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Posted 3/15/2005 7:30 PM (GMT 0)
I am wondering if anyone here has this condition, also called sliding (or slipping) vertebrae. I have it along with arthritis of the spine (degenerative disc disease) and of the facet joints, one or all causing lumbar spinal stenosis. I "failed" physical therapy and epidural injections and have an appointment tomorrow to discuss what's next.  Anyone know of any other treatments other than surgery?
Posted 3/16/2005 4:42 AM (GMT 0)
Lois, you didn't fail PT and the epidural injections, they failed you. I hope you can find relief short of surgery.

Thoughts and prayers are with you,
Posted 3/19/2005 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks, so much, Jon. I was sort of hoping to find someone else with the same condition, but maybe it's not as common as I thought. I'm having a bone scan next week and will have my facet joints injected in a few weeks. Maybe that will help.
Posted 3/22/2005 4:07 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Lois, sorry you are having this problem. I do not suffer from it but just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you.
Oreo
Posted 4/2/2005 8:50 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Lois,

I just wanted to wish you the best of luck with you Facet infections! I just finished with a round of epidurals and Facet injections, unfortunately they didn't help me. I pray to God they help you! I just found out last week that I am not a surgical candidate, it won't help me in any way, so I get to live on massine amounts of pain meds, muscle relaxers, 'script ibuprofen and anti-depressants until something new comes along. :(

Did/do you have problems with your back "locking up" when you wake up in the morning or if you stand too long?

Best of luck,
Robyn
Posted 4/4/2005 12:35 AM (GMT 0)
Lois, look under"chronic pain", you'll see plenty of people like you., Including me.Go to net google "BrainTalk Communities, then go spinal disorders-lookbelow, lots of interesting info. I am also not a surgical candidate. Sinal stenosis,DDD, foraminal narrowing impingment on cord by bone spur. Doc said surgery will cause more pain. I've been dragging my feet. Heard they are temporary. I know the shots into my muscles did not work, PT failed, Accupunture worked at first then dwindled, so here I am, constantly researching. Doc won't operate until I have leg involvement and from what I read on the different forums we are lucky we are not surgical candidates, atleast yet. The people who have the operations seem to dominoe. Frightening. I take vicodin. I have learned alot about the meds and the effects through these 2 forums. So check this Healing wellforum under the chronic pain and I did the best I could to get you to the other website--annm
Alsohttp://brain.hastypastry.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=237
BrainTalk Communities - Spinal Disorders
Posted 9/23/2005 4:07 AM (GMT 0)
Lois, if you still read this, I have this condition as well. Doctors keep telling me surgery is the final answer and my grandmother, who also has this condition says it worked for her,but I agree with you and would like another option. I am only 26 and am going crazy wanting any answer but pain killers and surgery. I am looking into acupuncture, among other things. My sister in law was in a car accident and couldn't get rid of the pain and did the acupuncture and swears by it and I am willing to try anything. I have had physical therapy, which helps some, but I was going to try to look into some sort of water therapy. I don't think people take me seriously when I say I am in pain everyday. Surgery is both scary and extremly serious but I am almost to the point that it is worth the risk. write back if you have found out anything new, or anyone lese who may have some advice. Are some doctors aware that we cannot function in our daily lives on a constant intake of Vicodine????


Elizabeth
Posted 4/5/2006 3:33 PM (GMT 0)
Lois:  I am sorry to hear that you have been diagnosed with Spondolysthesis.  Other than Physical therapy and injections there is not must to do.  I have been suffering with this disease since I was 15 and I am now going to be 31.  I did have a spinal fusion and it worked wonders, however, eventually the disease will begin to effect the vertebrae above the fusion site. I have had facet Blocks as well as sacroiliac blocks and they too have been little relief. However, my pain management pyshician suggested Radio-Frequency treatment where they nasically cortirize the nerves to block the pain....I go for this in about 3 weeks, however it does sound promising.

I am sorry about your pain, I am very sympathetic and my thoughts are with you, please feel free to ask me any questions.

Posted 4/27/2006 8:45 PM (GMT 0)

Hi...i am 22 years old and was diagnosed with this spondolysthesis and spondolysis when i was 17...i was doing well for a long time and then my pain and other symptoms came back...this is my 5th time going back to physical therapy and a set of epidurals that were done once did not work either.....not sure what i should be doing.....anyone have ideas?

thanks

Posted 4/27/2006 9:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi twotheteeth and welcome to healing well! Sorry you are having to deal with this stuff at such a young age... May I ask, what type of meds you are on? Are you any type of exercise program? Let us know how you are doing.. Duck
Posted 4/28/2006 7:08 AM (GMT 0)

Ducky,

Thanks for the response it's so nice to be talking to other people who know and deal with this condition and care about it....

i am currently supposed to be on naproxen 500mg. but i stopped taking it (oops!) because ntohing was really happening and it was affecting my stomach badly. as for exercise and stuff i am at physical therapy for my 5th time...most of the excerises are strengthening streches to strengthen my abdominals and my hamstrings and hip flexors because my right hip is immobilizing and to compensate that i'm walking with a turn to my left side....so the physical therapist is trying to work that out...

let me know what's going on with you?!

twotheteeth

Posted 4/28/2006 12:20 PM (GMT 0)
yeah  Good Morning twotheteeth!

 

How are you feeling today?  I am a little sleepy, but other than that, still in pretty good spirits... not sure why... a friend of mine told me it must be a full moon! yeah

 

Anyhoo- I did a little bit of research and I found this website... It seems pretty informative about Spondylosis.  I am not too familiar with it, and I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction.  But from what I've read so far, the physical therapy and naproxen is the best thing for it.  Now since you can't tolerate the naproxen, you need to let your doc know so that he can prescribe something else. 

 

Here is another website that has some more info on it... It seems as though this may be able to be controlled by physical therapy and small lifestyle changes.  For example, if you are in a strenuous job that is literally back breaking, you may have to change careers... I even read on one of the sites that if you smoke, you may need to quit smoking...

 

I hope those websites help you out some, I'll keep doing some research and let you know what else I find... Good luck to you and let us know how you are doing!

 

Duck

Posted 5/6/2006 10:12 AM (GMT 0)

Duck

Hello, i'm sorry for the delay in response, however i have met with my doctor after my latest mri and am going to be getting surgery, but before i go through that i have to go through a discogram because now there is another problem appearing between my l5-l4 vertabtes (right above the spondolisthesis) so the doctor wants to see how much damage that disk is doing before he can determine how much surgery will be needed.....

so that's where i'm at...maybe this will finally work...

Posted 5/6/2006 12:22 PM (GMT 0)
Good luck to you twotheteeth... please let us know how you are doing.. Thoughts and prayers are with you.. Duck
Posted 9/8/2006 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
Wow . . . I wish I found this forum pre-op.  I was 25 (4 years ago) when I had a lumbar spinal fusion (L5-S1) which was needed for cracked vertebrae and spondolysthesis.  It was a horrible procedure and was unsuccessful (broke a titanium screw 6 months post-op which caused pseudo-arthrosis (a false joint/non-fusion))  I am now right back where I started; I still have spondolysthesis as well as sciatica in my left leg and have tried everything from acupuncture, injections, pain meds, phy. therapy, etc.  Now, after further MRI's, I now have L4 involvment and am facing another surgery.  I'll drag my feet as long as possible before I get wheeled back into the operating room.  I'd be happy to go into further detail for those of you who are contemplating a lumbar fusion . . .

Posted 9/9/2006 10:40 PM (GMT 0)
Jon said it best.I do not have this but I do have an aunt that does and she did injections and theraphy as well.She has as well has had surgery three times because of this.If you would like to disguss this more please feel free to e-mail me.
Posted 9/12/2006 3:34 PM (GMT 0)
Lois, ugh as you can see this is a very common condition. The bad part is since stenosis means narrowing, eventually alot of peeps get nerve involvment and that pain is really bad. I have had nerve root irritation at L5-S1 many times. When that happens I am usually dragging my left leg w/o realizing whats going on. But when that burning pain hits I know exactly whats going on. Also, the toe on all my left shoes are worn off from dragging the foot.

I have had the RF for back and facet joints and i did really well it. The ESI's are a waste of money, per my 1st pain mgt I saw in the late 80;s. He believed in injections but not ESI's. Maybe RF may be the way for you to go. Hugs, Susie
Posted 7/16/2008 7:14 PM (GMT 0)

 Hi Lois, Just wanted to share abit of my story with you. I was diagnosised in December of '05 with L5 spondolysthesis, I have numbness/tingling down my entire right leg with constant back pressure/pain. I have worked in a physical therapy office for the past 2 years so treatment was readily available to me and like you it didnt work. I thought about injections but the thought of a need anywhere near my back was frightening so I figured I would just deal with the pain and limit my activities. Three years has gone by now and in January of this year the numbness in my right leg was getting worse and I started loosing sensations in other areas. So i started to freak out about that and sat down with an orthopedic to discuss possible surgery. Mind you I was not wanting to do this but was tired of living half a life. I had scheduled a tentative date for surgery and informed my work. At the time we started to treat people in our office for Bowen work which is similar to myofacial release therapy, so my boss suggested i try this avenue. I have been doing the therapy now for a month and I have minimal numbness and pain in my leg and back, I basically have it at night when I am first trying to get to sleep. Mind you the pain will come and go depending on my activity level however the level of my activities has widened alot since the Bowen treatment. Perhaps this might be an avenue for you to research. I was quite hesitant to it at first , but now that I am doing it I am asking myself why I had not done it a long time ago. Live and learn I suppose. Good luck, Denise. 

Posted 12/26/2009 9:37 AM (GMT 0)
Woow!!! So happy to read u all! Just woke up with the 2 hours pain I'm now getting every morning (my back "locking up" as someone called it) and thought of checking if I were all alone in there or could found people who know what I'm going thru. I'm 32 yo and was diagnosed 2 years ago. All started with a sciatica and after xrays and all exams they told me I would not be able to practice sports, except for swimming. i cried, it was terrible news at the time. I was in France for few months and dreaming about playing handball again, a sport they don't practice in the States where I had had lived for the past 8 years. Anyways, that was the bad news at the time and I didn't even know what was next... Anyways, 2 years down the road, I don't care anymore about sports, I would just want to know that i can live a normal life; working like the workaholic I am, having a boy (I have 2 girls), etc... But, I came back in France 2 months ago (I was living in Africa where no surgeon can do the surgery) to learn that I'm not ready for the surgery and may actually never go for surgery. Ok. I'm happy. Wasn't too exited about surgery anyways but no doctors have been able to tell me as much as I learnt on this forum in a minute. All they've done is give me a soup of meds: pain meds, muscle relaxers, 'ibuprofen and anti-depressants. I literally Hate meds so u can imagine the added pain and I just cannot take it all so I take half of it when he gets really bad and never the antidepressants. Did any body get actually depressed after stopping them? They also prescribed physical therapy but i haven't started yet. I'm sorry to not add to the discussion or ask a specific question but you already answered the ones I have and all seem to know more than me and the doctors around here. I'll keep checking to see if anything new comes up. They're checking my nerves next week and I'll only see a "renowned rheumatology service" in 2 months. I hope to be able to contribute after that.
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