Spinal cord deformity=Anyone knowledgeable on spine MRI, please? thx!!

Hi Joey & welcome to the chronic pain forum. Sorry to read all the health issues that you are dealing with, you have more than a full plate it sounds like.

Keep in mind none of us are drs here, we just speak from our own experiences. I would say the best thing you could do for yourself is make an appt with a board certified, fellowship trained neurosurgeon for a consult. Yes, its a fancy name for a neurosurgeon, however, it will not cost any more to see one with all the bells & whistles. Get a consult with one & see what is recommended.

Let us know what you decide to do. Take care.....

Joey, I am on regular Medicare, I prefer it over an HMO. I have a much better selection of specialists & have the need to see several on a regular basis. If I did not have so many issues perhaps an HMO would work.

I do hope you can get in with a good dr soon. Check out your HMO & see if by chance there is a neuro with all the bells & whistles, as I call them. I am sure you know that if a dr were to join HW they are not allowed to give medical advice. That would get them booted to the curb & yes, I have seen it happen before, lol.

Take care.

Hey Joey...WELCOME=) I'm so sorry that you are suffering and unable at this point to seek the help you seem to need. I just wanted to offer my support that you are not alone here. We are here to support one another. Please know that there are many here with perhaps similar issues. They can offer some suggestions, if you keep your post "bumped".

~~Dixie

I'm sorry to hear about your battle with shingles=(  Initially, I thought my eye was red due to new eyeliner.  I did not connect the mind-numbing head, jaw, ear pain until the "red" became blisters.  Thankfully, I sought aggressive treatment which prevented cornea infiltration.  This virus has totally depleted me both physically and emotionally.  I'm lost somewhere "in there" as I seek PM.

I hope that you find some answers, and some relief for your pain and suffering. I am sorry for the loss of your mom.  I am sorry that you are feeling lonely.  I know how that feels.  Pain can be isolating...Know we're here=)

Hugs~~Dixie

Dixie, Im so glad you caught and addressed in time before losing or imparing your vision!! but sorry as i know you still are dealing with great pain from shingles :( and thx about my mom, she was my best friend and losing her was/is harder than any/all of what i'm dealing with health wise, really. but i carry on. it is nice to meet you all! :) she'd be happy to see me looking toward support forums, btw.

Abilene, thank you for the note and support :) i've been on ssdi since 2010 (disabled since 2006, had to wait that long for the hearing in FL due to my being 40 at the time of the car acc. ((hit by a drunk driver on my 40th bday 11/24/06)) so they don't often approve for folks that young). And I was always on straight Medicare, until this year, someone told me to do a 'supplement' Humana HMO Gold Plus Plan, and that I'd get $96 less taken from my disability check, etc.. and my 13 rx's would be $0 copay vs $1-6, and my PMC copay $0 etc... so it sounded much better.... til i needed another surgery (when the necrosis flared in the hip). So, my primary actually also told me when she met me in Jan. to consult (we talked for nearly 2hrs!!) she was very nice and listened and discussed things together. but she said, with hmo, i am going to be very hand tied with what i can do with your care. i would honestly be sending you to Duke or J Hopkins or Mayo etc... as you need a 'team' working together extensively on your case or you will never have each specialist coordinate and correctly treat things.

So, is the plan G you speak of, like having Medicare, but then paying for a secondary, like Blue Cross? if so, I can not afford that :( As is, this year, I already had so many xrays ($45) that had to be done 'per hmo' before they could do the mri's ($75), then i was told i'd be in the hosp. just overnight, i was in 5 days. etc.... so there will sadly be bills going to collections. *I HAtE MORALLY DOING THAT BTW :'-(

Oh the SCS for me, because i had so many issues causing the pain, and i had to basically flip a coin of trying a cervical or lumbar implant lol, and i have fibro and was told it would not help with that.... so it is hard for me to be a good judge of character so to speak ;o) for my RSD/CRPS i'd say, yes and for some of my cerv. pain, yes. it also was told to me it would not be expected to touch my lumbar /sciatic pain, so no, it didn't.

i also had the extension piece in the lower back, and the battery in the abdomen both 'untac' and surface/protrude and twist. so they caused pain and discomfort...after 3 months of implant. so it was not working long enough for me to be a good judge either, if that helps. if i were to keep it the dr would have had to go back in to re-tack them.

ps love your shout out to your husband, and glad you are a cancer survivor!! and hey, i've been googling about the cervical multilevel fusions obv. with having the stenosis and cord dmg from c2 thru c6-7 and then again at t9-10 so i dont know what they;d do for me. lol.... how do you feel? better or worse? did you have radic/myelop do you still have pain is it better or worse? are you happy you did it? how long ago? They don't know why my spine is declining so fast. in 07 after the accident i only c5/6 and l5/6 then but it was enough with the broken sternum and ribs arm etc and then getting fibro and pain taking over that i became very unabled. so physically my spine shouldn't have gone to 13 discs having damage in the past few years. ODD, unless it IS the lyme attacking the bones...

Ok, guys my diplopia is a bit bad today i overdue the pc and then i pay for it the next day. hahaha!!! so glad i found y'all! have a great day.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=16&m=3094122

That link is my own story here at Healing Well. My surgery was 10 months ago. I feel much better but still healing. It's a year long recovery, at least. Very glad I did it.

I have Medicare A and B plus a supplement-Plan G-that costs $114 per month. It pays for whatever Medicare does not cover after I pay $147 annual deductible-first visit anywhere. After that everything is covered to anyone who accepts Medicare. I also have to pay for Drug coverage-found the cheapest policy at Medicare.gov since I don't take many meds.  (There is some good info on this site about discount cards for meds.)  I encourage you to look at Medicare.gov and get your own specific information. If you qualify for extra help it could be great! When I turned 65 recently I found it all very confusing and was getting so much info in the mail and phone calls that I was just overwhelmed. Finally I called an insurance rep who had advertised on FaceBook, rather than all those who were pestering me. He then mailed me info that was much easier to understand comparing the different supplement Plans A,C,F,G,N, etc. Since having this I've had a sleep study with CPAP equipment added to my life, plus a visit to my dr for shoulder impingement syndrome with x-rays and PT for that. No charges for any of that other than the monthly premium.

It's a shame that after finding a great support place you can easily spend too long and end up hurting from it. I certainly understand that. Come here as much as you can but take care of yourself.

 

Susie, thanks for that info. So JoeyBee will not be able to get what your husband and I have since she is younger, too bad. Is he on Plan F since it covers everything with no deductible like my Plan G has? Not every ins company offers all plans.

Susie, I've been wondering again about our local friend, the retired detective. Hope he checks in soon and has good news.

hey Joey, you many findings from neck to sacrum on your MRI and i notice you have a 6th lumbar vertebrae which i have noticed in maybe 15% of spine patients. i would have a neurosurgeon and an orthopedic spinal-surgeon do an MRI consult. surgery is a last resort but you may very well benefit. at the same time i would try to find a pain physician who handles intractable pain cases, surgery is a way to remedy or prevent further degeneration but the pain pathways in the brain need to be quieted. without seeing the films i cannot say if a myleogram or discogram would be a good idea, probably a myleogram to map the cord and exiting nerve roots. you have facet arthrosis and the pain,"facet arthropathy", probably more than the MRI showed. i would get a few surgeons to look, determine if further tests are needed and if a must consider surgery. most important is getting a pain physician who treats the severe intractable cases. pain is brain. RSD is a central nervous system syndrome that is not good with your anatomy. foresttennat.com is a very experienced pain doctor's site with several articles and links to the main severe pain groups and advocates, that is a start. if you lived near his practice i would attempt to get an appt. i do not know your meds and other matters that would make you more or less tough to get pain under control and begin working in the direction of pain free hours or days but i sure hope you can. i wish you the very best. NICK