urgent please help!! MRI LUMBAR SPINE

wadegear

Hello I can tell you one thing. I have found that swimming helps back problems better than most anything I have tried. Your mom will definately physical therapy. This will definately help her. As to all the medical terms I cannot help you sorry. All I know is that I have been with a back issue myself for about five yrs. Relaxing in the pool and physical therapy helped me tremendously. I home your mother gets some relief. Bless you

karen275

I'm 53yrs. old.Lotsa back problems. Look into"inversion" therapy. Please google 'Jesse Canone" you will find the help you need w/out surgery.

feelbad

honestly, my bigger concern here is the 'head' symptoms and the fact that they did NOT bother to at least scan the brain and the upper c spine areas? there is just no way that looking at the lumbar "only' would show anything about what is going on further up that spinal area and into the brain as well. i would be asking her docs about getting those two areas at least scanned with a contrasted MRI. 'something' could be and probably just is impacting that back of her head area? anytime you actually display numbness, generally it can come from more commonly at least two possibles here. the one of course being the spinal nerve(s) being impacted/impinged in some way(the c 2-3 actually innervate that back of the head area), or with some issue going on with actual bloodflow too. either way, just obtaining the contrasted MRIs on the c spine and that brain would hopefully show what actually also could be responsible for the leg issues too. anything that is simply below the level of some type of impact to the spinal or the brain just has the postential for impacting anything below it.

tho she does appear to have a solid finding in that lumbar area, it all depends upon more of what is actually being impacted or impinged than an actual 'finding' itself kind of thing? but she does need a good looksee into the upper areas i mentioned just see what may be there or to rule out any possible problems too. but that numbness and heaviness up there is happeneing from 'something' that is just not right up there and needs to be found out. there is just no real way that the lumbar finding could be remotley responsible for what she is feeling up top. only unless the actual cord itself was severely impacting any nerve signal flow thru the many spinal tracts that send signals to the brain. which this finding does NOT show at all. it would just take VERY severe impact/impingement of that actual cord itself(not simply spinal nerves) in order to even do that kind of thing.

but i would be pushing her docs here to obtain the 'WHOLE" picture and not 'just' looking at that lumbar only. numbness just has a 'base' somewhere. hopefully the upper is not a major thing, but it just needs some looking into right now. good luck tothe both of you with this,and please do keep us posted, marcia

__________________
3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.

tmorgan813

In layman's terms it means that one of her discs is buldging (or slipped out of place) and hitting the sciatica nerve (this causes the severe leg pain and numbness). The "narrowing" is just the fancy words for the disc invading the nerves space. I agree that the lower back pain would not be causing the head pain and that needs to be addressed with the doctor ASAP. She could have a disc problem in her neck or upper back area. I have found that when you have two areas givign you issues with your back, most doctors only look at the lower back...my husband went through this. I hope she gets some relief soon. As for options, they usually start with narcotics for pain,and muscle relaxers for spasms. I would ask for a steroid pack as well. That helps with the inflammation of the disc. She will also be recommended for P.T. If that doesn't work, the next step is usually injections in the back....and the do help A LOT. I have found over the years that P.T. doesn't help much with these issues. Again, hope she's feeling better soon.

Baybreeze

My rheumatologist did the same thing, only looked at my lower spine even though (I now know) I had symptoms of cervical issues as well. He told me one thing at a time. I totally agree with the others that she should have her head symptoms checked out as well, it could be minor, but it also could be something major. There's no way to know unless it's checked into.

As for the pain & numbness that travels down her leg to her foot, it certainly can be sciatica from the L4/L5 stenosis. I've had this before. I had a piece of tissue stuck inside the left lateral recess at this level that caused severe pain from my left buttock, down the side of my left thigh & calf and my outer left ankle. Almost my entire left foot was numb except for my arch area. The pain was excruciating. I ended up having a nerve block done and I think they were able to flush out the stuck tissue when they did the injection. This pain was instantly relieved at that time. Once in a while I do get some quick spurts of nerve pain along that area but it doesnt last long and just comes & goes randomly.

maltluver

[QUOTE=sarahkaloo;4114767]My mother is 54years old she has severe pain and numbness in her left leg which extends down to her foot she can't walk for more than 5 minutes and at times she also feels heaviness together with numbness at the back of her head she got her MRI of L4-5spine done on the recommendation of a neurophysician and her result is as under:

Circumferential disc bulge at L4-5, which in combination with ligamentum flavum hypertrophy is causing moderate central canal and severe bilateral recess narrowing.

Please can you help and tell me what exactly this means and will it require a surgery or only physiotherapy would be of help.

Hello, and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry your mother is in so much pain; her MRI shows that she has nerve compression....The spinal cord is being pressed into and she also has nerve compression on both sides where the nerves exit the spine.

I would urge her to see an Orthopedic Spine Specialist or a neurosurgeon who limits his practice to the spine. Physical therapy isn't going to be a lot of help, in my opinion. Nerves that are being compressed will become permanently damaged after aperiod of time and no one can tell you just when that will happen. So the sooner she sees a specialist, the better. I also would suggest that she get more than one opinion as to what needs to be done and howit will be accomplished. Tho surgery is not to be done lightly, in some cases it really is the only way to get the relief that is needed.

I hope you will let us know how she is doing. Feel free to post any other questions you might have. Better yet, can you get your mom to post here herself? I'm sure she could use the support of a board like this one and it can help to know you aren't alone.

Tell mom to hang in there.

Carol

I will be highly grateful if u can help me out with this as soon as possible.

thanks
SARAH KALOO[/QUOTE]