I was just reading some of the older posts and I was curious to see what happened with you. I too would like to find a friend or two to commiserate with.
I was wondering if you had the discogram done? I had mine on 4/24 and I found it surprisingly tolerable..not to say pain free but in comparison to some of the pain I have already had..it was just more pain..lol. The best thing was hearing the Dr. telling me "we found it Carolyn"!!!!! , as I was on the table.
But back to the beginning I guess. I have had lots of DDD and joint problems, I am 49 now but had my neck fusion done in my thirties because of degenerative changes and bone spurs. I had the MRI one day and was scheduled for surgery the next because apparently there so little spinal fluid that could even flow through the mess. Shortly after that, I started growing a large bone spur on the top of my left foot and in the joints of my foot which led to surgery and pinning of my foot together. That one is still kinda painful. When I started having extreme back pain in my lower back I told my Dr. that I wasa afraid it might be bone spurs again but I was also having muscle spasms everywhere in my body and they wanted to rule out MS so I had a brain, cervical and lumbar MRI all at once. Neck was still pretty stable, brain was clear (yay!), and lumber showed a herniated and collapsed L5 -S1 and other suspect looking discs because or arthritis. I was scheduled for surgery six weeks out. Pain was awful but by two days before the surgery, the pain shifted to the right side and disappeared on the left! I was confused but my Dr. was even more confused and he canceled he surgery, sent me to disc decompression therapy, to have nerve conductions studies and the discogram. I was devastated because I was tired of the pain and the studies seemed to be pain invoking tests. I had no idea what to tell my work because I was all set for the surgery. So I just decided to work through the pain and try to deal with it on my own. It has affected me, my job performance. my social life, my relationship with my husband..sigh.., well it got tot the point where I can barely feel my leg and it is very weak. I finally decided to quit being stubborn and had the tests done. The nerve conduction study showed significant nerve damage in my right leg and foot and the discogram shows a herniation that shifted to the right or was pushed to the right with a large bone spur! It never showed up on MRI's but the discogram or the following CT scan caught it. I will be scheduling for a minimally invasive procedure ..a fusion of some sort.
Anyway, Hello, I hope to hear from you and others. Hope all is well or at least better.
ceegee