| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mala |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 05:07:26
My MRI results, should I worry
Dear Mala,
Thanks for visiting my neurosurgery spine clinic at Hong Kong Spine & Pain Centre of asia medical specialists in Hong Kong. Here below is the medical summary for your kind reference:
Your problem:
(1) You had neck pain recently. The pain radiated to your shoulder & caused you headache
(2) You noticed neck pain & headache in morning after waking up.
Current health:
(1) Fibroid planning surgery
(2) Chronic back pain for 1 year, told to have L4/5 L5S1 facet joint
pain
Allergy/ reaction:
(1) COX2 inhibitors caused your blood pressure rise; (2) you had bleeding complication caused by Ibuprofen
Examination: unremarkable
Your MRI:
(1) Reverse normal cervical lordosis
(2) Disc protrusions are seen at multiple levels including C3/4, C5/6 and C6/7. These are relatively mild disc protrusions causing indentation
thanks
Mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
| 13 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| RageSootheRatio |
Posted - 11/23/2013 : 22:44:41
Hi again mala,
quote:
I emailed Dr Schubiner & within 24 hrs he asked me to email him details of my medical reports which I did. The next day he replied with this
I can't tell if you have adhesions causing abdominal pain or not, but I doubt if that is a major problem. Your vulvar/vaginal pain is TMS.
Are you seeing a therapist who can help you? I know it's difficult, but you need to know that you can and will get better! You are doing the right things. Keep going and relax in the knowledge that you are healthy"
>So the TMS doc said on 9/22/2013: Your vulvar/vaginal pain is TMS.
did he know about the fibroids at that time?
I note you also said this in your other post:
>I certainly would like for all of this to go away without surgery. I would like to avaoid it at any cost.
Not sure if you still feel that way, but that sounds like it came from the deep, definitive, intuitive, within.
Would you actually still consider going to see Dr Schubiner in person:
>I am going to continue treating this as TMS & if I can't crack it myself, I will go see him.
Hoping you are getting some relief in some way ...
(BTW I think I am getting more clear about my particular type of "strain" so I am feeling hopeful again.)
~RSR
|
| mala |
Posted - 09/22/2013 : 19:21:46
I emailed Dr Schubiner & within 24 hrs he asked me to email him details of my medical reports which I did. The next day he replied with this
"It's a bit difficult to make diagnoses over the Internet. However the reports if your neck and back MRIs look like there is nothing serious there that would cause severe pain.
I can't tell if you have adhesions causing abdominal pain or not, but I doubt if that is a major problem. Your vulvar/vaginal pain is TMS.
Are you seeing a therapist who can help you? I know it's difficult, but you need to know that you can and will get better! You are doing the right things. Keep going and relax in the knowledge that you are healthy"
I am so very grateful to him. He took time out of his busy schedule to read my mail, look at my reports & help me. He didn't have to but he did.
I am going to continue treating this as TMS & if I can't crack it myself, I will go see him.
Thank you Alan for suggesting I email him.
Thanks
Mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
| mala |
Posted - 09/18/2013 : 02:34:02
Thank you all,
Alan I have emailed Dr. Schubiner & am waiting for his reply.
Ace, yes i have been trying not to rush. In all honesty I have slowed somewhat down but I don't think I am 100% there yet. The funny thing is that I am able to be more relaxed when I am pain free but when I am in pain the tendency to strain comes back.
Al, the fact that u have the same problem but no pain is heartening news.
Balto I hear all that u are saying . I am still very fearful.
Well actually the only way I can convince myself that I am OK is by doing everything despite the pain. Isn't that like facing your fear?
For the last 10 days I have been walking , about 6 to 8 kilometers every other day. This is not just walking on an even surface. Most of the walking trails are hilly in Hk so I am doing a lot of up & down. I am pushing myself. the first 5 times, not to bad, some aches. Actually a lot of aches, I just put some pain relieving gel & its OK Day before yesterday I did a challenging walk with 2 friends. The first part was 1100 steps and it was hot, then some more up & then all the way down. 3 hours in the heat. After that a glass of wine & dinner. I felt good till the next morning. Woke up with tummy ache & neck pain, headache. Must have been the heat Still feeling it today. For me this is the way I face my fear & tell myself its not structural.
I also have the beginnings of a dowager's hump.
Here's a link to the walk & some stunning views.
http://bluebalu.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/from-mui-wo-to-discovery-bay/
mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
| balto |
Posted - 09/11/2013 : 07:54:50
the biggest huddle to overcome on our fight against tms/anxiety is to believe our symptoms has psychosomatic origin. No tms method will work if we can not achieve that belief. The three surgeons who want to operate on my back are some of the best in their field. Who should I believe? them or what I've read in a book wrote by some guy name Sarno? It is a very tough question to answer for us tmser's.
For me, I had to go through many steps in my mind to be able to accept the tms theory:
- My back was in pain for years, my sciatic nerve pain was with me for years, but I noticed they don't get worst, the pain level will get to a certain level then stay there or go back down but never more. The permanent nerve damage never happen, and I also notice the fearful feeling I've had is often worst than the pain.
- I've search all over for cases of permanent nerve damage in back pain patients and I could not find one single cases. No back pain sufferer on earth ever have permanent nerve damage unless they were hit by a car.
- I notice that my pain level went up and down. It sometime move, it sometime disappear and replaced by other symptoms. So I question myself: If the disc protrude and press on the nerve shouldn't the pain will always there? This don't make sense.
- I saw people working their whole life on the farms in Thailand. I saw old man carried heavy load up and down the mountain in Vietnam. I saw old ladies carried big load of rice seedlings to the field then bent over to insert them in the soil, all day long. I was in my 30's, I am in my prime, why the hell do I have back pain and they don't?
- Then when my belief in mind body medicine increase, I've noticed my symptoms usually appear or intensify during period of high stress and get better when I'm at peace. I questioned myself: Since stress tend to increase my symptoms, could stress also be the cause of it?
- I also looked at the people around me, my family, my friends and co workers... and I see tms symptoms in many of them. And the angry one, the stressed out one have more symptoms than the happy and contented one.
The more mind body books I've read, the more I believe that my symptoms came from my emotion, my perception, and my shi-tty negative thoughts.
So as Art often said here, I took the leaf of faith and went the mind body way. I'm so glad I did. It save my life.
------------------------
No, I don't know everything. I'm just here to share my experience. |
| alangordon |
Posted - 09/11/2013 : 00:57:38
Yikes,
It sounds like the doc you saw really reinforced your doubt with his comment. Getting your MRIs interpreted by a non-TMS doc is like walking drunk through a land mine field. You may get lucky, but there's a chance of disaster.
Often the pain is particularly stubborn when there's a part of you that still thinks it's physically caused, so I'm not surprised that your symptoms are persisting.
Email Dr. Schubiner at hschubiner@gmail.com. He'll help you out, and hopefully that will give you the strength to dismiss these other diagnoses.
I should tell you Mala that at one time I had severe upper back pain. My thoracic MRI was so bad that a doc once asked me if I'd fallen out of a second story window. I have the same disc bulges today that I had then, but have no corresponding pain. Disc bulges are normal.
Alan |
| altherunner |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 21:09:04
Hi Mala - I had a similar diagnosis for the neck, c4, c5, c6, numbness pain, etc. I had a cortisone shot in the neck (did nothing)
My mid spine looks like a pretzel (scoliosis)All the pain was tms.
I still have the funny spine and discs etc. but no pain. |
| Ace1 |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 20:02:47
Well mala are you still doing things in a rushed intense manner? Have you tried to do things without straining past your limit? If the answer is yes, have you done this consistently for a few months to break the conditioned mode of things. Are you using mind power techniques to assist you with this goal? Please answer these questions so I can see why your only getting worse. |
| mala |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 19:58:41
Alan, thank u so much for your reply.
When I said to the doctor that I knew there were people who were asymptomatic despite having similar findings he said 'yes, but in yr case the findings do correspond with yr symptoms so it means that they r the reason for the pain'.
I haven't taken the meds. Do u think I should?
I have been treating the pain as TMS but despite all my efforts they seem to persist & get worse when I try to ignore them & do normal things like walk, drive etc.
I will see how I can contact Schubiner from HK. Thx for the advice
Mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
| Ace1 |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 19:57:53
Mala, I wouldn't go with those recs. they are the typical recs for chronic neck pain which is basically TMS. Just keep practicing what's on my list and im sure you will get better. It just takes time and continued practice. |
| alangordon |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 19:14:43
Mala,
Generally speaking, mild disc protrusions are very common and a normal part of wear and tear.
You might want to contact Howard Schubiner and see if you can either email him the report or send him the slides if you want additional confirmation.
The recommendations for treatment likely have more to do with the symptoms that you reported than the MRI findings.
Alan |
| mala |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 18:51:46
Ace I forgot this bit
My Recommendations:
(1) Simple analgesic for neck pain
(2) Neck physiotherapy
(3) Muscle relaxant for muscle spasm
(4)For diagnostic & therapeutic injection if medications &
physiotherapy is not helping.
Our follow up: after a course of drugs & physiotherapy
He's given me Arcoxia, 120mg once daily
Valium 5 mg at night
Baclofen 10 mg at night.
Thank you very much Ace.
Thx TT. Someday maybe we will come to yr part of the world & you & hubby can have a game. He went to St. Edward's in Austin on a tennis scholarship & still loves to play.
Mala
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know
what sort of disease a person has." ~ Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.)
Mala Singh Barber on Facebook |
| Ace1 |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 11:31:16
Hi guys, they really didnt say much here, they just repeated what you told them. THe MRI of the neck shows nothing significant (just degenerative changes). They give no plan here. I see nothing to worry about in this report. |
| tennis tom |
Posted - 09/10/2013 : 09:27:16
Mala I'd address that question to Ace, he's a doctor and could be able to unravel the medical jargon. On the other hand if you need help with your serve, I'd be happy to help you.
G'luck,
tt/lsmft |
|
|
