Severe spinal stenosis

I agree we have part G on our original Medicare plan. I am really very happy with that also.

I have severe spinal stenosis, too. Keeping up with the exercises provided by my physical therapist, daily, and walking in a warming pool at the park district 3 times per week has very much benefitted me. The less you want to move, the more you should move. Water therapy is amazing.

Physicians who contract with Medicare to treat beneficiaries trade off higher pay for numerous patients to treat. Just like HMO’s did in their early years. The documentation issue for all healthcare is simple. The provider of care is required to adequately document supporting evidence that they provided the service. And all services provided by physicians and non-physician providers have supporting guidelines as to what is required of the service and supporting documentation. As an RN in my working years I performed Medicare compliance audits of physicians and hospital records.

I also have spinal stenosis along with collapsed discs.
My morning wake up is just like yours.
Does get bearable after an hour or so.
I am having an MRI because I am now
experiencing a lot of numbness in both legs.
Will be seeing my pain specialist after MRI.
Hoping epidurals help.
I take gabapentin and Tylenol.
I am allergic to anti inflammatory meds.

can you expand a little on your surgery?
I had surgery in 1994 that did not go well.
Sounds like you are much better. Awesome.
I am 82 so don't know if they would consider.

Thank you. 🙏🏽

Hi Joe,
Even though my surgery is delayed, I did ask the doc, after the surgery can i bike, will I have any limitations, and he said no limitations. L5-S1, and possibly fuse I think it was 3/4.

Awesome you can walk! I have pain after 1/2 mile walking. I just turned 72. Since my surgery got put off by six months, I’m going to check out some other options, acupuncture, mind/body type stuff, meditation for pain control. It won’t fix anything for sure, but to learn to handle the pain maybe i can put off the surgery longer - maybe. So confusing!! Oh, if the pain is low back, medicare does pay for acupuncture.

Best of luck. This forum is so helpful and I love that mostly no one plays doctor.

Sometimes (not often enough) I do knees to chest and childs pose before I get out of bed. Not sure why it’s so hard to do the things that help me through the day.

I have mild stenosis and some scoliosis and let’s not forget arthritis. The morning wake up is painful. I try slow trunk twists and stretching before leaving the bed.
Then, see if I can actually walk. The pain and numbing pain can take its time subsiding enough to get to bathroom.
I don’t take drugs for it on a regular basis. I do have a low dose pain pill that I may take 1-2 times a month. The pain doesn’t go away and can increase during the day or not. I try to stay mentally engaged and live my best life in the moment. It sucks but I don’t like the alternative of being chronically depressed.

@cdbm spinal stenosis doesn’t get any better only worse over time. And you have the accompanying stuff too. Not too many surefire treatments but I just found this one you might want to look at with a 60 day money back guarantee and FDA approved. I have SS but not that bad yet. Yes my back is stiff in the morning but that’s par for the illness.
I opted to purchase the device after reading reviews and I will add my 2 cents about the product one I use it.