Neck pain

[yos]

Hi all.

Im 23 years old and i have had 2 disectomy on my l4/l5 this year my back is not better i am still suffering from muscle spasms in my ribs but i am living with it now as my leg pain and lower back pain has improved apart from sever spasm in my left ribs.

The major problem i have today is left sided neck pain and ofcourse the rib pain but with the rib pain doctors cant find a solution to that.
I had a mri scan for my neck and it showed 2 disc bulges i just wanted to ask anyone whose had this problem in there neck before do they do disectomys for the neck or is it just fusions.

Are neck operations worse then back as the back operations i had were not that bad and not painfull.

Basically are neck operations easier then back operations and success wise how do they compare can someone please also tell me if there is a disectomy possible for neck problems or is it just fusions cos this is scaring me.


Many thnx

[Terry]

I had 4 level ADR surgery with two cervical discs and two lumbar discs. I had a previous hemi-laminectomy 11 years prior to the disc replacement which bought me a significant amount of time before the ADR surgery. I am two years out from the surgery and pretty happy with the results so far.

You are pretty young to be going through all of these spinal problems. I think there are other solutions besides fusion. My hope is that you will find some answers amongst the postings here.

Welcome to the forum, unfortunately.

Terry Newton

[Harrison]

Yos,

Forgive me if you mentioned this elsewhere, but your signature indicates lumbar problems, what have your spine doctors advised you about your cervical spine? Have you had imaging studies of the thoracic spine? It sounds like that you did not -- which must be frustrating. An MRI of the mid spine might also reveal other issues causing your spasms, which may not be spine related. And for the most part, cervical patients SEEM to recover more readily than lumbar patients, for a multitude of reasons.

Tell us more if you can. Thanks Yos!

[yos]

hi there harrison,

as you can read from the first post i made in this thread it says and i quote " i have had 2 disectomy on my l4/l5 this year my back is better i am still suffering from muscle spasms in my ribs"

yes i am a lumber patient whose had 2 previous disectomies at L4/L5 which actually have helped my lower back and left leg but i still have spasm in my left ribs which is the main problem in my back today. Yes i have had a thoracic spine MRI, i have also had a bone scan, x rays nothing has showed up and its a mystrey for all the doctors.

now about my neck this is a new issue i have had i recently had a MRI a week ago and it showed 2 buldging discs which my surgeon said you have wear and tear in ur neck.

as i have no experince with neck problems i wanted to ask is there such thing as a disectomy for the neck or do they just fuse the necks? how bad is neck surgery is it easier then back surgery?

can someone also advise me on this rib problem?

many thnx

[yos]

i would have thought people would have replied or advised me on this but i can see people just cant be bothered and are ignorent.

thnx anyways

[Terry]

Originally Posted by yos

i would have thought people would have replied or advised me on this but i can see people just cant be bothered and are ignorent.

thnx anyways

I can understand that, if you are in pain, you may not act your best but, it's probably not a good idea to insult people that you have asked for some help from.

That said, cervical problems can be dealt with in a multitude of ways. Necks can be fused or, you can have laminectomies where they clean out bone spurs to leave room for nerves or, you can consider artificial disc replacement.

I chose to have ADR at the lumbar and cervical area. I have two cervical discs and two lumbar discs. The cervical area for ADR is better tolerated due to the fact that the neck has less weight to tolerate than the lumbar area. The weight on the neck comes from the weight of your head which is a far cry different than the lumbar area that supports your bodies weight.

I am two years out from the four level ADR and doing pretty good. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Everyone here has a busy outside life as well and you may not get an answer immediately but one will come.

Hang in there.

Terry Newton

[maz]

Yos, I think people arent replying because you are not being clear in your questions , sorry to say, no offence but its hard to make out what you want to know. I dont know much but I have had a 2 level ADR and this was because my spinal suregon said I would suffer more if I didnt have it. We are all different disc bulges dont necessarily mean an operation so maybe you cpuld say a bit more and be more specific Maz

[soljagirl]

My neck spasms have caused ripple effects downstream (through rib cage) as well as upstream (through face and scalp). Doctors and PTs have explained this as everything is being connected to everything. Pain that follows the dermatome patterns is called typical pain. Pain that is referred through other patterns is called atypical pain. We are all wired differently, which is why one person can have the exact same type of disc bulge but have very different symptoms. So, don't be surprised if your set of symptoms gets named its very own "algia". Cervicalgia, brachialgia, fibromyalgia....

You may also ask about adult onset or degenerative scoliosis. Mild curves can cause ripple effects through the whole spine. As one doctor put it to me: "If you have a bad back, you have a bad spine."

Agree with others that neck is easier surgery than back. But by no means minor surgery. So, research long and hard.

We're here to help.