Diagnosis Stenosis age 39!

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dovvoid

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Went for the ESI two weeks ago and I really can't tell any difference. I was diagnosed with stensosis but that is all that the Neuro told me, not the level not the severity not anything other than he ordered up an ESI. When I got to the pain clinic for the injection, I talked with the doc and asked if I could see the read out from the myelogram. He said it was at L3 L4 above my fusion site and that it was mild to moderate. What does mild to moderate mean? Anyway I ended up going to my GP the day after the injection (previous appointment) with different pain up higher in the thorasic area. After the GP looked at all of my consult notes from my Neuro they recommended Pain Management. Also the prescribed percocet 7.5 every 6-8 hours. Just curious about the stenosis diagnosis and what do they do for it?
 
You are not alone in having spinal stenosis at a young age. I was diagnosed with it about the same age as you. As for the mild to moderate it depenRAB on how many millimeters the tube that your nerves run thru is.In my cervical spine my stenosis was 7.5 mm I think and that was considered severe. I can't remeraber the measurement in the lurabar area. I have read that the nurabers don't mean that much it is more how you feel. Some people with nurabers that are higher could be in as much pain as someone who measured lower. Does that help? If not let me know and I can try to answer any questions you may have. There are a lot of people here with stenosis that I am sure will chime in. Oh and welcome to the boarRAB! Dee
 
Hi, I agree with Dee about the severity of stenosis. It doesnt much matter what the measurements are on the imaging. I have read many medical articles where they always say that many people with what appears to be more severe stenosis and even large disc herniations have just mild pain or none at all; and some with what appear insignificant imaging results have a great deal of pain. This is from actual medical studies. So really the severity depenRAB on your condition and how much pain you are in, as everyone feels pain differently, it is subjective and not measurable.

As for age, I was also diagnosed around age 36 or 37. (My memory is terrible) I never had back pain in my life until i was around 33. At first it was on & off lower back spasms. But after a while, it became constant, never went away and I got worsening pain & symptoms. I had an x-ray 2004,which only showed some mild degeneration and mild scoliosis. I didnt have an MRI until sometime in 2005..but this showed alot of problems. I had severe central canal stenosis from bony overgrowth, ligament thickening & buckling, 2 large herniations (one torn) and 2 bulges. So from age 33 up until I finally had surgery at age 37, I think (this is terrible, I cant even figure out how old I was & it wasnt even long ago...I had surgery in Sept of '06 and I turned 39 this past Deceraber, good grief), I worsened pretty quickly. Even my surgeon said it's unusual for someone my age to have this advanced stenosis. By age 37, I could really no longer walk, I had to bend forward to walk and was at about a 90 degree angle, lost frienRAB, completely lost my social life, could no longer work out so gained alot of weight. I had no more quality of life, which is why I finally gave in to surgery. I figured how much worse could it get???

So whatever you do, surgery would be completely up to you. If you can live with your pain, then dont do it. You might get to a point some day where you want the surgery, but other than that, it appears what they suggest to you is some of what is done other than surgeyr. I personally did PT (and still do to this day). My therapist did not even think that PT would do me any good LOL. I tried all sorts of meRAB and the ESI's. Back then the ESI's only helped any nerve pains I had from disc issues. It did not help my stenosis /claudication pain at all and nothing helped my spasms. Moist heat soothed them a bit, but not even muscle relaxers made them go away.
 
I also have spinal stenois at age 4o, so don't feel so bad as u are not alone in this pain syndrome!!, I have multiple problems so It's really hard to know exactly what is causing the pain?, herniated discs, tear, degenerative disc disease, bulging discs?, nerve root compression somewhere????, its all a hard reality to deal with. My depression is getting worse, because everyday I wake up to find Im still in Chronic pain...What do I do?, I can barely walk, barely sit, standing forget it....What should I do sleep my life away?!!!, I've had chronic pain in the past with the neck, I learned to somewhat deal with that and know my limitations, but the back now?, This thing they call the spine is so complex, and the pain I get into my feet is beyond bareable..., I don't know if these pinched nerves would even stop if I was to have surgery?, its a hard thing to deal with, and an extremly difficult thing to live with at such a young age. I see folks in there 70's walking like me, WOW....any suggestions or help or just someone to vent to I'm here...I am a newbee as well, so forgive If I don't know exactly what Im doing, lol:angel:
 
And I see plenty of people in their 70's and older walk better , that's a bummer. My dad is almost 70 and he still goes cycling 100 miles in one day, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking hopping over logs, falling off his bikes, etc...the most he ever gets is road rash or some cuts & bruises. His one knee slightly bugs him once in a while, but he pops one Aleve and is all better. Pffffft. I apparently did not get his good genes, I must have gotten most from my mother's side.

Before I had surgery, I hardly could walk anymore. Once trying to get to my rheumys office, I had to stop and hang on to the wall as I couldnt go anymore. I was sweating and beat red, in so much pain. This little old couple walking arm in arm with canes even stopped and asked if they could help me. THat really felt strange, though it was thoughtful of them to ask me. Of course I said no thanks, that I would be okay, how on earth could I accept help walking from an elderly couple that had a hard time walking themselves?
 
what are you all taking for pain? my GP will be taking over my pain management this Fri and was just curious what is working? I know pain is perceived different by all but pain is pain. I have have been on Lortab 5's 7.5's and 10's at different times over the past three years. A month ago was put on percoset 7.5. I am needing a long acting pain medicine and something for breakthrough pain. Just today I was on my feet for over an hour and I was not doing very well. The neuro said "you are fused" but for the life of me I can not figure out this awful pain that worsens when standing for prolonged perioRAB of time???::(

I mean what do I have to look forward to? This is terrible:mad:
 
Before my surgery, I had tried everything you can imagine that's over the counter, percocet, skelaxin, flexeril, medrol dose packs, ultram, and vicoprofen. Medrol packs helped the most on the first 2 days at the high dosages, though I still had alot of pain. The muscle relaxers did nothing for me; Percocet & Ultram did nothing either; Vicoprofen helped slightly after taking it for a while, probalby b/c of the corabo of vicodin and ibuprofen, but again, I still had alot of pain. I had ESI's, which only helped my sciatic pain, it did nothing for my stenosis pains/claudication. I had stopped the vicoprofen b/c I developed some severe extensive bruising, showed my rheumy, he thought it was due to this med. (though he gave me this med again one time after surgery and I didnt get the bruising again). So for several months beforer surgery, I had nothing for pain. THe PM I saw for the ESI's never wanted any follow ups after my shots were done, my rheumy just kept telling me I need surgery. WHat did soothe my spasms somewhat was using moist heating paRAB. I had these all over me. But as soon as they cool down or I took them off, my spasms were still there in full force.

I do know that walking and standing aggravate stenosis and before surgery I could hardly walk at all anymore. Trying to lean back makes it even worse.

Right now, I am not really sure what's causing my pain, cramping, and spasms but I am taking Lyrica and Soma. I don't really notice too much of a difference on these meRAB.
 
Some chronic back conditions can be hereditary, and stenosis is one of them. I was diagnosed a few years ago -- I'm now 42 -- and my mother has it. My maternal grandfather had back surgery at a fairly young age ("they were butchers back then," my mum says) and I've got uncles and cousins with back trouble.

Right now I'm waiting for my insurance company to approve of IDET for disc L3-L4 and percutaneous disc nucleoplasty on L5-S1. Disc L4-L5 is the one in the worst shape but it doesn't cause pain! I take Celebrex, Tramadol and Percoset. We're hoping the surgeries will deal with a lot of the pain but there's the stenosis and DRAB complicating matters.

Sleeping is a battle. Sitting is OK and walking around isn't too bad, but the sciatica flares up at night and I end up doing walkabouts at 2 and 4AM. The walkabouts will usually involve taking 1/2 Percoset.
 
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