Osteoarthritis of the spine

[Cactus80]

Hi everyone, Looking for some advice.

I had surgery for rectovaginal endo April 2021 and been waiting on an appointment since Feb 2022 when I felt my symptoms return.

I contacted my gp due to back, buttock and leg pain. While I wait for my endo appointment she sent me for an mri. My results show Osteoarthritis of the spine, no nerve or disc damage but inflammation in and around my sacral roots. I've done some of my own research and found info on the connection between the rectum and ureter where I had my endo.

Has anyone else had the same issues?

Thank you x

[Avourneen]

I have recto/vaginal endo annd it was really bad on my utero sacral ligaments. I also have really bad adeno and all of this causes very bad pain. I saw 9 nine different spine specialists who all gave me completely different diagnosis before I found out the pain was caused largely by endo. But if they can see osteoarthritis in the spine and have done blood tests etc it is probably that too. I hope you can get some help.

[Cactus80 in reply to Avourneen]

Thanks so much for your reply.I've just had an appointment letter through for 24th July so will have a chat with my specialist about this.

Thank you x

[Lily1986]

Hello.

Sorry you’re having to deal with this disease and all the added trouble it brings.

I too have severe deep stage 4 Endo involving bowel, bladder, ligaments and bladder. Had multiple surgeries and treatments but nothing helps, not for long anyway.

I also have lumbar spinal spondylosis and stenosis, which I believe is same as Osteoarthritis. Get severe tightness in my back and lightening bolt type pains down legs and numbness. It also seizes up especially if I sit on a chair that’s too hard.

I definitely think there’s a link and my physio explained when you think that the lumbar part of spine is pretty much in same location as the pelvis. She explained that combined with the disease and surgery and adhesions/ scarring both pull on the bottom of the spine. It also somehow weakens that area too because of the pain we suffer.

The other thing I’ve thought maybe connected is the menopause injections as they are well known to cause bone issues and I’ve had two separate rounds of Decapeptyl(triptorelin). After the first course of injections is when in first started noticing back problems, after the second (2 or 3 years apart) the back issues got worse. Maybe a coincidence but not so sure.

best wishes to you xxx

[Escapologygirl in reply to Lily1986]

That's interesting about the decapeptyl injections, I had 2 rounds of them too and 2nd time I couldn't sit down with using a doughnut cushion for a week. The injections really caused more harm than good for me and I get those lightning type shooting pains up and down lower back hip and leg. When I had my one laparscopy in 2018 which diagnosed endometriosis on bladder and rectum fallow tubes, they had to remove the tubes as 'so badly scarred ' but couldn't touch anywhere else ' for fear of damaging other organs ' so I now have daily pain in the back area and constantly exhausted and cramping in abdomen. Had an mri last week and hope to see the results soon. Thank you for sharing this viewpoint

[Lily1986 in reply to Escapologygirl]

Oh wow, you could have been writing about me. Your experience is almost identical to mine, I too had ovary and both tubes removed.

Last surgery left me in pain every day. Then the oh so familiar Endo pain returned very quickly. My old consultant was like “it can’t possibly be back already but we will do an mri to put your mind at rest”….but the mri proved it was back again very severely.

Best wishes to you xxx

[Escapologygirl in reply to Lily1986]

This forum is great for making me feel like I'm not alone. I still have my ovaries, they just 'scraped' the ovaries and removed fallopian tubes. I'm really hoping the mri gives a clear image of the endometriosis because I know this pain is not 'in my head ' hope you are ok xxx

[Cactus80 in reply to Lily1986]

Thank you for your response. It definitely makes more sense now. Endo causes so many other issues. It's a nightmare

Best wishes to you too x