are cervical disc bulges a common thing in msers

[drsdonthelp]

I am just asking this question  because i have disc bulges in my c5/6 and I have noticed some people at times have talked about bulging discs. Is this common with ms or not really?
Thanks, Pamela

[drsdonthelp]

That is alot! I hope you are not in constant pain. Do you have ms or are you in limbo?

[lydia231]

I first found out I have cervical disc herniation when I was 36. My last cervical mri shows I have cervical disc herniation, cervical straightning, multi level disc herniation. Several discs are protruding into the spinal cord.  I recently went to a chiropractor to ask him if he would review my mri because I wanted to know if the symptoms I am having in my right ankle and leg might be caused by my spine.  I was suprised when he said he didn't think the spinal problem was causing the pain in my ankle, numbness and tingling in my foot and leg.

[drsdonthelp]

Thank you for your input. I have had an MRI of my neck and showed the bulging discs in the c5/6. I have also had problems in the sciatic nerve on the left side for many years and that is the same side of my hip pain. Not sure what is going on down there, but I also was dx with scoliosis as of 2 years ago. (another issue I never thought I had) lol

I hope people continue to post on this discussion!
thanks pam

[mj111169]

Hmmmm.  Interesting discussion.  I also have herniated disc in my neck, at the C-5 C-6 level.  I have multilevel degenerated disc disease, (whatever that is) and straightening with loss of normal cervical lordosis.

My first issue with my neck happened when I was 30.  I had tingling and numbness in both arms and pain.  My doctor put me on steroids, which cleared up the problem.  Since then, I have had issues with my neck.  I had an MRI 5 years ago that said I had a herniated disc.  The most recent one ordered by my neuro had the findings mentioned above.  

Maybe that is why I have numbess and pain in my hands sometimes.  But I also have numbness in my feet, more so than my arms.  I do have pain in my neck and upper back often.  I take flexeril when it happens and it seems to help.

I'm not diagnosed with anything, but find it interesting that so many of us have these neck problems!

[drsdonthelp]

Thanks everyone who posted..
To ashley, thanks for the info. I know that I put some equal strain on my back for many years especially when I worked for the mentally and behaviorally challenged individuals.

The problem that I am seeing is, I did not have issues with bulging discs during the most physical part of my life.  My bulging discs appeared outta nowhere, and I was already out of work, I was already on lifting restrictions from my doc. because of my eyes, and too much pressure could have caused blindness.
I also started to have most of my neuro symptoms during this particular time. It is all too coincidental to me.
Also through alot of the research I have done and the questions I ask, I have noticed that alot of msers have had problems with their back/neck area.
Pamela

[ashleyPT]

I just wanted to add a little something.  80% of the general, healthy population after age 25 has a bulging disc somewhere in the spine regardless of if they have symptoms of it or not. So, I imagine that percentage would go way up in the people who are actually having symptoms and have imaging done.

The most common areas are lower cervical and lumbar.  I had never heard the 90% of MS patients number - and it shouldn't have much to do with the fact there is also an MS diagnosis.

We are not nice to our spines - they are build for movement not for sitting or standing.  Discs are like water balloons.  If you apply a little bit of pressure to one side of it - it displaces the water somewhere else.  If you do that all day everyday through poor use, poor posture, and bad body mechanics, then you get bulges without ever having any sort of traumatic injury.  

These positions aren't obvious either - people may think they have great posture and this can't be the reason for disc damage, but when I see them I think otherwise - it's subtle, but it can make a huge difference to the structures inside our body.