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General 17 years, 11 months ago #363

  • Becky
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Hi Doc Sarah,
I live in Columbus, Indiana USA. My Pain Doc says he has been in contact with you before.
Michael Whitworth, I think he is a great pain doc and is always trying to find different ways to help me. Recently he told me that he is trying to come up with a way to go into the spinal cord and unclump these nerves. Do you have any thoughts on this?
I still work and recently my docs took me off the shop floor because the pain was becoming unbearable, every night I would come home and get on my heating pad and cry myself to sleep. I have been off the floor for 3 months now and I feel so much better.
Doc Whitworth suggested that maybe my vertebrae was rocking because it is not fused and I do not have any disc in that area.We took x-rays and they showed there was no movement in that area. Now, he wants to do a Medial branch Blocks on L4-S1 to see if maybe this is the problem with my pain and walking. I am scheduled to have that done soon.
My question is, Do you think that this will help me? Is it the Arachnoiditis causing me the pain from walking?
I am only at Stage 1 right now. Any answers would be greatly appreciated.
Hugs,
Becky

Re:General 17 years, 11 months ago #366

  • DocSarah
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Hi Becky,

yes, Michael Whitworth and I corresponded a while ago. Please do give him my regards when you next see him.

The problem with trying to resect the scar tissue is to prevent any inflammatory reaction to the procedure itself and thus hopefully reduce any recurrence. Currently, results to date have not been too good. In fact I am about to conduct a systematic review of treatment of arachnoiditis and no doubt the conclusion will be that the evidence for effective surgical treatment is lacking.

The medial bundle branch blocks can be helpful for diagnostic as well as treatment purposes in identifying the source of the pain.

Hope this helps,

Regards.

DocSarah
[b]DocSarah

Re:General 17 years, 11 months ago #368

  • Ang
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Hi DocSarah
So is it safe to assume that the branch blocks are not related to ESI and don't actually make AA worse. Thank you
Best to you, Ang

Re:General 17 years, 11 months ago #371

  • DocSarah
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Hi Ang,

it would be a mistake to say that any invasive procedure is 100% safe and we can never assume that. As I've said in response to Becky, medial branch blocks still carry the potential to exacerbate AA.

Regards,

DocSarah
[b]DocSarah

Re:General 17 years, 11 months ago #372

  • Becky
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Hi Doc,
Hope you are doing well today. There has been so many people that are negative about the Medial procedure. I belong to several support groups and I try to learn as much as I can. In my opinion, People with experience is the best medicine and Knowledge for me.
I cannot take a chance of making my A worse by having this procedure, which that is what everyone says. I am scared to death of this disease, I am very independent and the thought of depending on someone is very scary and depressing for me. I have a bf but he is worthless and doesn't help me at all financially, so I cannot depend on him. My parents are still alive and doing well for their age, but they are not going to be around forever either.
I would like your advise on maybe postponing the procedure and maybe getting a MRI with dye to validate for sure the A. Doc Whitorth read my Aug 05 Mri, this is where he saw the Arachnoiditis.
I think he would agree with this one since he is aware of the disease, and I would think he would not want to make it worse for me. Don't you? I am just so lost and don't know what to do. Any comment would be nice.
Many Blessings,
Becky

Re:General 17 years, 11 months ago #374

  • DocSarah
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Hi Becky,

if you have already had an MRI that showed AA then there is no need for a further one and these days gadolinium is not necessary as the high resolution scan axial views show the thecal sac clearly.

Regards,

DocSarah
[b]DocSarah
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