Hello all. I've been recently diagnosed with Arachnoiditis and DDD. First of all, I'd just like to say that I've been a silent viewer (sort of a fly on the wall) for a while now, reading some of the stuff you guys have been posting. It seems to me as if I may very well be in the early stages of what many of you are going through - and the more I read from you guys - the more it scares the CRAP out of me! I'm the type of guy that alsways comes in to save the day, always has a fix for everything, always tries to find a solution to a problem. What am I supposed to do with this???
I'm currently serving in the US military and now facing a medical evaluation board. They will determine my fate over the next several weeks. I think I initially contracted the "A" word back in 2003 after a discectomy/lamenectomy at L4/L5. At the time, I also had bulges to L5/S1 and L4/L3, but I guess that's the one that was that needed fixing the most. It was literally pinching off most of the feeling on my left leg, and had done so for a while. Ifelt great after the surgery, did rehab, back to the gym, back in action, all was right with the world for about two years (for the most part - I still had some lingering parasthesia in my left leg from the nerve damage/pinched nerve incident). In the summer of 2005 I started to feel pains in the left leg again, AND pains in the right leg now. Then the pains in the left leg were less intense and the pains in the right leg grew in both intensity and frequency. Thry are now CONSTANT. After the initial pains started that summer, I talked to my doc, knew somthing wasn't right. They got me into the MRI scanner. I was diagnosed with Arachnoiditis (what??? spiders???). After a basic "military doctor" explanation, I rushed out on my own and began research. Books, the internet, etc. Not a lot out there... or maybe I'm not looking in the right places? So now Ihave this official diagnosis, but the "degenerative disc disease" (the big Triple D) is kicking in with a vengeance - I guess it doesn't want to get overlooked/overshadowed by the "A" word. My doc says DDD has worked its way from S1 up to L2. With the right leg pains being constant now, my brand new MRI showed that the original surgery I had back in 2003 just served to weaken that area, becasue that very same disc "popped" again, NOW it was pinching nerves on my RIGHT side.
I need help. Do you think I should go for surgery? Do disc replacements work? Fusions? (NOTE: Here's a quick disqualifier for you - I WILL REFUSE TO TAKE NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION FOR THE TIME BEING, I WANT/NEED A CLEAR HEAD WHILE I AM ON THE JOB.) I've read on this forum (and others) that many of you guys (I mean US, now) sufferers absolutely, steadfastly oppose the use of epidural steroid injections and discographs, etc... Will that also count towards surgeries? I understand about the properties within the dye and the preservative in the steroid - but that was a few years ago, the older formulas, isn't that correct? Isn't there a risk of aggravating the nerves as soon as they cut me open? What the hell do I do?
I have two beautiful young girls (ages 5 and 2) and a beautiful wife. I'd like to have another kid, too (maybe). I don't want to put myself in worse shape than Iam right now.
Several months ago, when the pain was only intermittent and random (before the aggravated circumstance of the herniated disc/pinched nerve), I would still go to the gym 2-3 days a week and do light aerobic activity and Yoga/core strengthening activities to try and preserve/stabilize my back. Now I can barely make it through a workday, and barely make it from one room to another in my home (without extreme pain).
I have NOBODY to sympathize or talk to about this (besides my wife). My fellow GIs just DO NOT understand what it is like. One can easily explain the pain equivalent of a broken bone or a pulled muscle - but it is difficult to truly relate the feelings associated with what we go through (and you guys are DEFINTELY go through more than me at present - God bless you).
I'm currently serving in the US military and now facing a medical evaluation board. They will determine my fate over the next several weeks. I think I initially contracted the "A" word back in 2003 after a discectomy/lamenectomy at L4/L5. At the time, I also had bulges to L5/S1 and L4/L3, but I guess that's the one that was that needed fixing the most. It was literally pinching off most of the feeling on my left leg, and had done so for a while. Ifelt great after the surgery, did rehab, back to the gym, back in action, all was right with the world for about two years (for the most part - I still had some lingering parasthesia in my left leg from the nerve damage/pinched nerve incident). In the summer of 2005 I started to feel pains in the left leg again, AND pains in the right leg now. Then the pains in the left leg were less intense and the pains in the right leg grew in both intensity and frequency. Thry are now CONSTANT. After the initial pains started that summer, I talked to my doc, knew somthing wasn't right. They got me into the MRI scanner. I was diagnosed with Arachnoiditis (what??? spiders???). After a basic "military doctor" explanation, I rushed out on my own and began research. Books, the internet, etc. Not a lot out there... or maybe I'm not looking in the right places? So now Ihave this official diagnosis, but the "degenerative disc disease" (the big Triple D) is kicking in with a vengeance - I guess it doesn't want to get overlooked/overshadowed by the "A" word. My doc says DDD has worked its way from S1 up to L2. With the right leg pains being constant now, my brand new MRI showed that the original surgery I had back in 2003 just served to weaken that area, becasue that very same disc "popped" again, NOW it was pinching nerves on my RIGHT side.
I need help. Do you think I should go for surgery? Do disc replacements work? Fusions? (NOTE: Here's a quick disqualifier for you - I WILL REFUSE TO TAKE NARCOTIC PAIN MEDICATION FOR THE TIME BEING, I WANT/NEED A CLEAR HEAD WHILE I AM ON THE JOB.) I've read on this forum (and others) that many of you guys (I mean US, now) sufferers absolutely, steadfastly oppose the use of epidural steroid injections and discographs, etc... Will that also count towards surgeries? I understand about the properties within the dye and the preservative in the steroid - but that was a few years ago, the older formulas, isn't that correct? Isn't there a risk of aggravating the nerves as soon as they cut me open? What the hell do I do?
I have two beautiful young girls (ages 5 and 2) and a beautiful wife. I'd like to have another kid, too (maybe). I don't want to put myself in worse shape than Iam right now.
Several months ago, when the pain was only intermittent and random (before the aggravated circumstance of the herniated disc/pinched nerve), I would still go to the gym 2-3 days a week and do light aerobic activity and Yoga/core strengthening activities to try and preserve/stabilize my back. Now I can barely make it through a workday, and barely make it from one room to another in my home (without extreme pain).
I have NOBODY to sympathize or talk to about this (besides my wife). My fellow GIs just DO NOT understand what it is like. One can easily explain the pain equivalent of a broken bone or a pulled muscle - but it is difficult to truly relate the feelings associated with what we go through (and you guys are DEFINTELY go through more than me at present - God bless you).
