correalation between back surgery & ALS

[baker5131]

:confused:I was wondering how many PALS had been diagnosed after having back surgery and if there was a possibility of a correalation between them? My husband had a bulging/herniated disc repair(laminectomy & discectomy) last year in Jan and started with symptoms a year later.

[perdul]

i had that done 25 years ago 3 back opperations with rods inserted 12 months later rimuved rods left two hooks in side to hard to dig out after bone had grown over them.
chris

[BethU]

:confused:I was wondering how many PALS had been diagnosed after having back surgery and if there was a possibility of a correalation between them? My husband had a bulging/herniated disc repair(laminectomy & discectomy) last year in Jan and started with symptoms a year later.

No back surgery, but my bulbar symptoms started the day I woke up from emergency open-heart surgery (the surgeon had poked a hole in an artery during a routine angiogram), on March 16, 2006. They had had me in an induced coma for 3 days, replaced 18 units of blood, and I came to with slurred speech and blurred vision. The symptoms have steadily worsened ever since.

Dx with ALS on 5/5/2008.
BethU

[BethU]

Hi ... I don't know if this is allowed on this forum, but I cut and pasted this Q&A from a speech pathology site. (I know I shouldn't post links, but I can give you the link if anybody's interested.) It talks about ALS appearing following surgery (although not back surgery). If it's not OK to post it, that's all right ...
BethU

________________________________________ _

Dysphagia, Dysarthria, and Dysphonia with ALS
Richard K. Adler Ph.D., CCC-SLP, F-ASHA

7/17/2006

I have 77 year old patient who had a post-operative onset of dysphagia, dysarthria and dysphonia following anterior cervical spine surgery. Laryngoscopy revealed a unilateral vocal cord paralysis. The patient is now diagnosed with late stage ALS. She was symptom free prior to surgery and only now shows these symptoms. In fact, she was jitterbugging the night before this diagnosis was announced. I have never heard of ALS showing up overnight and tend to think this is a complication of surgery. Your opinions would be most appreciated.

Ans:
Let me first say that ALS as far as I can tell has never been diagnosed suddenly.... and here are some other points to consider:
Cervical surgery was the possible cause of the dysphagia.....the recurrent laryngeal nerve is very vulnerable when cervical surgery is performed. It was probably damaged and this caused the unilateral vocal cord paralysis and in turn the dysphonia.

Dysphagia is probably due to the cord not approximating with the other cord and thus leaving the patient with difficulty in swallowing the bolus...can cause choking, coughing, and an inability to swallow solids or thin liquids..not always the case in Unilateral Paralysis of the cord but it could happen.

The deconditioning from the surgery most likely exacerbated the ALS whereby the patient did not show symptoms necessarily but when the surgery was performed they showed up.........from the anesthesia, or from the surgery itself, and the concommitent symptoms that showed up after surgery. ALS is not a sudden onset disease......in this case something (the surgery and post surgery problems) most likely is the cause of the exacerbated ALS signs and symptoms.

I am assuming that a neurologist diagnosed the patient with ALS due to the type of dysarthria (hypernasal flaccid dysarthria and sometime mixed dysarthria. Joseph Duffy has stated that many ALS patients most often show signs and symptoms of Dysarthria and Dysphagia when they are first diagnosed. So since this person was dancing the night before, it is most likely that the surgery exacerbated the symptoms that would have eventually been diagnosed by themselves. Exact time of onset of ALS is difficult to pinpoint because half of the anterior horn cells must be lost before weakness is apparent since patients can sometimes adapt to the initial weakness and not attribute it to a disease but rather too much activity.
Richard K. Adler, Ph.D., CCC, SLP, F-ASHA is a professor of Speech Language Hearing Sciences at Minnesota State University, Moorhead, MN. He teaches courses in Adult and Pediatric Motor Speech as well as Adult and Pediatric Neurological Language Disorders. He also directs the voice clinic at the university supervising graduate students who are assigned clients with voice disorders due to Cerebral Palsy, CVA, Traumatic Brain Injury and other neurological disorders including acquired epileptic aphasia.

[CindyM]

Thanks for the information, Beth. You are allowed to post links as long as they are not selling some bogus "cure." You are even allowed to post links for products you have found helpful for ALS - as long as you are not getting commission for sales, or owner of the company.

I've read all of your posts and you are a very level-headed person. So don't fret about the links you recommend. No worries, here! Cindy

[TxRR]

I was diagnosed with PLS in 2007 and started showing signs after a laminectomy surgery in 2002. I asked my neuro if the back surgery had anything to do with my PLS. He said "yes", the surgery could have brought out the symptoms sooner.

[awieleba]

I post this with caution and extreme hesitancy. I am not dx so it is unclear what my plethra of symptoms are from. All my symptoms appreaded after my c-section. I had 2 c-sections prior that went well and I felt great and was actually working out 3 weeks later much to the docs dismay. after this surgery it has been a down hill slope. I do think I noted somthing diffrent with this pregnancy at the end anyway. so maybe it did precipatate it.

april

[Al]

If you do copy and paste part of an article, try to put in the credit from where the article was from. Don't want the copyright police on our butts. Also some links go to the moderators first so don't panic if you post something and you don't see it for a few hours. We'll get to it ASAP.
AL.

[BethU]

If you do copy and paste part of an article, try to put in the credit from where the article was from. Don't want the copyright police on our butts. Also some links go to the moderators first so don't panic if you post something and you don't see it for a few hours. We'll get to it ASAP.
AL.

Thanks, Al & CindyM ... and will make sure to cite sources. :-)
BethU

[lerg62]

my brother was diagnosed after back/neck surgery they said the weakness in his arm was from a disk problem but the surgery didn’t help and he was diagnosed with ALS Then a doctor in Florida told him he didn't think it was ALS and did another back/neck surgery, put a staph infected bone graph in his neck/back, then had to take it out and a nurse left a sponge in the wound.... he had to be opened up 3 times between the staph infection and the sponge being left in, the whole thing was a nightmare. Bottom line he went through all this and in the end it is indeed ALS. So now not only is the ALS progressing but his back/neck is so messed up he is always uncomfortable!

Lerg

[Al]

Man that is almost unbelievable but I do believe it. My wife had back surgery in 1986 for a ruptured disc which didn't work either. I know more that it didn't work for than it did. Any time someone mentions it I tell them to explore all other options first.
AL.

[MtPockets]

I had a laminectomy in 1988 of L4-L5, and was dx May 2006 with ALS. I did not see any correlation in my case with the back surgery revealing ALS.

[olly]

hi, no back surgery but 10mths before i got ill i had a hysterectomy.
after years of ill health i thought i would finally be well again and could not believe it when 10mths later i started with the neurological symptoms.
i do believe my operation triggered it some how.
take care.
caroline:)

[Al]

Possibly not the operation in itself but the trauma to the body, anesthetic or any number of variables exposed when we open holes in the body.
AL.

[PDaddy]

I, for one, have never had 'major' surgery except for tonsils and adenoids ripped out as a kid. But a recent MRI indicated bulging discs in my neck, I think several of us have that issue... makes ya wonder..

[awieleba]

Oh great, thanks pdaddy! I have 2 slightly bulging disc's in my neck! and a recent surgery! WOW, looks like I am really screwed! (sorry for the rude language) I am just kidding you of course. But Then again it makes me a little nervous. but we gotta laugh, what else can we do?

[PDaddy]

Just doin' my part to help the community! ;-)

[AndyB]

Baker5131 - For a minute I had to regroup. I thought my wife had posted. My history is an exact reflection of your husbands. Back surgery in Jan 07, laminectomy and discectomy of l5 and s1. During that same time I was developing a lump in my throat that was later dx as LPR. I have had two surgical procedures that supposedly removed some lumps. See my post earlier today titled LPR. I have been experiencing fatigue, muscle fasiculations and cramps and foot pain all on the right leg and foot as well as "goosebumps" and lower back pain. I had an EMG three weeks ago and an MRI, both were negative for NMD or an impingement. The neurologist told me I had benign fasciulations and said if anything changes then to call him back.