Medical Endeavors w/ my Herniated and Degenerative Lumbar Disc

I have my appointment scheduled for February 1st! I also got a discount worth $500, bringing down the cost to $8500. As for travel plans, flights are expensive as hell coming from my country! $700 roundtrip. I'll be doing a priceline bid for hotels around Broomsfield, CO.

My impressions of a bogus treatment were pretty much put to rest today with the welcome packet they sent me by e-mail. Boy it's exhaustive and thorough! I have read many things on the treatment online, but they're not reviews, they are just skeptics writing blogs. They were never patients so they will never know. I know I am taking a risk here, but given my condition anything is worth a try. I have the financial fitness to do it and the mental maturity to realize whether this is a scam or not, and form what I've read and heard, it's a legitimate procedure that doesn't involve a simple injection. I'll show you why. This comes from the pre-op packet they sent me: Bone Marrow Draw During the marrow draw, the medical provider places a needle in the back of the hip area to obtain what is called whole marrow (looks like thick blood). The procedure can cause soreness in the low back for several days to a week. The amount of soreness will vary, but will usually

Greetings everyone. I had a terrific phone conversation with Dr. Schultz on Wednesday January 13th. First he gave me his diagnosis, which was professionally done. He told me I lost some height on my disc and that the left-leaning bulge (note that it hasn't yet leaked out) he diagnosed was consistent with my intense left-side pain. He then went into explaining how candidacy for this type of treatment works: **Good Candidate** MRI imaging that shows single level disc degeneration with disc height maintained at greater than 50%. Disc protrusions and posterior longitudinal ligament are intact. No previous lumbar spine surgery. Patient age is less than 50 years with radicular symptoms that correspond anatomically with disc pathology. Transforaminal injections eliminated radicular pain. These patients are in the same general category of patients who have shown consistent pain/functional changes with the Regenexx procedure. **Fair Candidate** MRI imaging shows one or mo

After failing to follow instructions correctly during the DRX-9000 spinal decompression treatment and playing the nintendo Wii like a mad-man after 75% of the treatment sessions had been completed, I had another pain crisis and I've decided to look ahead and try out some other treatments. I think that the disc collapsed again after failing to heal completely.  THE DAMN PAIN WAS BACK AND WORSE THAN EVER! I felt like crap, completely depressed and hopeless. I thought to myself that I needed to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Which is basically true. I can tell you though, that the decompression treatment definitely works. If I had maintained a steady level of exercise and activity, it would've succeeded! That it worked for me is a different story.. but that was because I felt over-confident when I hadn't started the back-strenghtening exercises. I've decided to go along with the next treatment: REGENEXX stem cell therapy for the lumbar spine. Since I haven't read any real tes

I went home for the holidays after the 14th treatment. As you can see from the graph ( http://i.imgur.com/mNAg4.png ), I was doing VERY well leading up to the 14th treatment. When I arrived home, I had a pain level of 0! I'm telling you guys, I had never been happier in my life. I spent the next 14 days pain free and without a worry. I obviously avoided carrying any bags and stuff, and i did swim a little bit. But after a while I started to forget about the issue. A few days before I came back to re-start the treatments, I started playing Wii Sports Resort with some family members... well, to make things short, I was jumping and swimming all over the place until I felt a tear in my back. THE DAMN PAIN WAS BACK AND WORSE THAN EVER! I felt like crap, completely depressed and hopeless. I thought to myself that I needed to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Which is basically true. I can tell you though, that the treatment definitely works. If I had maintained a steady level of exercise and acti

Hello everybody. I had my 7th treatment today. Things are definitely getting better, but not enough to let me sit comfortably. I've noticed that sitting down is my achilles heel, so I avoid it at all times (I also saw an article on nbc about sitting down being the body's worst enemy.. this definitely convinced me to avoid it as much as I can). Anyways, here is my progress so far:  Definitely improving! But here are some observations: -Pain during treatment is absolutely dreadful. It's not the dangerous sort of pain, but more like a 'there has to be pain in order for things to change' kind of feeling. -I keep wearing my brace at all times -I was told that during treatment #10, I will start physical therapy. I'll keep you posted!

The whole procedure consists of 20 sessions spread in 4 weeks or more, and costs $2800 (my insurance company IHI BUPA covered the treatment). They give you a huge belt which will have to be worn ALL THE TIME (except for showers of course). On the 1st of December '10, I had my first therapy session! Conclusion: kind of painful, but in a way relieving. It's hard to describe. You're strapped on to a machine for 30 minutes which varies the load (decompression) every minute or so. I started with 80lbs today, which will supposedly be increased in increments of 5 lbs every session. Again, they gave me this HUGE waist band that carries an ice pack in the back. I'm supposed to wear it all day for the duration of the treatment (soo I guess it's 30 days or so). I also got electro shock therapy after the session. They told me I can't do ANYTHING for the duration of the treatment... like nothing. I guess I can handle it! I'm supposed to be getting physical therapy

The pain came back two months ago, stronger than ever, so I travelled to New York to see one of the best orthopedic surgeons in the US: Dr. Frank Cammisa. Given the new MRI, I have degenerative disc disease and a herniated disc in L4/L5. The meeting was quick, cold, and a complete waste of time. All the information he gave me was online. I'm not saying he treated me badly, but I'm telling YOU guys to avoid going to see such an experienced doctor if you haven't tried the obvious things first. He recommended Epidural Steroid Injections before considering surgery (which he said would be a micro-discectomy, and if that doesn't work, an Artificial Disc Replacement). Given that the injections are seldom part of the solution (they only treat symptoms), I decided to go for alternative treatments before I give them a try. I did some research and found a machine called the DRX9000, which does Spinal Decompression, and I've decided to go for it. It claims to stretch your disc

I won't ramble on and on about my pain, because, frankly, I don't want to come off as a whiner. I will, however, post graphs on pain levels to better understand the process. But this blog is more about an adventure, an experimental expedition, and a trek into treatments that leave most people wondering whether they work or not. My financial situation is stable and my mind is open; combine those two and you get an honest hands-on review of things i've tried, am trying, and will try.  As for my diagnosis, I have an L4/L5 herniated disc. It's more of a bulge because it hasn't yet 'exploded' and leaked out. I also have Disc Degenerative Disease at the same level with some mild height loss. All of this came from excessive weight-lifting at the gym. Pain is on and off depending on my activity level. I am now off all sports and I recently quit my job to focus on healing myself. Also, I'm only 23. Read on and enjoy! If you have any questions, post a