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Still no Resolve

Posted , 5 users are following.

dawn57104
dawn57104

Where to start, i have had a bad back for over 2 years now.

Finally i got to see a pain consultant who was very helpful, gave me the mri i had wanted and it turns out i have L4 - L5

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • dawn57104
    dawn57104

    Posted

    OOPS

    L4-L5 Disc Dehydration with inflammed facet joints. these are still no better infact the pain level is worse now than when i had the mri.

    Loosing the will to live with this, all my gp wants is for me to go to physio but i see my oteopath every 2 months and that does help.

    The pain is now radiating down my left leg as well. Also the MRI showed i have a tilted pelvis with a shortened left leg!

    Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

  • CHICO_MARX
    CHICO_MARX dawn57104

    Posted

    About 5 years ago, I had severe sciatica, shooting pain down my left leg.  PT, meds, chiropractor, pain shots...nothing worked.  Neurosurgeon did an MRI which showed a bone spur "crushing" (his word) the sciatic nerve root at L4/L5.  Simple laminectomy...no fusion...instant relief.

    This past October, I got severe stenosis (think sciatica down BOTH legs) at L2/L3.  Instead of a typical fusion, he did an LLIF where they go in from your side not your back.  Instead of 10 days in the hospital and 6 months rehab, it was a one night stay and no rehab.

    Search YouTube for "Globus lateral" to see the animation.  Could solve your problem is you need a fusion alternative.  Else, a laminectomy might fix it.  Ask your doc if he/she does the LLIF procedure and if it would work for you.

    • dawn57104
      dawn57104 CHICO_MARX

      Posted

      Thank you for that I will make a note and look those up just in case, forearmed is forewarned I guess.

       

  • allaroundanne
    allaroundanne dawn57104

    Posted

    We need to play chicken or egg here.  Were you put on this earth with that deformity or is your pelvic tilt with the resultant leg shortening secondary to your pain and arthritis? A simple and easy thing to do would be to get a pain management doc to do a set of facet joint blocks on all those inflammed facet joints and see if that gets rid of your pain.  If it does, you are in luck.  They can do an RFA, which means a radio frequency ablation, basically burn the sensory nerves to these joints and then you will no longer feel the pain generated by the arthritis and inflammation going on in these joints.  Commonly an RFA block will last a good year or two.  I am a retired pain management doc and that's where I would start with you.

    • dawn57104
      dawn57104 allaroundanne

      Posted

      Interesting as the pain management doctor I saw did not recommend joint blocks for me! that was over a year ago.

       

    • dawn57104
      dawn57104 allaroundanne

      Posted

      I have had back issues from the beginning in secondary school I was monitored for a curvature of my spine. then I had back pain and from there it has got progressively worse over time.
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