Hi
I am new to the site but I am familiar with these, so here goes. I am a 50 yr. old female who had a cervical MRI in March of 07 that showed 2 dessicated disks, 2 bulging disks and 3 osteophytes and moderate stenosis at C5-C6 and C6-C7. I had pain radiating down my spine, and severe ongoing migraines. I opted for physical therapy and went on Topamax for the migraines. Now, about a year later, I had developed pronounced weakness in my right arm and scapular area. My orthopedic doctor said it was my neck, especially C5-C6. He said surgery would be necessary because the weakness was nothing to mess with and I could be doing damage to the spinal cord. He wanted another MRI of the cervical spine. I wanted to delay surgery until May due to work constraints. I begged for an MRI of the thoracic spine since I had focal severe pain in the lower thoracic area as well as scapular pain and twitching. I had to get the order from my primary doc since he wouldn't do it. I just got the results. It shows disk bulging at T5-T6, T6-T7, T7-T8, T8-T9, T9-T10, T10-T11 and a herniated disk at T11-T12 without cord contact. "There is moderate left-sided foraminal narrowing at T10-T11 due to facet hypertrophy...and hypertrophy of the posterior elements at that level as well." Also although this is not the cervical MRI that I will have done in April, it does say this about that area: "At the lower cervical spine at C6-C7and C5-C6 at the upper edge of the field of view, there is broad-based dik/osteophytic ridging that may contact the cord at C5-C6."

Based on this information, and the fact that my right arm weakness comes and goes, and is an annoyance at this point, but the pain is getting worse and going down both arms, is surgery my only option? Does anyone have any experience with this? I have cut back to 50 mg of Topamax and added 150 mg of Lyrica now, as this pain more responsive to the Lyrica and it seems to also act as a migraine preventative, but I find I am opting for Hydrocodone about 3 or 4 days a week. It's just one tablet a day now, but I don't want to get dependent on it! I appreciate a response from anyone who is knowledgeable about this condition. I'm afraid the stenosis is the reason I will probably have to have surgery, but I want to avoid any surgery on my thoracic spine if possible, and I don't want any cervical spine surgery to require a long recovery if it has to be done at all.