Need help understanding MRI

[TaraH2008]

Can anyone help me with this? I have no idea what some of this stuff means.

c-3 c-4 mild bilateral facet disease and mild disc disease with disc desiccation.

c-4 c-5 mild bilateral facet disease and mild disc disease with mild spondylosis and mild right posterolateral soft disc protrusion producing mild right canal narrowing and mild right neural foraminal narrowing.

c-5 c-6 mild bilateral facet disease and mild disc disease with disc desiccation and mild spondylosis producing mild thecal sac impingement. mild left neural foraminal narrowing is noted..

Impression.. Mild alignment abnormality and mild facet and disc disease of the cervical spine from c3-c4 through c5-c6 with the dominant findings at c4-c5 and c5-c6...

Findings.. alignment abnormality is noted with mild levoscoliosis and mild convexity to the left and straightening of the cervical spine aligement..



Next page..

L-3 L-4 mild bilateral facet disease and bilateral facet capsulitis.

L-4 L-5 mild bilateral facet disease and mild left facet capsulitis.

L-5 S1 mild bilateral facet capsulitis and mild disc disease with disc desiccation, mild degenerative endplate change and mild spondylotic centrasl soft disc protrusion producing partial effacement of epidural fat.

Findings.. mild scoliosis and straightening of the lumbar spine alignment...

Impression... Mild alignement abnormality with the dominant findings at the L-5 S-1 level with combined mild bilateral facet capsulitis and mild disc disease with mild spondylotic central soft disc protrusion producing partial effacement of epidural fat with no neuroforaminal stenosis..

There is additionally mild bilateral facet disease at the L3 L4 and L4 L5 levels with no disc disease....


I know that is alot to read, but if you do and answer me I would really be thankful I know I have some problems but I am not sure what this all means. What will it be like in the long run because I am only 27 yrs. old...


So ahead of time Thanks so much for any help....

[metronycguy]

tara, what did your doctor say it means?
, if they prescribe the mri they should, i would even go as far as obligated to explain to you what the findings mean and answer your questions.
sounds like the VA i get copies of my new mri and cat scans and i happy to see the doc, at the mri file place that ordered the mri, i was thinking how luckily i was to see him, bur he refused to look at the mri, said no streetside consultations and he would explain at the next appointment, which was at least 2 weeks or a month away. i was in a a lot of pain, and really was hoping for a finding , so that it could be treated.
i felt real bad for the vets that had this as their care,
i signed my records out and went back to real doctors. what a jerk off, young guy too, i assumed getting his student loans payed off by providing substandard service.

[TaraH2008]

he didnt really say, just that I need to go to a pain man. doc. Needless to say I am looking for another doc. I was hoping for someone here could help a little till I get to a doc.......thanks

[smokymtn memories]

What kind of doctor ordered the MRI? GP, neurologist, neurosurgeon?

[TaraH2008]

pcp doc.

[maximus1]

Pain is hard to define and cure......stupidity as well.Some pain killers meds might work....Good luck

[TaraH2008]

Thanks to everyone whom has written. Is there a doctor here who can let me know what it means, I cant get another doctors appt. for like 3weeks. I really want to know what it all means........Anyone who thinks they can help please do. thanks

[arndog]

Tara -
I think your best bet at understanding what your MRI shows is to get a pain doctor to sit down and explain it to you. He uses the word "mild" quite a bit - I guess that is a good thing. Oh, the other thing the pain doc can do is to take the films and go over it in person with a radiologist. A thorough pain doc may very well do this. Or you could request it? !
Jon

[TaraH2008]

Yes I know I need to sit down with my doc, but I have seen him 2 times and still no real answer. Just to go see a Pain management. I was hoping someone could shed some light on it of now...thanks

[bigbossman26]

TaraH2008 what I did was take each word individually and to be quite honest I looked up on Dictionary.com. Then put them together and made a somewhat understandable sentence for each statement made in my report. I know this sounds childish or unintellegent but that's what I did and then went to this site and a few others for pictures of a "normal spine" and looked where each statement referred to and it sort of made sense to me. But as in previous posts, be sure to ask ask and ask again if you are not clear when the pain doc or whomever you are slated to see to interperet this report. There is nothing worse than coming out of a meeting with your doctor and not understanding what he told you. In plain English I would say!! Just my two cents.. Not sure if they help or not. Good luck with your upcoming appointment and susequent treatments if planned. Also do some snooping around on this site when and if "they" plan some treatments for you including medications. There are a great many members here who have "been there done that got the t-shirt" LOL but seriously this is a great site that has been a great resource for me and many others.

[snorp]

Hi TaraH,
These reports are long and from experience, subjective from one radiologist to another. The dictionary idea is what I did and it helped in the long run. In short all I can offer is the scale of severity. Mild, moderate and severe. Yours seems to indicate that you are at the beginnings of problems. Perhaps caught just in time to have some good effects from a bunch of different treatments. Because of the list of conditions mentioned, it would be irresponible for a non pro to offer advise as to which treatment may work. The one thing I have learned is that you have to do your homework so you can ask the right questions and be firm with your docs that you don't understand. These forums are great when it comes to finding people who have experienced some of the treatments and the members can inform you of their experience. It is a long road, but you are young and your body is your friend if you give it the right chances to heal. Good luck.