1. < Spine Health

Question About Disc Sequestration

Posted by njbay @njbay, Mar 20 7:19pm

Has anyone ever had a sequestered disc and if so, did you have to have surgery? That is, a piece of disc that broke off and slid down the spinal canal?

I feel like this might have happened to me in my cervical canal. I've had a large disc herniation at C5-C6 for a long time as well as terrible bouts of spasms and pain from it, though sometimes the pain & spasms would go away. The tip of my right thumb went due to this as well.

I had to sit somewhere for 6 hours once then drive a ways home, and on my way driving home, I felt numbness going all the way down my thumb, then into my index finger, and as I was driving, the numbness eventually took over my ring finger, and then my pinky. Most of my hand also became numb except that my middle finger wasn't numb. I lost almost all function of my right hand. It was so strange the way the numbness traveled through my fingers, down one, then down the next, skipping my middle finger, then down the next and next.

I have had bouts of nerve pain as well in my fingers and hands, but the main symptom has been numbness and weakness. (That's aside from pain/spasms in my neck and shoulder). I also had a few times where I sat down a little hard and felt zaps going down my spine.

After doing research online, I think it's possible that a piece of disc came off at C5/C6 and then slid down to C7/C8.

It's been a few years since this happened and I do still have numbness in my fingers, though it has improved a little. I had to take a course of oral steroids (prednisone) for another condition, and it actually helped my neck/hand issues a little, so I/m thinking that an ESI might help more, but for how long?

I really cannot afford surgery and can't even afford an ESI, along with new MRIs, yet, but have been trying to save up for it.

SO, has anyone else had this happen, and did you have to have surgery or were you able to recover using ESIs, physical therapy, and/or something else?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.

dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | Mar 21 7:52am

@njbay
Where are you located? Do you have any health insurance? Do you qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or disability to help you pay for care?

I have spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, cervical myelopathy and neurogenic claudication in cervical and lumbar spine. I was born with a narrow spinal canal which made it start to cause me problems in my 40s. I am now in my mid 50s.

I did spinal injections in lumbar spine but not cervical spine. They helped initially but the last 3 did not so I moved to surgery. I have had decompression/fusion surgery on c5-c6 and l3-l5. Many symptoms improved. I had bone spurs and is bulge in my neck that was pressing on my spinal cord/nerve roots and caused daily headaches, neck/shoulder pain and tightness, arm/hand weakness/numbness, bladder control issues and difficulty walking (felt like walking with cement boots on). Lower back issues caused back/hip/buttock/leg and foot pain/weakness and numbness.

I now need surgery due to a new herniated disc at c6-c7 that is causing radiculopathy to arms/hands and bladder issues again (pressing on spinal cord in central canal). Your disc may or may not have broken off into your spinal canal and causing you symptoms. It is really important to get an updated MRI of your cervical spine to see the status of your vertebrae alignment/joints/stability. Any compression or flattening of your spinal cord is injuring nerve cells and blood vessels. The longer the compression, the more permanent the damage so surgery is usually recommend asap. My surgeon recommended I do my surgery within 6 months to stop the progression of injury. I’m hoping to have my surgery before end of June 2025.

You may want to also see a neurologist for EMG/nerve conduction studies of your upper and lower limbs. This would help make the best decisions for treatment options. Surgery is usually the only option if there is spinal cord compression.

REPLY
1 reply
njbay | @njbay | Mar 21 12:59pm
In reply to @dlydailyhope "@njbay Where are you located? Do you have any health insurance? Do you qualify for Medicaid,..." + (show)
@dlydailyhope

@njbay
Where are you located? Do you have any health insurance? Do you qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or disability to help you pay for care?

I have spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, cervical myelopathy and neurogenic claudication in cervical and lumbar spine. I was born with a narrow spinal canal which made it start to cause me problems in my 40s. I am now in my mid 50s.

I did spinal injections in lumbar spine but not cervical spine. They helped initially but the last 3 did not so I moved to surgery. I have had decompression/fusion surgery on c5-c6 and l3-l5. Many symptoms improved. I had bone spurs and is bulge in my neck that was pressing on my spinal cord/nerve roots and caused daily headaches, neck/shoulder pain and tightness, arm/hand weakness/numbness, bladder control issues and difficulty walking (felt like walking with cement boots on). Lower back issues caused back/hip/buttock/leg and foot pain/weakness and numbness.

I now need surgery due to a new herniated disc at c6-c7 that is causing radiculopathy to arms/hands and bladder issues again (pressing on spinal cord in central canal). Your disc may or may not have broken off into your spinal canal and causing you symptoms. It is really important to get an updated MRI of your cervical spine to see the status of your vertebrae alignment/joints/stability. Any compression or flattening of your spinal cord is injuring nerve cells and blood vessels. The longer the compression, the more permanent the damage so surgery is usually recommend asap. My surgeon recommended I do my surgery within 6 months to stop the progression of injury. I’m hoping to have my surgery before end of June 2025.

You may want to also see a neurologist for EMG/nerve conduction studies of your upper and lower limbs. This would help make the best decisions for treatment options. Surgery is usually the only option if there is spinal cord compression.

Jump to this post

Thanks for your reply! I'm in New Jersey and I do have health insurance, but my deductible is too high, just like the cost of everything else in this state. I do not qualify for any other aid or disability because I am still working. (I work from home, though that has even become increasingly difficult).

I also had the same issues in my lumbar spine (Stenosis) and had surgery in my early 30's for it, but that was when I had great health insurance. Surgery back then didn't cost me a cent. I do realize that I can end up with permanent nerve damage from my cervical issues, but there isn't much I can do about that if I can't pay for it. The other thing is, even if I could afford it, I am afraid that it would just cause further deterioration of the rest of my spine. Before I had lumbar surgery, my surgeon told me that it could cause further degeneration of other levels in the future, and it has, so I am also afraid of having more surgery that will end up causing more problems.

REPLY
1 reply
dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | Mar 21 2:22pm
In reply to @njbay "Thanks for your reply! I'm in New Jersey and I do have health insurance, but my..." + (show)
@njbay

Thanks for your reply! I'm in New Jersey and I do have health insurance, but my deductible is too high, just like the cost of everything else in this state. I do not qualify for any other aid or disability because I am still working. (I work from home, though that has even become increasingly difficult).

I also had the same issues in my lumbar spine (Stenosis) and had surgery in my early 30's for it, but that was when I had great health insurance. Surgery back then didn't cost me a cent. I do realize that I can end up with permanent nerve damage from my cervical issues, but there isn't much I can do about that if I can't pay for it. The other thing is, even if I could afford it, I am afraid that it would just cause further deterioration of the rest of my spine. Before I had lumbar surgery, my surgeon told me that it could cause further degeneration of other levels in the future, and it has, so I am also afraid of having more surgery that will end up causing more problems.

Jump to this post

I hear you, @njbay. Everything is so expensive now. My deductible is $7k and cobra coverage is currently $1.7k/month and bumps up to $2.4k/month in May due to disability extension. Them coinsurance of 20% up to $13k before insurance covers anything fully.

Like you, I worked at home during COVID (2020 through 2023) and then part of a large reduction in force. Sitting at my kitchen table for 10 hours+ per day really did a number on my health and spine. I have had 5 surgeries in 3.5 years and have 2 more in front of me.

It is hard as a disabled single parent of a teen son to have all of these surgeries plus paying for health coverage (don't get child support). Not fun and it has done a number on my mental health.

One thing to keep in mind is that cervical spine issues are more serious than lumbar in many cases due to the fact you could get permanent paralysis if you were to fall and a disc/vertebrae/bone spur damaged the spinal cord. I fell 2 times before I knew I had cervical myelopathy causing me so many symptoms below the level of compression in my cervical spine. I was told I could have been paralyzed from neck down which was why I chose to go ahead with the surgery. I’m the sole provider for my teen son and have no extended family.

I have no regrets getting my surgeries as it did provide relief of many symptoms. With a congenitally narrow spinal canal, degenerative disc disease and osteoarthritis, I expect to need surgeries in the future to address spinal degeneration with aging.

REPLY
Please sign in or register to post a reply.