Baybreeze

Hi, degenerative disc disease sounds bad, but isn't necessarily bad for everyone. It can be a normal part of aging and usually starts in one's 20's or 30's, and sometimes there is genetic component to it. But it can affect everyone differently. Some people never have any pain or other issues from it, some develop severe disability. The gel-like substance of the discs dry out over time, which causes them to shrink, which causes the vertebrae to get closer together. When this happens, for some people, it causes too much stress on the surrounding spine joints (like the facet joints); for some, too much stress on these joints produces bony overgrowth and facet joint arthritis. The arthritis in itself can cause pain & inflammation; the bony overgrowth can end up pressing into surrounding nerves and blood vessels, causing even more pain, which can lead to spinal stenosis. Also, the degenerating discs can herniate and / or tear, causing the disc to press into nerves or causing the gel material inside the disc to leak out. Some people even have herniations that were found incidentally and have no pain whatsoever. So it all depends on many factors. And there are many different treatments to try over time. Of course surgery would be the last resort. And surgery will not cure arthritis pain, but it may help other pain such as nerve pain. And it is not true that they cant do fusion on more that a couple of levels. I even know a woman who had her entire spine fused, from lumbar up to the cervical spine. But she said she just waited too long, over 20 years with pain, etc...she had the same surgeon as I did. I met her in my physical therapy. It was a very long healing process for her, but she was doing so much better and had wished she hadnt waited soo long to get surgery. But again, surgery is a personal decision, completely up to you, and there is always that chance that it won't help or you could have worse pain than before.