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I've had 2 spine surgeries. April 2000 was right L4-5 PHL/D and February 2001 C4-5 and C5-6 ACD/F with Allograft and Orion plating. Had a second herniated disc at L5 S1 which was small and not operated on.
At first i thought both these surgeries were quite successful. Felt wonderful....but was of course, sitting at home doing almost nothing. I work in retail as an assistant manager of a large supercenter. My work days are typically 12 -14 hours long, on my feet, up and down ladders, lifting, bending, pulling.....you name it. When i went back to work, i started having the same symptons in my right arm as before the surgery. I was scared to death i had ruptured another disc. Had a myleogram done, everything clear- fusion good- no spinal reason for my pain. I am now in Physical Therapy. The physical therapist has given me more information than the doctor.....he said i have a golf ball size "like knot" right next to my neck where it was fused....he says this is where all the nerves come together. He said this is from the trauma of the surgery and the arthritis. He says i'll have this off and on the rest of my life. Is that correct?? That this causes the pain to radiate down my arm and it also radiates down my spine itself about midway. He has also felt "knots" there. He's been working the big one regularly with untra-sound, massage and ice....but its not going away. When this starts spasming, its quite painful, can you get me a reference to what to look at on your site to help me??? There's so much on there it would be easier to get a more specific referral to info.
Also, i have always had some pain in my hips. This has always been controllable by naparsin. However, when they stuck the needle in my lower back for the mileogram, he couldn't get in the first stick. He then went to a different area and am not sure if he got in that one or had to do a third. I know he said it would be his final try. Anyway, when he added the dye, i thought my hips were going to explode!!!!! Excrutiating pain. I am now in physical therapy for "post laminectomy syndrome".....orthopedic surgeon telling me that the bones have "settled" and moved down some (still in good alignment though just less space where disc was removed). I know from the lower back surgery that my surgeon kinda joked about the fact that i have such small bones (but extremely dense) that she had to use tools she hadn't touched since med school.
To make a long story shorter, i haven't been able to work....even tried a 6 hour work day. This didn't help either, mainly because of neck and arm pain. Of course sleeping is an issue because i cant sleep on my back because of hip pain and can't sleep on my side for more than an hour or so without one of my arms going to sleep and waking me with the tingling and pain.
I'm 44 female who smokes...and yes i know i need to quit, but am having serious trouble finding someone that will first of all acknowledge my pain exists (besides the physical therapist) and treat me for it. Since my work days are 12-14 hours, and am the mother of 3 teenage daughters, I don't have a lot of "free" time when i am working. I am afraid i'm soon gonna loose my job if i can't get some relief. My job is stressful, my life is now stressful because i'm almost to the point of paranoia of more pain once it starts, especially since NSAIDS don't help. What do you recommend I do???
In Reply to: My spine surgeries posted by Robyn on October 16, 2001 at 13:44:31:
Hi, Robyn.
What have you learned from the archives about spinal problems?
Walt
In Reply to: My spine surgeries posted by Robyn on October 16, 2001 at 13:44:31:
What have i learned??? that there are a lot of people out there that have problems after back surgery. There is an abundance of information on your site, which is or isn't educational since i don't have the "exact" symptoms as anyone else......i guess hoping for a real "answer" from someone was too much to ask for.....can't get it in person, so what caused me to think i would here is beyond me. Maybe i'm just not smart enough to absorb the "point" maybe just not as computer saavy as i need to be, or maybe i'm just sick of this...dunno which is the answer but do know i am just about over all this mess. Nevermind the ???? nevermind any answer.
In Reply to: My spine surgeries posted by Robyn on October 16, 2001 at 13:44:31:
There is ONE thing I can give you an answer on. Those "knots" you have developed are also known as "trigger points". They are points of weakness in your Muscularskeletal system. These first happen when ligaments are not supporting the structures of the spine. The muscles then take over and try to stablize the joint. The problem is, muscles aren't ligaments so the muscles end up weakening and forming these "balls (knots)" of scar tissue. You might have heard of trigger-point therapy. This is ok, as it injects various substances into the area which helps break up the knot. The problem is, it does nothing to HEAL the area and regenerate it. Fortunatlely, there is a substance that fosters the REGROWTH of the damaged tissue. It's called dextrose. Dextrose is ordinary sugar which acts as a proliferant for the formation of new cells. The technique which is used to deliver the dextrose is called Prolotherapy. Go to www.prolotherapy.com to read more about it.
Just to help you understand better, think of the ligaments in your spine as a series of shoe laces. If the laces are loose, your muscles tighten up in order to stablize the joint. When this no longer happens, your spine starts overgrowing bone in a final effort to stablize the joint. Anyone with a fusion originally had a weakened ligament that could have been healed with prolotherapy. Get the picture? There is much that prolotherapy can do to help your condition.
Chronic bracing is almost ALWAYS a cause in spinal conditions such as these. The problem with relying ONLY on SR for these problems is, soft-tissues like ligaments and tendons heal very poorly anyway, even with SR. There is not a lot of blood flow to ligaments and tendons. If it were a muscle injury, SR would more than likely heal it better than if other modalities are used separately. This doesn't mean do not use your SR. It can only help you. But when it comes to injuries in structures that have poor blood flow when things are already working optimally, you can imagine how impeded your healing will be in the presence of chronic bracing. The point is, you need something more. This is the ONLY reason I advise prolotherapy WITH SR in order to bring COMPLETE healing of the muscularskeletal system. I hope Dr. Stoll can agree with this, especially in regards to these poorly-healing structures. Even children, when they are at their highest healing capacity, will often partially-heal a ligament or tendon injury for the very same reason, poor blood flow. Practicing SR is like lifting a damn allowing the water to flow freely. Nothing else does this quite as effectively as a "whole". But when you have poor blood flow to a specific area of the body, prolotherapy can return this to normal faster than anything. From THAT point, your SR will prevent you from relapsing. I think they make a great team in preventing and treating chronic muscularskeletal injuries. Try both for complete healing.
In Reply to: My suggestions posted by Helping You on October 18, 2001 at 09:53:28:
WOW!!! thank you very much for taking the time to explain that so clearly to me. It makes so much sense!!! I apologize for any "attitude" my previous post may have relayed.....is truly just frustration. When i had the mileogram done, it did say there was some calcification of the posterior ligiment and every time the "knots" get big or flare up it feels like tendonitis(sp?) going down my arm to my fingers. Or sometimes like a hard whomp on my funnybone and just stays that way. I am assuming this is related to the ligiment. Although there was no stenosis or neural foraminal stenosis ......there is posterior osteophytic ridging at both levels that were fused. So its like all the pieces of the puzzle coming together in my mind after reading your explanation.....or at least i think so....because the weakest link so to speak in my neck is still a problem or i wouldn't still be growing osteophytes??? or getting the "lumps" because they are grown by the body to compensate for another weakness. Am i getting the big picture??? I have printed the information on prolotherapy and am taking it to the spine specialist i'm scheduled to see on the 24th. Thank you again so much for the information!!!! you made my day (smile)
In Reply to: Re: My suggestions posted by Robyn on October 18, 2001 at 12:48:33:
Yes, you are getting the picture. Your body makes osteophytes as a result of weakness. once the joint is stablized, your body cand re-absorb that calcium for other uses.
Now, if for some reason, your calcifications do not improve, there are option for relieving the calcifications. First, you can take magnesium (withou calcium) and trace mineral drops. Sometimes this can absorb the deposits (only after you've stablized the joint). It could take months to a year to absorb the calcium because you have been unstable for a while so just keep that in mind. Lastly, and probably most uncertain, is what EDTA chelation could do. It is possible that chelation could remove most of the deposits within 30 treatments. This is because the calcium in these deposits is largely ionic calcium. This calcium is readily available to be re-absorbed and utilized by the body. You are better off having the prolo first as it can re-establish better circulation to the joints. Prolo stimulates the growth of blood vessels to the injured joint increasing the amount of blood that carries nutrients there. Your chances of having these calcium deposits removed are greater if you have more blood vessels. It's interesting isn't it?
lastly, you can bring this to your spine specialist if you choose but he is probably going to tell you that you are crazy. If he knew there was a way to heal the spine without surgery, he would most certainly have been taught in medical school (so he thought! :-)) Prolotherapy has been around since the 1930's in case he asks. Oh yeah, did I mention that prolo can re-grow discs? (the disk has to be present in your body. if it was removed or fused, it can't be re-grown. This is why prolo is first choice and surgery is final choice. Finally, prolotherapy can also stimulate the growth of articular cartilage. It is very exciting. It is starting to gain more popularity. Dr. Atkins now has a prolotherapist in his Complimentery Medical Center in NY. For his information, he can read "Prolo You Pain Away" by Dr. Ross Hauser. It is very good. He is a nice man. I have had many prolo treatments by him so I know from first-hand experience that prolotherapy works. Take care
-HY
In Reply to: Re: My suggestions posted by Helping You on October 18, 2001 at 13:23:50:
help me out here, please. Dextrose is a corn derivative, and corn is detrimental to the digestive and immune health of most people. Add to that the concern that all except organic-labelled corn is a genetically-modified organism, how can you promote its use?
Do you know of a prolotherapist who would be willing to use some other, less toxic, form of sugar in the drip?
'First, do no harm.'
fergus
In Reply to: helping you --- DEXTROSE? posted by fergus on October 18, 2001 at 22:30:55:
Hi. Thanks for the concern but keep in mind that the dextrose is going nowhere near the digestive system. The dextrose is safely dismantled and eliminated via the kidneys. This procedure has been around since the 1930's. Not a single person injured or hurt by the treatment. It is perfectly safe. There are other substances that can be used if you are not comfortable with it.
-HY
In Reply to: My suggestions posted by Helping You on October 18, 2001 at 09:53:28:
Thanks, Helping You!
Robyn was upset with me because I suggested she read the archives. I just have gotten tired of retyping the same stuff over and over since it seriously reduced my time I could be helping others with. Doing this put me into the hospital 18 months ago and I realized that I had to give people more to do for themselves.
I appreciate your coming to her rescue like this. Eventually she is going to have to apend the time to fully understand her causes and to actually DO something about them.
Hopefully, your efforts will not go to waste.
Namaste`
Walt
In Reply to: Re: My suggestions (Archive in spinal.) posted by Walt Stoll on October 19, 2001 at 12:03:23:
Hi Walt,
I understand completely. Often, I try to make posts as complete as possible for people to reference later but even I end up getting the same questions over and over again. I've spent weeks in the archives at times. It's all in there if people would spend the time looking. I often get posted to regarding candida/LGS. All one has to do, is go into the candida archives and look at the posts for candida elimination. I am more than happy to help people but I will start refering more people to the archives first. Take Care.
-HY
In Reply to: Re: My suggestions (Archive in spinal.) posted by Helping You on October 19, 2001 at 12:19:28:
Thanks, Helping You.
I just wish we could figure out a way to make the archives less onerous for the newby to read.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: My suggestions (Archive in spinal.) posted by Walt Stoll on October 20, 2001 at 10:09:24:
I agree. I have been thinking of a way to do this. So far, I don't have an answer but I hope to come up with something soon. Take Care
-HY
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