ADRSupport Community  

Go Back   ADRSupport Community > General Discussion > The Big File

The Big File All issues not easily categorized in the above forums are here. Comments on general health, diet, "getting comfortable," and more are here.


View Poll Results: How many problematic spinal segments do you have – or did you have? Note: a “problem” means
One Level 41 19.90%
Two Levels 68 33.01%
Three Levels 50 24.27%
Four Levels 17 8.25%
Five Levels 12 5.83%
Six Levels 5 2.43%
Seven Levels 3 1.46%
Eight Levels 4 1.94%
Nine Levels 3 1.46%
Ten + Levels 3 1.46%
Voters: 206. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 09-13-2007, 06:46 AM
Harrison's Avatar
Harrison Harrison is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
Default

As so many people appear to have multilevel disc disease, I thought it would be interesting to start a short survey which tracks this sad issue. Please respond to the question below, and feel free to comment as well.

When you read the question, please think about your past and present condition. E.g., if you had 3 levels replaced, and all your other spine segments are "good," then choose "Three Levels."

Please encourage other members here to vote too, I think this will be an interesting survey...
__________________
"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-15-2007, 08:56 AM
Harrison's Avatar
Harrison Harrison is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
Default

Just to keep tabs on this informal survey, here are the results so far:

Patients..%..Number of Levels:

4 (19%) One Level
7 (33%) Two Levels
3 (14%) Three Levels
2 (10%) Four Levels
1 (5%) Five Levels
2 (10%) Six Levels
0 (0%) Seven Levels
1 (5%) Eight Levels
0 (0%) Nine Levels
1 (5%) Ten + Levels

So far, roughly half surveyed showed three or more problematic spine levels.

If you are a patient and have not yet voted, please do!
__________________
"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-15-2007, 12:47 PM
Terry's Avatar
Terry Terry is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,210
Default

Oh My God! 6, 8, 10+ Levels. We have bionic people wandering around out there!

Seems they don't call it degenerative disc disease for nothing.

Interesting. Sure would be nice to figure out why some have so much pain and others whose MRI's look horrible have no issues.

Doctors treat symptoms rather than causes. What caused us to turn to mush spine?

Terry Newton
__________________
1980 ruptured L4-L5
1988 ruptured SI-L5
1990 ruptured C5-C6
1994 ruptured C6-C7
1995 Hemi-Laminectomy C5-C6, C6-C7 Mayo Clinic
Bicycle Accident 2004
MRI, EMG, Facet Injections, Epidural Blocks, Lumbar Discogram.
Stenum Hospital Surgery November 4, 2006
Prestige Disc C5-C6, C6-C7
Maverick Disc S1-L5, L4-L5
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-15-2007, 04:43 PM
Harrison's Avatar
Harrison Harrison is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
Default

Quote:
We have bionic people wandering around out there!
Terry some folks who voted have not yet had surgery. The point is to simply demonstrate how widespread multi-level disease is for many people.

Well said, on the question of causes...we need more insights on the root cause of these life-robbing spinal problems!
__________________
"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-15-2007, 05:13 PM
tmont tmont is offline
Banned
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 442
Default

Quote:
Interesting. Sure would be nice to figure out why some have so much pain and others whose MRI's look horrible have no issues.

Yup.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-15-2007, 05:13 PM
cervie queen cervie queen is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 46
Default

I don't post too much, but maybe you could guess that I was the ten level person. I've already had surgery on nine different levels. But then, maybe we should do a survey on age: onset and surgery or present......
__________________
Six level cervical fusion, C2 through T-1. Paralyzed vocal cord that took one year to resolve.

Three level Dynesys, tensioned down as fusion. Had Spondylolisthesis at two levels and severe facet degeneration three levels, stenosis and sciatica i
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-16-2007, 08:55 AM
Don Don is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 173
Default

I've have two theories about my DDD. The truth is probably a blend of both.

1. One level goes bad and we don't fix it, the instability it creates is the first dominoe and the "cause" of the future disc problems?

2. It truly is a disease. The joints just start going bad and until medicine can find the "cause" behind the disease, we are SOL.

I hope they find out before my kids are old!

edited cuz I can't spell, type and think at the same time.....
__________________
Don G.

3 level DDD L5-S1 through L3-L4.
"Compressed" L5-S1 in ~1992.
Herniation at L3-L4 and L4-L5
Fusion or ADR in near future
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 09-17-2007, 07:36 AM
Harrison's Avatar
Harrison Harrison is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
Default

Well said, Don. The authors of this recent paper talk about this in more detail -- see below for an interesting viewpoint on these conversations we've been having.
_________________________________________

Modic changes, possible causes and relation to low back pain.

1: Med Hypotheses. 2007 Jul 9; [Epub ahead of print]
Albert HB, Kjaer P, Jensen TS, Sorensen JS, Bendix T, Manniche C.
All The Back Research Center, Part of Clinical Locomotion Science, University of Southern Denmark, Lindevej 5, 5750 Ringe, Denmark.

In patients with low back pain (LBP) it is only possible to diagnose a small proportion, (approximately 20%), on a patho-anatomical basis. Therefore, the identification of relevant LBP subgroups, preferably on a patho-anatomical basis, is strongly needed. Signal changes on MRI in the vertebral body marrow adjacent to the end plates also known as Modic changes (MC) are common in patients with LBP (18-58%) and is strongly associated with LBP.

In asymptomatic persons the prevalence is 12-13%. MC are divided into three different types. Type 1 consists of fibro vascular tissue, type 2 is yellow fat, and type 3 is sclerotic bone. The temporal evolution of MC is uncertain, but the time span is years. Subchondral bone marrow signal changes associated with pain can be observed in different specific infectious, degenerative and immunological diseases such as osseous infections, osteoarthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and spondylarthritis. In the vertebrae, MC is seen in relation to vertebral fractures, spondylodiscitis, disc herniation, severe disc degeneration, injections with chymopapain, and acute Schmorl's impressions.

The aim of this paper is to propose two possible pathogenetic mechanisms causing Modic changes. These are: A mechanical cause: Degeneration of the disc causes loss of soft nuclear material, reduced disc height and hydrostatic pressure, which increases the shear forces on the endplates and micro fractures may occur. The observed MC could represent oedema secondary to the fracture and subsequent inflammation, or a result of an inflammatory process from a toxic stimulus from the nucleus pulposus that seeps through the fractures. A bacterial cause: Following a tear in the outer fibres of the annulus e.g. disc herniation, new capilarisation and inflammation develop around the extruded nuclear material. Through this tissue it is possible for anaerobic bacteria to enter the anaerobic disc and in this environment cause a slowly developing low virulent infection. The MC could be the visible signs of the inflammation and oedema surrounding this infection, because the anaerobic bacteria cannot thrive in the highly aerobic environment of the MC type 1.

Perspectives: One or both of the described mechanisms can - if proven - be of significant importance for this specific subgroup of patients with LBP. Hence, it would be possible to give a more precise and relevant diagnosis to 20-50% of patients with LBP and enable in the development of efficient treatments which might be antibiotics, special rehabilitation programmes, rest, stabilizing exercise, or surgical fixation, depending on the underlying cause for the MC.
__________________
"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 09-18-2007, 12:36 PM
kanutta kanutta is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 40
Default

There has been a lot of interest in Modic changes at some norwegian spineboards recently.
Several has been diagnosed with it; in addition to degenerative disc disease.
It seems that the patient has to ask specifically for modic changes, they don't tell you if you don't ask...it seems to be a relatively new diagnosis, at least here up north.
People have read information about MC on the spineboards, and then go ahead ask their surgeon if they can see any of it...and apaprently it is quite common.
It seems that there is little to be done about it though, no cure...?

Maybe MC is part of the reason that some are still in pain after surgery...
__________________
cervical disc disease C 4-6, foraminal stenosis at c6
3 transforaminal epidural injections, good relief. Cervical fusion with peek cage c5-6 in may 2006.
Better, but C4-5 probably a problem.
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 09-18-2007, 03:59 PM
Harrison's Avatar
Harrison Harrison is offline
Administrator
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 7,010
Default

Thanks Kanutta, for the observations. It is interesting that this type of research (and related topics) seems to be performed in non-U.S. countries. It's peculiar...but at least someone is doing it!

I hope we see more of this -- any isights that can help patients obtain a more detailed diagnostic assessment of their condition.
__________________
"Harrison" - info (at) adrsupport.org
Fell on my ***winter 2003, Canceled fusion April 6 2004
Reborn June 25th, 2004, L5-S1 ADR Charite in Boston
Founder & moderator of ADRSupport - 2004
Founder Arthroplasty Patient Foundation a 501(c)(3) - 2006
Creator & producer, Why Am I Still Sick? - 2012
Donate www.arthropatient.org/about/donate
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
INFO AND SUPPORT L4L5 DISC PROBLEMS New Member Introductions 12 11-16-2008 10:21 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:42 PM.


© Copyright 2006-2023 ADRSupport.org All rights reserved.