Alternatives to Cortisone injections for foraminal Stenosis
Hi All,
Does anyone know of non cortisone injections for foraminal stenosis ? Also can a foraminotomy be done without having fusion ?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.
My primary symptom is twitching in my calf muscles which is painful and now I am having pain down the side of my leg and front also. I really don't want fusion.
@annie1
have you received second opinions. You might send your MRI to https://www.bonati.com/free-mri-review-help-diagnose-back-pain/ I'm not recommending Bonati, just the free evaluation to understand if you have better options than fusion.
Thanks for this ! I will send it. There is a procedure I have heard about called Discseel that you pay out of pocket for but it seems to work for some people. Have you heard of it ?
I hadn't heard of Discseel. I appreciate the information.
Annulogram seems like an advancement over the older discogram and microdiscectomy.
The older procedure would inject enough die in the center of the disc to create pressure on the disc. They would use floroscopy to see how far the die/disc fluid would flow. It was quite painful as in if you didn't scream it wasn't the disc causing your pain.
An annulogram is said to be painless. But the next part of the discseel procedure also seems preferrable. Instead of using heat (thermomodulation) to seal the disc, discseel uses fibrin.
Microdisectomy removes the extruded portion of the disc with minimally invasive surgery. It is usually covered by insurance.
Discseel is covered by Medicare and may now be covered by your insurance.
I have had two fusions, the first at L4-5, then 2 years later a revision removing those screws then an L5-S1 fusion. I had osteoporosis in my spine and osteopenia in hips and neck. After my first dexa bone scan the doctor suggested taking 2 D3+K vitamins along with magnesium, coQ10, turmeric and other supplements, two years later, my dexa bone scan showed my spine number had improved to severe osteopenia. I did improve my diet as well, did some walking.
I am not able to walk much now, as my neck needs help, my stenosis and other issues are really hurting.
But don’t think you can’t get help! I had my surgery at Mayo, and specifically asked if osteoporosis would prevent me from having surgery. They said no. But everyone needs to get a professional opinion as we are all different.
I was nervous about having a fusion too.
I wish you the best!
What is coQ10 ? It sounds like you still have pain after the fusion though, right ?
I'm interested in the supplements you are taking. Is the tumeric in pill form? Did your Mayo doc suggest these supplements? That is so good that you slowed/reversed your osteoporosis!