[sunnykerr]

Originally Posted by ThereYoullBe (View Post) It's another disc, turning the wrong way and it's pressing against something, causing my right leg to hurt. And the disc itself is really hurting-sharp pain. Luckily the work yesterday helped, and I'm feeling even a bit better this morning. But my tensing up from worry, and the pain itself, is making it take longer.

Okay, but what's causing the discs to all keep turning like this?

Is it a posture thing?

With my cousins, it was a posture thing.

I think three of them (of the 7 of us total) had back surgery.

It wasn't major either. And they're happy with the results.

I think it's clear that, whether you decide to have surgery or not, you're going to have to learn to control that tensing up.

Obviously, you can't control being worried, and that's normal.

But maybe just work on your body's response to that worry...

[There You'll Be]

I have scoloiosis (I can't spell it) so the bottom half of my spine is especially curved into an S.

With the herniated/bulging disc pushing the disc below it in the opposite direction, that's where the pain is radiating from.

I'm pretty sure minor surgery is going to be the solution. Chiropractor, Physical Therapy, haven't worked. But, we'll see what the surgeon says.

Hopefully I won't have to go through another MRI, since I'm bringing mine from 6 months ago in, and my x-rays. We'll see.

Either way you're right-I have to find a way to keep the muscles from tensing up that way.

My shoulders are always tense. Always. I"m always physically tense.

So hopefully the surgeon will have some ideas about that.

Great title! Thanks for starting the thread.

[sunnykerr]

Ah, scoliosis makes sense. I didn't realize (or I forgot?) you had that.

Did you always have that?

I was born with mine, but mine is so minor that we really shouldn't mention it too much.

I hope everything goes the way you want.

I do think that the doctor might want new scans, though. At the very least, it could show him how things have evolved in the last six months.



In the meantime, you can work on relaxing your shoulders.

Again, it's not about changing you. But if your physical tension brings you negative things, maybe it'd be worth it to look into reducing that tension a little...

[There You'll Be]

I didn't know I did, until I got my x-rays at the chiropractor in August.

It's bad in the lower half.

Yeah, I agree, he's going to want new scans, so I may not find out much this week, other than getting on some pain medication for the times when it's bad.

I think you're right about the tension.

I had the chiropractor show me how to stretch the shoulder muscles and relax them.

They tense up again right away, but I figure if I keep trying, it's going to start to get them loose normally.

[sunnykerr]

Well, whatever else, you'll find out what the specialist thinks.

Even if it's just a question of his wanting new scans, that's still a plan.

It's still better than nothing.

Maybe the scoliosis is why your shoulders are always tense?

I mean, it's not like your shoulders have a mind of their own.

Something's making them tense up all the time...

Either way, it's a good thing that you have a tool you can use to help the situation in that department as well.

[There You'll Be]

Yes, any news and info, and forward movement, is awesome.

I will ask what to expect when I get called to remind me of my appt.

It could be.

What's odd is I went through all the testing for it all through school (till Jr. High) and they always said I was fine. So, either I wasn't, or something is really off as I'm getting older.

Either way, it is what it is, and we'll deal with it.

Yeah, something that actually works has been wonderful.

[sunnykerr]

They were testing you for scoliosis all through Junior High?

Do you have a family history of it, or something?

I mean, that's a very specific issue to be watching out for if you're not "at risk" of developing it, whatever "at risk" means.

Either way, you're right.

What matters is that you're on the path to getting answers and taking care of it once and for all.

You'll be fine.

[There You'll Be]

All students were checked back then.

Way back when.

Yep, I'll be great!

[sunnykerr]

Were they?

That's interesting.

I suppose it makes sense.

We were checked for obesity.

So all school boards looked for something, probably.

And, of course, the fact that you had no sign of scoliosis back then and you do now just means that scoliosis can develop over time.

Which we already knew.

[There You'll Be]

Really? I guess you're right. They check for different things.

I didn't know it could develop over time.

I always thought if you were in your early teens that it was not going to happen.

[sunnykerr]

Yeah, there are three "kinds" of scoliosis.

One is totally congenital, like mine. You're born with it and the rest is just how it develops.

Then you have secondary scoliosis, which develops as the consequence of something else, like an illness (like spina bifida, for example) or physical trauma (like an accident, for example).

And then you have idiopathic scoliosis, which develops over time but no one knows precisely what caused it to develop.

According to Wikipedia, about 65% of cases are idiopathic, 10% are secondary and only about 15% are congenital.

Sounds to me like you've got adult onset scoliosis, either secondary or idiopathic.

It's like anything, right? You can be born with it, or it can happen later in your life.

There's apparently a higher incidence of scoliosis developing in the early teens, for sure. But it doesn't mean that it'll appear then or never at all.

[There You'll Be]

I wonder if it's all the physical work I did, or what, but I'm not worried about it.

That's a good thing.

Doesn't really matter how I got it that way, it just is that way.

Thank you so much for gathering that info for me.

It makes me feel better.

[sunnykerr]

Well, the thing with any spine issues is the evolution of them.

Like, I've had scoliosis my whole life, but it's super minor and it's never developed (at least, so far) into a situation that needs addressing.

Now, just because yours has been having fun exploring possibilities of late doesn't mean that it's going to become a major problem either.

Beyond the immediate need of possibly/probably fixing what I'm guessing are some hernias you've got back there, that may be the end of it.

At least, that's certainly what happened with my cousins.

So, yeah, I wouldn't worry about it either.

If nothing else, worrying about it won't change anything about it and, if anything, it'll make the situation worse because it'll make you tense. For no reason.

[There You'll Be]

I didn't know spines did that.

I always thought you stopped growing and things didn't change.

I'm glad yours isn't something that needs addressing for now. And hopefully it won't develop into anything that does.

You're right, worrying won't change anything, other than wear on my nerves.

I am just worried a bit because I'm afraid my bones are brittle, and what that could mean.

I guess they'd do a bone density test before anything to do with surgery.

[sunnykerr]

Oh, no. Spines totally continue to evolve.

That's why some old folks are all hunched over and, more often than not, people lost a little height as they get older.

The spine shrinks (a very little) on most people as they get older.

And then, you know, things happen. Posture, accidents, illnesses... all kinds of thing can affect what happens to a person's spine over time.

You should definitely bring up your brittle bones to the spine specialist.

For all we know, it's all connected.

And they'll definitely want to be aware of that before operating.