Please Help Translate MRI Results
 

Can someone please help me translate my MRI Results to layman's terms?

You MRI of the cervical spine shows evidence of a cervical spondylosis greatest at C4-5 and C5-6. There was a left central disk protrusion at C4-5 causing a mild deformity of the left ventral spinal cord. Osteophytes in the C5-C6 causing moderate spinal canal stenosis and mild deformity of the ventral spinal cord. Unconvertable foraminal narrowing with spurring was seen at C5-6 causing bilateral foraminal stenosis, more on the left than the right.

This sticky will help with terminology -
http://www.neurotalk.org/spinal-diso...rminology.html

If you have more pain/symptoms on left side that would match up with MRI info..

Actually, only slight pain between the shoulder blades. The MRI was done for a neurological issue. Still not sure if it related or not.

Well--
 

--problems in the cervical spine can cause pain between the shoulder blades, often along the scapular ridges, as well as in the neck and down the arms into the hands.

The pain can be "regular" nociceptive pain, of more neurologic in character, meaning burning, tingling, shocking, lancingm shooting . . .depending on the extent of nerve compression, numbness may be involved too, and even motor symptoms.

You do have MRI evidence of not only some spinal cord compression, but of nerve root compression in the foramen, which are the spaces through which nerve roots pass on their way from the spinal cord to other areas of the body.

What type of neurological issue are you referring to? I ask as spine problems are ultimately neurologic issues--the biomechanical issues put pressure on nerves.

If you share your symptoms and any dx or other testing, we might be able to help more..

Inability to empty my bladder on my own as well as some numbness and pain in my feet. I started to take over the counter B12 liquid and have seen a noticeable decrease in the pain in my feet and the numbness is going in and out too. My vitamin B12 level was 223. I asked the doctor for the shots but he doesn't want to give me the shots until he figures out exactly what is causing the issue.

Your B12 level--
 

--is much too low, no matter what the general lab norms say. (Although, the more updated lab norms will often have 400 or even 500 as the lower limit of normal.)

You should be supplementing immediately--dosing with anywhere from 1000 to 5000 mcg (1mg-5mg) of B12 daily, preferably the methylcobalamin formulation rather than the cyanocobalamin type (in case you may have some deficiencies in methylation chemistry, which are actually quite common; the methyl form will bypass that pathway and be absorbed more readily). This way, even if you have pernicious anemia (not really an anemia, but a dysfunction of stomach parietal cells that disable the ability of B12 from being broken out and absorbed), or another absorption problem, the large dose will enable enough passive absorption to hopefully rebuild stores. (The actual daily requirement of B12 is usually set at around 3-10 mcg--passive 1-2% absorption should enable you to rebuild stores, injections notwithstanding.)

You should also look at our B12 thread:

http://www.neurotalk.org/peripheral-...12-thread.html

Been supplementing for almost three weeks now. I'm actually up to around a total of 13,000 mcg. 9,000 mcg from methylcobalamin and the other 4,000 mcg from cyanocobalamin. I am taking the cyanocobalamin because it contains other vitamin B's too. I was also low in folic acid.

one needs to take the B12 on an empty stomach, to get some passive absorption. Food will absorb the micrograms of B12 and the absorption won't happen enough to help..

Being low in BOTH folic acid and B12 suggests you might have the DNA mutation called MTHFR. Folic acid is not an active form, and needs to be methylated too like the B12. So try some methylfolate...800mcg, and it might go faster for you.

If you have this common mutation it will take a while to replace your lost nutrients. and it is for life, so you will need to take them every day.

You don't need such high B12 however, 5mg is enough daily to get going. Get retested in 6 mos and stop the nutrients 3-7 days before the testing and see where you are. You can then reduce to 1mg B12 if you choose and if you are over 400. Many people test out higher than that who post on our PN forum.