Guest guest Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 I am also being considered for surgery- 7 months ago I started having severe back pain and after plain x-rays were negative I had an MRI, which showed a huge herniated disc, severe spinal stenosis, facet deformities, etc. I had 3 epidurals over 4 weeks and later on facet joint injections. I also had long-standing cervical pain so he ordered a CT which showed bulging discs, facet problems... and on and on there. Here it is Jan 19th on vicodin for 7 months and now it is 750/325 1 to 2 about 4 x/day, and fentanyl patch started in september. I went thru PT and also using TENS. I saw a neurosurgeon recently and he reviewed my MRI films. He is not calling this a herniated disc at this point, but " an unusual intradural mass " which may be a synovial cyst or a benign tumor, or, yes, a herniated disc. This is at a large teaching hospital; I hate to go to a new doc since my medical history is very complicated. My problem is that the pain has been steadily increasing despite meds, and I have had to make several modifications around my home and also need to use a walker every morning til the meds kick in. Also, the pain is on the other side a little bit, but 90% on the left. My sacral area is even tender to the touch- much like a deep bruise. I work part time and even if it turns out to be a no-go for surgery, I think I'd be forced to take a medical leave for the pain alone. People at work keep asking me what's wrong because of this limp. I tell them I'm fine- I'm sure they don't buy it- but they likely think something is wrong with my ankle or some such thing. I think 7 months is a long time & if it was going to improve on its own it would have done something in that direction by now. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 19, 2006 Report Share Posted January 19, 2006 benmit22 wrote: >I am also being considered for surgery- >7 months ago I started having severe back pain and after plain x-rays >were negative I had an MRI, which showed a huge herniated disc, severe >spinal stenosis, facet deformities, etc. I had 3 epidurals over 4 >weeks and later on facet joint injections. I also had long-standing >cervical pain so he ordered a CT which showed bulging discs, facet >problems... and on and on there. > >Here it is Jan 19th on vicodin for 7 months and now it is 750/325 1 to >2 about 4 x/day, and fentanyl patch started in september. I went thru >PT and also using TENS. I saw a neurosurgeon recently and he reviewed >my MRI films. He is not calling this a herniated disc at this point, >but " an unusual intradural mass " which may be a synovial cyst or a >benign tumor, or, yes, a herniated disc. This is at a large teaching >hospital; I hate to go to a new doc since my medical history is very >complicated. > >My problem is that the pain has been steadily increasing despite meds, >and I have had to make several modifications around my home and also >need to use a walker every morning til the meds kick in. Also, the >pain is on the other side a little bit, but 90% on the left. My >sacral area is even tender to the touch- much like a deep bruise. I >work part time and even if it turns out to be a no-go for surgery, I >think I'd be forced to take a medical leave for the pain alone. >People at work keep asking me what's wrong because of this limp. I >tell them I'm fine- I'm sure they don't buy it- but they likely think >something is wrong with my ankle or some such thing. > >I think 7 months is a long time & if it was going to improve on its >own it would have done something in that direction by now. > >Any advice? > > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 At 08:33 PM 1/19/2006, you wrote: >Here it is Jan 19th on vicodin for 7 months and now it is 750/325 1 to >2 about 4 x/day, and fentanyl patch started in september. I went thru >PT and also using TENS. I saw a neurosurgeon recently and he reviewed >my MRI films. He is not calling this a herniated disc at this point, >but " an unusual intradural mass " which may be a synovial cyst or a >benign tumor, or, yes, a herniated disc. If you've read my blog on my back problems, you'll notice that I also had a synovial cyst at L4/L5 pressing on a nerve. This accounts for the same kind of pain as a herniated or ruptured disc, which I also had. On my MRI reports it was described as " a rounded soft tissue structure, bright red on the T2 weighted images, with some focal area of decreased signal within it. This lesion most probably represents a synovial cyst coming from the facet joint, with some internal debris and blood products. Alternative diagnosis such as neurofibroma or other neoplastic process is considered less likely, although not completely excluded. " It was also called an intraspinal mass lesion in another part of this same report. It was removed at the time of my fusion surgery. Synovial cysts, I've learned, are not that common, but are easy to take care of at the time of surgery and leave no lingering problems. I did a lot of research on them at the time of my own diagnosis. For more information, go to the spine-universe.com web site and put the topic in the search function. http://thebacklog.blogspot.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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