Greetings from a new L4-L5-S1 buddy

[Romakis]

Thanks Drewrad. How should I follow up on the faccets? Should I ask my doc to test them somehow? I asked him last time and he said "nobody really knows" much about them and "it is controversial".

[pittpete]

Originally Posted by Romakis

Thanks Drewrad. How should I follow up on the faccets? Should I ask my doc to test them somehow? I asked him last time and he said "nobody really knows" much about them and "it is controversial".

If it were me I'd run from this doctor...
You can check to see if facets are a pain generator by getting a facet nerve block done....Have it done more than once to be sure...

I don't want to sound harsh, but you need to do this research before allowing someone to cut you open and stick an implant inside of you....
Thinking that an ADR is some kind of magic device that will solve all your problems is being foolish...
Do your due diligence and don't rush into anything..
My 2 cents because I hate to see people suffer from this affliction

[Romakis]

OK, I have spent last 2 weeks reading through all the material on this website and others and one thing I have to say is that I am scared ....less now!! I have noticed that most people with, hopefully???, good outcomes either do not post or stop posting updates and responding to messages, or something bad happened to a lot of them! Bad outcomes however are absolutely horrible, and there are so many of them. Before I really hoped that I could just go for an ADR if I get fed up with pain, but now I am almost certain I have to wait until it becomes absolutely unbearable before I decide to go for the surgery.

[Jerry5]

My problem lasted for several years, actually it took a LONG time, but the last few years it was bad, then herniated the L2-3, and it was downhill from there.

By the time I had the MRI for the L23, my 45 and 51 were about gone, and now 7 months later, wished I could have done this about a decade earlier.

Not sure of your age, but you will have distraction and the younger you are, the easier it is to recover.

Sorry, did not see your signature, or did not read all of it, I am 11 years older.

[Karger]

Originally Posted by Romakis

OK, I have spent last 2 weeks reading through all the material on this website and others and one thing I have to say is that I am scared ....less now!! I have noticed that most people with, hopefully???, good outcomes either do not post or stop posting updates and responding to messages, or something bad happened to a lot of them! Bad outcomes however are absolutely horrible, and there are so many of them. Before I really hoped that I could just go for an ADR if I get fed up with pain, but now I am almost certain I have to wait until it becomes absolutely unbearable before I decide to go for the surgery.

I know how you feel. I waited until it got really bad before I went and got the ADR for my l5/s1. In hindsight, I am not sure why I didn't go years ago to get it done. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone at least 3 years ago to get all fixed up. I went with the doc with the highest success rate and who has been doing it the longest. I figured if anything were to go wrong, at least I went with the best of the best.

Cheers,

Karger

[Romakis]

Thanks Karger. How are you feeling these days?

[colorado babe]

I wish I didn't wait 16 years for my surgery. I don't know why I went down the holistic route and suffered for years. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn't hesitate for the surgery.

[Romakis]

Hopefully the file will upload. My L5-S1 is almost gone..

[Dema]

Romakis, the image loaded ok, and will be helpful to get another couple of images moving right/left to show the spinal cord more clearly, to see if there is pressure on the cord.

[drewrad]

Give us more views. Yes.

Still can see an evaporated out L5/S1. Also no lordosis.

However, further images would help determine other levels.