[doydie]

Hi everyone. I am from the MS forum. My Mom has terrible degenerative disk disease and lumbar spinal stenosis and is in a lot of pain. She is 87 and one very spunky, determined, stubborn woman. This pain is getting her down, emotionally and physically. She is a considerable surgical risk due to hypertension, several small strokes and atrial fibrillation plus her age. She saw a spinal specialist today that suggested this X stop spacer. It can be put in with local anesthesia and just an overnight stay.

Have any of you heard of this and have any experience, whether good or bad, with it?

Thank you for your time.

[(Broken Wings)]

Originally Posted by doydie

Hi everyone. I am from the MS forum. My Mom has terrible degenerative disk disease and lumbar spinal stenosis and is in a lot of pain. She is 87 and one very spunky, determined, stubborn woman. This pain is getting her down, emotionally and physically. She is a considerable surgical risk due to hypertension, several small strokes and atrial fibrillation plus her age. She saw a spinal specialist today that suggested this X stop spacer. It can be put in with local anesthesia and just an overnight stay.

Have any of you heard of this and have any experience, whether good or bad, with it?

Thank you for your time.

not heard of that one......

Keep us posted about it.

I haven't been to the MS forum yet. Making my way there, though. My daughter-in-law suffers with that. She does pretty good with it. Gave us two beautiful grandchildern after being diagnosed. I wish she could have "GOOD DAYS" every day. So sorry you're suffering with MS.

Recently I have found infrared and LED light therapy helped my back, neck, arms, thumbs and leg tremendously. You can PM me more about that if you'd like. Better than a heating pad and meds, for me.

My mom is fragile too. It is scary to face procedures with their complex medicals. Just hug her more each day. That's good medicine.

[supernova_krose]

I've got a friend who's wife had the xstop. Helped for awhile, easy recovery, she didn't have long term results, but it helped for a few years.

Here's a nice description of what the device is:
http://www.spine-health.com/conditio...surgery-x-stop

Good luck to your mom.

Kay

[doydie]

Kay,did your freind say what caused the failure of the device and was it gradual?

[supernova_krose]

I think the essential problem is that whatever was causing her stenosis just kept on happening. She was fairly young (just 50) when she had the xstop put in, and it was only at one level.

The return of pain wasn't gradual...things worked well for a year or so, and then she was in pain again. A combination of factors (including dealing with the back pain) has led to a divorce, so I don't get updates from my friend anymore. I hope she finally found some relief.

Kay

[doydie]

Thank you for the info. My Mom has a myelogram and CT scan on Thursday and then a consult on Monday. We will know more then. Being as old as he is and with some cardiac problems I'm not sure how long she will have to live with this spacer.

Again, thank ou for letting me borrow his furom for my Mom. If anyone needs the MS forum for anything, we have a great time both in the MS and the Stumble Inn forums.