Kabue9,
Sorry to hear about your situation. I'm not really the person to answer your questions, but I can say I had a lower spine MRI and a PET scan that came back with a very detailed, technical report. I ran that through ChatGPT and got this explanation.....
You have generalized spine wear-and-tear (degenerative disc disease and arthritis) through your lower back.
Most serious narrowing is happening at L3-L4 and L4-L5.
Nerve pinching risk is higher at these two spots, which could cause symptoms like leg pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness if nerves are affected.
Overall, it’s a moderate stage of degeneration, very common with age, and manageable depending on symptoms.
My pain is not nearly as bad as yours and I deal with it using Glucosamine with MSM. That pretty much takes care of my back and joint pain.
I'm curious of your medical history dealing with Waldenstrum. I'm in my 3rd year of high M spike and IgM levels that are rapidly increasing. IgG is below normal and everything else is looking good. My Hemo/Oncologist isn't ready to do a bone marrow biopsy yet. About 4 months ago, I started taking Curcumin hoping to slow the progression. The limited studies I've read seem to show help with other form of MGUS, but not so much IgM MGUS. Were you aware of your condition when it was MGUS? How long was the progression from diagnosis until now?
You are so very kind to reply...thank you so much! I don't know what MSUS is. My pain began with a severe kidney disease that was treated & cured...then 2 months later was told I have Waldenstrums..there was no evidence before then & I had all kinds of tests, scans, etc. Do you know anything about injections into the back to help the arthritis? A pain management doc recommended I try this procedure...I am unsure that will help! I don't know if the pain is from cancer, arthritis or a fracture I have cancer on my spine (L2 & L3( caused by the cancer...what I do know is the pain is severe every day...worse when I first awake & then eases..but always pain! Thank you so much!