| Re: Thoracic pain anyone else?
Hey Soapies,
I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. Thoracic pain is so horrid - I know because I'm going through a flare up right now. Breathing is painful for me 24/7, is it the same for you? I too have end plate problems due to schmoral nodes - as well as large vascular areas throughout the end plates. All of this is due firstly to having schurmann's disease as a child and then having a terrible car accident a number of years ago. I herniated a number of discs but the ones in my thoracic were at T8/9 and T10/11, both displace the spinal cord somewhat but T8/9 is by far the worst because my T8 nerve on the right side was crushed by the disc.
Neurosurgeon's are great at diagnosing these things but because it's the thoracic, they almost never operate - the outcomes are just too uncontolled and unlike the cervical spine and lumbar, successes range around 20% with about 40% staying the same and the rest made worse by surgery...and that's the best outcome I've heard from a neuro - some are even more negative.
I ended up having to have T8/9 decompressed because I was having serious problems, with nerve pain and issues with cord signal loss. That surgery wasn't really a success, though it did decrease my nerve pain to the point where I was no longer having major flare ups. In October last year I fell down the stairs and recently found out (after too many trips to the ER) that the T8 nerve is recompressed and surgery is now necessary again. I'm very apprehensive at this point. If it wasn't for the fact that the flare ups can cause me to pass out because of not being able to breathe for minutes at a time, I wouldn't even consider it. Also, the increased pain is just about unbearable.
Is there nothing they can do for your thoracic? What sort of pain do you have? Are you seeing a pain management doctor? Sorry about all the questions but unfortunately medication is sometimes the only answer...I know that my life wouldn't be worth living without it. Depending on the type of pain your thoracic is throwing, there are different types of meds...but you may know this already. My op won't cure my general pain so medication will probably always be a part of my life, however, hopefully it will calm these flare ups and breathing problems.
let me know if I can help in any way. I'm sorry for what you're going through.
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