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What are people's experiences with spinal fusion surgery?
Spine Health | Last Active: Feb 15 7:50am | Replies (174)Comment receiving replies
@dadcue Have you consulted an endocrinologist about your bone density? That might be something to discuss with your surgeon in case you can improve your bone quality. Are you able to walk to help maintain core strength? Perhaps your surgeon hasn't discussed any procedures yet. My cousin who also had severe canal stenosis had a laminectomy which essentially expands he space in the spinal canal but does not remove or fuse any discs. He is 80, and had that within the last 6 months, and after a couple weeks didn't need pain meds anymore and he was up and around. He has returned to normal activities except golfing because that twisting action on the spine isn't good for him.
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I used to see an endocrinologist when I was coming off prednisone. The endocrinologist was helpful with getting my adrenals going again.
The endocrinologist found several hormone imbalances in addition to a low cortisol level. He said there were metabolic problems as a result of long term prednisone use. The only way to correct those things was to stay off prednisone along with diet and exercise. The prognosis was that some of the things can be reversed but other things may never be reversed.
My endocrinologist didn't address my high bone density. The surgeon said there was "a lot of extra bone" in my lumbar spine. The surgeon didn't know if there would be enough "good dense bone" to hold the hardware needed to fuse my spine after the extra bone was removed.
The bone scan result says my reading is invalid. I was told my reading was too high but not what I should do about it.
Last year, there was a large synovial cyst contributing to the spinal stenosis and compressing my spinal cord. My latest MRI says the synovial cyst is much smaller and can barely be seen. There is more space now but the spinal stenosis is still significant. My symptoms have improved too but still far from being normal.