Welcome to Spine Health Katie

You might need to get into a pain managment doctor. Find a highly recomeneded clinic (ask the chiro & NS). It has been a fantastic experience for me. I don't want the meds, but I need to function. It probably wouldn't hurt to get checked out by a Rhumatologist (check your blood for various forms of arthitis) as well.

They should be able to give you much better medication (if you want it) and also start offering you various nerve blocks & other treatments.

I also recomend a high quality TENS unit, ice gel packs, heating pads etc.... I put my tens on and then lay on my heating pad or ice packs, (it helps).

Have you tried the Lidoderm Patches (lidocane)? I use these on days when I have trade shows and need to be on my feet all day.

I am in bad t-spine pain as well. I was in a MVA about 18 months ago and we are now getting down to the nitty gritty. I am going to have some kind of fusion but I am having a new CT scan w/myelogram from T7-L3 next monday. I am supposed to go in for another ESI but since I owe my PM $25,000 they have cut me off (insurances are fighting over my bill). My back has been going numb, along with radiating, tingling pain from T7/8 and now T10/11 has officially joined the party. My left thigh goes numb/hurts/tingles/itches... upper arms/under arms/rib cage hurts/aches/burns... And I have chronic nausea

I would consider more injections/blocks as they #1 can lower your pain levels (at least for a short period) & #2 help the NS locate your pain generator. If your insurance pays for them that is, and if they are floroscopic guided (only IMO).

Feel better,

Julie

Katies,

What did the MRI report say? I forgot to ask. I recomend that you get copies of the report and a cd of the images (might start a 3 ring binder).

Also I would stay away from chiropractic adjustments until you are cleared from a NS/OS. If you are discy (herniated/bulging disc) it is not a great idea to have adjustments as they can make things worse.

Julie

hey guys. thanks for such quick replies!TENS units and heat/cold do nothing for me. i havent tried the patch thing. i havent gone to the chiro. in a few months because it was doing absolutely nothing for me. and bcause my MRI was done locally, they have access to it and all i have to do is call to get copies. my mri said that there was disc narrowing and my spine guy diagnosed the ddd. but like i said, im going for a new MRI and a CT as well. so we will see what that shows. the injection actually made it worse. so im trying to steer clear of those now.

Im 18 with DDD + spinal stenosis. You're not that bad off! Try massage therapy and stay away from chiro.

well yes, it could be much much worse, but i cant make it through the day without taking vicodin, and i cant move most days. so yes, i am pretty bad off. ive started my second round of physical therapy and taking vicodin and flexeril. i only made it through 2 days of pt without crying. and i was told that im not a surgical candidate because fusing the 3 vertebrae in my thoracic spine would essentially set me up for a life full of fusions. fusing those 2 would eventually lead to having to have most of my vertebrae fused together. yes, there are people much worse off. and i understand you are young too, but when youve gone to 3 or 4 dr.s and none of them can seem to figure out how to ease the pain, and basically just crush every last drop of hope you have, and you cant even live because of the pain, then yes, i would say im pretty bad off.

and also, i tried massage, and it didnt work. i have literally done everything. and they dont know what else to do, so were just starting all over ang going in circles. i dont go to the chiropractor and havent in months. trust me, im doing everything i possibly can.

Hi Katie,

1. Maybe you could considered trying an inversion table?

You mention that you can only sit down for 30 minutes, so perhaps daily inversion table 'treatment' may extend your tolerable sitting period. I know the concept of having your spine decompress for 20 minutes in the morning and evening does help some DDD sufferers.

It might not work in your case but its another idea to add to the overall treatment programme. Its worth doing some research on this.

2. Also, if you need to be doing alot of sitting for your studies you could also consider 'dragon naturally speaking' software. This would allow you to lie down and talk through a head-set instead of typing, thus alleviating the pain in your back.

Katie,
I don't really have any advice for you (I'm in the same crappy situation) but I just wanted you to know you're not alone honey. I'm sending you BIG gentle *HUGS* and I will keep you in my thoughts. I know how frustrating it is to be young and have no answers and to be in terrible pain 24-7, like most of us here unfortunately we are all really familiar with this crap. I'm so sorry you are getting no relief, hopefully this new dr will be helpful and get a good medicine cocktail for you.
Big Hugs and God Bless
Pm me anytime hon

Katie,

No one else should tell you that you dont have it that bad. If the person knew the spine they would know that what is diagnosed can actually have very little impact on level of pain. By this I mean some with small bulges suffer much more pain than people with huge herniations, we are all different, come with different biology, pain receptors, etc. MRI is not the end all be all, it just gives you an idea of what the structure looks like - not a diagnosis of your level of pain. I take a little offence to that statement made to you. Also, yes, it could be worse, worse for every person in the world who is suffering, but again we are all not the same and chronic pain is very destructive, no matter the level.
But anyway, thoracic is a different animal all together, there are things such as annular tears which cannot be seen by MRI but can be a very painful situation. To answer your concerns about thoracic fusion leading to life of fusions, from 8 years of having T spine pain the one advantage it has is if fusion is neccessary the stability of thoracic does not have the same adjacent problems the lumbar or cervical has over time.

Things that helped myself:

Inversion, ICE, ESI ( took 4 times until it worked), foam roller extension exercises for thoracic, deep tissue massage ( as much as I can take), chiro ( not the twisting but adjusting with a down force to thoracic), exercising, yoga/pilates.

Unfortuantly other than that ESI most were short lived.

I also suffered in school and now terribly with sitting down. That ESI, even though lasted short time made sitting more than tolerable, I actually lost myself in work, which is something not done before while sitting.

Have you asked about facet injections? DDD sometimes is accompanied by facet problems due to the disc level being comprimised. You are young so may not be issue but does not hurt to ask dr about if they might help.

As far as ESI go, if I was you I would ask if the ESI they gave you got to all the levels involved or if more could be needed. That inflammation needs to be broken. As I said it took 4 for me to get some kind of relief.

Regardless of what you choose to go forward with the #1 thing you can do is to make sure you are dealing with doctors who have treated/worked with/operated on thoracic spine before. If you do not I fear you are not getting the best help, no offence to other doctors, but thoracic is very, very, hard to diagnose and treat.

I suggest you move to the thoracic forum on this site also as we all are dealing with the same types of problems.

Good Luck and I am sorry you are in this pain at a young age.

hey guys.
i tried an inversion table last wednesday and it did not do me good. i was in HORRIBLE pain fighting tears all day for two days. friday, i couldnt even do my pt because of the pain. so we are stepping away from taht right now. i have been just hanging from my arms for about 5 seconds 4 times. i can kind of handle that, but it is still complete torture.

laying down is just as bad as sitting. but instead of the pain being concentrated at my mid back, it hurts every where. which could also be due to my hyper-lordosis, but who knows. basically, there is no comfortable way to sit, lay, stand anything.

thanks for you advice and "gentle hugs"

katie

An exercise ball can be used to lay across as a more gentle form of inversion, if that is tolerable.

I could never figure out if an inversion table helped. Im sort of sure it made symptoms worse but then other days I would feel great post inversion.

You should join a group on fb for DDD. They tend to be much more active than forums like this and its easier toget answers. Its also kind of funny how everyone in the groups is usually much older than us. In a way though I guess its good to have problems like this while you're young because we have nobody really reliant on us, not too much pressure.