got my mri results......

[Jena]

hi,

so i'm sitting here laughing thinking ok what else?? come on bring it on??

Yup i'm losing it. I go read the huge report and guess what else I have?? Degenerative Disc disease. I knew for years that I had a bad back, i'd be in pain etc. have to ice my neck.

I used to bartend years ago and remember lifting heavy kegs in my late twenties and being in pain from it. guess that's when it started.

So, i have broad bulges in just about every disc in that part of my upper spine neck area. I'm wondering if the leg pain i get and tingling is due to that and not the ms?

either way hmmm let's see what are the odds i'll still be on foot by the time i'm 70? LOL. doctor thinks i also have lyme;'s ontop of the ms and has contacted all the hospitals i got blood work from.

For an apparently not well person I do pretty ok. this is why i say do not go to doctor's, they keep finding something else wrong with you! Good thing is no lesions apparently on cervical spine.

next is middle spine mri and lower......... very interesting this taking care of me thing!

it's just so funny in a sick way

 

[HaoZi]

My stepmom has/had degenerative disc disease that kept her in a lot of pain. She found relief from acupuncture (very skilled lady worked on her).

 

[flutterby]

Why are they doing the MRI's separately?

 

[Marguerite]

I had the same question. My last MRI was brain and entire spinal chord. It did take a while, I was booked in the evening.

With the degenerative disc disease, it is not actually a Disease as such, it is simply a descriptor. If you were lifting kegs when you were in your 20s, that'd do it. And yes, it could account for the problems in your legs. My neurologist reckons the degeneration in my spine, plus narrowing of a few cervical vertebrae (which they've been observing on various tests since I was in MY 20s!) are related to the problems I have in my legs. But when the narrowing was first observed, I was told repeatedly that it should not be causing any symptoms.

Medicine is a very inexact science. Sixty years ago they didn't understand about spinal discs. I remember reading Spike Milligan's "Adolf Hitler - My Part in His Downfall" about his experiences during WWII and how right at the beginning of the war when he was being sought by the army, he was in hospital with what turned out years later to be a slipped disc. But as he said, "Being in hospital with a bad back just as you're called up rings about as true as the landlady being caught in bed with the lodger, saying the laundry's late."

Jen, at our age when any pics are taken of our bones etc, they will find stuff wrong. Don't let it worry you. It could explain a few symptoms, but a lot of this sort of degeneration is inevitable and natural and doesn't necessarily cause any problems.

A lot of stuff gets found these days, because a lot more tests get done and things get found often purely by chance. For example, I have ribs in my neck. I had to have a routine x-ray when I started my teacher training (an x-ray was a pre-resquisite) and that was when they found the ribs. They have never caused me any trouble, but every time I see a new doctor who has ordered pictures, they see the ribs and comment. A few times someone has tried to blame various pain problems on the ribs, but I point out that I have not had pain life-long, and the ribs themselves are merely floating in the muscle tissue, not actually influencing the spine. Unlike the cervical spine narrowed discs (believed to be congenital) which we have seen slowly deteriorate over the years. "Seek and ye shall find" - often not what you were orignally looking for, and often not what is going to help you in your quest.

Having this finding does not necessarily mean causality. If you grabbed any random person off the streets and examined their spine in detail, problems would be found, I can almost guarantee it. But would the person have noticed problems? Maybe. Would the problems they noticed be related to what is found? Maybe. But maybe not.

Our bodies begin to deteriorate from the minute we take our first breath. What we have to decide to do, is to live to the best of our ability, within the limitations of the body we have been given.

Or as it was put so well in "Shawshank Redemption" - "You gotta either get busy livin', or get busy dyin'."

Don't let this get to you, don't read too much into it. Just take it on board as information and move on.

Marg

 

[shellyd67]

Jena, I couldn't agree with you more with the statement you made about the Dr's continuing to find things wrong ...

I had a gallbladder attack (my 1st one) earlier this week, now each freaking day I am finding out a bunch of other things that I have going wrong.

I have been a darn wreck !!

I blame myself for all my issues due to my lifestyle (smoking, not eating right, etc.)

You on the other hand did nothing to cause your MS.

I am sorry and hope you feel better soon.

On the bright side, I haven't smoked in 3 days. It is making me nuts though !!! Take care Jen !!!

 

[Jena]

i'Tourette's Syndrome not the end of the world at all, i was more making a joke of it because each time they go in they find something else. I knew from years ago i had back problems. when we moved i threw out my neck. the neck is always what goes first. a bone pops out and husband has to work it bck in a certain way. hes gotten to know the drill by now.

neuro thought it was all ms, yet it isn't. the burning neck i get...... when i get a hair cut i never get a watch at all, placing my head bck throws my neck off and im in pain for days.

they do the mri's because the doctor wants to focus on each section seperately i guess due to the ms. i am very happy though that so far 1 spine mri down 2 to go and so far no lesions which to me is excellent news! that means legs are staying it'll just be my brain that'll go further... lol. that's where all my lesion load is.

i've been sooo lucky with this ms, not getting it. yet free mri's each time, free medications i just got my injections delivered ups today. I mean if you have to get something to not have to overly stress the expense is a wonder.

shelly whats wrong with you? what else did they find?? tha'Tourette's Syndrome why i say ignorance is bliss

and please i soo caused some of this i never ate right for years, this is the first time i'm gluten free, dairy free, organic veggies and fruits, cut down the smoking. good for you none in 3 days is huge! i abused my body for years, never went to doctor's put the oxygen mask on kids and didn't put on me. i am a perfect example of what not to do!

I can't do acupuncture it isn't good for the ms. it'll help one problem yet worsen another. the yoga has been huge for whatever it is that is hurting me. it's probably a combo of both.