DDD is a fancy word for what we know as arthritis.
I didn't read through all of the posts, but wanted to point out that this statement is simply not true...DDD is nothing like arthritis imo.
My dh has DDD and was diagnosed over 10 years ago. He drove tractor trailer for aliving and they felt that was a primary cause as well as hereditary factors. I should point out that his is not cervical, but in his lower back. It is the deterioration of the discs which maintain the proper spacing in your spine. These discs can either pop out (often due to injury) or just get so thin, they cannot hold the space anymore thus resulting in discomfort and sometimes extreme pain and even nerve damage.
My dh had laminectomy surgery first, which was to cut off a disc that protruded and was pressing on nerves. He still has permanent nerve damage down his right side and leg, but the pressure was relieved by that surgery. Not long after he was followed with another surgery, spinal fusion, because the discs above the one they cut started collapsing. For the fusion they take bone from the hip and fuse it to the spine and attach everything with steel rods to keep the spine stable. A battery pack is inserted to stimulate healing during that surgery and is later removed. He was on morphine to help him through the pain. I will end this with the fact that he is in better physical condition now, but will never be able to work and has a lot of mobility limitations. He still has pain and takes pain meds constantly. He cannot sit, stand or lay for any length of time. Everything he does is in very limited time segments.
On another note, make sure you get second opinions..they are so important when dealing with your nervous system. The doctors played around with my dh's condition too long and I feel actually accelerated it by doing stuff that shouldn't have been done. For example, they had him in physical therapy, seeing chiropractors and all that crazy stuff. While those things are great for some conditions, they are not good for this and can worsen the problem.
Edited to add that they also put him through spinal injections and he said while the temporary relief is nice, the pain only comes back worse.
I hope your case is not as severe as his and wish you well.
Jody
I didn't read through all of the posts, but wanted to point out that this statement is simply not true...DDD is nothing like arthritis imo.
My dh has DDD and was diagnosed over 10 years ago. He drove tractor trailer for aliving and they felt that was a primary cause as well as hereditary factors. I should point out that his is not cervical, but in his lower back. It is the deterioration of the discs which maintain the proper spacing in your spine. These discs can either pop out (often due to injury) or just get so thin, they cannot hold the space anymore thus resulting in discomfort and sometimes extreme pain and even nerve damage.
My dh had laminectomy surgery first, which was to cut off a disc that protruded and was pressing on nerves. He still has permanent nerve damage down his right side and leg, but the pressure was relieved by that surgery. Not long after he was followed with another surgery, spinal fusion, because the discs above the one they cut started collapsing. For the fusion they take bone from the hip and fuse it to the spine and attach everything with steel rods to keep the spine stable. A battery pack is inserted to stimulate healing during that surgery and is later removed. He was on morphine to help him through the pain. I will end this with the fact that he is in better physical condition now, but will never be able to work and has a lot of mobility limitations. He still has pain and takes pain meds constantly. He cannot sit, stand or lay for any length of time. Everything he does is in very limited time segments.
On another note, make sure you get second opinions..they are so important when dealing with your nervous system. The doctors played around with my dh's condition too long and I feel actually accelerated it by doing stuff that shouldn't have been done. For example, they had him in physical therapy, seeing chiropractors and all that crazy stuff. While those things are great for some conditions, they are not good for this and can worsen the problem.
Edited to add that they also put him through spinal injections and he said while the temporary relief is nice, the pain only comes back worse.
I hope your case is not as severe as his and wish you well.
Jody
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