Hi Donna,

I've had it twice, not fun at all! Pretty much other then surgery, theres not
much that can be done for it.  The bone continues to shrink around the
nerves in the back and begins to compress them to the point it starts to
do quite a bit of damage.  Like losing feeling and not sending responses
back to the brain and your legs go out from under you.  My first surgery
I was at that point.  Second time around I didn't know I even had it until
I ended up having surgery for a broken vertabrea and I was told after
that they removed 2 levels and did a dual decompression.  It's been 8mons
since my last surgery and I can say, I have zero pain in that area of my
back, SI joints, hips and legs.  Now just my mid and upper back are
hurting.. ug!

I don't know of any other sites that deal with that type of issue.  I'd have
her stay FAR FAR FAR away from the chronic pain newsgroup.  Heavy
narcodics have worked well for me.  Nerve pain meds never have worked
for me.  PT seemed to hurt me as well so I stopped going and my doctor
agreed.

Hope your friend gets some relief.

RK
diskectomy/lamectomy/dual decompression - 1993
diskectomy/lamectomy/dual decompression/2 level fusion - 2006

I had the surgery two weeks ago yesterday. Leg pain relief was immediate.
Now walking two miles a day as part of the surgery recovery. I don't have
any lung problems, so I don't know if that will prohibit surgery or not, but
my surgery was great!

Lew