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Old 04-17-2015, 06:53 PM
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Originally Posted by AZMtnman View Post
First, I want to say thank you to the people who run this site and all of you who have shared your stories. I've been surfing the web for awhile and there is a dearth of information about ADR beyond the basic marketing & trials material.

My history, in a nutshell:

I've never had a specific back injury but have experienced periodic severe back pain for over 15 years now.

Previously, ~3-4 times per year I would experience a disc/nerve injury - always triggered by some mundane event like reaching out to pick something up, bending over to tie my shoes, etc. Once the injury occurs, I experience intense pain for a day or two, then milder pain for a few more days, and after a week or so from the injury, I'm "back to normal".

Being a stoic, "tough it out" type of person, I assumed I just needed more core strength or whatever. After a decade of this, I finally saw a doctor, got an MRI, and found out that I had compression and bulged discs at L4/5 & L5/S1, signs of annular tearing, and general arthritic vertebrae & facet joints.

Understanding the problem better, I've been able to reduce the frequency of severely painful episodes but I pretty much have constant mobility issues and milder pain. In one PT episode, the therapist noted that I already move as if my back were fused since my muscles have adapted to just isolate that part of my body. I am much more liberal with NSAID use now, and I'm sure that helps too.

I looked into ADR 5 years or so ago but it seemed premature for me at that time (and immature in the US). But after another recent severe episode, and another MRI that shows further degradation & bulging, I'm starting to investigate ADR again.

The thing that I find extremely frustrating is that there seems to be nothing that the doctors can do right now. I'm basically waiting until my situation degrades to the point of having a massive disc rupture and at that point they will fuse. My doctor suspects that my discs are under severe pressure and that it's inevitable that one day I'll have "the big one". So I'm basically on a plan of trying to stabilize status quo and delay the inevitable injury and surgery as long as possible.

Being the type that previously measured time between doctor visits in years (usually many of them), I don't want to rush into surgery and certainly not into a fusion where the result may be worse than the current symptoms. But it's frustrating that 1) I don't like being in this reactive mode and want to know what my options are before I get to the point where a massive rupture necessitates emergency surgery, and 2) my situation seems like it will keep degrading and "doing nothing" for now may cause my end state to be worse.

That's the short of it. Thanks for reading.
Welcome to the forum AZMtnman. I can definitely relate to your dilemma. I spent 16 years with pain and lots of symptoms due to my L5-S1 ruptured disc. I was all scheduled to have ADR last Oct but decided to go with a fusion after my bone density test came back and I didn't want to have the Pro-disc which was my only option here in the US. I am doing fine and off all medications. I haven't heard many success stories out of Arizona that I can recall but if your insurance allows you to go out of state, perhaps you could contact some other surgeons who have performed many ADR surgeries and have been successful. All the surgeons I went to prior to finding my surgeon wanted to keep me on meds and play the waiting game like you are.

Keep the faith and don't take no for an answer. You are your only advocate.
__________________
1998- Injured neck and back in USAF
2011 - Started experiencing Severe Symptoms, Migranes, numbness, spasms in legs and feet and sciatica.
Feb 2014 - Received upper Lumbar Injection - Severe Allergy to injection
Mar 2014 - MRI of Cervical and Lumbar, protruding disc in C3-7, Herniated Disc in L5/S1, placed on STD and FMLA )
July 2014 - Stem Cell Procedure performed
Oct 20, 2014 - ADR (MOBI-C) at C5-7 and Anterior Fusion at L5/S1 by Dr. Pettine and Dr. Techy
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