Back popping when taking a breath? And TCS questions?

[Spaceystac]

Does anyone else get this?  It seems like the pressure increases and my vertebra's when i breath (or just move at times) and like, re align themselves. It happens in my c-spine and T-spine mostly and sometime it is the very upper like C-1/2 area so it feels like my head is popping/ clicking/crunching.  Sometimes when I roll over in bed and my neck/head clicks and I cant help but to think that it is the bone spurs and high pressure's and velocities of my spinal fluid. I know your venous pressure increases with increased activity and csf flows at certain pressures, so if the pressure increases with a deep breath, is it pushing from the inside out? I dont know, just another one of my theory's I suppose.

Here is another concern I had been researching lately.

Back in December, I was going through physical therapy and the therapist only did cervical traction. One of the times I went, I had been shoveling snow (carefully) the days before I went in and my lower back pain was all flared up and hurting bad. When the therapist did the traction that day, I could feel it pulling all the way down where my lower back pain was coming from. I told him this and he said your dura gets stretched with traction sometimes and that was likely what I was feeling, but why would I be feeling pain in my lower back from my dura stretching, unless it was being pressed on by something or there is tethering.

I watched the new video about TCS on The Chairi Institute website and it explains how many of the Chiari patients have this and connective tissue disorders, it is often a part of the larger picture. It is very common with spina bifida (I have occult spina bifida) and one of the first signs is bladder urgency and frequency (I have had for a long time). Dr.B on the video explains this is hard to rule in, most woman have had babies and those problems can come along with that so It is hard to determine for some people, but I have not had any children and have urgency and frequency.
  When I was having really bad vertigo (which has calmed to dizziness) I wasn't able to lay down without the vertigo coming on very bad and after sitting for so long my lower back pain flared up terribly and it was hurting into my tail bone so I started searching through my medical files to see what I could come up with on what might be the root of the causes of my wide spread lower body pain.
  I remembered a accident that happened when I was very little, say 6 maybe. I went down a long slide and landed on my tail bone on cement, It was so painful I remember that very well. I recently came across an x-ray (recent) that shows it is bent and the tip is broken off. It is in my profile pics.
  I also have a cyst on my perineal nerve root, a Tarlov cyst (pic also in on my profile). It is in the S-2 region and appears to be on the left S-2 nerve root from the axial pictures. So a Tarlov cyst is where normal spinal fluid escapes the end of the dura and pockets into the tissue surrounding a nerve root. The fluid can go in but rarely comes out on its own. My cyst is small, but I cant help but wonder if it tethers my filium terminale. If not tethering my cord, than maybe it could cause bladder issues? I dont know the cause of the cyst, but the tarlov cyst website I found says it can be related to abnormally high pressures in the spinal fluid. Also related to connective tissue disorders and dural ecstatica. NS said inoperable but still gave me no info on it.
  
Then there is the Spina Bifida Occulta, at S-1 (also a pic on profile) it looks to me that is involves the L5 and S-1. The vertebrata is missing the back part of the structure (the bump you feel when you touch your spine) and you can see it looks like a hole in my bone structure. When the doctor for Shriner's  Children Hospital told my mother and I about it I remember him saying I was lucky it wasnt as bad as it could have been, if my body hadnt fixed the problem while I was forming I would have been born with spina bifida. I think this would be the most likely to cause cord tethering.  I asked my mom about when I was little and complaints I had, and we remembered I tip toe walked and I wanted to be a "Ballady". I also remember terrible growing pains in my legs, and severe stiffness with toe touch (shriner's doctor said I was very tight). The sit-and-reach test was hard for me, I could hardly do it at all. My sister on the other hand has hyperflexia which is very obvious she has connective tissue disorder, when she bends to touch her toes she can put her hands flat on the ground, and severely fallen arches.  

  I also have a piece of epidural fat on my L4-5 disk (you can also see in the pics on my profile) that is diseased and bulging. I know that fatty tumors can also be a cause of TCS and I don't know if this piece of fat there would be able to cause it or if not what caused the piece of fat on the disk?

I am becoming more concerned with this because I have noticed that my calf muscles seem like the have no muscle definition, and it was first noticed by a doctor that my left calf is notably smaller than the right. I also read that the the S-2 nerve root innervates the calf muscles, and it makes sense if my left calf is atrophied. I took a picture of my calfs with my web cam. It was kind of hard  to take, but I wanted an opinion.    My calfs both look like the dont have much muscle and I am not that lazy. I go up and down stairs everyday, I was hiking a lot this summer, I dont think they should be this skinny.  I also am still very stiff and inflexible, and I get tingling and numbness if I bend over too far or too long. I have had bouts of lower back pain where I would get sharp stabbing pains in my lower back when I would bend my head/neck down.  
  So if anyone out there now's about atrophy or tethered cord syndrome, or any of the stuff I posted on here I would applicate opinions and comments.

[selmaS]

  The cyst I have is at the end of the connus and is right in line with my sacral dimple....I do not recall what type of cyst it is...just that it was a cyst with a thin covering.ANd from what I recall, it is the cyst that caused the tether.

  From what I understand, u can get the cord untethered only for it to re-tether...most times they will do surgery when it is affecting growth in a child..since we r adults, it has to impact much more of our health b4 it is considered a viable option.....

  "selma"
  

[Spaceystac]

Thanks for your reply, I think you are right about the muscles forming in even that is very common. I do have even pelvis issues and curvature of my spine and at all combines to cause right leg descrepency, so this is most likely the cause as well. I just wasnt sure if my calf's were also getting atrophy as well. I guess it is hard to say.

I am shocked to hear you had a cyst tethering your cord, did you look at my MRI? is it that kind of cyst? Or where was yours?  I have been wondering if this might cause tethering, and when I asked my NS about it he just said it was non surgical, but also had no information for me on what to do about it because he did his job, told me he wouldn't do surgery.  So frustrating!  

Thank you for sharing Selma!