Me: "OUCH!" for 3-4 years. Last night, she: "READ THIS ARTICLE"

[bertha katzenengel]

In Monday's Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601537_pf.html

~snip~

From the moment she stepped into Ludwig's Timonium, Md., office, Roberta said, she was treated differently. With the exception of her long-trusted internist, none of the specialists she'd been referred to had appeared either interested in her case or concerned about her symptoms. They treated her, she said, as if her mysterious pains stemmed from some sort of female hysteria. "I had begun to wonder myself if it wasn't maybe somehow all in my head," she said.

The UMMC orthopedic center was decorated with the lacrosse sticks and baseball jerseys of former patients, but the atmosphere was professional and efficient. After a spinal X-ray and questions about her symptoms, the diagnosis took about 10 minutes. When Ludwig clipped the X-ray and the MRI film to the imaging lights, it was easy to see why.

Roberta, he explained, was suffering from a disorder called lumbar spinal stenosis, a constriction of the fluid-filled canal that contains the spinal cord.

A combination of age, genetics and the accumulated wear and tear of her active lifestyle had resulted in a gradual but dramatic displacement of her spine between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae--a condition known as spondylolisthesis. The fifth lumbar vertebra and those above it had pushed forward. As this occurred, the spine had sought to strengthen itself by generating more bone within the misaligned joint -- an arthritic condition that pinched the spinal canal even more than the misalignment. The benign, fluid-filled cyst in the area compounded the problem.

~snip~

"spondylolisthesis" -- holy f*ck, that's my diagnosis . . . I'm reading this article and the subject's symptoms, though apparently more severe than mine, are the same.

I told Mrs. V., "this woman is fit. I am not." She replied with a vehemence I rarely see: "I don't care. Please. Call. Him."

I have an appointment for July 22. The woman making the appointment asked, "Did you read the newspaper article?" LOL

Dear god, please no surgery... but hopefully this guy can help!

[Liberal Veteran]

1. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Sounds like he knows his stuff.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. Thank you, LV. How is your good man?

Better, I hope....

[sam sarrha]

3. if you do have to have surgery go to the Bonati Institute for outpatient

spinal surgery.. they use special arthroscopic micro surgical tools..

http://www.bonati.com

they use a special anesthesia system and you are out of recovery in 45 minutes and walk out..!! most of their surgeries last only 45 min, and the incision is only about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.

my wife had surgery there, we stayed at a little motel near to the institute with a little kitchen and the owner asked us if we had gone there.. my wife was in a wheel chair and neck brace when we got there, then she was up and around all of a sudden.. the motel lady showed us a large storage shed STUFFED with walkers, braces of all kinds, canes, crutches.. packed in so tight it was like a solid wall, she said people leave this stuff in the rooms when they go and never call back for them. I saw people come in in an ambulance and taken in on a gurney.. and walk out the same day..

[Kindigger]

4. Did you say that someone said...

"we rarely see", as in "we rarely see this in someone her age"?

I also have the above disorder, and my neck collapsed last year. It is progressing from both ends to the center. If I live long enough, I'll probably end up in a wheelchair.

I'd been complaining to doctors about my neck, and low back since I was 32 years old. I was put into the psychiatric system for 15 years, because "you're too young to have these problems." I was labeled a hypochondriac.

As the years went on, and I continued to try to make some sort of living, I do think I began to exhibit symptoms of one mental illness or another. I was given every psych drug for every condition known.

I know now that the truth was I was suffering the symptoms of both chronic pain, and chronic sleep deprivation, and just plain frustration.

I was not taken seriously until my neck collapsed last April. Believe it or not, in early March I tried a Rheumatologist (one of the last types of doctors I hadn't seen). You know what he told me? You know what he wrote on the visit notes?

Until I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior I'm not going to get any better.

[bertha katzenengel]

5. My god, that is disgusting.

What a prick. I wonder if reporting him to the medical board would do any good.

Do you now have proper treatment?

[WildClarySage]

6. Sending you *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* healing and hope vibes

that you'll be feeling better soon!