Well I guess this could have been better and I have to admit it's probably worse than I anticipated. I'll sort out a chat with the doc to see where/if we go from here.
Hopefully my DEXA scan in a couple of weeks will be more cheerful.
The scan shows he has sciatica with neuropathic pain and if the pain persists please refer to Salford Royal
MRI Spine Lumbar and Sacral:
The exiting left L5 nerve root is impaired. Both facet joints show moderate-severe osteoarthritis
L5-S1: The disc is severely dehydrated significant bulge or protrusion. The left half of the disc appears more narrowed than the rest. This results in moderate-severe left existing foramen stenosis
L4-L5: Severe bilateral facet joint arthritis is noted associated with subtle degenerative spondylolistheses. The right lateral recess is moderately narrowed due to hypertrophic facets and mild disc bulge. This could cause some irritation of the transiting right LS nerve root.
L3-L4: The facet joints show moderate-severe osteoarthritis associated with some degree of marrow oedema. The disc shows a mild annular bulge. No convincing nerve impingement is evident.
L 1-L2 and L2-L3 disc levels appear satisfactory for age.
No acute bony injury or concerning marrow pathology.
Cauda equina and the visualised cord are normal.
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Bcol
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Bit shitty - but at least no cauda equina problems and they won't be telling you it is all in your mind and it will go away if you exercise more! Hope they have something in the armoury to ease it a bit - nerve blocks maybe?
Yey, you are right about the CE, that would not be good. Will know more - perhaps - after next Tuesday. It's not a problem at the moment, but tomorrow, who knows, it arrives very suddenly. Can't complain though, better off than many. 😀
So sorry. Similar findings on my MRI with herniation, bulging, foraminal stenosis, bone spurs... in cervical & lumbar spine. After my share of suffering I agreed to interlaminar epidural, several cortisone injections including in shoulders. No bad side effects. My pain level is now very tolerable. Hoping it lasts. I was very hesitant to do epidural but my nurse friend talked me into it but only do guided image epidural. Insist on guided image injections. Hope things improve.
pain management,no cure for this lot sorry to say!if thousands of people were scanned in different age groups it would be interesting to see what is usual or normal for age.Some people show lots of degeneration and abnormality’s but do not experience any symptoms yet another may be in agony but little to see on investigation.I hope you get what you need for pain relief and best function for quality of life.Best wishes!
Mind you - it did occur to me that I have a fair bit of the "wear and tear" stuff but no-one here blames all the pain on that since it is compounded by muscle problems and inflammation in various attachments between soft tissue and bone. They work on optimising that,
My MRI from last Thursday shows my L4-L5 disc space has decreased and is extruding because of the past surgery where they inserted a spacer called Coflex has fallen out of place. So I meet with the surgeon this week who put them in my spine to see how to fix the problem.
I’ve lived with the pain for over a year so hopefully he will fix it soon. I had steroid shots for a length of time. Worked in the beginning. Wish I could go back to when they helped.
I have been dealing with similar issues. I thought I had a hip problem so I saw my wife’s hip dr. at Mayo Clinic. After examining my hip he thought my hip pain was coming from my back. He ordered a spine MRI. And referred me to a spine specialist. The report was a page and a half. I recently saw the spine specialist and the long explanation was in part normal for a 71 year old. 😂. He saw nothing impinging, and ordered another MRI because of some unclear item on the “scout” images higher up on the spine. He said though he doesn’t expect to find anything. If so he will have me go back to rheumatology. He’s leaving towards my autoimmunes PMR/Crohns may be the cause of inflammation. I was given a bilateral lower spine injections. They have helped some.
Not really "liking" this, but it does look like something can be done to relieve the pain. I am a firm believer in physiotherapy myself, and hopefully you will see someone really good, with lots of tools in their arsenal so they can really help you.
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Dexa scan results / Osteopenia
Dexa scan results meaning
Dexa scan results - osteopenia
