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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Arthritis / August 2006Need some info
I don't know if you remember me talking about Debbie H before. But I talked to her on the phone over the weekend and again last night. She has been going thru some testing and now she has some questions. She can't be at the puter long so I told her I would post and see what I could find out for her. She has had xrays done and they found she has scoliosis. I know this is curvature of the spine. She had a CT scan done on Mon and this is what they are telling her. She has advanced DDD, 2nd degree spndylolisthesis with air in the disk space. And aprecibole spinal stenosis. This is all in her Lumbar spine down to S1. I believe she said the only disk that is still good is L4. She is suppose to have another CT scan of upper back. This one was only for the lower back. She is also suppose to have a MRI done. She was wondering what might be done at this point to help her with pain. She is so much pain she can hardly do anything at all. We had to have a short conversation last night because the pain was getting so bad and she could not sit there and talk. She has had to limit computer use and such. They have her on Oxycontin twice a day, norco I forgot how much a day. Now they want to put her on Celebrex. She has bad COPD and CHF. So she is not a good canidate for surgery. She was wondering what other options there might be for this. I did tell her about the shots in the joints. Both of us would like to know what it means to have air in the disk space if anyone knows what this means. Any helpful advice would be appreciated. I will pass it on to her. I mentioned low dose pred to her. It might help her two ways, the inflammation and her breathing. She can't take motrin because of asthma. Thanks in advance for any advice you can give us.  SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& A trial of pred is certainly worth a shot. It might do double duty. There is no ceiling on the amount of opiode a human can take so upping the oxy should also be on the list. Wish i could help more. Hope she gets some relief. johnie > I don't know if you remember me talking about Debbie H before. > [quoted text clipped - 47 lines] > .( _( )_.' > '---.~_ _ _& SJ, my daughter is on oxycontin three times a day for her back pain. Gwen >I don't know if you remember me talking about Debbie H before. > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > > Thanks in advance for any advice you can give us. > advanced DDD, 2nd degree spndylolisthesis with air in the disk space. Squirrely, the air may be present because of the degeneration of the disk and the space left behind by that degeneration. IOW a symptom more than a problem. > They have her on Oxycontin twice a day, norco I forgot how much a day. Now > they want to put her on Celebrex. Celebrex or any NSAID might help. Norco is not as strong as Oxycontin and I'd echo the thought that the dosage of one (or both) be increased to the point of relief without side effects. I take Oxycontin with Acetaminophen (10/325) every 4 hours if I need it and on occasion have taken two plls (20/650). I am 75 years old but a good sized man (6'2" 280#) and have noticed no problems with this dose. There is a caveat about too much acetaminophen however and Norco does contain that so one should be careful not to approach the toxic level and kill your liver. ;-) I feel for her because living in constant pain isn't really living as so many in this group well know. How are you doing? Bud Thanks Bud for the info. Thanks all so far that have given info by the way. I have been forwarding them on to her so she can see what you all said. I also googled today and got some of the threads to her on some of those issues. Bud, I am going in tomorrow morning again at 9 to have another abscessed tooth removed. This is getting to be old news. This one spread the infection to the sinuses. I don't know if it will go away once the tooth is out or what. I only have a few more days of antib's left so I sure hope it does. Other than that I have been doing ok I guess. If you can call this ok. Still in pain and still suffering from allergies but that seems to be a given with me lately. Hubby has not had much work lately either. But his parents are helping us again this month. Thank the Lord for his parents. I don't know what we would do without them. How are you doing? How is the weather treating you. We have been cooler lately, in the 80's and 90's which is odd for us for this time of year. Usually in 100's and 90's but that is ok with me after that heatwave. ;-) SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& >> advanced DDD, 2nd degree spndylolisthesis with air in the disk space. > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Bud SJ, just what are you doing to your teeth! So sorry another one has abcessed. Hope all the infection will disappear when it is out. Gwen > Thanks Bud for the info. Thanks all so far that have given info by the > way. [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] >> >> Bud The dr when he did the xray today said the sinus being infected is not showing so the antib's cleared it. It is because of the hydration problem Gwen, that makes my mouth so dry all the time. That is rotting my teeth and fast. He gave me some more antib's to make sure the bad puppy is gone. SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& > SJ, just what are you doing to your teeth! So sorry another one has > abcessed. Hope all the infection will disappear when it is out. > Gwen Honey, I drink so much water my teeth never have anything on them long enough to rot. The Sjogren's makes my mouth hot and dry all the time. So I keep water by my side and sip all day long. DeeTee P.S. Hope you feel better soon!! > The dr when he did the xray today said the sinus being infected is not > showing so the antib's cleared it. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> abcessed. Hope all the infection will disappear when it is out. >> Gwen I drink two and a half bottles of pedialyte and water all day long. It still doesn't do anything for me since I have to empty out as fast as I put in. ;-) Sometimes I feel like I am putting out more than I put in. Especially when I am still sitting there going after 5 mins. I wish we could get the problems fixed so I wouldn't have to keep going thru this. SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& > Honey, I drink so much water my teeth never have anything on them long > enough to rot. The Sjogren's makes my mouth hot and dry all the time. So I > keep water by my side and sip all day long. > > DeeTee > P.S. Hope you feel better soon!! SJ, I haven't tried it but Oasis is supposed to help with dry mouth. I know it comes as a mouthwash and I can't remember the other way it comes. Might be worth investigating. Gwen > The dr when he did the xray today said the sinus being infected is not > showing so the antib's cleared it. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >> abcessed. Hope all the infection will disappear when it is out. >> Gwen Gwen, I will look into this and see what I can do about it. Thanks for the info SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& ... > SJ, I haven't tried it but Oasis is supposed to help with dry mouth. I > know it comes as a mouthwash and I can't remember the other way it comes. > Might be worth investigating. > Gwen > Gwen, > > I will look into this and see what I can do about it. Thanks for the info I use a CPAP machine and used to suffer from extreme dry mouth. I found out about Biotene on another NG and swear by it. It comes as mouthwash, cream, gum, etc. If you request a sample, they will send you a big box of all their products. > http://www.bdmcan.com/request.html Regards Lee in Toronto I am allergic to biotene. I tried that and found out I can't do it. SignatureLove and hugs Jo (\__/) .~ ~. )) /O O ./ .' {O__, \ { / . . ) \ |-| '-' \ } )) Warning: squirrels. .( _( )_.' '---.~_ _ _& >> Gwen, >> [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Regards > Lee in Toronto >She has bad COPD and CHF. So she is not a good canidate for surgery. She was >wondering what other options there might be for this. I did tell her about >the shots in the joints. Well, I'll say it. Even if she's not a good candidate for surgery, it might be worth trying, even with risk factors, and that's even though we know the success rate for back surgeries isn't all that great for the best of patients. I say this after being skeptical about the option for someone in my family. She had just minimal surgery (laminectomy) aimed at reducing the pain, not planning on any acrobatics after recovery. She was lucky, the results were as good as could be hoped for, the recovery from the surgery (and the extended bed rest that had preceeded) was good, and getting off the opiates was good, too - though I had to get her away from her old doctor first, he refused to believe she didn't still need them. A little ecotrin and advil, and she gets by now pretty well. So, at least to be informed, I suggest you ask what a minimal surgical plan might entail. (I'd also ask you about age, that other "risk factor". Drugs will never relieve the condition, surgery at least holds out a hope of improved quality of life, and in my book, for a younger candidate, that argues more for surgery) Best wishes, J. |
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