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uberwekkness posted:I'm working on a figure skating story at the moment, and I need to make sure that all my facts line up, and that I have a realistic idea of a timeline for this character's medical experiences. Bad spine haver here. I also have an ex who had a lumbar fusion (L5-S1) while we were dating. So take everything I say with a grain of salt as I am not a medical professional, just slightly better acquainted with spine problems than your average person. 1. A herniated disc can be anywhere from totally asymptomatic to debilitating depending on the severity and location. I have herniations from C4 to C7 and I have frequent aching shoulder pain and paresthesia (numbness, pins and needles) in my right hand. Both come and go. Other people (see: Lowtax) can have numbness, paralysis, severe pain. Go read his threads if you want a real spinal horror story. 2. Usually, yeah. Physical therapy and epidural injections are the things they try immediately. Also, some medications can help. Muscle relaxers are common (I get tramadol and cyclobenzaprene), and in cases of severe nerve pain, they may prescribe something like gabapentin. Doctors avoid prescribing opiates, in general. In some cases they can also do a laminotomy to decompress the nerve. Artificial discs are also an option for some people as an alternative to fusion. 3. When I do PT, they send me for a month or two. At least in my experience, if medications, epidurals, and PT don't help, the next step is a fusion. If they try those things for a few months and symptoms don't improve, they'll recommend it. I did 3 epidurals and the first and third ones did nothing, and the second caused pain significantly worse than what I'd been experiencing prior to the epidural. Some people have great results from them. I was not one of those people. 4. Probably not. You lose some spinal mobility after a fusion, but how much and how severe depends on the location. Peyton Manning had a cervical fusion and still plays professional football, which I would wager is rougher on the human body than figure skating. However, there are plenty of cases where the surgical outcome isn't great. The fusion is fine, but the nerve damage is done and permanent, so pain, weakness, or numbness remain. The latter two would probably be career-enders if the injury was in the lumbar region. 5. I posted a thread last year in the goon doctor forum where I shared my MRI results. New Yorp New Yorp fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Apr 29, 2019 |
# ¿ Apr 29, 2019 23:26 |
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# ¿ May 12, 2024 15:41 |
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MightyJoe36 posted:MRI results came back as a bulging disc between C5/C6, and I was referred to a neurosurgeon. It's interesting how quickly medical science advances -- I was told by the neurosurgeon I spoke to that the downsides of surgery outweigh the benefits for my specific case, at least unless/until it gets significantly worse. Of course, I'd have to have at least a two-level fusion, which changes the equation a bunch. Any fusion puts extra strain on the discs above and below the point of fusion, leading them to start degenerating. It's not uncommon for a fusion to directly result in needing additional fusions down the line. I was also told that there have been significant advances made in all sorts of alternatives to fusion. Artificial discs are getting better, there have been good results with lab-grown discs in animal trials, and various stem cell therapies are undergoing trials at various phases right now. I'm almost 37, so I figure if I can make it to my mid to late 40s without a fusion, they might just be able to hit the "eject disc" button on my neck and pop some new ones in, problem solved.
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# ¿ May 8, 2019 18:19 |