Originally Posted by Leesa

Hi ~ I'll explain all this below. Well, you have a herniation along with the fact that the vertebra are too close together (degenerative disc disease), and you have facet disease (possibly osteoarthritis) which results in moderate foraminal narrowing and mild to moderate spinal canal narrowing. Then you have the hemangioma at L5.. The increase signal, I'm not understanding.

Ok with degenerative disk disease the disks dry out and flatten, and sometimes bulge & herniate. This allows the vertebra to 'sink down' and in fact you become shorter. I used to be 5'4" and how I'm about 5'2'. The foramen are the holes that the nerves pass thru to get to the spinal cord. These holes are getting narrow due to decreased disc space and due to facet disease. The Hemangioma is a BENIGN tumor of blood vessels that typically occur as purplish/reddish elevated area of tissue.

PLEASE DO NOT see a Chiropractor anymore!!! i've been told by 3 total Neurosurgeons that spinal patients should NEVER go to Chiropractors unless they want to be paralyzed. And that's exactly what they said. I know there's probably professional jealousy or something, but they explained that Chiropractors dont have the extended training in the Central Nervous System that Neurosurgeons have. They said that too many people go to Chiropractors before they even know what's wrong with them, and they could easily end up paralyzed! it makes sense to me. And I must admit that once I was desperate, and I went to a Chiro -- and he promptly broke my STERNUM. Boy was that painful -- try to breathe with a broken sternum!!

Anyway -- You need to see a Neurosurgeon for an opinion. And after you've seen one, you should see 2 more. Then whatever the 3 of them said, do what the MAJORITY advises. And please let us know what happens, will you? I'd appreciate it. God bless and please take care. Hugs, Lee