[Tugboatcap]

Well, my little crash and burn snow skiing in February that was bothering me a little after it happened, has now manifested itself as extreme pain.  I had the normal rounds of MRI/X-rays last week finally and met with the Neurosurgeon yesterday for a diagnosis.  Seems I have 3 vertebrae showing bone loss and spurs and 2 severely degenerated discs in my neck.

Was told that if I had the two vertebrae between the worst disc fused, chances were in a few years, the third would also have to be fused.  This is all fine except with C3, C4 and C5 fused, you can't turn your head and neck and can no longer drive, **82** comfortably or do many other normal things we take for granted like WORK!  Seems that if you have 3 or more fused vertebrae, you're considered to have a 100% disability.

So now I have to make a decision: have the discs fused or take a round of 3-4 epidural injections every 6 months to try and alleviate the inflammation and swelling (which I'm told is VERY painful in and of itself) or do nothing and keep taking handfuls of Ultracet and Skelaxin and hope a better alternative comes along in the coming years.

This scares the hell out of me, especially as active as I've been all my life.

What I'm wondering, has anyone else out there had experience with this type of degeneration or suggestions for alternative therapy?

TugboatCap!

[3deroticer]

First off if this your first time reaching in the bucket of life and pulling out a life changing setback this late in the game, then congratulation! Keep in mind that whatever you are going thru is only your situation, but does not define you.

There have been progress in rebuilding the vertabrae, but unfortunately not in reach for most people financially. As for halting the deterioration process you may be looking at stem cell research. My brother pioneer the process of freezing live bone cell for cementing of bone until the body provide its own bone replacement.

I can't diagnose online, but I have clients with those issues and they sought knowledge thru Mariam E. Nelson Phd in the study of osteoporosis and in the book suggested Tai Chi as a way to learn how to use your body effectively without breaking it down further, and have shown to make bone stronger with low impact.

I got hit by a truck last year and bought a body pillow to keep my back straight when I **82**, and sometime I use a woman (for free) (I get more **82** with the pillow).

I do the "Dragon playing in cloud" warmup everyday and the neck stretches, including pushing your chin down and toward the rear of head, everyday. Your condition sound serious and I wonder if the chiropractor would even touch you.

Also get a second opinion, and maybe look for doctor that specialize healing athletes.

My personal suggestion is to start being more sensitive to others with disability and vote for national health care.

[Janus]

At your stage little can be done, I was lucky that mine was caught early in my 20s and was do to all the stress I put from leading a non-active lifestyle.

 As of right now, fusion and possibly physical therapy. Disc degeneration is a big mystery. People don't know why it happens to some and not others. I have degeneration in nearly the same place C4-5-6.

You can still be active, but you can't turn your neck. You can ride bikes, walk, and do many things.

 I'm only 26 but due to damage from years of just not taking care of myself...I was told by a doctor to never RUN, ever again. I honestly cried for three hours. I love running, being hyperactive, whipping my neck around for humorous effect...hell I can't wait until I can finally have sex without worrying if my back will give out.

 What pisses me off is that even with all my physical activity and therapy, science has no solution for this.

 Stay hard pills...why not
 Baldness treatments...ok

 Having a shitty back with a full head of hair and a willing erection? Methinks these drug companies haven't thought their brilliant plan all the way through.

 Thing is...you may be hosed by this...but you still have your mind, and you're not dying. It's going to be painful...REAL painful, but fusion will take it away, and until they can inject cells to regrow your cartilage, we have to make due.

J- Hopes to run a marathon in his 40s if they come up with a treatment by then.

[Tugboatcap]

I feel your pain. Literally.  I also like running and have done so since my 20's.  I also like to snow ski, water ski, surf and generally like to be active, or at least I did...I had absolutely no problems the first 45 years of my life and now...UGG!

I had epidural injections of an anti-inflamatory done last Monday and so far, so good.  I have 2 more to go, each one 2 weeks apart.

This is just the latest in a series of setbacks in my health recently as in September of last year, I was diagnosed pre-diabetic and told I had to quit eating just about everything unless I wanted to go on insulin control drugs.  

Evidently, I turned 46 and started falling apart shortly thereafter.  I just hope it stops soon...

Tugboat"But my heart, kidneys and liver are in perfect condition..."Cap!

[Chestnuts]

Best wishes TugboatC -

My wife does fairly well after two back surgeries (lower back) and a broken neck (c2). She has titanium screws in her neck, but the surgeon went through the front, her throat,  instead of the back of her neck, to do her surgery and she can still turn her head quite well.

Gettin' old - I'm over 50 now, could handle 30 no problem; 40 - some aches and pains but I'm still able bodied; hit 50 and it's what the f*ck.

[Tugboatcap]

And the fun just keeps on coming...

Now I find that with less activity and not as much exercise, I've become boarderline Diabetic and may have to start on Metformin.  If 47 is like this, what the hell is 50 going to be like?

Tugboat"I guess it's the miles and not the years"Cap!

[solvegas]

Sorry to hear about your condition. According to scientific literature I've read, many of our medical problems we suffer at our age ( I'm 52 ) is simply due to us living a lot longer than our ancestors did and therefore having problems they could avoid. Of course, death doesn't sound like such a good way to solve health problems. I have a degerenative eye condition called Leber's heredetary optic neurotrophy. Think of the optic nerve as a rope connecting your eyeball to your brain and the threads are breaking down. It's rare and mostly afflicts individuals of nothern european extraction. The female carries the gene but the males suffer the consequences ( Women are XX and men are XY. The extra material protects the women ). To make a long story short, I'm going blind. I've lost 20% in the left eye and 5% in the right. My peripheral vision has declined by 10 degrees and next month I'll be seeing the neurooptimologist to find out how much worse I am. At the present rate, assuming same rate of decay, I should be unable to work when I'm 62-65. But perhaps they'll come up with something by then ( artificial eyes ? ) and I'll avoid that bullet. So don't despair, perhaps they will have something for you too.