Feeling a bit unnerved right now...

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sunset56

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Yesterday I had a discogram, and found out my pain is coming from L3, L2 and L1, with L1 being the one causing the most pain. L1 was the only one that looked good on my recent MRI and CAT scans. (L4 and L5 were fused in 2000). The doctor, who is the PM doctor at the spine institute that I'm going to, said my discs lack integrity and she felt little resistance when she probed with the needles. She is wondering if it might be something genetic, and wasn't surprised that it now takes me about six weeks to recover from a rupture, which I'm having about every six months.
I had been thinking I was heading for a two to four level fusion, depending on the shape of the previous fusion. My most recent problem has been something going askew when I have a rupture, and then staying that way. She thinks that is might be facet joints not going back into position. She also thought that having all five lurabar disc fused would more or less end life as I know it...but admitted she isn't the surgeon, who I see in two weeks.
I was told something similar four years ago, although I either wasn't told how many discs were causing my pain, or I've forgotten. Nothing was said about the condition of my discs, and the surgeon at that time said my best bet would be to wait for the approval of multiple artificial discs in the US. The PM doctor said yesterday that this might be the best option, due the shape my discs are in.
So I either go back to waiting for questionable technology to become legal, and then wait for my insurance company to decide to start paying for it...or have all of my lurabar discs fused. The idea of having a four level fusion took me awhile to accept, but having all five is a bit of a shock right now. Does anyone have any experience of advice on any of this? Thanks! Bill
 
Hi Bill, and welcome to the back board!
I have all of my lurabar vertebrae fused, plus a bunch of the thoracic, a total of 14. It will definitely change your life, but depending on how much pain you're in, it still might be worth it. I don't regret it for a second!

I had already lost a lot of flexibility because of a previous fusion 30 years ago, T4-L4. I won't bore you with the details, but I ended up needing to have something, ANYTHING, done to shore me up as my previous fusion was breaking down in the lower area and other things had happened that were causing me excruciating pain. I had a second fusion from T10-Sacrum, re-fusing part of the old fusion and adding a ton of hardware. What happens when you have all the lurabar segments fused is that the position you need to be in for sitting puts pressure on those segments, so since there's no movement there at all, sitting causes pain after anywhere from a few minutes to an hour or so. If they aren't fusing the Sacrum, too, this might not be an issue, but a lot of people on here do complain of "sit" pain, even those with fewer segments fused. I'm very stiff when I walk, and I've had to give up hobbies like gardening because it's very hard to reach the ground without pain. I can sit on a little stool outside for about 10 minutes to pull weeRAB if they're not too tight in the ground, but mostly I "supervise" while my husband and boys get to put their hanRAB in the dirt.

If your doctors are saying you're a candidate for the new procedure, I'd hold off as long as possible and wait for that. Wow, I can't even remeraber what it's like to bend all over! It would be so nice to be able to MOVE, to dance, to.... okay, this is not good for me, I'm not going there. I'm really fine with all this. It's how I am! And I'm very grateful to my surgeon, who really did give me back a life! I was quickly heading for a wheelchair, and that's not in the foreseeable future anymore.

It's going to boil down to how severe your pain gets and how long you can hold out. For me, fusion was the only option and it helped me immensely, in spite of ongoing problems partly caused by the fusion itself.

I wish you the best,
Emily
 
This just goes to show that MRI's don't always show everything, L1 being the one that looked the best on MRI, yet it's causing you the most pain. But when things look good on MRI's, people usually get dismissed and told there's nothing that would be causing a problem.

I've never had a discogram, but I've had many MRI's, though luckily mine usually do show where the problem is. However, I also keep getting getting problems like every few weeks with severe sciatica and other nerve pains. I do have alot of scar tissue, though, which my doc thinks causes alot of my problems. I also keep getting herniations and last summer I'm sure I had a big one higher up in the lurabar area b/c I felt like a hot knife stabbed me in my spine, then I had trouble walking due to severe nerve pains shooting along my outer hips. I didnt' see a doc, though right after it happened. I went to a PM several months later b/c it kept acting up. I had 3 caudal ESI's, which did help alot (though not completely) and now that they are worn off, I keep getting pain again. I see my surgeon again in June, so I have no idea what he will say about all this.
 
Thanks Emily and BayBreeze for your replies...your compassion is very much appreciated. I've already had to give up most of my active hobbies, and some were pretty hard to let go of. For about twelve years I had been breeding daylilies, and had started on hostas, but had to let go of of not only them, but also, the house and double lot that was mostly gardens. I also gave my son my canoe, and haven't been fishing for years now. After I moved into an apartment, I had a lot of free time, and since I can't walk a lot without having stenosis problems, started biking again...which really helped my back pain. I bought an inexpensive bike with full suspension, and only went on two paved bike paths that I knew, well, like the back of my hand. I wore that bike out, purchased one that cost five times as much, and was doing very well, taking tramadol, with vicadin on the bad days. Looking back on it, there was one particular pain that I ignored, which I shouldn't have. Last Septeraber something snapped, and my pain went up a whole level. I'm now on 20mg of oxcontin twice a day, which does a good job, as long as I don't move.
The surgeon I see in about two weeks said I wasn't a candidate for the ADR, the one I seen four years ago, and the PM doc I seen two days ago thought that I was...so I guess I'll wait and see what he has to say now.
Thanks for mentioning the ESI, BayBreeze. I just had one, and things got worse - but - it was in L-4 S-5, where I've gotten them for years, and according to the discogram I should probably have had it in L1. Bill
 
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