Surgery date: March 2014

Hello, my name is Natalia, I am 36 years old, I am Russian, but I live in Spain. Ten days ago, I underwent the Sectioning of the filum terminale. I would like to tell you a bit about the journey of six years that took me to the procedure. When I became pregnant, I started to have headaches; I wasn’t able to sleep on my left side. I had to get up at night and take walks; the medication didn’t help. I though that it would be something hormonal. In the last month of my pregnancy we had a car accident; we were hit from behind. Since that moment I started to have backaches that wouldn’t go away neither with massages nor with physiotherapy. The doctors tested me, but did not find anything. They said that it was due to tiredness, stress, hormonal changes. I was feeling more and more exhausted.

Years went by and my state was getting worse. I started to fall over on the street. I used to feel dizzy and then fall over. I started to feel nauseous and had to vomit. I often had migraines. My back hurt and my left arm and shoulder started to ache. The doctors prescribed tablets, recommended swimming, but it didn’t get better. One year ago, we had another car accident, since then, the pain became constant, I wasn’t able to sleep. My leg started to hurt, from hip to foot, and wouldn’t stop at night or daytime. I wasn’t able to lift the leg in order to get dressed. I wasn’t able to walk out on the street because I would loose coordination. I would take my son to school and on the way back home I’d be touching the house walls to avoid falling. Sometimes I’d get back home crying and feeling dizzy.

One day at work, my face suddenly paralysed. They took me to the emergency service because they thought I was having a stroke. They carried out the tests and I did not have, contrary to what they thought, a stroke or a brain tumour. We ended up at ICSEB by way of acquaintances. I had an appointment that lasted three hours, and they found that I had incorrect reflexes and that my thermal and tactile sensibility was altered. I wasn’t able to stand on one foot or walk on my tiptoes. I noticed changes the first day after surgery. I no longer felt the pain. It was wonderful. Feeling the pain non-stop for a year, and suddenly not feeling it…. I recovered the thermal and tactile sensibility. That same day, I was able to stand on one leg for quite some time. Today I arrived at the Institut in public transport, without dizziness, without holding on to walls, without getting tired. Thank you very much!

Email: [email protected]