I have been having back problems since my
20's ( 46 now ). I went into to see a
doctor about 2 months ago know after the
large quantities of ibuprofen were no
longer hacking it. After convincing the
guy I was not working out and really was
having issues with my back he decided to
run a set of xrays. 20 minutes after the
xrays were taken he comes back in and asks
me what kind of pain killers I would like.
Pick what I want. He told me he thought I
had some form of ankylosing spondilitus
and my spine was in bad shape. Pain meds
and a referal to a rhemy.
Rhemy stated I had dish. Offered pain
killers and said nothing could be done.
After looking up dish I began to have
doubts about that diagnosis because of my
age and that its effecting every one of my
vertibrea.
Seen an orthopedic surgeon last week who
is a friend. He spent quite a bit of time
going through my exrays. He came back in
and jokingly ask me what vertibrae hurts
followed by its in all of them. His
diagnosis was spinal spondylosis with
stenosis in my in my lower back. moderate
to severe in places. Said there was no
surgical option only management at this
point.
My questions are as follows... Anyone else
in this situation? What can I expect
longterm? Is it going to be pain
killers/muscle relaxers the rest of my
life? I cannot have cortizone because i'm
diabetic. my wieght is fine and I walk
twice daily. Anyone?
My last question is about pain. I have the
ususuall aches, bone on bone pain and
occational sharper pain. But the worst of
it is the gnawing pain in my spine. It
drives me crazy. It feels like something
is alive in there and gnawing on the
bones. Its not that its that painfull its
that its constant some days and tenses up
my entire back and pretty much nothing
relieves it. Any idea what is causing this
and how to get relief?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Bfromaz
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rollar64
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Nov 2006 Posts: 128 Location: melbourne
Thanks: 1
Thanked:0
Posted: 03-02-08 07:25am
Its not possible to say what exactly is
causing your pain but if you think of your
spinal cord of an extension of you brain
which it is and it course's all the way
down your spinal canal and branches out
grooves in the vertebra at all levels and
then all these vertebra that have delicate
joints at the back of them (facet joints)
begin to fuse together which is what
Spondylosis is. It is understandable that
your pain is so unpleasant. Medication and
exercise are the two treatments used to
manage this disorder. get someone good to
help you manage this condition.
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algosdoc
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 186
Posted: 03-02-08 11:56am
You stated you had x-rays but there is no
mention of a MRI. MRI is the only viable
way to diagnose spinal stenosis and is
helpful in many other diagnoses. Most
with ankylosing spondylitis have a
positive blood test HLA B27 and the
treatment involves drugs in the class of
etanercept. Spinal stenosis may be
treated with x-stop surgery or laminectomy
whereas spondylosis of the zygapophyseal
(facet) joints may respond to
radiofreqency neurotomy.
|
algosdoc
Experienced User , Rather EHEALTHy
Joined: 23 Mar 2004 Posts: 186
Posted: 03-02-08 11:56am
You stated you had x-rays but there is no
mention of a MRI. MRI is the only viable
way to diagnose spinal stenosis and is
helpful in many other diagnoses. Most
with ankylosing spondylitis have a
positive blood test HLA B27 and the
treatment involves drugs in the class of
etanercept. Spinal stenosis may be
treated with x-stop surgery or laminectomy
whereas spondylosis of the zygapophyseal
(facet) joints may respond to
radiofreqency neurotomy.
|
BfromAz
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 5
Stenosis Posted: 03-02-08 15:49pm
The surgeons diagnosis for stenosis was
based on me having numbness in my right
foot. No reflexes in right leg. Sciatic
pain at times going down my left leg.
While walking/excercising at times my legs
go rubbery and start to give out.
I have also lost a lot of my ability to
turn my neck (30-45% loss). What ever this
is its in every vertibrae I have from what
I can see from the x-rays. It is slowly
reducing my range of movement as the
vertibrae ankylos.
I lived a fairly active life in my 20's
and 30's. Military, skydiving, dirtbiking,
climbing etc.
I am currently waiting for insurance
approval for an mri.
The pain for me is not in just one or two
joints but runs the full lenth of my
spine. It varies from day to day depending
on my activities. Today my lower back and
neck are bugging me and my mid back is
quiet ( Mid is my worst area ).
Thank you for pointing out the
radiofreqency neurotomy. I will explore
that as an option. Kind of nice hearing
about options verses being told to take
vicodin, percosett, tramadol etc and told
its management only.
Thanks for the replies.
Bfromaz
|
lonestarguy
Active User, Really EHEALTHy
Joined: 21 Jun 2007 Posts: 585 Location: , Hoosierland, USA
Thanks: 9
Thanked:1
Posted: 03-02-08 16:23pm
OK, BfromAZ:
I have exactly the same diagnosis and I
have been suffering since 2000. I've had
so many MRIs that all the many doctors I
have seen agree with the stenosis. I just
had six facet injections and have been
virtually pain-free for two weeks. My pain
is not exactly the same as yours, though,
as my lower back is the worse. I've
already had a cervical laminectomy and
that area is fine.
I have had drugs, many types of
injections, exercises, radio frequency
ablation and it's been hit-and-miss. I was
on heavy pain medications (Norco,
morphine, oxycontin) for four years, but I
became dependent and had to stop. I quit
last February and was sick as a dog for a
month or so, then gradually improved a
little each month. It was May before I
really felt like the drugs were out of my
system. Needless to say, even though they
do work on the pain, I do not recommend
drugs unless you're willing to stick to
the prescribed dose (which almost
impossible with deep pain).
I'm presently on pain management and
taking non-addictive Lyrica for nerve
pain, but still needed the injections
because the pain was becoming too much. I
also still have numbness in my left foot
and I know about the rubbery legs. The
injections are just a stop-gap measure
with three months being the longest any
lasted for me.
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