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Old 03-30-22, 07:49 AM
  #13  
DaveLeeNC
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I am the OP in this thread, BTW. Here is an interesting and semi-related anecdote. The symptoms of my spinal stenosis (hip and occasionally lower leg discomfort) showed up basically overnight. On 1/23/2021 I played 18 holes of golf, walked a relatively long course carrying my bag and had zero evidence of hip pain. On 1/25/2021 I was warming up for another round and had huge discomfort just warming up on the driving range. I clearly could not walk and carry my bag and then realized that I could not play a round of golf even out of a cart. After treatment for a incorrect diagnosis of a hip tendon issue (can't blame PT for that one), I got an MRI and the spinal stenosis/foraminal stenosis, and a foraminal cyst was discovered. The PT stuff (mostly elastic band stuff) that I got I ultimately abandoned as it generated discomfort and it just was not clear whether or not this was an issue. I finally decided that it was a problem. The fact that my 'pain management doctor' felt like PT was unlikely to help in my case as a factor.

So on 5/7/21 I got a spinal epidural (even the doc who makes his living doing surgery advocated palliative treatment as a first step) and that got me back to maybe 90% of where I was on 1/23/21. I had been in a good bit of pain since 1/25/2021. That relief lasted 6-8 weeks and then things kind of slowly drifted back to painful. I stretched out the spinal epidural timing to 6 months at which point I could no longer play golf, etc. So I got another epidural in late Nov. And I was expecting the same cycle. What has happened is most surprising. I am now over 4 months post-epidural and am encountering virtually zero pain. I would dearly love to know just what in the heck has happened here. I am guessing that it is a change in the cyst (we really don't know if it is the foraminal stenosis or cyst causing my discomfort). Or maybe it is the core strength stuff that I ended up doing (changed to crunches after my disastrous attempt to do planks). But it would take an MRI to figure that out and I doubt that would be something that a doctor would order at this time. Quite frankly if this pain stays away on a more permanent basis I might pay for one myself just to know what in the heck is going on here.

Two other interesting tidbits. First riding a bike is extremely therapeutic WRT this stenosis/cyst driven pain. A 30 mile ride is kind of like getting a spinal epidural that lasts maybe four hours. Second I think that there is a 'conservation of pain' principle going on here where, once you hit a certain age, no matter what you do the total amount of pain that you encounter is a constant .

dave
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