Guest guest Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 I have posted before..... I am 54, had cervical fusions with bone graft c-4 to c-6 in 1999 and had C-6 to C-7 fused in 2006 with bone graft and metal plate. I am still having mild burning down my arms so my neurosurgeon prescribed Radiofrequency lesioning that did not work. The next step is a myelogram which I have scheduled for Friday morning. The pain is burning down my arms and I am still experience mild neck pain. I am a choir director and use my arms a few times a week to direct and they burn, but not too bad when I take a Darvocet or Loracet. 1. Do really think I should go through with the myelogram since my pain is not terribly bad? 2. I have the myelogram at 8 am friday. Will I be able to direct music by Sunday morning? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 The thing with a myelogram is that there is a good risk for spinal headache. This is THE most powerful brain wracking headache you can imagine. It made me want to jump off a cliff and took more than a week for someone to treat it. This happens when the puncture hole created by the needle does not seal up quickly or you are upright too early and enough spinal fuid leakes out to give the most fantastic migraine available. This is no joke. Females are more likely to get one than males and some are just more prone to tham...like me. I've had three. If you've ever had a spinal tap that didn't give you a migraine, you're probably fine. This doesn't happen to everyone, but you need to be aware of the risks and have a plan for how to deal with it should it happen. The best thing you can do is stay FLAT for 24 hours. Treatment for a spinal headache is with a blood patch, where they take blood from a vein and inject it into you dura (which surrounds the spinal cord and is the source of the leak), it immediately patches the leak and replaces the lost fluid and therefore causes immediate pain relief. Talk to your doc about an immediate action plan if this should happen to you. Treatment within 24 hours instead of waiting it out like they try to do. --- --- uca79iii <uca79iii@...> wrote: > I have posted before..... I am 54, had cervical > fusions with bone > graft c-4 to c-6 in 1999 and had C-6 to C-7 fused in > 2006 with bone > graft and metal plate. > > I am still having mild burning down my arms so my > neurosurgeon > prescribed Radiofrequency lesioning that did not > work. > > The next step is a myelogram which I have scheduled > for Friday morning. > > The pain is burning down my arms and I am still > experience mild neck > pain. I am a choir director and use my arms a few > times a week to > direct and they burn, but not too bad when I take a > Darvocet > or Loracet. > > > 1. Do really think I should go through with the > myelogram since my > pain is not terribly bad? > > 2. I have the myelogram at 8 am friday. Will I be > able to direct music > by Sunday morning? > > Thanks in advance > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 15, 2008 Report Share Posted December 15, 2008 Have you ever had a myelogram before? If they think there is something more going on, then you should have it done. You understand that this is a test? While it has some risks, the benefit does outway them. They can get a very detailed image of exactly what is going on with your spine. Which will help with treatment and ultimately may help them rid you of your pain. If it meant relief from some of my pain, I would do it. But that is just my opinion. Shayna It is better to be hated for who you are than liked for who you aren't. From: uca79iii <uca79iii@...> Subject: Couple of questions spinal problems Date: Monday, December 15, 2008, 7:09 AM I have posted before..... I am 54, had cervical fusions with bone graft c-4 to c-6 in 1999 and had C-6 to C-7 fused in 2006 with bone graft and metal plate. I am still having mild burning down my arms so my neurosurgeon prescribed Radiofrequency lesioning that did not work. The next step is a myelogram which I have scheduled for Friday morning. The pain is burning down my arms and I am still experience mild neck pain. I am a choir director and use my arms a few times a week to direct and they burn, but not too bad when I take a Darvocet or Loracet. 1. Do really think I should go through with the myelogram since my pain is not terribly bad? 2. I have the myelogram at 8 am friday. Will I be able to direct music by Sunday morning? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 Hi Pam Thank you for sharing with us. I will try to answer your questions, but please remember that I am NOT a medical professional. - The answer to question #1, is yes, your nurse is correct.....mostly. Treatment can help lower the viral load, and this can help slow the progression of liver damage, even in non-reponders. HCV takes a long time, [in most cases], to begin to damage the liver to any major degree. Granted the damage begins progress soon after infection, but it takes a long time to get bad. Most people are infected for decades before the damage becomes noticeable. Hep C is called a 'slow and silent' disease, with few symptoms until the liver becomes compromised. This is why many people dont even know they have it, and fail to be tested. - The answer to your second question is a bit more difficult to answer. There is a 'possible' link between side effects, and ones degree in reaching SVR [sustained viral responce]. This is being studied right now by medical science, but the final results are many years away. Everybody is different, and reacts to the treatment differently too. Some people have horrible sides, and fail to respond. Some people have little to no sides and respond just fine. The theory has been rattling around that the sides are because the meds are working. But this may not always be the case. The relationship between sides and responce may have nothing to do with one another. One will not know if they are successful treating until they have lab tests during treatment. At week 12 and 24 the doctors can gauge how well a person is responding. Even this is not definative though. Some people respond during treatment, it seems, but when treatment is over their viral load increases again. I have been building the HCV Links Library for everyones use, and I have tons of info there. Please start reading in folder - 004 Just Diagnosed - and continue down to folders - 009 Treatment. It may take a bit to read everything, but I think you will find many answers to your questions, submitted by professionals. http://health.dir./group/ /links <--- click here Pam, your husband is going to do just fine. Believe that, and think positive. Even if he fails to respond with this combo TX, new treatments are in the pipeline. The Protease Viral Inhibitors are due to be approved this winter or by next spring, and they will help increase the SVR rates in genotypes 1 greatly, and possibly other genotypes also. They are also going to be used on former non-responders to HCV TX. I hope that this info is helpful to you both. love don in ks From: pamelag52@... <pamelag52@...>Subject: [ ] Couple of questions Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 8:29 AM Hello all,I've been lurking for a while,in preparation for my husband's treatment, which finally began this past weekend. After weeks of fear and dread, it actually wasn't bad. Even though he was prepared to spend the weekend in bed if need be, he felt ok and was able to do the usual stuff. He felt tired and achey Sat evening, but no fever or chills, etc. and he never ended up taking any tylenol. His stomach feels a little "weird", he says, but he seems to be able to eat normally.So, with that behind us, I know that we have pages of possible side effects yet to come, and a year (hopefully) to get through, but I'm wondering a couple of things.First, the nurse practitioner told us that one of the benefits of treatment, even if it's not successful, is that it might improve the condition of my husband's liver to give him added time to wait for the next, more effective treatment. Is this actually true, in anyone's experience? I don't seem to find any confirmation for this in any research I could find online. Second, is there any relationship between the seriousness of side effects and the chances of reaching SVR? In other words, do bad side effects show that the medication is more effective, or vice versa? I couldn't really find anything much about this either, at least that seemed authoritative. Thanks for your help, and my best wishes to all who are dealing with this disease.Pam------------------------------------ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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