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The Big File All issues not easily categorized in the above forums are here. Comments on general health, diet, "getting comfortable," and more are here.


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Old 04-07-2006, 11:19 AM
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Harrison Harrison is offline
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Posted by JFerg (Member # 719) on April 07, 2006 10:59 AM:

Hey, guys.......what a pleasure to have come across some like-minded, similar situation kinda folks as me. Have thoroughly enjoyed reading the painfully honest and thought provoking posts.

Like many of you, I've been diagnosed with DDD at L4, and the disc is protruding 6 mm. to the left. The protrusion apparantly rubs against the blasted sciatic nerve which just throbs........down the left leg to the back of the knee.

To get to the quick of this, somehow I've thought that I'm entitled to be pain-free in this life, and I've self-medicated myself to that end for a number of years. It has caused a great deal of problems at home, work, and with my significant relationships. I've managed to abuse the prescription meds over the years to the point that I have to admit that I'm powerless over medication that affects my moods.

After being told by my boss that I was "impaired" at work and to "take a few days off," I finally realized the extent of this problem. It has been a month now of very conservative med intake while learning how to tolerate a relatively fair amount of constant pain.

So, I wanted to introduce myself in that regard, and to let you know that I'm trying to be proactive in my search for a positive outcome.

I saw Dr. Blumenthal at the Texas Back Institute, Dr. Rolando Garcia at Aventura in Miami, Dr. Cure (a leading neurosurgeon in Bogota, Colombia), and a wide variety of ortho's here in South Florida. The general consensus is the the Charite ADR procedure is recommended. Not to get a fusion as they would be back at another level in a few years. United Health Care has denied the procedure 3 times as "too experimental." Doctor will do it in SA for approx. $20,000. I just didn't feel fully comfortable there.

I'm communicating with an experimental study in Sarasota. One group will get the Kineflex disc and the other get the Charite. From what I understand, a participant in this study does not have to pay for the operation?? Since $20 million was allocated for the study, I'm wondering if this is an open door??

Thanks for allowing me to share my story here. Thanks to Alistair and Harrison for your welcoming me. Harrison, I really appreciate your efforts to keep this going. In my wildest dreams I never thought there was such an open forum anywhere on this subject.
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Posted by David (Member # 220) on April 07, 2006 11:12 AM:

I am not currently aware of the status of potential open slots in Dr. Yue's Prodisc / Activ-L study, but you might want to at least think about it:

http://info.med.yale.edu/ortho/clinical/yue.html

David
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Old 04-07-2006, 02:02 PM
Mariaa Mariaa is offline
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David,
Welcome to the forum~ a great place to get information and support re ADR as well as other spinal information.

My husband is from Bogota Colombia ~
Might I ask where Dr.Cure practices (what medical facility/hospital is he associated with?)?

Good luck with your research and endeavor regarding your painful disc.

Since Oct.2005 CA. WC has turned me down several times also to have a 2 level ADR done. Now submitting as fusion at L5S1 and ADR above but have yet to hear the outcome.

Keep us posted please on your progress~ Maria
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Old 04-07-2006, 03:49 PM
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Mariaa..........Dr. Cure is with the Clinica Del Country located around the intersection area of 22 and 15, I think. He performed a disectomy on my father-in-law which was enormously helpful to him. My father-in-law was unable to walk more than 10 minutes before he had to sit down for a half hour. Now he's like a free man. I haven't really heard of too many positive disectomy outcomes.
Thanks, David, for the website. I'll check it out tonight. It's Friday and been a long week with these 8th graders. Time to get out of here!
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Old 04-07-2006, 08:49 PM
annapurna annapurna is offline
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First, philosophy. Please keep reading, useful information follows.

No one is entitled to life without pain. For those who remember The Princess Bride, "Life is pain." That being said, the second mistake was blindly accepting pills and doctor's advice (presumably someone had to write the prescription for you). As it's your body and your pain, you need to be in control of your treatment making sure that the best techniques are being ussed to drive your pain down to the lowest possible for you.

In the future, be very careful with your pain medication. Addiction isn't fun, but tolerancing and having it fail to work for you in the future would be even worse.

For the kind of money you were talkiing about, you could get ADR from Drs. Zeegers or Bertagnoli in Germany. Lots of the people here have had excellent result with them. I don't know what SA is so I don't know if you are uncomfortable with the facilities, surgeons or the high cost. If you're interested in Germany, you're welcome to email or PM but numerous people have posted stories on the website. If you wish to think about the facilites or surgeons in SA, you're also welcome to ask what convinced us or others that a facility or surgeon met our "minimum standard" whe we were deciding where to go.
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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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Old 04-08-2006, 03:50 AM
ans ans is offline
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Also key to a great great doc and facilities is the vascular surgeon's quality.

Good luck, ans
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Old 04-08-2006, 05:13 AM
Alastair Alastair is offline
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Yes I went to the Alpha clinic from the UK, and the facilities are absolutely awesome, and of course you get the most experienced ADR spine surgeon in the world with Dr Zeegers
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