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DDD bulging discs

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Chagood
Chagood

need to vent and looking for useful information. I have had back issues for several years and chronic sciatica for a year. I feel like I am not getting adequate care. Over the last year I have had xrays on my ankle, hip and lumbar due to pain. after many months it became clear that the pain was referred pain from the spine. i was given meds that made be drool and I finally dropped them in favor of Marijuna. PT only inflamed the nerve. I have taken up pool therapy. I felt during the entire year I was dismissed as being old (65) and overweight (280). With reluctance my prime authorized an MRI. I have 5 bulging discs and bone spurs on 4 levels, l5 formial narrowing with nerve impingement. it has been a year of pain and even with this diagnosis, I still feel dismissed. Kaiser has offered an epidural on l5 if I want it. Does this sound like adequate care? is this the best care I can hope for? is the state of medicine not evolved enough where conditions such as mine have a treatment that has a long term success rate? It seems like most treatments such as disc spacers are considered experimental.

0 likes, 2 replies

2 Replies

  • tamel15202
    tamel15202 Chagood

    Posted

    Hi,

    I also have Kaiser after failed spinal fusions and 7 years of pain I finally found Dr. Chang at Kaiser on Sunset I had 2 SI Joint fusion on both sides and it wasn't a major surgery I have no more nerve pain I really wished I found him first. I don't know where you lived but I recommend seeing him he might be able to help you.

  • CHICO_MARX
    CHICO_MARX Chagood

    Posted

    Good move on the med front. The nerve meds are baaaaaad newz...

    Here's my riff on sciatica...

    Sciatica

    I NEVER live in pain. I always find the cause and get it fixed...period. (PS: I'm almost 72). When the problem is spinal and nothing else works, you need an op. What kind depends on what's wrong. Aside from the bone spur causing my sciatica (read the link) fixed by a quick laminectomy at L4/L5, I needed to have L3 through S1 fused to solve the rest of my back problems two years later. Worked great.

    Then, 8 months after a knee replacement, I got a case of foraminal stenosis at L2/L3. Doc did an XLIF (LLIF or OLIF...). Immediate 100% relief from the minute I woke up...one night in the hospital (instead of the TLIF's 12), no rehab (TLIF 4 months) and no brace (TLIF 9 months). They put in an expandable spacer from your side, open it up with an Allen wrench, backfill with some bone from your hip and close. (Picture below.)

    Search YouTube for "Globus LLIF Technique" for an animation of the op and then "Globus ELSA" for one on the device with the optional rails. I'm having a two-level XLIF done on 1-22-2020 (T12/L1 and L1/L2) because I blew out L1 last year. They'll insert the devices then flip me over and put in the supporting rails. Yes, 45+ years of hockey does take a toll... Don't take "no" for an answer...find a good neurosurgeon and get it fixed!!!

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