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My Spine MRI Comments Please!

merylg

Senior Member
Messages
841
Location
Sydney, NSW, Australia
image Cervical-Thoracic.jpg

This is recent MRI of my Cervical-Upper Thoracic Spine.


(Oh pic is bit small...i will have to figure out how to enlarge it! Sorry)

(Click on pic to see LARGER! Thanks!)
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
looks like there is compression on spinal cord and at those same levels your discs are norrow at the upper thoracic level. Also i would have thought that your cervical spine should have more of an S shape(cervical lordosis) so you have more of cervical kyphosis which is abnormal???, to me it looks like your cervical facet joints (at the back of the spine) are riding on top of each other, now this can cause arthritic changes to the facet joints and cause pain as well. I have a similar problem with my lumbar facet joints. But hey Im no expert at reading these things either.

What sort of symptoms do u have that u think are related to this eg do u get alot of neck pain and pain between the shoulder blades etc plus headaches.

Did u get a copy of the report that they would have done on your scan?? Be interested to see what they say.

Have a google of cervical kyphosis and see if u thinks its like yourself, even look at postures of people with kyphosis and see if they are similar to you, maybe get hubby to give u an honest opinion as it can be hard to know yourself.

chching!! lol

cheers!!!
 

merylg

Senior Member
Messages
841
Location
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Hi heaps,
Thanks for your comments. Yes, already know I have Kyphosis going on. It is painful, disfiguring & depressing. Because of the pain, depression and chronic fatigue going on it is hard to be ever mindful of my posture and self-correct. (My mother had this too, so it is genetic to a great extent).
There are 3 slightly bulging discs at C4/5, C5/6 and C6/7 that Neuro confirmed (but report did not bother commenting on), plus a more prominent bulging disc at T3/4 that report did comment on.
No-one is really explaining to me the source of the pain across the shoulders and in the spine. As you say it could more likely be from the facet joints riding on top of each other, because the disc space/heights have dropped and there is kyphosis going on, not to mention there is scoliosis too (seen on other Xrays).
So maybe a trip to my friendly Spinal Neurosurgeon is in order for some better opinions (not for surgery LOL) reagrding possible facet joint injections??? (Like you I have had facet joint problems before in Lumbar region). Thanks again for your input...Ker Ching!!!
Here is another view from MRI scan:image 5.jpg
Click pic to ENLARGE
PS There is also osteoarthritic spurring/lipping on some of the vertebrae.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
Alot of pain can come from other muscles overcompensating trying to protect the joint. I know with my facet joint pain in my lower back, this causes hip pain that radiates into my groin and also bum muscles tighten as well and all this happens to compensate for the arthritic facet joints and small muscles that control them call multifidus. When i had my first facet joint block which is when they inject local anaesthetic into the facet joint and if its the source of pain you get immediate pain relief for a few hours, this is for diagnostic purposes though, but i also got an immediate relief of pain from all these other muscles that have been trying to compensate from the pain, it was a very weird feeling at first and i originally thought this hip pain was possibly unrelated but as it turns out its all connected. I think as far as docs diagnosing where exactly the pain is from is something they cant really do or tell as there a few things within the back structure that can cause pain. I have heard of others have terrible back pain with no abnormalities on ct-scans and then others who have horrible looking ct-scan and have no pain, i think its all a trial and error thing with procedures and drugs etc

Have you looked at facet joint ablations for cervical facets, it may not give you 100% relief but can decrease the amount of pain by alot and is not a complicated procedure and no post recovery period like an operation, basically walk out that day, though they did say to me u can get some neuritis for a week or so afterwards.

I hope u get it sorted soon, pain can really drain your energy, thats for sure.

good luck,
cheers!!!
 

merylg

Senior Member
Messages
841
Location
Sydney, NSW, Australia
Saw GP today. He mentioned there are Rheumatologists that can do an ablation of the nerves in the vicinity of the facet joint.
However he agreed to me trying Zyban (at my request) for it's antidepressive effects. He said wait and see if it has any effect on relaxing the muscles where I have the upper back & spine pain.

(Zyban ...Wellbutrin...Bupropion is mainly used in Australia as an anti-smoking aid)
Is expensive though, and mainly only prescribed for 3 months for it's main use.

I also have script for later trial of Valdoxan if needed. Valdoxan is also expensive.

This is because SSRI s don't work for me & have too many side effects for me.