I've been a guest of this forum the past few weeks while I try to sort out the frustrating and complex world of chronic neck issues. I'm somewhat young (35) but sustained some trauma about 15 years ago that resulted in a significant herniated disc. Of course being 20, I thought it was temporary and continued my active lifestyle. The numbness and tingling eventually went away and several years later I started getting neck pain.

Fast forward to 5 years ago and the pain was near constant. MRIs showed congenital stenosis, mild spinal cord flattening, mild disc protrusion and myelomalacia (scary). At the time I visited 2 ortho surgeons and 1 neuro surgeon, they all say no to surgery and wait until you're dropping things, walking funny, etc...

Never thought twice about it until recently. With 2 little kids I wanted to start a more active lifestyle again and revisited the issue. Recent MRIs compared with 5 years ago mostly say I'm stable. Myelomalacia unchanged (though 1 ortho disagrees with that but that's for another post). I've gotten 5 opinions; 3 don't recommend surgery yet since I'm not showing signs of myleopathy and 2 recommend it now to remove compression and stop/reduce risk of further damage to the spinal cord. I'm waiting for a 6th opinion in a few weeks. They all differ on what surgery they'd recommend, some differ on risk associated with a narrow spinal canal and whether or not my myelomalacia is progressing.

That's a long winded way of me introducing myself and frustrations . I look forward to chatting with some of you and hope to find support here in a difficult time.