Ddd
Gil,
I was diagnosed with DDD at L2-3 and down to L5-S1 with a few surprises on the way down. I agree with Adrienne. Everybody has DDD from their 30s and on. It's normal aging. There's just a select few of us (in contrast with the total population) that are lucky enough to get the radiating pain associated with it. Since we fuse, fuse, fuse, we change the dynamics of how our backs were intended to move. The fusion may correct the immediate problem but creates a new dynamic that is unpredictable in large part.
My wife was just diagnosed with DDD in her cervical discs. She admitted she had no idea how painful it could be even though she was right there beside me for both discectomies and their complications.
A lot of doctors don't truly understand either. Since I'm still having problems, I have been diagnosed with "failed back surgery syndrome" which the mere mention of that diagnosis causes involuntary shoulder shrugs from most of the medical community.
My office visits with the pain management doctor always start with him handing me three 30 day prescriptions for Percocet 7.5/500 of 90 per month. He has little means to find the pain generator(s) and the orthos in his office have better things to do with their time such as well defined sports injuries that are easy to diagnose, treat and are easily coded for insurance claims.
I keep changing surgeons hoping to find a different attitude but so far it seems the same. That's why I'm looking toward Europe and ADR.
Hang in there,
Bob
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