[annapurna]

Looking through the FAQ, there is one point to emphasis: spurring or osteophyte formation can impinge upon the nerves exiting from the spinal cord at the level where the spurring occurs. Growth or enlargement of the facets have the same effect.

Some of your problem may be a misunderstanding of what facet joint disease and facet arthritis actually is. More knowledgeable minds may correct me but a simplistic explanation is that the facets are bony protrusions that have hyaline cartilage (real slick surfaces) on the mating surfaces. The hyaline drops the coefficient of friction to incredibly low levels (does the same thing in all of your moving joints) and permits free movement. Arthritis as a general term refers to damage to the hyaline cartilage, possibly minor and reversible, possibly serious and irreversible, possibly total loss and bony reactions under the missing areas. Facet joint disease includes arthritis but includes enlargement of the facets and inflammation of the capsule that the facets ride in. Diagnosing arthritis is really difficult because most people aren't going to the effort of checking for hyaline cartilage thickness. Diagnosing facet disease is easy because the capsular inflammation is easier to spot, even if the bone hasn't started enlarging. For you to have severe facet disease and have been experiencing problems for a while, I can't see how you wouldn't also have facet arthritis. You might not have facet enlargement, which is a cheap way to look for end-stage facet arthritis, but I can't believe that your cartilage is untouched.