Cervical spine problem at c5-c6, c6-c7..Very depressed :(

[Sonata]

Hello everyone

Just want to say thank you to all of you for answering me so fast. I live in Malaysia (half way around the world from you guys) and will be going to Singapore (very advanced in medicine) tomorrow to get another opinion from another neurosurgen. Cross your fingers..One neurosurgen told me that I should have another MRI taken after taking the medication and rest for 3 weeks to see what hapenned to the discs..Just wonder if there'd be an improvement through rest and medication/

Yesterday while I was surfing I have found the website www.rebuildyourback.com. This is a website started by a journalist who investigates into any health issue. He has written two books after consulting with many many doctors. He has 2 books about rebuilding your back and rebuilding your neck. Apparently a lot of doctors say that MRI results should not be the decision making criteria when it comes to surgery. It's your symptoms that shoud be taken into notice. I do not have any pain anywhere, I only have this mild pins and needles feeling (mildly) on my left arm. My father has the same problem and have made it (I am not sure about his details though) over 30 years with occasional physical therapy, collar, medicatian etc..He has a lot of bone spurs too and lumbar problem too. Please check www.rebuildyourback.com. I am not saying it works for everyone but it has a lot of information derived from othopedists and neurosurgens. The journalist's name is Dean Moyer. He says 90% of the cases are resolved with these neck and back exercises he has put together from various MDs and therapists. Ofcourse you always have to ask your doctor first before you start it. I will get the book and show the neurosurgen tomorrow.

Here is my MRI report
T1W and T2W sagittal sections at 5mm intervals
T2W axial sections at 5 mm intervals.

There is loss of the normal cervical lordosis. (I've had this for ages already)

A right postero-lateral disc prolapse at c5-c6/ Part of the prolapsed disc is seen to encroach on the neuro foramen on the right. There is compression on the exiting nerve root on the same side . (I HAVE NO SYMPTOMS ON MY RIGHT ARM THOUGH!)

A left postero-lateral disc prolapse at c6-c7/ Part of the prolapsed disc is seen to encroach on the neuro foramen on the left. There is compression on the exiting nerve root on the same side .

Posterior osteophyte is seen at the level c4/c5 encroaching on the neuroforamen on the right.

The cervical spine cord appears normal. There is no cord compression nor space occupying lesion seen. There is no change in signal intensity of the spinal cord.
Anterior and posterior osteophytes are seen at he levels of c4-c5, c5-c6 and c6-c7.

Changes of the end plate disease are seen at the level of c5-c6.

There is no change in the signal intensity of the bone marrow of the rest of the cervical vertebrea.

IMPRESSION:
1. C5/C6 right postero-lateral disc prolapse
2. c6/C7 left postero-lateral disc prolapse
3. Cervical spondylosis

They say if people even without any problems would go and get MRIs done to their cervical spine they will find a lot of things that could put them in worry. Like I said my dad managed somehow and his bone spurs were really bad. He is 78 years old today. Lucky guy he did not go for surgery and a lot told him to do so.

Have you heard anyone with spinal fusion surgery that went over 20 yrs or so without other discs slipping and no serious complications. I cannot find a success srtory on the web.

This is really confusing, When I feel fit enough to go and play golf or tennis or run..I am told to take it easy, take medicine, wear a collar and stay home for 3 weeks.

Please let me know about your impressions..

Thank you all so much again..

Hugs to all

Sonata

[KL Aguilar]

I read your MRI results. Here is my PERSONAL OPINION, from an experienced cervical spine injury patient WITH NO MEDICAL TRAINING at all. Please realize that no one can give you true medical advice on the internet. However, having been through this myself, here is what I THINK.

Your situation is not urgent at this point. Your symptoms are minimal. The spinal cord is not involved. You have bulges or herniations that are pushing into the opening for nerves, hence the numbness and tingling. These may reduce somewhat with time, rest, physical therapy, or other similar treatments.

Eventually, your situation MAY get worse as bone spurs do not usually go away. I have had a bone spur at C5-6 for more than 12 years now and it is growing very slowly, but not doing anything that requires major surgery yet. (I have other symptoms that may force me into surgery, but it is not the bone spur itself.)

If I were in your shoes, I would seek out the best medical help I could and begin to research as much as I could. I would not have surgery at this point. The first surgery I would investigate is minimally invasive surgery, such as cervical endoscopic discectomy. Assuming that your symptoms do not get dramatically worse, do not make any life-changing decisions about things like surgery until you feel you understand all the options.

[mmglobal]

Sonata, in order to make an informed decision, you'll want to assess the risk of waiting. You doctors will advise you and get multiple opinions, but there are problems that let you make a 'quality of life' decision... do the symptoms rise to the level of risking surgery. If you have severe cord compresison, you might not have the luxury of making the qualify of life decison, even in the absence of substantial symptoms. However, If you have exiting nerve root compression, it may not be unreasonable to wait, even in the presence of substantial symptoms. As I said, you'll get different opinions from different surgeons.. it's tough to sort it all out.

Mark

[Sonata]

Thank you all so much everybody..

Your support makes me feel stronger mentally. I've just come back seeing another neurosurgen. He told me to rest and take it easy and take meds for a while and see what happens to my symptoms. I will start doing some neck strengthening exercises, light ones. This neurosurgen told me that if I want to go back to my active life (golf, tennis) I better have the surgery (fusion, but then with an active life like that you are putting yourself at great risk for making the other discs slip!! What kind of an advice was that? I really do not understand. He said the other discs look in good form so it shouldn't be a problem!!..If I would know any success stories like a double fusion with an active life for 20 years I would not have a hard time beleiving this guy). He added 300mg of Neurontin, one everynight, to my medication. I just surfed the web and found out that this medicine is given to people with much more serious indications. And everybody is complaining about serious weight gain in short periods of time even if they eat normal. Has anyone of you taken this and seen this side effect?

Thank you for letting me know about cervical endoscopic discectomy. It looks very promising as a non evasive technique. Any one of you know a good place to do this in Europe other than Alphaklinik.

I am required to send my results to the Alphaklinik in Germany for a diagnosis and treatment options. I will be sending everything by DHL this Monday. And see what they have to say. Although they are the best in the world (looking at their reference list and patients who got treated by them), I am keeping in mind that at the end of the day they are surgeons too and they might want to go ahead and do something right away. Ahhh..Ethics.. I hope they are ethical.

Looking forward to hearing from you all..

Thank you once again.

Sonata

[Sonata]

Dear Mark and all

Thank you very much for everything already. I have been away from the forum bec my meds are making me very woozy and I am told not to sit in front of the computer much. This is all so weird to me as I have no pain at all. The tingling (the very mild one) feeling on my left arm finally, occasionally started dissapearing during the day. I don't know if the meds are kicking in or I am hallucinating because like I said it was so little anyway. Today I finally did more research and found Stenum Hospital with success stories and horror stories like the surgeon ( Dr. Ritter Lang) being drunk the night before surgery at 2 am.( He was seen by somebody at the local bar) when he had to do 8 spinal surgeries the next day. There has been a lot of failures there apparently resulting in more problems and a suicide case that really freaked me out about ADR. Apart from that I read a big complaint from a Russian patient who lives in Germany that was operated by Dr. Bertagnoli. She had a single level ADR in the lumbar area. Prior to her surgery she didn't have pain but was restricted in movement, yet she was able to walk a few miles. She did the surgery and has been bed bound for over 2 years now in incredible pain. And Dr. Bertagnoli has been ignoring her case and avoiding her. After all these cases and especially the many complications and failures mentioned in ADR in Stenum, I am really confused and would really like to delay ADR (if I am ever offered) as much as possible (this is my personal view, considering my symptomps).

I haven't seen any complaints about alphaklinik though. But I just found out that Dr. Bertagnoli has joined the team there! My !! where does this leave us all with? I have a feeling fusion is still the gold standard. I guess if you take really good care of yourself after fusion, the chances are probably lower for adjacent discs to slip. (Cervical spine)

Any inputs please?

Thank you all so much

Confused
Sonata