In article et,
lid says...
On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:33:15 +0000, David in Normandy wrote
(in article ):

Huge says...

snip

Ankylosing spondylitis?

I don't recall ever being given a specific name such as
that, but the doctors spoke of the formation of bone spurs
impinging my nerves and the degeneration of disks in my
neck.

To quote my medical report:

At C4/5 level there is uncal osteophyte formation with some
narrowing of the left exit foramen and probably impingement
of the exiting nerve root.
At C5/6 level there is left postero-lateral osteophyte
formation, this would appear to be associated with a
chronic protrusion. There is canal stenosis with cord
compression and compression of the exiting left nerve root.

(In none-medical jargon - It seriously bloody hurt!)


Hi David, have only just caught up on some of my newsgroup reading and saw
this. This sounds exactly like what I have, which is called Spinal Stenosis
(NOT Ankylosing spondylitis, which my father had, and which is quite
different). If you Google Spinal Stenosis you will find chapter and verse.

I would urge you not to have surgery. My consultant once told me proudly
(when I was resisting such) that he had done the same operation on one
patient three times! He couldn't understand why I thought this was a
failure, not a success. A friend of mine insisted that surgery was the only
cure and that he had been told he would have a new quality of life within six
months. He has. It's worse.

This is seriously OT for this group except that gardeners have to watch their
backs! If you want to take it to email, mine will work and I'll send you a
real email address.


I know its OT but I couldn't agree more, my sister had the op and was in
such pain after that she had it done again after which she was worse and
pleading with them to remove her leg (hers being the same problem in her
lower back, but apparently removing the leg would not have removed the
pain) now recovering from her third operation and life seems to be
getting better and she is nearly back to the pain levals she lived with
before the first op! In her case the original bad back was not caused by
gardening but it has certainly restricted her ability to garden. (feeble
attempt to get back on topic!)
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea