trying to understand degenerative disc and spondolosis.

Hi. I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease (bulging discs), spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal cord due to pressure from degenerating vertebra last summer after suffereing from sciatica and pain in my lower back for about 2 years. While deciding what to do, I researched everything I could find and discovered that there are 3 things that could be going on. One is that the discs, or cushions between the vertebra, dry out and break down as we age (aargh--I'm 56) and the vertebra start to generate bone spurs, or osteophytes to compensate for the decreased distance between them. Sometimes the vertebra will actually fracture along a sometimes inherited weakness line and move sort of horizontally, causing that impossible to pronounce word, spondylosis. The pressure from either the disc, the vertebrae, or the shift of the vertebra mashes on the spinal cord, and depending on which lumbar (lower back) or cervical (neck and upper back) vertebrae are involved, cause shooting pain along the nerve path. So even though my stenosis was in my lumbar vertebra, I didn't have pain there. Instead, it was in my butt and went down my leg. I did yoga, meds, and physical therapy over the course of about two years, but finally I was in continual spasm, my leg was going numb, and pain was coming out of my big toe! So I had a lumbar laminectomy, which removed the part of the vertebra pressing on the sciatic nerve and I got complete, total relief from the pain with no recurrence.

However, now I am dealing with cervical pain exacerbated by taking up the voilin again and overdoing it. Hopefully the inflammation will go down with time, and I won't have to have surgery. But I am definitely not ruling it out, since my first surgery was so successful.

In the meantime, use alternating heat and cold, try yoga stretching (downward facing dog), for lower (lumbar pain), and get some good NSAIDs (non steroidal antiinflammatory medication), maybe muscle relaxants, and heavy duty painkiller when it's in a burning cramping spasm.

Good luck and hope this helps.

Ermine in Texas