Other German hospitals ?

[B13s]

Went to see dr.Zeegers to Alphaklinik today - spent five hours - and the result - well - dr. Zeeger probably is good surgeon, but not so sure about diagnostics. Or maybe my case is really a puzzle. Got my flexibility measured - almost excellent, back muscle strength - quite bad - and this is despite all the exercises I was doing... After looking into my MRI and X-ray unfortunately he didn't say anything new - I can wait, can have only herniation removed, can get STALIF or STALIF at L5/S1 + ADR at L4/L5 - and it's up to me to decide. During our conversation I mentioned dr.Baumbach and dr.Zeegers was a bit surprised that I know that name, however he agreed that it would be good idea to see dr.Baumbach as well - and 10 minutes latter I was already in dr.Baumbach's office.
Now regarding dr.Baumbach I can say that his examination is really pretty good. However result was that it's not clear at all what's causing my burning pain. Herniation I have shouldn't be causing my current symptoms. Fortunately he had few more ideas - I need to get MRI of my neck - there is possibility that something is pressing on my spinal cord in that area and it could fit to my symptoms since he also found that I have some muscle strength deficit in my fingers, I also need to check if I don't have Lyme disease and also need to check if I don't have spinal cord infection by doing lumbar puncture.
After dr.Baumbach I went to see dr.Zeegers again - he called dr.Baumbach, they argued a bit about my diagnosis - didn't really agree on it and well - wished me a good luck
Cost (from my own pocket): for dr.Baumbach - 200 Euro (worth every cent), for dr.Zeegers - 300 Euro (feels a bit of waste and as payment for really nice office ).

Another interesting thing - I was looking at all ADR's at dr.Zeegers office - according to him they are made from exactly the same material as original ADR's including cores - but for me plastic of the cores (both Charite and Active L) looked really soft - I pressed on it with a nail and my nail left a mark on the core - keeps me wondering how this plastic supposed to last years ? I also asked about Charite and he said that they are not good - bit surprising comment from the surgeon who implanted lots of them...

[fuzzy]

Thank you, B13s, for keeping us updated on your quest for an answer to your spinal problems which is specially interesting as you are in Munich and can walk in of the street for these consults.

I have also visited Dr. Baumbach (6 hours, 800 euro's, in my case) and he was definitely trying to make sure not to rule out any posiblillity even those seeminly rare cases of cervical myleopathy in which the neck does not hurt but something is pushing on the spinal chord and causing exactly what you describe which btw is very similar to the problems that I have had, in my case burning feet that are very uncomfortable to stand on. Baumbach, based on his tests, found reason to believe that *possibly* my neck was involved. So neck MRI which showed nothing clear as daylight but a hint on possible problems. But I had severe lumbar problems and the leg and foot problems often coincided with the events in my back, i.e. sitting certain ways made it a lot worse. So all surgeons said if any surgery then lumbar should be worked on first as I surely need that. Zeegers got the job and found issues in my spine that were not clearly visible on the MRI (reminds me of slot machines, you never know what you'll get). But even though I still have problems 8 weeks out it is obvious that my foot problems were caused by my lumbar spine, knew it the next day when I tested my feet, I now could walk with little of the original problems, only to be replaced with a lot of irritation which I believe to be nerve damage that will take a long time to heal. I wonder if I waited too long. But no one had a clear answer for my problems and Baumbach/Zeegers got a lot closer then anyone else.

[B13s]

A bit of update - got MRI of the neck - no problems whatsoever (at least the one that could be seen on MRI) - so at least one good news.
However during my exercises yesterday managed to do something to my back again Was doing sit-ups (not the normal ones, but the ones for people with back problems - like trying to sit on the toilet - learned them during my rehabilitation) - and got pain on the right side of the back, however instead of stopping - I continued to exercise (call me stupid...) - now I have hell of the pain on both sides of the back, can barely stand straight - hope that it's just muscles since pain does not go to the legs and I can raise legs also without any issues. Then again - maybe my herniation got even bigger, but since its central - it doesn't affect legs. If pain persist - I guess I'll start with opioids - cannot afford to be out of work until my probation ends in 2.5 months... On the positive side - because of the pain in the back have no burning in the legs

[B13s]

Got cost estimates from Alphaklinik today - L5/S1 STALIF only - 26K Euro, L4/L5 ADR + L5/S1 STALIF - 32K Euro. Seems to be really on the high side...