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Spinal stenosis with Banding
Stenosis, trouble swallowing at the c5/c6 (bone spurs) sitting there from a fusion done 16 years ago. I have a banding that goes around my sternum - hand/forearm cramps and gets stuck. I've sent all my symptoms to o mayo - they've declined seeing me. My drs have been clueless for years. It's so frustrating.
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Lester, how long ago was the sternal banding. Heart surgery? It usually can be removed in cases like yours where it is causing problems. I'd suspect that the banding is the hand-forearm cramp.
Trouble swallowing, I'd guess, is at a different level than the fusion. C 3-4 if you are choking. C5-6 if the food doesn't pass smoothly or doesn't want to move, or gets stuck for hours. But this swallowing could be unrelated to the vertebral bodies and may be that your esophagus is narrowing and could be dilated. You'd need an upper endoscopy to determine that
I've no medical background and no experience.
I could wish that Mayo you say why they decline a patient. It could be your insurance, or maybe they haven't the surgeon experienced in a particular surgery, or the department is overwhelmed with patients.