Spine Disease part 2

Ok.  The Spine Institute just called and told me that what the doctor told me the other day was that I have Degenerative Disc Disease.  Well, I looked it up and it’s not a disease at all.  Here is a quote from the website linked above:

“A large part of many patients’ confusion is that the term “degenerative disc disease” sounds like a progressive, very threatening condition. However, this condition is not strictly degenerative and is not really a disease:

Part of the confusion probably comes from the term “degenerative“, which implies to most people that the symptoms will get worse with age. The term applies to the disc degenerating, but does not apply to the symptoms. While it is true that the disc degeneration is likely to progress over time, the low back pain from degenerative disc disease usually does not get worse and in fact usually gets better over time.

Another source of confusion is probably created by the term “disease“, which is actually a misnomer. Degenerative disc disease (that link has videos) is not really a disease at all, but rather a degenerative condition that at times can produce pain from a damaged disc.

Disc degeneration is a natural part of aging and over time all people will exhibit changes in their discs consistent with a greater or lesser degree of degeneration. However, not all people will develop symptoms. In fact, degenerative disc disease is quite variable in its nature and severity.”

Well, that’s my lower back not my neck and shoulder so that is a totally different thing which I didn’t even go there for lol.  Although I do have lower back issues, have had for the last 10 years or so but it comes and goes and I never really thought too much about it.  Sometimes my lower back locks up on me and I can’t get back up for a few minutes so that’s probably what this “disease” is even though it’s not a disease as per the quote.

Now as far as my neck and shoulder are concerned… Spring is here which means I’m not going to be wearing pants anymore but shorts instead.  Well my shorts aren’t too big to wear like my jeans are.  See, my jeans waist size is for my stomach not my hips, my hips are thinner than my waist (stomach) and so it doesn’t take long before the pants start to slip and fall so the suspenders keep them up.  Shorts however are usually tight enough around the hips area and they have that elastic band on them so they don’t fall past my hips.  Shorts also have draw strings so if the elastic doesn’t hold then I can tie the draw string to keep it on me.

So if I don’t wear suspenders during the hot months until October then I wonder if the pain is going to come back in my shoulder.  If the pain comes back then I have my appointment for April 16th and they can go from there with that.

Not wearing suspenders is an experiment to see if that was helping get rid of the pain.  I’m going to look like a total dork wearing shorts with my shirt tucked into them with suspenders during the spring and summer so that’s also why I’m not going to wear them except for when I wear jeans.  We’re still going to have rain which means I’m still going to need to keep the suspenders throughout April but as soon as May comes the Jeans will be washed and put away until October.

So for now I have to be more careful with my lower back and see if the pain comes back in my shoulder without the suspenders.  Wish me luck lol

Tags: degenerative condition, degenerative disc disease, disc degeneration, low back pain, spine institute

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