MRI Spine Lumbar Question
 

I have had so many MRI and Xray I am in such pain and can hardly walk sit sleep pain going down both legs and in my right arm numbness in right arm and legs. Went to the hospital to be told it was Sciatic nerve they reffered me to neurologist. I just want to know what all these MRI mean. The Neurologist sent me to pain management I am not a pill take and told them I did not want the pain pills they make me sick. I did the steroid epidural injection which help great for the first day now back in horrible pain. Just want to walk and sit without pain. Please help and any recommendations.
Here is what all MRI said please let me know what they mean.

Thank you,
Lita:(

MRI BrianScan: which showed Vascular migraine synfomes.

The I had a Cervical spine MRI which showed:

Axial images demonstrate normal apperance to C2-3 intervertebal disc space.

At C-3-4 a small central disc buge is present without focal disc herniation or stenosis.

T1-2 intervertebral disc spaces are with in normal limits.

The paravertebral soft tissues are unremarkable.

Mild cervical spondylosis with maintenance of normal cervical lordosis.

Mild multileve disc-osteophyte complex formation, most pronounced at C5-6 where there is a right lateral component to the disc-osteophyte complex.

Then I just had the MRI Spine Lumbar w/o contrast

Alignment: Lowest well formed disk space refferred to as L5-S1. Appropriate lumbar lordosis with minimal retrolisthesis redentified at L5-S1.

Vertebral Column: Marrow signal within normal limits. Vertebral bodies are well formed without acute fracture, signal abnormality or mass lesion. disk height height loss and desiccation at L5-Sl.

Conus/Cauda Equina: No mass, signal abnormality or intradural lesions visualized.

L1-2: Mild bilobed bulging. Mmild bilateral arthrosis. Neural foramina are patent.

L2-3; L3-4: No disk herniation or stenosis. No significant facet arthropathy.

L4-5: Disk desiccation with mild bulging. bilateral posterior facet arthosis and ligamentum flavum buckling. Neural foramina are patent.

L5-S1: Disk height loss, disk desiccation with moderate concerntric bulge. Central protrusion and annular tear. Mild posterior facet arthrosis and encroachment on inferior bilateral neural foramen.

No abnormal paraspinal masses are demonstrated.

Let's see if I can help

In the cervical spine, your C2-3 space is normal

At Cs3-4 there is a disc bulge, but doesn't seem to be causing any trouble.

At T1-2 things are fine

Your soft tissues are fine, you do have mild bone spurs but nothing drastic.

Your spine is straight.

You have multi-level bone spurs, most apparent at C5-6

Lumbar, you have mild bulging at L1-2

At L2-3 & L3-4 no disc bulges

L4-5 you have disc drying out & mild bulging; the ligamentum flavum is yellow elastic tissue - it buckling. The neural foramen is the hole where the nerves pass thru to the spinal cord - that's fine.

L5-6 You lost some disc space height cause the disc is drying out. You have a disc bulge. and an annular tear - that's the fluid filled sac that the disc sits in. The mild facet arthrosis is a degenerative joint problem and it's getting in the way of the neural foramen (the hole that the nerves pass thru).

You have no masses in the spine.

I hope this makes sense to you. If you have questions, let me know. God bless. Hugs, Lee

So what is causing all this pain in my lower back and down my legs that makes it so I can hardly walk? And what can be done to fix it? They are giving me the steroid epidural injection which work only until the morning then the pain came right back.

I would say that sciatica is causing the pain in the back and down the leg. A disc is probably herniated or bulging and pushing on the sciatic nerve. This can be VERY painful. I've had severe sciatica for 25 years, and believe me it's been pure agony.

Physical therapy is good for sciatica, if that's what you have. It sure sounds like it. Does the pain go into the hip and down the side of the leg then into the back of the leg, to the foot??? if it does, then it's sciatica.

Pain management is probably warranted for this. I would ask my doc for a referral. Seems like he'd send you there anyway.

Best of luck and let me know what he decides to do. God bless. Hugs, Lee

Risky surgery
 

I also suffer from numbness, tingling and a lot of pain in my legs and feet. Numbness and tingling in both arms. I've had six back surgeries. My last mri showed that my spinal steno sis is getting worse. It has been suggested that I have a cord decompression at the T9-10 and T7-8. I know this surgery is very risky, given the area it is affected. Has anyone had this kind of surgery for this particular area.

1021shylah,
I copied your post to the spinal forums and a thread of your own.
here is the link -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...d.php?t=143849



*I also moved the original thread here to the Spinal forums.*

First, the goal of pain management is not to eliminate pain completely; that is usually impossible. The goal is to reduce the sense of suffering and improve the quality of life.

Specifically, what pills did they prescribe, and how did they make you sick? Some meds cause side effects which dissipate within a few weeks. If you reach a point where you have tried everything else, you might want to re-evaluate pain vs. taking a pill - even with tolerable side effects.

Doc