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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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  #1  
Old 05-15-2009, 11:17 PM
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cfbugsbunny cfbugsbunny is offline
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Default thanks for all being here

Hi. I have just recently received word from my MRI that I have disc bulges at C5-C6 and C6-C7. Over the course of the last few days my pain has risen dramatically as well as the headaches. I have always been one to take alot of pain but this is getting to be at my limit. The sad thing is ... my family physician and the neurosurgeon not once asked me how my pain was...NOT ONCE!! I think I might need new doctors. This next Thursday the 'pain clinic' is going to administer and epidural for my neck. I will see how that goes. I am not really happy with what has transpired lately and need some help. I have talked to medretreat today and mentioned that I was interested in ADR. It seems that they send their patients to Malaysia go get this done. Thanks again all for your support.
Cedar Rapids, IA.
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  #2  
Old 05-16-2009, 09:11 AM
Maddie Maddie is offline
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I just wanted to say welcome, and hope your adventure is resolved quickly.

I hate to tell you this, but I'd be surprised if your doctors DID care about your pain level. It is pretty normal to have them ignore your suffering, and the first thing that came to mind when I read your post was my neurologist's comment when I said I thought I needed surgery after I exhausted all conservative therapy, because the pain was unbearable.

His response was that 'pain is not a reason for surgery', that it had to be some physical limitation, or he wouldn't consider me a candidate.

Welcome to the world of spine specialists......

I truly hope you find a doctor that you can work with, and who is well educated in what you need to get relief. You will learn lots here...I only wish I had found this when I first started searching for answers.
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C3/4-5/6- Mod. ant., severe posterior bulging w. nerve root compression. Sev. narrowing of spinal canal with cord compression.

L4/5/S1- Mod. narrowing, bulging disc, significant hypertrophy of flava lig.

Highly allergic to all metals.

NEW: 3/16/2010: Successful surgery in Brazil w. Dr. Pimenta; Nuvasive NeoDisc at C5/6, and XLIF & ALIF at L4/5/S1 w. PEEK cages. No rods, screws, plates. Non-metal lumbar ADR not available at present time, so went with fusion.
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  #3  
Old 05-16-2009, 09:15 AM
Maddie Maddie is offline
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In the meantime, for pain relief, I found that ice helps a lot. Having it on and off in ten to fifteen minute intervals seems to work best, without hurting the skin. Wrap an ice pack that you can get from the drug store in a light tea towel before holding it against your neck.

I've got other hints for short term relief if you'd like. All the best.
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C3/4-5/6- Mod. ant., severe posterior bulging w. nerve root compression. Sev. narrowing of spinal canal with cord compression.

L4/5/S1- Mod. narrowing, bulging disc, significant hypertrophy of flava lig.

Highly allergic to all metals.

NEW: 3/16/2010: Successful surgery in Brazil w. Dr. Pimenta; Nuvasive NeoDisc at C5/6, and XLIF & ALIF at L4/5/S1 w. PEEK cages. No rods, screws, plates. Non-metal lumbar ADR not available at present time, so went with fusion.
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Old 05-16-2009, 06:23 PM
kimmers kimmers is offline
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Cfsbugsbunny,

Actually, intractable pain is one of the reasons for doing spinal surgery. BTW, welcome to this forum. I, myself, have found a lot of support on here and it has been a lifeline as i navigate my spine problems. I hope the same happens to you, too.

I know a little bit about how doctors think since I am a nurse. Sometimes, you have to almost literally hit them over the head with a brick until they listen to you. (My apologies to any doctors out there but this is the case a lot of time because that is the way it is.)

Before you fire your doctors, did you tell them how much pain you were in? If you tell them you cannot sleep because of the pain, that usually gets their attention.

You have to really make the doctors aware of what is going on with you as they are not mind readers and need to be told what is happening. Now, pain is a reason to do surgery but first doctors try to find the "pain generator". Because the human spine is extremely complicated and there can be multifactoral generators, finding out what is causing your pain is the goal. A lot of doctors don't get too concerned about bulges in the spine as some people can have disc bulges and be perfectly fine. Other times, a disc bulge can cause severe pain. But you really need to find out what is causing the pain, before you want to do any surgery.

AND you want to treat the symptoms conservatively before you try invasive things like surgery. Unless there is an emergency.
Hence, that is why you are having the epidural, I assume. The epidural is to reduce inflammation at the nerves adjacent to the disc. The goal is that with reducing the inflammation, this should allow your own body to heal. Usually, epidurals are given in a series of three as long as you get some relief from the first one.

Now, if you are in severe pain, you should be treated with medications to reduce that pain. Have you spoken with the pain management, primary or neurosurgeon about this?
There is no need to suffer if you need something stronger than Tylenol to reduce your pain.

I hope this addresses some of your questions you may have. My advice is by no means jump into surgery. If you are thinking about surgery, i would also get more than one opinion.
I'm having surgery soon but this is after months of conservative treatment and ruling out other reasons for my pain and symptoms.

Kimmers
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hurt back lifting, herniated disc at L4/L5. DDD
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  #5  
Old 05-16-2009, 07:04 PM
Jessica Jessica is offline
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I am sorry to hear of your pain. Every doctor is different, but here are some things that I have learned over the years. I did find that enduring the pain without meds, made them think that my pain must not be that bad. A discogram was done on some of my disks and that showed them that they had tears and fissures, that was convincing to them as well.

I found it very helpful to be specific to my doctors about my limitations, more than my pain. I told them, when I get up in the morning I debate whether or not to take a shower because it will cause me extreme pain for the rest of the day if I wash and dry my hair.

I showed them that my arm shakes when I extend it and flex - this got their attention. I told them that there was not any job that I could imagine that I was capable of doing in my current condition.

I had surgery and a month later I was back to my job full time! I am not saying that is the answer for everybody, but it did help me significantly.

Best of luck.
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Jessica 39 yrs old
10/2005 MVA C5-C6 herniation w/ cord impingement/displacement Unable to work full time.
July 31, 2006 Surgery successfully completed Prodisc-C C5/C6 on in Straubing, Germany by Dr. Bertagnoli. Able to work full time since 1 month post op, but some pain remains.
10/2008 3 surgeons confirm C6/C7 needs ADR and always has.
Has anyone had a second ADR surgery on an adjacent level?
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  #6  
Old 05-18-2009, 11:12 PM
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cfbugsbunny cfbugsbunny is offline
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Thanks for all the wonderful information. I did call my neurosurgeon today and asked if he could prescribe some type of pain meds as the pain was beginning to wear me down. I am happy that this did occur and I asked the nurse why he didn't mention this to me earlier. She said that the doctor never brings this up. I'll take this as a lesson learned. I am looking forward to thursday as this is when I take some baby steps toward some conservative non-surgical treatment.

I did manage to do two things since I last wrote to try alternative approaches to this issue. 1. I went and got a massage to loosen up all the neck / back muscles - this worked a little but only for a short time. and 2. I forgot about the inversion table that I had purchased for my back a few years ago. This seemed to also provide some temporary relief.

I have been considering going to my chiropractor to see what he can do - he did help me prevent a back surgery a few years ago.
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  #7  
Old 05-29-2009, 09:51 AM
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cfbugsbunny cfbugsbunny is offline
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heading back to the neurosurgeon today. It seems that the epidural shot took away the pain - but only momentarily. I can feel the pain beginning to come back. The doctor wants to talk about plan b. I can only imagine that this will be the discussion regarding surgery. Needless to say this is a scary crossroads in my life. Any prayers would certainly be appreciated. thank you.
Mark
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  #8  
Old 05-29-2009, 10:26 AM
Maddie Maddie is offline
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Prayers on their way, Mark.

For some, the injections work amazingly well. For me, the first two worked only marginally, and then the next bunch not at all. I should have stopped trying much sooner, but the doctor and I were optimistic.

I did find that acupuncture helped a great deal, but I think it concerned the muscles around my discs. Unfortunately, I had to drive for an hour to get to this fellow, and that ended up erasing all the benefits.

A Tens machine also helped, along with ice, but these are all temporary measures when the pain medication couldn't keep up. These were the only alternate therapies that had any effect for me.

I quickly had to jump to large amounts of narcotics as I had too many sensitivities to most medications.

We are here to help talk you through all this. Just keep posting
__________________
C3/4-5/6- Mod. ant., severe posterior bulging w. nerve root compression. Sev. narrowing of spinal canal with cord compression.

L4/5/S1- Mod. narrowing, bulging disc, significant hypertrophy of flava lig.

Highly allergic to all metals.

NEW: 3/16/2010: Successful surgery in Brazil w. Dr. Pimenta; Nuvasive NeoDisc at C5/6, and XLIF & ALIF at L4/5/S1 w. PEEK cages. No rods, screws, plates. Non-metal lumbar ADR not available at present time, so went with fusion.
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  #9  
Old 05-29-2009, 11:10 AM
Jdouglas Jdouglas is offline
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Default Insurance Carrier?

Hi Maddie,

Who is your insurance carrier? Why did they reject the procedure to begin with? I am also in appeal although I went and had a prodisc implanted on Tuesday, I am still appealing the decision myself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
L5S1 Herniation and Annular tear
Over 10 epidurals,
DDD, 2 discograms (positive),
Countless attempts at conservative therapy.
Prodisc L5S1 Implanted 5-26-09
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  #10  
Old 05-30-2009, 09:23 AM
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cfbugsbunny cfbugsbunny is offline
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Well, the neurosurgeon has said that there is nothing except surgery that is going to relieve the symptoms that I have. I guess the epidural in his mind was a one shot deal as it did not relieve any of the symptoms. If a person were to consider fusion surgery - his thoughts seem to be pretty good. We talked about the motion of the discs at that level and what the C5-C6 and C6-C7 contribute to the overall motion of the neck (which was minimal in his opinion). His biggest concern was restoring the spacings so that the nerves have a less restrictive path from my spinal cord. I guess my spaces are pretty small at these levels. The one positive thing I noted yesterday was that on my most recent MRI, ALL the other levels for my discs looked really really good. I also had been doing some excercises that my chiropractor had shown me and I have partially restored my lordotic curvature (weird).

I had a good conversation with Sue Hart of the Stenum Hospital yesterday. I was convinced earlier by my doctor that I would never be a candidate for ADR as I had severe arthitis in my neck with bone spurs. Sue did convince me to send off my MRI's, X-rays to the Stenum hospital. She mentioned that this is typically not an exclusion criteria for this procedure and Stenum would provide an evaluation within 2 weeks.
Are there any of you out there that has gone through the procedure at Stenum that would be willing to call me to talk about their experience? Right now I am in the decision phase and am gathering information about both sides of the fence so I can be informed. Please send a PM if possible.

As I fretted over some of the decisions yesterday I began to do further research on the Stenum Hospital and typed in "Stenum Hospital reviews" in Google. About halfway down the page I noted a video testimony from Stenum in regards to ADR. As I clicked on the 6-8 minute video some of my fears were alleviated. There in the video was Dr. Karlsten Ritter-Land describing the procedure / benefits and the lady that I talked to earlier - Sue Hart. It seems so much more real now that I can put a face to a name. Also it was rather timely as I was really frustrated. God has a keen sense of when I need to be put at ease.
Anyway - there is a second opinion coming for me on June 9th with another Cedar Rapids doctor and the evaluation from Stenum. Now the waiting game begins.
thanks for the all the prayers and kind support.
Mark
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