[Cynlite]

Mike,

These are the people that I found that went to TBI. The surgeons include Zigler, Arakal & Blumenthal:

PDIDDY, AMYWOOD0108, MILLERTO, GROVER771, REDTX, CORTEXPHAN, NJGENE

I went through the entire Forum for cervical surgeries but, did not finish reading all the lumbar surgeries.

I found there were more failures in the U.S. and with Bertagnoli in Germany than with several of the surgeons in Europe. Dr. Clavel has a stellar record so, I would read the stories from his patients. Dr. Zeegers also has a good record but, many, many more of the ADRSupport.org members went to Clavel so, it was hard to compare the two surgeons just because of a lack of feedback in the forum.

In my study which was mostly cervical, the failure rate was significantly higher with the Prodisc and Prestige discs. The M6-C and Mobi-C were much better in comparison. Dr. Clavel did an outstanding job with the M6-C for most of his patients. Where he lost ground was in the 3 level surgeries which is what he is recommending for me. The more complex the surgery, the higher the risk for problems IMO. So, this is what I am weighing right now. I spoke to one of Dr. Clavel's patients who had 6 ADR's and she's doing fabulous so, one never knows.

I too have problems with medications in general so, pain meds and muscle relaxers are no exception. I found that the epidurals never gave me any relief so were not great for figuring out my pain generators. They have a 50/50 success rate. I know some of my pain comes from my facets so the RFA procedure was truly a gift. I wouldn't be writing you without it because I otherwise I would be in bed with a 24/7 migraine that is just debilitating.

My pain specialist says all the time for me to stretch. I spend about 30 - 40 minutes a day and sometimes more stretching. This includes using my inversion table. My spine is so screwed up that is causes muscle spasms all the time. I have to just keep working on them. I also use a heating pad quite a bit. In my case, I think the spasms are the body's response to the damage in my spine. I used to just lock up occasionally like you described but, then it got chronic. BTW, SalonPas (green) are great on muscle spasms. I keep them in my purse to stick to places that start hurting when I'm out and about.

I hope some of the lumbar patients will jump in and help you out. If not, it's because they are back to living full lives. I know that some will respond if you send them a PM. Just keep digging through the Forums. There is a massive amount of information here. I've been reading it for five months and still haven't gotten through it all LOL. It's a rabbit hole of information thanks to Harrison who set this up for us many years ago and keeps it running.