several herniated discs & scoliosis

By chickey7 Saturday, October 06, 2007

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I have what is reported to be "severe scoliosis". I've been experiencing pain for the last several months and finally decided to see my family doctor. He order an MRI on my spine, has told me I have "several herniated discs" and "bone deterioration." He recommended weekly treatments of medical massage for three months. I'm wondering...should I see a specialist? Is medical massage an appropriate treatment for a condition such as mine? I'm not sure my doctor understands the level of pain I have. The pain is stabbing and bad enough to keep me from physical activity and housework. Am I being concerned needlessly ? Oh my!

Should I just follow doctors orders?

Comments (22) | Add comment

Susan lic

10/ 7/07 6:57pm

My aunt takes acu. and I have had canail blocks and phsy. treatments. She is doing better and well I still suffering. I have asked may times for them to do something about the pain but nothing yet. Ask if he could send you to send you to a specailist. It can't hunt any more than it already is. God bless and take care.

chickey7

10/ 7/07 7:08pm

Dear Susan,

Thanks so much for responding...it was good to hear from you, I'm just sorry you have the pain without relief Embarassed . I plan to see a specialist. I've even located one who deals specifically with adult scoliosis and the complications that come with it. There is also a pain specialist in with this group of doctors. If one can't help me, maybe the other can. Everyone tells me don't give up on finding relief. Maybe you could see a pain specialist. I'll be praying for you...

Christine

Carolyn Stallings

10/10/07 10:45am

My suggestion is that you see a Neurosuergeon for the type of problems that you have. You are probably correct in that your doctor does not understand.

chickey7

10/10/07 5:37pm

The physician and pain specialist I have found are part of an orthopaedic group, are you saying that a neurosurgeon would be more appropriate? If so, I'll start my search over. My family doctor just said he would "follow my scoliosis" what ever that means. He finally prescribed Tramedol (sp?) for pain. What type of drug is this?

The massage therapist I saw recommended I see a chiropractor. Have others had success with this kind of treatment? I'm a little afraid of a chiropractor. Unsure

Thanks for your response.

Chris

Carolyn Stallings

10/10/07 8:15pm

Well orthapedics are good but when it comes to the spine, Neurosergeons specialize in the brain and the spine. So that is whom I would want, in fact I have a Neurosugeon. I was seeing an Orthapaedic who I had been with for years but my primary care doctor recommended the Neurosegeon. If you are not satisfied with the doctors that you have after having been seen for a while, then that would be my next step. There are a lot of new treatments out for the spine and he would know them. If surgery was recommeded then I would rather the speacialst on the spine and brain do it. I have had surgery, need more but am trying not to have it. I get epidural injections in the spine and percocets. To find out about your medicine, there is a good list of them on this chronic pain site, and you can also put the name into a search engine and you will get your answers.

Carolyn

chickey7

10/11/07 8:24pm

Dear Carolyn,

What you are saying re: a neurosurgeon makes sense to me, especially since I suffered a head injury back in 1990. I can't remember who my doctor was at that time. I can understand why a neurosurgeon would be better for my problems. Thanks for your good advice.

Chris

By the way, do you suffer from scoliosis too?

Carolyn Stallings

10/11/07 9:45pm

I do have scoliosis but I have a mild case. I only learned about that in the last 4 to 6 years. My spine curves to the right. I do have many bulging disc and herniated on a few, spinal stenosis, Arthiritis of my entire spinal column, and severe pain in the low back. I had surgery in 2000 but still have severe pain, need another surgery but do not want to do it. I do have a pain specialist and have had her for about 5 or 6 years. Last week I had an epidural in the cervical spine for the first time, as I was getting numb in the right hand. Up until then, I was just getting them in the low back. MRI showed that the spinal stenosis and arthritis in my neck was closing in on my spinal cord. So hang in there, we are still here. I look at it like this, "I'd rather be this side of the grass than the other side." Have a blessed day, Carolyn

chickey7

10/12/07 9:23pm

It sure sounds like you are having more problems than I. But pain is so hard to measure. You've had a lot more treatment than I have; I'm really just beginning with the least invasive treatments first...massage and Chiropractic. A neurosurgeon would be down the road for me. I'm going to try to avoid surgery. I've had so many people tell me that frequently they are not successful, so surgery is last on my list.

Thanks for sharing your condition with me. I'll appreciate any advice you care to share

And on how you are doing as well. I'll try not to burden you with too many complaints! Cry

Chris

Carolyn Stallings

10/13/07 1:28pm

Well Chris I do have a lot of pain, but I also have some days where there is little pain. Let me also say that although I get a lot of Percocet each month, I do not take many. I even have to break them in half when I do find the need to take one and I take half. Because I cannot take a whole one it makes me too sick. I'd rather deal with the pain then the sickness that I experience. Sometimes the half makes me sick too. I have a high tolerance to pain and it runs in my family. My sister who is older than me has worse pain than I do, has had much differrent back surgery, had 6 or 8 cages put in to replace disc that were removed and suffers much severe pain than I do, and she rarely takes her pain meds. She gets too sick also. I am not saying that because you see a neurosergeon that you will have to have surgery, there are so many new treatments out. They would be more informed and up to date on many more things because they specialize in the brain and the spine. True an Orthopaedic can do many things with the different parts of the body, but they do specialty in too many parts for me. I did have a good one, for years, he sent me to a good pain mangage ment doctor whom I am still with. She is terrific. My family doctor is terrific also and she is the one who sent me to the Neurosergeon when it came time for me to see someone when it became necessary for me to consider surgery after an MRI showed the Sciatic nerve being pinced on both sides. I needed surgery and she wanted the best doing it. You see, it takes you to have more than one good doctor on your team to get the best treatment. A good family practioner, who knows when and whom to refer you out to who cares enough to want you to have the best and not just their friend in medicine. Hard to find this but it is out there. I have been blessed. The surgery was the best thing, because my disc due to arthiritis had grown bone spurs, that grew off and curled around the scaiatica nerve and was squeezing it to no end, killing me, pain like I had never experienced. The Neurosuergeon thought he was going to remove disc but once in decided to cut all of the bone spurs that had grown and wrapped, and removed them. That was in 2000 and left the disc alone even though they were bad. I thought I was going to be in a nursing home but here I am living on my own,off crutches, off cane, and walking on my own in spite of my pain, just cannot walk far, or stand long. I will take that any day. Carolyn

Carolyn Stallings

10/13/07 2:09pm

My Neurosuergeon is with the Mayfield Clinic here in Cincinnati.

lisamadless

10/14/07 12:22pm

I too have severe scoliosis (lumbar 30 degree) with 4 herniations, degenerative disc disease, bone spurs and arthropathy. I have been dealing with severe pain and anquish for almost 4 years. It was triggered by a work injury and has been excacerbated by a chiro-practic manipulation. I have now had 3 facet blocks to see if they will hold the medication to keep me out of pain, if they do for longer than 3 days, I will be a candidate for radiofrequency (deadening of the nerves). My doc sees no other treatment. Have had several massages and my work comp has cut me off from that for now, but it did help. Keeps your blood circulating to heal the areas. See what you think.

chickey7

10/14/07 8:12pm

Hello lisamadless....

Sounds like you are going through quite an ordeal.

Seems like deadening the nerves is a very serious procedure, but if you've done everything else you can without relief...well there you are. I assume that your doctor is a neurosurgeon. I've only seen a chiropractor once and he was very gentle with me. Told me I was a "mess" which I already suspected. I never thought about chiropractic treatment being a dangerous thing. But I can see where it could be.

My massage has helped the most. It's too bad workmen's comp won't allow you to continue. I hope I can continue to afford it.

I'm just new to this "pain journey" so I'm looking to others for their experiences...it seems we have similar problems. I've just developed sciatica in the last two weeks and that is making it hard for me to walk. My family doctor prescribed a pain medication, but it's not really touching it. So I'll be calling him tomorrow. I'm trying to compile good records of my treatments, so if it takes me to a neurologist I'll have it all together in one file along with a list of my medications. I have a friend who has fibromyalgia. She suggested I keep a record of my pain...a sort of diary. So I'm trying to organize that kind of thing. My friend says the more I learn about pain and it's treatment and can discuss it intelligently, it will be a big help.

I don't know what degree of curvature I have, it was just described to me as severe. So I need to get more detailed information. Please stay in touch and let me know how you're doing, especially with this latest procedure. I'm coping okay, but after 4 years...Yikes!! You must be worn out. Do you struggle with depression? That seems to go along with it. Thanks so much for responding to my post.

Chris Hickey

Carolyn Stallings

10/14/07 10:39pm

Well it sounds to me like in reading the postings about pain and the spine that we all have many things in common when it comes to some of the same problems. Herniated discs, degerative disc, scoliosis in varying degrees, siatic nerve problems and I have also bulging disc, as well as arthritis of the spinal column. I guess once you get problems with the spine, most of these are inevitable. It sure is painful but I doubt if any pain pill will help with that siatic nerve. Once the bone spurs were cut away from pinching mine, that part has been pain free, but I had to have surgery to get that done. Other wise I might just have taken a trip out of here on my own,the pain was unbearable. My family doctor called in a seven day med pak of some sort whereas I took 7 pills the first day, 6 the next, 5 the next, 4, and so on until the last day it was 1, but it sure did take care of that sciatic nerve which was being pinched on both sides. You do know that it branches at about the hips and runs down each side of the legs left and right. What did we ever do to our bodies to deserve such pain? I said it was when I was little running around playing, falling, getting up because it did not hurt then, and years of this, and a couple of car wrecks where it did not hurt, and get old and walla, it catches up. It did not happen all at once, it just caught up all at once. I tried a chiropractor, he talked to fast, too slick, and made me feel too unconfortable. I like the Neurosurgeon the best, my Orthopaedic was good and he did not think he could fix everything wrong with me, he referred me out, that made me respect him, because at least he did not try to get all of the money himself. Carolyn

chickey7

10/15/07 8:16pm

Hello Carolyn,

I guess I will ultimately end up with a neurologist. Although I'll wait until I consult a orthopaedist. There's a pain management doctor with Freiberg Orthopaedics where I located a doctor that specializes in adult scoliosis. So I'm thinking that if the orthopaedic doc can't help...maybe the pain doc can. I expect to be maintained on some sort of pain medicine because they tell me I'll always have pain from the scoliosis. Right now all I'm taking is Alieve. The tramadol my family doc prescribed is a bad mix with my antidepressant (I found out today after taking it for 3 days with no relief). So here I am with just Alieve until I can get with the family doc. I have to work the next three days and I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. If I can stay seated at my desk I'll be alright. But last Thursday I was up and down and walking distances which was almost unbearable. Without a different pain medication that works, I may need to come home. This is the pits because my part time job is paying for my massage therapy, which I think is helping. I don't think we've done any-thing to deserve this pain, but I do believe that God is allowing it for some purpose... whatever that might be. I may not know in this life. I am trusting that God knows all about it, and cares. I'm studying the Catholic faith and it believes that we can "offer" up our pain to God and it somehow has redeeming power. I don't know much about it, but at least that's something I can do spiritually to make the pain have a purpose.

I think that without my faith in God, I would choose to die rather than be in increasing untreatable pain. I know I'm not alone in feeling that way.

I hope I haven't offended you by bringing up the God connection, but it is a factor in my pain "journey".

I'll be praying for you, Carolyn.....

Chris Hickey

Carolyn Stallings

10/15/07 9:33pm

Well Chickey, you have not offended me with the mention of God for I believe in God and He has done many wonderful things in my life, I did not deserve His grace but He extended it to me anyway just as He does to all of us. I was raised Baptist, and in the church and without Him, there is nothing to keep us from going on and a whole lot of other things. And you are right about God lets us suffer for a reason and I believe it is for us to depend on Him, to not forget He exist. Put it like this, "I'd rather live my life as if there is a God, die go to the other side to find out there is no God, then to live my life as if there is no God, die go to the other side and find out there is a God." You are messed up then, no way to get back to do it all over and believe. Carolyn

chickey7

10/16/07 8:22pm

Caroline...you never know who you will offend. I'm glad to know you are a Christian, and yes, God's grace is everything. I can do nothing without Him.

I was raised Lutheran, but attended Baptist Church with my husband...it was not the kind of worship I longed for, so I'm studying to be a Catholic. I go where the spirit leads me!

In His Love,

Chris Hickey

Roxana Alvarez Amell

11/17/07 6:22pm

Hi! After a car accident in 88' I developed herniated disks in lumbar 5-sacro 1. Physical therapy helped. In 2000 I fell head first down a full flight of cement steps: Cervical 3-6. All but one herniated. from c 5-6 the disk shrank and my body compensated by developing a spur on the opposit side of the spinal chord. Nothing can be done for the cervvicals except streching and medication. Before you even consider surgery try a GOOD chiropractor. They can really alliviate the scoliosis pain. Then try a sports medicine specialist. See a neurosurgen to see if the herniated ddisks are pressuring a nerve. Then take it from there. Take your MRI and do it quickly so he can have a recent study. If your pain is really serious go straight to the neurosurgen and see what he recommends. If it's surgery, seek a second opinion. Good luck and God bless. You do not need to live in crucial pain, it can get better.

Roxana

chickey7

11/19/07 8:53pm

DEAR ROXANA...THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR GOOD ADVISE. RIGHT NOW MY BACK IS ON THE "BACK BURNER".....I'VE FALLEN AND FRACTURED MY RIGHT SHOULDER! I'M SCHEDULED FOR SURGERY ON THE 26TH. OH WELL, IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING ISN'T IT Cry

. GOD BLESS YOU, CHRISTINE

Roxana Alvarez Amell

11/19/07 9:07pm

So sorry to hear the bad news! Is surgry a "must"?

I am scared out of my wits about surgery... sometimes it is'nt really requiered but doctors must pay their summer homes. Well, I am a coward, so I admit it. I hope you can have some fun this Thanksgiving and I wish you a rapid recovery. Let me know how it went when you can. It's always darkest before the dawn...

God bless!

Roxana

Roxana Alvarez Amell

11/19/07 9:08pm

I almost forgot, remember the magic words; PAIN MEDICATION!

Roxana

chickey7

11/21/07 5:21pm

ROXANA, I'M NOT TOO THRILLED ABOUT SURGERY, BUT WITHOUT IT I'LL LOSE MY RANGE OF MOTION WITH MY RIGHT ARM. I HAVE PAIN MEDICATION (PERCOSET) WHICH REALLY HELPS...MY SURGERY IS ON MONDAY A.M. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME IF YOU THINK OF ME. I STILL HAVE ALOT TO BE THANKFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING!

CHRIS HICKEY

Roxana Alvarez Amell

11/21/07 6:29pm

Hi! just a short note for now, Iam busy with last minute details for tomorrow, I will think of you and I will pray. Don't worry you'll be fine. I'll get back to you after Thanksgiving. I hope you have a very special day!

Roxana

several herniated discs & scoliosis

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