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New Member Introductions If you just joined, please introduce yourself here. Please add a signature describing your spinal history (use the "User CP) and ask us how we can help you get started.


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  #1  
Old 10-30-2017, 12:18 PM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Default New Member - C5/C6 ADR/ACDF in Future

Hi, new member here... been lurking for a while though and learning along the way. About two years ago, I developed serious neck pains, that originally could only be described as a non-stop "stiff neck". I also had terrible knots in my upper back almost daily, and a few months later I developed occasional numbness/tingling in my fingers on my right hand. I visited the Ortho, who ordered an MRI. I don't have the results with me (they are at home, I'm at office) but long story short, I have severe DDD at the C5/C6 level. No other apparent degeneration along the spine. Our assumption is that the damage occurred during a wakeboarding accident, as there have been no other recent "impact" injuries. Regardless, Ortho #1 prescribed me Meloxicam, which provided no relief. He also tried facet joint injections and another cervical steroid shot, which also provided no relief. He referred me to a neurosurgeon that could perhaps do more.

Doc #2 (Neuro) recommended neck traction, but I only got relief while wearing the device. He said he believed my primary problem (neck pain) was due to non-stop muscle spasms, so he prescribed me Robaxin; however, I got no relief. Neuro recommended ACDF of C5/C6. Said I would be a good candidate for ADR, but he no longer did it due to too many insurance issues (insurance companies not paying even after they had approved surgery, apparently). I passed on ACDF, sought new options.

Doc #3 was an Orthopaedic Surgeon that specializes in spinal (both cervical and lumbar). Said he could do ACDF. He said he didn't currently do ADRs as he'd recently switched hospitals and had not done one at his current facility yet, but he also recommended I see a chiropractor before doing any surgery (good idea, not sure why, but I hadn't thought of that yet).

Four visits with a Chiro - no change - yet she did make my back feel better than it had in many years (although it didn't feel "bad" to begin with)... I did thoroughly enjoy the chiro visits, but it didn't fix my neck issues. She referred me to a different spinal surgeon.

Doc #4 - Spinal Surgeon - Confirms what all others have already said. C5/C6 is bad, needs to be replaced. Currently scheduled to have surgery Dec 11th in Hunstville, AL. Dr. Larry Parker is my surgeon. He said his favorite disc is the Prestige LP, but he'll also take a Mobi-C in the surgery room and put in whichever one seems to be a better fit. He also said he is only 70% confident I'll wake up with an artificial disc, and to realize there is a 30% chance he'll have to fuse it. He said he won't shove a square peg in a round hole, which I appreciate. He said his primary concern is that after he removes the osteophytes from the front & back of the vertebrae, that there could potentially not be enough bone left to safely install an artificial disc. Sounds reasonable to me; how about the rest of the community?

A little bit more info. Neck pain is still my primary problem that I face 24x7 it seems. Some days are better than others. Some days I think, "Hey, I can live with this. I don't need surgery." Other days it is so excruciatingly painful that I wish I was on my way to the hospital to have it fixed. Is that normal?

Outside of the "pain", I do still get tingling in the fingers from time to time, but not near as often as I did before I started taking Gabapentin. Also of note, the fingers that tingle are my middle, ring, and pinky of my right hand, which the doc noted is not typical for the C5/C6 issue, but he also said we are all wired a little bit differently, so it is possible that the problem is related. I also had a hamate fracture in that hand last December, so it could be attributed to that as well. I still get inflammation in my wrist from that from time to time, so the finger issue could be non-neck related.

I mentioned Gabapentin. The primary reason I take Gabapentin is because of BRP. I suffer from brachioradial pruritus (google it if you are interested), primarily in my right arm, but sometimes in left, sometimes both. It is a maddening/painful feelings. 300 mg Gabapentin, 3 x daily seems to keep it in check for the most part. I still have outbreaks that require me to put an ice pack on my arm and numb it in order for the pain/itching to go away. Anyone else on this forum suffer from BRP? If so, did your BRP symptoms go away after ADR?

Sorry for the long post. Looking forward to interacting with the community. Feel free to ask me any questions!

Edit: One more thing - I'm a 36 y.o. male if that makes a difference. Definitely feel too young to feel this old .

Edit #2: I should also mention that I have tinnitus in my right ear, and I also have a 40% hearing loss in that ear as verified by tests at ENT. ENT says it is possible that it is cervical-related, but not to count on it. Just curious if others have attributed tinnitus to cervical DDD or similar? My tinnitus started around the same time as the disc issues is the only reason I ask...

Last edited by jeepbrew; 10-30-2017 at 03:44 PM.
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  #2  
Old 10-30-2017, 12:38 PM
GKTM300 GKTM300 is offline
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Check out smccory on YouTube he had 4 cervicles done at pro spine n is doing well
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12/22/04 blew L4-5 and L5-S1 out lifting wrong
4/1/05 back to work thanks to Oxy
11/11/13 hurt back lifting again
6/6/15 last of many MRI L4-5 medium paracentral bulge with juice leaking and mid to left bulge on L5-S1
No invasive procedures except steroid shots that did nothing n hurt wicked bad
9/24/2016 Adr surgery Bertagnoli>1 year doing great
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  #3  
Old 10-30-2017, 02:10 PM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GKTM300 View Post
Check out smccory on YouTube he had 4 cervicles done at pro spine n is doing well
I searched for smccory on YouTube and got zero results. No big deal though. I assume you are referring to Pro-Spine in Germany. I'm having my surgery in Huntsville, AL (USA). Total cost for me is $50 plus a night in a hotel (night before surgery). No need to travel to another country. Mine is single level, and covered by insurance - my company is self-insured and we use BCBS of AL to negotiate our rates with hospitals/doctors.
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  #4  
Old 11-13-2017, 04:59 PM
Runner16 Runner16 is offline
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Hi Jeep,

Sorry you are on this board but the upside is there is a wealth of information here.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepbrew View Post
No other apparent degeneration along the spine. Our assumption is that the damage
I'm 49 but my other discs look "pristine" according to several docs. Some ask if I had an injury and others say DDD. I asked if DDD then do I worry about other discs...docs said no one knows but all spines degrade with age.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepbrew View Post
He said he believed my primary problem (neck pain) was due to non-stop muscle spasms....Doc #3 recommended I see a chiropractor before doing any surgery (good idea, not sure why, but I hadn't thought of that yet).
Muscle spasms HURT. I am not sure what come first but I'd tried muscle relaxants, predinisone, codeine, Hyrdrocodone, ketamine, etc etc. Ibuprofen works the best if I take large quantities. Docs recently told me to stop as I can't take this much. sigh. Chiro worked for me for about a year but then I had a concerning episode (I do not blame them) with shock like nerve pain. I was fine following but it was a wake up call for me. Truth is I wasn't upfront with them about my symptoms as I figured it would resolve on its own and I was trying to just "fake it till I made it"

The last 2 months I found weekly massage helped the most with spasms and pain. it isn't a long term fix and expensive but it helped.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepbrew View Post
Doc #4 - He also said he is only 70% confident I'll wake up with an artificial disc, and to realize there is a 30% chance he'll have to fuse it. Sounds reasonable to me; how about the rest of the community?
I'm headed for surgery and my doc said the same, my odds 9:1. It struck me as an honest? approach as Doc said when they see the discs it tells a story. Some ADR's may not fit all spaces and he will not remove a lot of bone. I was told in several consults that the final decision on ADR vs fusion and in some cases even type of ADR the decision is made during surgery. I will accept a fusion over an ADR if it is likely to fail.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepbrew View Post
A little bit more info. Neck pain is still my primary problem that I face 24x7 it seems. Some days are better than others. Some days I think, "Hey, I can live with this. I don't need surgery." Other days it is so excruciatingly painful that I wish I was on my way to the hospital to have it fixed. Is that normal? Outside of the "pain", I do still get tingling in the fingers from time to time, but not near as often as I did before I started taking Gabapentin. Also of note, the fingers that tingle are my middle, ring, and pinky of my right hand, which the doc noted is not typical for the C5/C6 issue, but he also said we are all wired a little bit differently, so it is possible that the problem is related.
Ha. Read my post from last Decemeber where I had a mysterious pain free few weeks. I thought I was experiencing a remission I have thought I could get by so many times I can't count. But I have steadily declined, I've given up all of my sports (long distance running, cycling, mountaineering etc etc) and these days I don't do much, my days are all about managing my pain. Read other posts but I asked this same question and it is very normal. I had a terrible bout 2 weeks ago and last 2 days have been ok. Re tingling, I have had my whole hand, all fingers at times, numbness disappear and return (the worst was early on 6 months and never returned), 4 fingers, now it is my middle, index and thumb for the most part. I think the symptoms are approx to area/damage not absolute lines. My symptoms change all the time, move through my arm shoulder, scapula all left side. It is a carnival of activity anymore. Good times.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeepbrew View Post
Sorry for the long post. Looking forward to interacting with the community. Feel free to ask me any questions!
My apologies for the long response hope something helped.

Take care, Runner
__________________
2015 - Left arm pain and numbness appeared out of nowhere during a short run. Assumed it was my new sports bra.

2016 - C5/6, C6/7; Disc extrusions, osteophytes, radiculopathy. Left side only.

Clinging to the fantasy this will resolve spontaneously on its own.

2017 - Gave up on the dream. 2-level C5/6 & C6/7 Signus Rotaio ADR 15Nov17
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  #5  
Old 11-20-2017, 11:07 AM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Thanks, Runner. Your response was helpful .

I see you were scheduled to have surgery last week. How'd it go?
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  #6  
Old 11-20-2017, 08:54 PM
pichaku pichaku is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 29
Default Hi

Hello Jeepbrew,

First of all everything is connected when it comes to spine, and nothing is done in a day because it happens gradually when it comes to DDD especially in cervical spine. In my humble opinion spasms comes from chemical reaction from protruded and degenerated disc and then nerves became inflmed and here it goes than......
I advice you not to go to chiropractor because they can mess up the rest of your cervical discs, the right path is massage and NSAidS and mild streching....in the end operation is with very good outcome when it is good indication and exelent doc that you are confident with...

Could you post some pics of your cervical MRI?

Sorry for my english if there are any mistakes
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L4L5 DDD...protrusions on c5c6 and c6c7 just discovered with mri and confirmed by EMG...going trough Pt....
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  #7  
Old 11-21-2017, 01:01 PM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2017
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Default

Keep the info coming.

I can't post any pics from the MRI today as I am traveling on business, but I do have some x-ray pics with me. See attached.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg xray1.JPG (87.3 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg xray2.JPG (86.4 KB, 15 views)
File Type: jpg xray3.JPG (88.1 KB, 15 views)
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  #8  
Old 11-21-2017, 01:03 PM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pichaku View Post
Hello Jeepbrew,

I advice you not to go to chiropractor because they can mess up the rest of your cervical discs, the right path is massage and NSAidS and mild streching....in the end operation is with very good outcome when it is good indication and exelent doc that you are confident with...

Could you post some pics of your cervical MRI?

Sorry for my english if there are any mistakes
I definitely get the most relief from massage, but I need it so often it has become an unrealistic option.

X-ray pics are now in post #7.
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  #9  
Old 11-21-2017, 03:04 PM
c4c7 c4c7 is offline
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Posts: 37
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5/6 looks like it has some major height loss (compared to the others). The MRI will give a more accurate picture, though. Don't read the radiology report. They put a lot of scary sounding things in there that your spine surgeon may find irrelevant.
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C2-3: Mild desiccation with focal 1.5mm central disc protrusion.
C3-4: Unconvetebral osteophyte formation on the right with minimal foraminal narrowing.
C4-5: Focal 2mm disc protrusion which abuts the thecal sac and slightly abuts the ventral cord.
C5-6: Central right paracentral 2mm disc osteophyte fomplex. Abuts ventral cord with some cord flattening.
C6-7: Disc desiccation with broad based central 1.5mm disc osteophyte complex.
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  #10  
Old 11-21-2017, 03:33 PM
jeepbrew jeepbrew is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2017
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Quote:
Originally Posted by c4c7 View Post
5/6 looks like it has some major height loss (compared to the others). The MRI will give a more accurate picture, though. Don't read the radiology report. They put a lot of scary sounding things in there that your spine surgeon may find irrelevant.
Yeah, I have had two MRIs over the last 14 months... I have the discs and reports at home... I just don't have anything to share with the community right now.
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