Anxiety/Depression after spinal fusion surgery

@gsgnfl I wanted to weigh in on the timeline for injuries. If you got 50 years after a bad motorcycle accident before your spine became a problem, you're lucky. Forces during accidents that stress the spine can cause cracks in the outer fibrous layer of the discs. The inner layer is a jelly like substance called the nucleus. In my expedience, I had a whiplash and had a bulging disc for years. It took about 20 years for that to progress enough and weaken the disc enough that it herniated and collapsed by about 50% and started to grow bone spurs pressing into my spinal cord. With aging, the discs begin to dry out and shrink and that can open up cracks from a prior injury further weakening the disc. When my disc actually ruptured, I was turning my head while stretching my neck, and it took very little effort because it was weakened by trauma and time. That didn't hurt, but felt weird and I knew because my head suddenly turned further.

Jennifer

@1775house - You have a lot going on in your back! It can be frustrating to sort out the symptoms, ID the cause and effects, and develop a pain/treatment strategy.

Can I put on my cheerleader hat for a second? You're "just" 70? You have lots of years ahead of you that you want to be in a condition to enjoy as much as possible. I encourage you to keep digging and working with the docs to find relief - in whatever form.

Yes, it is scary to imagine degenerative disk disease slowly impacting your freedom of movement. But that disease is non-linear and it can unexpectedly level-off in terms of degradation. Focus on that.

Let me be a little "new age"...The power of positive thinking and positive visualization is an important part of your back management process. Rather than a focus on "this degenerative disk disease is going to get me" - the focus can transition to visualizing positive outcomes. Pick up a book on positive thinking - seriously, that can help.

I am not a down person on the contrary I feel that everyone has to look at every little bit that isn't going right with what is going right. When you do that you can see how you might better your position - like pain. When you are in pain - you are in pain there is no getting around that so the next question is always then is what caused it ( when I used the term degenerative disc disease - that is what the docs at Stanford tell me not some term I made up). It might be that I have been washing dishes or sitting up too long - so I say I'm glad the dishes are done or I'm going to lie down and rest my back. All is well as long as there is a solution for the next step - not to the problem When you ask that question that is your solution. For me when I go to my doctors and I tell them everything that is going on healthwise I will tell them I not saying any of this because "I expect you to cure me," but maybe in a year or two you'll look at this and say to yourself Hey! this could be the reason this is happening. I'll mention to my ophthalmologists, my job is to make sure I come to you so you can make sure nothing is getting worse; I have AMD, macular edema, glaucoma, and also the best doctors in the world. You have to stay positive