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  #21  
Old 02-20-2016, 01:01 AM
JinSong JinSong is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 57
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Well now my insurance company has actually denied the ADR authorization--I know it's a common thing to have it initially denied, but my surgeon had already written a letter with a detailed spine history and his recommendations for them. Since they denied that attempt, he's going to do a peer review with the insurance on Monday. I'm sure it varies between insurance companies, but has anyone else ever had this happen? I'm wondering how long it usually takes to get an answer once they do the peer review.
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33-year-old female
C3/4 Disc bulge and bone spurs
C4/5 Disc protrusion
C5/6 Disc extrusion with cord compression, bone spurs due to uncovertebral arthropathy, right foraminal stenosis and bilateral nerve compression.
C6/7 disc protrusion

Lost appeals for ADR. C5-6 ACDF on 3/10/16
ACDF never fused, and ACDF accelerated damage of the other levels. Someone please kill me.
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  #22  
Old 03-09-2016, 08:54 PM
JinSong JinSong is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 57
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Just to put a cap on this thread, the peer review rejection was almost instant, and then the third appeal was protracted. My surgeon's office tried to push for an expedited appeal, and that request was denied. After weeks of fighting, they didn't want me to wait any longer because I have progressive spinal cord symptoms. I go in for an ACDF tomorrow morning instead, and I am so, so upset. I wish I had a happier ending to my story.
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33-year-old female
C3/4 Disc bulge and bone spurs
C4/5 Disc protrusion
C5/6 Disc extrusion with cord compression, bone spurs due to uncovertebral arthropathy, right foraminal stenosis and bilateral nerve compression.
C6/7 disc protrusion

Lost appeals for ADR. C5-6 ACDF on 3/10/16
ACDF never fused, and ACDF accelerated damage of the other levels. Someone please kill me.
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  #23  
Old 03-09-2016, 09:21 PM
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Harrison Harrison is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
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Jin, you'll be OK. We are here for you.
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"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
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  #24  
Old 03-09-2016, 09:30 PM
JinSong JinSong is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 57
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Thanks Harrison--sorry that I'm going to be "out of the club" now. I'm just so depressed. I'm only 32, and this just feels like the beginning of the end. With all the adjacent segment damage potential, and the fact that my other discs are already having issues, I feel like it's just going to be a daisy chain of fusions by the time I'm 40. Even if I can get an ADR approved in the future, we know hybrid surgeries are not really validated. I feel like I'm permanently screwed (literally, I'll have instrumentation with my fusion). Plus the protracted ACDF recovery and the hard cervical collar for 6 weeks straight that I am not looking forward to don't help. I'm just so upset
__________________
33-year-old female
C3/4 Disc bulge and bone spurs
C4/5 Disc protrusion
C5/6 Disc extrusion with cord compression, bone spurs due to uncovertebral arthropathy, right foraminal stenosis and bilateral nerve compression.
C6/7 disc protrusion

Lost appeals for ADR. C5-6 ACDF on 3/10/16
ACDF never fused, and ACDF accelerated damage of the other levels. Someone please kill me.
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  #25  
Old 03-13-2016, 08:19 AM
JinSong JinSong is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 57
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Ended up in the hospital for three days with the ACDF and it was pure torture. Recovery is not going well. I wish I could go back in time and un-do this, but they said my spinal cord was "dented," and this was the right thing to do, rather than wait for insurance to pass the ADR. This whole thing is a nightmare.
__________________
33-year-old female
C3/4 Disc bulge and bone spurs
C4/5 Disc protrusion
C5/6 Disc extrusion with cord compression, bone spurs due to uncovertebral arthropathy, right foraminal stenosis and bilateral nerve compression.
C6/7 disc protrusion

Lost appeals for ADR. C5-6 ACDF on 3/10/16
ACDF never fused, and ACDF accelerated damage of the other levels. Someone please kill me.
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  #26  
Old 03-13-2016, 02:41 PM
pbrav pbrav is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 12
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JinSong, I am so sorry to read about your frustration and pain! I have been following your story with interest, and I have been impressed by the systematic way you have gone about looking for the best alternatives. I am so sorry you were not in a situation where you could choose the treatment you prefered. I guess this is not much comfort right now, but as a fellow academic I can assure you that you are not going to be a phd-student for ever - and your economic situation is going to give you much more freedom in the future. If you, as a worse case scenario, get problems with adjacent levels further down the road, you will most probably be able to choose the treatment you prefer - and you will be able to stop the deterioration with an adr of your own choice. I gather from your previous posts that you are a very resourceful person, and I am sure you will get out of this even stronger. I really hope your recovery will be less unpleasant soon, and I wish you all good luck.
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Considering ADR. 52 years old.
Off and on with soreness and minor pain in lower back through the years.
Herniated S1L5 august 2014.
S1L5 reduced height and partly desiccated.
Herniation has receded but I'm left with bulging disc and constant sciatica.
Still relying on pt. and core strengthening pr. mars 2015, but starting to lean towards ADR.
There's a life to be lived out there!
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  #27  
Old 03-13-2016, 05:21 PM
annapurna annapurna is offline
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Posts: 1,668
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To add to pbrav's encouragement, there are a lot of new approaches that are being used to treat discs that are showing some damage but not enough to warrant surgical replacement. Stem cell injections are showing reasonable success for discs like that. You don't hear too much about them here because most people aren't in a position to pursue that kind of treatment: by the time there's enough pain to cause them to figure out why their back hurts, the damage to the disc is advanced and stem cell procedures would require more time than they have. For adjacent level damage, though, they do hold some hope. Laura had ACDT on her L45 years ago and hasn't had problems with it since.
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Laura - L5S1 Charitee
C5/6 and 6/7 Prodisc C
Facet problems L4-S1
General joint hypermobility

Jim - C4/5, C5/6, L4/5 disk bulges and facet damage, L4/5 disk tears, currently using regenerative medicine to address

"There are many Annapurnas in the lives of men" Maurice Herzog
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  #28  
Old 03-13-2016, 10:03 PM
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Fathub Fathub is offline
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Posts: 156
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annapurna View Post
To add to pbrav's encouragement, there are a lot of new approaches that are being used to treat discs that are showing some damage but not enough to warrant surgical replacement. Stem cell injections are showing reasonable success for discs like that. You don't hear too much about them here because most people aren't in a position to pursue that kind of treatment: by the time there's enough pain to cause them to figure out why their back hurts, the damage to the disc is advanced and stem cell procedures would require more time than they have. For adjacent level damage, though, they do hold some hope. Laura had ACDT on her L45 years ago and hasn't had problems with it since.
Anna, I have never seen any verified studies of the effectiveness of Stem Cell injections other than the promotors thereof. Do you have any links to some bonafide studies?
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Dec 1/15 - 3 level ADR from S1/L3 c/w 360 mobility preservation at L3/L4 for Spondylolisthesis done by Dr. Bertagnoli in Bogen GmbH.
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  #29  
Old 03-14-2016, 01:12 PM
annapurna annapurna is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,668
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fathub View Post
Anna, I have never seen any verified studies of the effectiveness of Stem Cell injections other than the promotors thereof. Do you have any links to some bonafide studies?
This is a bit bigger question than I can answer quickly. I'll try to post something under Regenerative Medicine as I can. Quick answer: blind studies, implying the control group's getting needles stuck into degenerated disks with no effort to treat them, would seem to be medically unethical as we know that casually injecting disks can lead to damage or accelerate the damage that's already present. That means we're probably never going to find a published, verified, statistically valid, blind study. You're more likely to find long-term studies discussing outcomes but not comparing those against any control group.
__________________
Laura - L5S1 Charitee
C5/6 and 6/7 Prodisc C
Facet problems L4-S1
General joint hypermobility

Jim - C4/5, C5/6, L4/5 disk bulges and facet damage, L4/5 disk tears, currently using regenerative medicine to address

"There are many Annapurnas in the lives of men" Maurice Herzog
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  #30  
Old 03-14-2016, 08:23 PM
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Fathub Fathub is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 156
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Quote:
Originally Posted by annapurna View Post
This is a bit bigger question than I can answer quickly. I'll try to post something under Regenerative Medicine as I can. Quick answer: blind studies, implying the control group's getting needles stuck into degenerated disks with no effort to treat them, would seem to be medically unethical as we know that casually injecting disks can lead to damage or accelerate the damage that's already present. That means we're probably never going to find a published, verified, statistically valid, blind study. You're more likely to find long-term studies discussing outcomes but not comparing those against any control group.
So, statistically speaking from a purely science POV....it's snake oil at this point.
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Dec 1/15 - 3 level ADR from S1/L3 c/w 360 mobility preservation at L3/L4 for Spondylolisthesis done by Dr. Bertagnoli in Bogen GmbH.
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