Rainy Rainy Monday!
well, today was filled with information- for that I am grateful. Not all great, but I am able to reorganize and change my pattern to accommodate. First was court- After a lengthy discussion with my attorney, we have a 60 day continuance. It was for very good reasons, and I am good with that. It involves additional meetings with other professionals, but the end result should be a good one. The weather was crazy rainy today. At some points, like the sky literally opened up and dumped buckets down. I stayed indoors all day. Fed everyone, and I had a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich. Just before 8pm, I got THE call from my doctor. He asked did I have a minute……. Yeah, I’ve been waiting 7, yes seven, weeks for some news. OK, so the MRI found degenerative changes in my neck and spine, spurs, and a disc incroaching on a nerve. OK< what does that mean,, I asked. He said he has to refer me to a neurologist and he will be better to answer my questions. But the pain, can you help me with the pain…….. the neurologist will most likely give you a Rx. Great, so now I have a diagnosis, and havent a clue what it means? Will this heal? What course of treatment? Anything? 7 weeks…… So I will call the neurologist tomorrow morning and schedule an appointment. That was my Monday, how was yours? LOL
Well, my husband has Degenerative Disc Disease….and…..that’s about all I know about it. Hahahaha! He’s been to neurologists…and they give you about two options: Surgery or pain management. There are lots of choices for the pain magagement, but what he’s done is decide to do exercises and avoid certain things that cause inflammation and cause pain. This meant he had to quit doing heavy lifting - and he basically had to allow his lower back muscles to shrink because they were putting that much more pressure on the nerves and discs that were already screwed up from the “disease.” Losing weigh also aids in alleviating the pain for him. Hmmmm…..I doubt any of the info. helped you. Just know that there are many different levels of injury to the discs and nerves, and yes…there are lots of treatments for it!
So, don’t worry. The neurologist will take care of you, I’m sure! 
Sandy, I am happy you at least have an answer, the answer to the pain will most likely be Naproxin (sp) or something that contains it, Motrin will work just fine, its an anti inflammatory. if you want to give it a try until you see your neurologist I would be willing to bet that it would make a difference in the pain. I hope it all works out for ya.
As Ever
Me
As a past adjudicator for Worker’s compensation, I can tell you that EVERYONE gets degenerative disc disease. Basically as we get older the disks start having “issues”. That can cause pain but usually just aches and pains type of pain not immobilizing pain unless accompanied by other problems. Spurs, to the best of my knowledge (think of spurs on cowboys - I’ll leave you pondering that!) can be due to the degeneration where bone crumbles here and there causing changes to the forms of the disks. (Don’t quote me on that one but I think that is what it is). I am guessing the real pain is coming from the disk encroaching on the nerve. That could lead to a pinched nerve and those are really nasty. Your specialist will tell you more.
Back surgery very often does no good and some harm. Try to avoid it. Keeping in mind that 60% of all comp claims are backs, part of it is that we are aging. I am guessing that as your nerve is not pinched yet, you may be able to use yoga etc to improve your situation.
All said and done, I am not a doctor so see a professional. Hopefully I took some of the fear out of it. (maybe not!)
Good luck and keep us posted.
wow at least you are getting somewhere with answers. Sometimes just knowing makes you feel better! If you choose to have a surgery do make sure that you are checking out all your options first. Travel if you need to to get to a good surgeon. I know of a surgeon here in SA that works on the wrestlers from the WWF. I have only known one person that has had to have surgery for the DDD. She was definitely better off after having the surgery because she was a major pill popper prior to it.
They say acupuncture and chiropractors are good for it also…but I am a chicken and I wouldn’t trust any person with my back/neck.
I used to work in a radiologist’s office where we performed all sorts of procedures on people with DDD. I would be leery of any dr because of the overuse DDD treatments for monetary purposes (lawsuits and Work Comp) just check out all options prior to narcotics and surgeries.
oh and neurologists are very picky — if your MRI wasn’t PERFECT you may have to get another one. Ask for earplugs if you do! and you shouldn’t have to pay for it again if the Dr complains to the Imaging Center where it was performed.
Seems like you’ve received a lot of knowledgeable advice from fellow bloggers. I don’t know anything about this subject - other than my own pinched nerve in my neck for a similar reason - . Great to know, though, isn’t it? You sound good. I’m glad your court news was something you feel good about.
Take Care - you’r already on the right track in so many ways, it seems to me.
Ruby