Thoracic Disc Disease

[mesosassy]

Please help me. My MRI revealed Thoracic Degenerative Disc Disease most pronounced in lower to mid segments. Posterior Disc Osteophyte @ T7-8 through T12-L1. Everytime I look up Thoracic Degenerative Disc Disease is says herniated disc. Is this true? I'm so confused. My Dr. says, there is nothing significant to my MRI. I'm so frustrated and in so much pain. Please help!

[Enoch Choi, MD]

Osteophytes are extra bone growths that can pinch nerves, but don't necessarily.  If your doctor says there's nothing significant they're saying that there's no impingement (pinching) of any nerves to be the reason for your pain.  A visit to a physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor could help.

[puckettcambran]

HAVE THEM DO A MILOGRAM....PAINFUL BUT IT PINPOINTED MY PAIN AND I HAD EMERGENCY SURGERY ON MY LOWER BACK THIS MARCH. I HAVE RAPID DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE...DIAGNOSED AT 18.  I AM 31 AND HAVE SUFFERED FOR 13 YEARS.  

GOOD LUCK AND KEEP ON THE DOCTORS...IF I DIDN'T I WOULD STILL BE IN SO MUCH PAIN.

[TpaulT]

Doctors often seem to forget that their precious MRI's are mere shadows, and usually not even taken when the patient is in an upright position. MRI's for instance do NOT show nerves very clearly, or at all most of the time. At best, they look for "indicators" that a nerve "may be" pinched. It's like using a shadow puppet on the wall to determine if someone has arthritis in their hands. It would be irresponsible for a doctor to tell you the patient that you do NOT have any nerves being pinched, based on an MRI. When they tell you your MRI has nothing signficicant, he or she is suppose to be smart enough to know it merely means the very incomplete, shadowy pictures taken not of your nervous system but of fragments of your system, merely means nothing was revealed. And that it is likely nothing was revealed because of shortcomings of modern medicine and testing, because your pain is real and it exists for a reason. Because they can't find the reason does not give them the right to say there is no reason related to your nerves. Pain ALWAYS comes from nerves. I don't say that in a criticizing way (about medicinal shortcomings) but I do say it in a criticizing way (that most doctors would "have you believe" there's nothing wrong with your spine/nerves). Another factor is that there seems to be no consistency from one radiologist to the next. One radiologist will say "impingeing on thecal sac" whereas another may leave that statement out entirely! So the same doctor reading two differently, apparantly subjectively worded MRI reports of the same films, will have two very different actionable (or in-actionable, as it were) reactions. The thing about docs is all day long they see you and I come and go and like any human in any profession, it gets easy to do (treat) the easy to understand cases, and not worth the time to figure out the others. Blown out disc...obliterated central canal...Ah ha! But "unremarkable" MRI, well, you're on your own. Not to downtalk doctors, they can be great, but in all actuality, short of surgery, the treatments are all the same anyway, and that's because there really aren't any medical treatments, at least none that are commensurrate with the price we pay for diagnosis and treatment. Go home and stretch, and take a pain pill. Same thing they were doing in the 1800's except now it costs you $10,000 for that "treatment & advice." Doctors truly do have the extraordinary amount of knowledge and skill...but just not enough to deal with spine injuries that don't reveal themselves as surgical candidates very readily. Besides, surgery is the next worst thing to the pain, since it's a cr&% shoot as to if it'll help, or make things worse. To answer your question...degen. disc disease includes dehydration, calcification, thinning, bulging, etc., and is more likely part of a general spinal degen. whereby the vertebre too become differently shaped and composed. It's actually a normal process albeit one which can have an early onset in the cases of injury, genetics, or as in my case, genetics and working extremely physically hard with heavy weights all my life. Yes, it isn't fair for some radiologist, of whom by the way are now often being replaced by people off the street who took sometimes very short courses, to say "mild, unremarkable, nothing significant" merely because of the mood they were in that day or because the tests are woefully inadequate or because we aren't tested in the physical positions that reproduce the condition or "pinching" of nerves, while we then have to go on feeling like organs and extremities, and our very lives, are failing. Keep the chin up though...modern medicine offers up surgery, and then everything short of surgery, including rehab, heat, vibration, ultrasonic, e-stim, traction, rest, braces, message therapy, cold packs, chiropracty, medicines, etc. One must learn to be manipulative of all the tools available to find the best combination for the most pain releif while conserving the most active lifestyle as possible. On top of all that, I'm beginning to learn one of the most valuable tools is in allowing our brains to adapt to new levels of pain so as to retain as much sanity and mental health and physical endurance as possible.

Paul T.

[nicki33]

I also have lost some faith in doctors,,,until i find the right one.. my family doc has made me beg for a neurologist,,,and made me feel like i'm nut...the question is why the heck would someone fabricate pain.. not i thats for sure....  from an injury at work has onset ddd.. and daily living with pain at 34... and beleive like you massage,heat,tension and is a here you go ..see ya next week...i'm not presently working since oct and my company has scratch me off..a risk...their lost...they took  9yrs of my health, wont let them take my mind.. very true about mri,ct scans... your laying flat and thats not when it hurts...unless we all worked on r backs we'd be ok....hahaha

[watto1]

I have dengenerating discs both above & below T8. On a daily basis it affects me most at 5-7am when sleep becomes very painful, with all the pain spreading left and right across the ribs. I love hot showers, eases the pain as the bolld starts flowing again, sets me up for the day. This has been a problem for me for 3-4 years and I'm only 40 years old.

I have been seeing a chinese back doctor for 18 months once a week for treatment which IMO is better than any hospital can offer. He also gives me exercises to do. I have seen a lot of improvenment when there is not alot that can really be done according to the hospitals.

He says the problem is not necessarily the discs but more to do with the tendons being too taught and clamping the spine together in that area. His focus is on softening up the tendons which I think is a great approach and gives me hope.

[watto1]

Wow, swimming really helps. I'm amazed.

I'm not a good swimmer and don't enjoy it so much but the pain disappears for a 3-8 hours after just 100-200m of freestyle. I'm in the pool every day now.