Please help me with mri results

[angolagal]

Hello I'm a 46yrs old I had  a Posterior lumbar interbody fusion 3 yrs ago with rods and screws L4- L5 in place  I had  some pain relief at first but did not last long when i returned back to my ortho Dr  he did a regular xray and said everything is fine and theres nothing more we can do for you sent me packing ..after a yr of dealing with it  i decided to go to another ortho Dr who did just about the same thing but sent me to a pain  management doctor who has been great  i started with pain Meds and soft tissue injecions the pain meds help but i have to take every 4 hrs  the injections  i felt no diffrence then we did a epidural no luck there so i ve been on the pain meds over a yr now (Norco) finally last month  I told him I'm tired of living on pain meds , and asked if he would do another Mri   so last week i had it done  i dont return to the dr for a couple of weeks  and im curious what the report is saying could you please help me out ...
     Impression: (1) Postoperative changes compatible with previous  posterior fusion at the L4-5-S1 level
                          (2) Disc bulge at the L3-L4 level with effacement of the thecal sac There is Facet joint Hypertrophy with
                                minimal narrowing of the spinal canal
                          (3) mild disc bulge at the L4-L5 level with enfacement of the thecal sac There is a small anular tear at the
                                posterior margin of the disc there is no significate stenosis
                          (4) mild disc bulge at L5-S1 without significant stenosis
                          (5) Mild disc bulge at L2-3 level without significate stenosis
                          (6) Mild Enhancement over the posterior thecal sac at the L4-L5 level and the L5-S1 levels
                          (7) Nonspecific soft tissue edema in the soft tissues posterior to the L5-S1 level noted on the Stir  images
                                there is mild endplate change at the L5-S1 level which is likley to the degeretive change
                          (8) There is post laminotomy change at L4-L5 with mild enhancing scar tissue over the left side of the
                                thecal sac also noted mild scar tissue over L5-S1

[Kalvin]

There's nothing on the report that you could just point to and say that's what's causing the problem. You have age related and post - operative changes like disc problems, an annual tear and scar tissue, taken as a whole these things can cause a lot of pain. And being on your feet 8 hours a day probably doesn't help matters. Hopefully your Doctor will have some answers for you.


Take Care

[angolagal]

Well i have had pain even after the surgery but i blamed it on the recovery process I just thought that it may take months before i would be without pain it started out when i would go to get out of bed had alot of stiffness and weakness  when i would try to walk i dont have any pain down the legs it may ache now and then  i do have alot of burning type pain  i had L4 L5 fused i work in a factory and i am on my feet for 8 hrs  so have to take the pain meds every 4 hrs just to get through it  some times i will even have to take a pain pill before getting out of bed what makes it better is to bend over and streach or lean on somthing..

[Kalvin]

You had 2 years after surgery where you felt okay? What levels did you have fused? Is your pain primarily back pain or is it down the leg or both?