Hi Blair,
Bulging discs - it may be a benign problem at this point. Many people live with bulging discs every day and have absolutely no idea they have them because they present with no symptoms. Then, there are other people out there that have a slight bulge of the disc and are in horrible pain. This is one of the reasons that it is soooo hard to diagnose spine problem(s). AND this is why finding what the cause of your pain is.....
This bulging disc at L4-5 could be nothing.... and I hope that it is nothing....
What dermatome path is the pain following? It sounds like the PM doc has things narrowed down to the facets - considering that you received some relief with the left sided rhizo.... This also makes sense because it corresponds to the arthropathy or enlargement of the facet joints.
Mild sclerotic in this case appears to mean a mild narrowing. Think of the heart when they talk about arteriosclerosis which is a "hardening of the arteries" - basically this type of sclerosis is caused by a plaque narrowing a heart artery - Same concept applies to the spinal canal they are saying that there is some mild narrowing there.... Keep in mind that narrowing and inpingement are two different things.
Now - they are saying that the spinal canal is widely "patent" meaning that there is nothing obstructing the spinal canal - my impression is that they are saying that even though the spine has some areas of "narrowing" there is no obstruction or impingement of the neural structures.
Hope this helps..
Poncho
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