and foremost, seek a Neurologist for diagnostics. If ultimately requires surgery the neurologist will have recommendations.
Secondly, all insurances require all non-invasive intervention before allowing surgical intervention., ie, injections/epidurals, physical therapy.
Michael Hill, MD in Leesburg is a neurosurgeon, quite qualified but lacking in bedside manner, according to most who have been associated with him.
A search on TOTV will reveal many reviews on this subject and Dr recommendations, but at this point, in The Villages area...... I would head to Shands in Gainesville if I needed any spinal surgery. Mine was done in TV but the surgeon is no longer practicing here. People do report good results with a group in Ocala, but I have no first-hand knowledge of that group.
And, as another poster said..... do be aware that there is no guarantee that surgery will correct your problem 100%. I saw many patients while in Home Health Care who were in as much pain following surgery, Or a few years later, that said they wished they had never had the surgery done.
Good luck in your search, I wish you the best. I live, as you, in constant pain and it gets "old".
PS.... my surgery was for a herniated disc, first surgery was a huge success except that it re-herniated a month later and had to be re-done. Surgeon told me up front that second surgery would never be as good result as the first. And he had also forewarned me, prior to first surgery, of the minute possibility of re-herniation, very unusual...... my luck.

I went to Daniel P. Robertson of The Ocala Neurosurgical Center....in Ocala.

I had an L4, L5, S1 fusion. Pain free ever since.

Nancy is his PA and very capable/knowledgeable. She is also his surgical assistant.

Excellent team.

Do see a neurosurgeon. Orlando Regional has a good reputation as well as Shands in Gainesville. If you have a primary in the area talk with him/her for suggestions. Ask your friends and neighbors for suggestions as well. Lots of folks around here have back problems.

I've had epidurals for my spinal stenosis and am scheduled to have a "MILD" procedure from Dr. Rajashekar at The Villages Health next month. He's one of only 2 guys in the state who offers that. I'm hopeful it'll work, in theory it will and it's outpatient.

Try Barry Kaplan at Orlando Health. Did both mine and my wifes. Excellent surgeon.

Dr. Melvin Field, 1605 W. Fairbanks Ave. Winter Park, Fl. 32789 407-975-0200 This is the top Neurosurgeon in the business. He also recommends Dr. Pinnamaneni 352-343-7246 Pain and Spine Centers of Florida, he is located locally on 466 and Rolling Acres. I am seeing Dr. Pinnamaneni next Tuesday for a spinal epidural injection.

Assuming you have a recent MRI you well need the disk. See a couple of Neurosurgeons so you can compare what they recommend.
I have had 3 spinal surgeries. My spouse one, just this past week.
Depending what they see in your MRI, you likely will be told that Physical Therapy will likely be tired first, secondly a pain management program or both, will be done doing various shots, then surgery when PT and pain management no longer is effective.
This is serious business. My last surgery was a lumbar fusion (March, 2021 and I still have pain); prior to that was a laminectomy (7 years ago).
I am playing golf 3 times a week had to move up to the green tees and have difficulty putting a tee in the ground and don’t always play all 18 holes.
Laminectomy was spinal stenosis correction with knowledge I would eventually need a fusion due to potential disk rupture. When the disks finally failed (7 years later) within a week I was using a walker to see my neurosurgeon.
I used a surgeon out of Ocala and personally would not recommend him, not for him put rather his PA and staff. I saw 3 nureo’s all recommended lumbar fusion as the only recourse. My wife used Dr Oliver and she had a cyst that caused the disk failure.
If I had it to do over again I probably would have opted to go to Mayo in Jacksonville.
Good luck to you. But get multiple opinions from Neurosurgeons, never a Orthopetic surgeon.

“I like pickles on a tuna fish sandwich.”
Oh he didn’t ask that? Based on many of the responses here, I thought you had to provide an answer to a different question. Silly me.

I don’t have a doctor recommendation, but i did have that surgery if you want to PM me…i can answer any questions you may have.

I had L2-5 done. I was 98% blocked. My neuro surgeon Bud Weiser did the surgery in a new Billion dollar hospital in Fargo, ND. His prior practice was in Leesburg! I was in the hospital for a week. Pain is basically gone...

I had spinal stenosis 10 years ago and had surgery in Wisconsin. Very simple operation from a nuero-surgeon, immediate relief and was golfing in a week. I did have to go through drugs, cortisone shot and physical therapy. The physical therapy only lasted a week as the therapist knew it would not correct a pinched nerve.
That being said, I had no issues other than the pinched nerve.
My wife is currently experiencing the same pinched nerve and spinal stenosis and also has so degeneration and slipping of a disk. She starts physical therapy this week and had an unsuccessful cortisone shot, our Florida Blue Medicare PPO plan requires physical therapy. The orthopedic surgeon has already told her the therapy will not work and she will have to have surgery. We selected Biospine Institute and were assigned Dr. Roderick Claybrooks. Her surgery will be more involved than mine; however, it is minimally invasive, takes only 35 minutes, is out patient, done at their Orlando office and recovery time will be less than traditional spine surgery. We have our fingers crossed that it will be successful.

I have had many epidurals from several pain mgmt Drs, Dr Pinnamaneri is by far the best.

I had a minimal invasive laminectomy done at Biospine in Tampa. They cleaned out between the spines. It was amazing. A few hours there and a week at home and I was perfect. Couldn’t play tennis for about 8’weeks or lift more than 5 lbs for 3 weeks. I was recommended To them by another tennis player and have sent someone else to them. Dr Reginald Davis did my Surgery.

If your insurance will let you pick any Doctor, I recommend Dr. Paul Jeffords in Atlanta with Resurgens Orthopaedics. I had spinal stenosis in L3 and L5, he is a top rated spinal surgeon in the USA. A fusion is the last thing you want.

I second Biospine.
 

2019 I had 2 fusions at Biospine by Dr. Bono. This was in Tampa, but highly recommend Biospine, but not for the administrative and billing staff. Sign of the times I guess, but support staff is hard to find these days. But the surgeons are top notch. If I had issues again I would head right back to Dr. Bono / Biospine. He got me out of a lifetime of pain.

Fifty years ago I was an operating room technician (scrub nurse) and scrubbed on various spinal surgeries with perhaps a dozen surgeons, both orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons—both of whom are allowed to do spinal surgery. On that basis, watching them all at work, I decided that if I ever needed spine surgery, I would go to a neurosurgeon for a surgery that was primarily about carefully freeing a trapped nerve from a disc, like a laminectomy, and go to an orthopedic surgeon for a surgery that was based on fixating the spine, like a fusion. Neurosurgeons excelled at using operating microscopes and tiny instruments, while orthopedic surgeons were better with the carpentry tools like chisels and screwdrivers. Also, a surgeon who performs that surgery many times a year with excellent results is crucial to success.

While I have your eyes: hands. I scrubbed on dozens and dozens of hand surgeries, mostly with two board certified hand surgeons, but also orthopedic surgeons and neurosurgeons. If at all possible, insist on a board certified hand surgeon for any hand problem. Neurosurgeons can do a fine job on a carpal tunnel release, and orthopedic surgeons can do okay pinning together a broken bone, but hand surgeons do both, and much more. Where an orthopedic surgeon is like a general carpenter framing a house, a hand surgeon is like a finish carpenter who does the fine work on cabinets and does a perfect job. With something like a severed finger, hand surgeons know how to sew together under a microscope digital nerves or digital arteries that are only a millimeter thick. Orthopedic surgeons don’t usually have that sort of training unless they have specialized in hands and been well-trained.

Nope to Dr P

After reading thru all the posts it seems that most of the people posting are people who play golf. Does playing golf tend to cause back problems?

off topic here but, what are you having done? he's my dr., too. ---- @OP--Barry Kaplan over @ orlando health

Pool exercise
 

Until you find a doctor, pool laps/exercise may provide some pain relief.

wow,...thx for info. good to know.

Biospine institute Orlando

Back-thank you
 

Dr Rajashekar "Mild Procedure"
 

I have had 4 steroid shots done by Dr. Raj. His nurse gave me the "Mild Procedure" booklet.
Kindly post your results once the procedure ins done.

My L5 has very little space if the column. It was so bad before the shot that my foot was painful. Found out that L5 nerves go to the foot. Only wish I knew that before getting an appointment with the foot dr.

Back in 2003, I had spinal surgery from T1-L5 (neck down) at Emory Spine Center, Atlanta, GA. My discs were all removed, and they took bone from my hip & condivers & fused down my back and attached with screws to 2 metal rods. 28 hour surgery and 5 days in ICU and 10 days on hospital floor, followed by 6 months in bed. I am however pain free and take no pain meds. You can text me if questions.

[QUOTE=Peachbelle;2053082]Back in 2003, I had spinal surgery from T1-L5 (neck down) at Emory Spine Center, Atlanta, GA. My discs were all removed, and they took bone from my hip & condivers & fused down my back and attached with screws to 2 metal rods. 28 hour surgery and 5 days in ICU and 10 days on hospital floor, followed by 6 months in bed. I am however pain free and take no pain meds. You can text me if questions.[

Oh My!!! That's brutal!

I had it done
 

I had it done in 2009 in Michigan. I don't know how many vertibrae but I had a foot long scar along my spine. No disks were affected but they ground away on the vertibrae so they did not pinch the nerves. Long recovery. No physical therapy which I think they forgot. As a result my back doesn't bend. It did relieve the pain, but the pain is back and I get cordisone shots. I would do it again because of the relief it gave me.

Back Doctor
 

I hope everyone is reading this. As a former operating room nurse, I have always explained this using the analogy of comparing a carpenter to a fine watch maker....... You hit the nail on the head. Excellent response.

Spine Doctors
 

Hi, Have had experience with BioSpine Institute. They are quite excellent and can recommend them highly. They have several offices, but the one I know is in Orlando.
3900 Millenia Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32839 (407) 537-5577
Good Luck

I am new to the Villages and find myself in the position of needing a fusion in L4L5 asap. I have an appointment at Shands with a Dr Chalhoui and locally with Dr Karuppiah. I also have the name of Dr Oliver in Ocala. Does anyone have any information about these physicians? Any local physicians recommended? Thanks.

I had a MILD surgery in Ocala a couple years ago. Not that unusual a surgery. Can be done by neurosurgeons or pain management doctors. I had an easy recovery.

As posted previously, the failure rate for spinal surgery is cited as 50%. Most treatment is because a doctor cannot say, you are old and parts are worn. Live in pain? A doctor cannot say that. Injections, steroids, do not cure anything, it is a cover up. The best cover up is opioids but they are of course habit forming and have been abused-whatever that means. Aside-I've never taken opioids. In terms of habit forming, a doctor can only give you a month supply. Is the HABIT for the drug, needing to see your doctor every month?

SIMPLICITY- ALL THE OPTIONS STINK.

back pain
 

Dr. Deluca, across hospital on 441 352-277-3500. two shots to the spine, pain was gone on 2 days.