L5-S1 herniation neurogenic bladder not Cauda Equina

phugoi1982, I bring you pages 118 to 125 of the chapter “Tumor Shrinking Diet”. www.frequencyrising.com/Hulda.Clark.The.Cure.For.All.Advanced.Cancers.pdf
Aw,...just go ahead and read the whole chapter.

vintage,
Thank you for those recommendations!

jellyfish,
Thank you for your reply. It is reassuring that I might finally get an answer after 15 years of suffering. I was getting a bit disappointed thinking this thoracic arachnoid cyst might not be cause my symptoms because it is too high up but i guess any problem anywhere along the spinal cord could affect the Cauda Equina and thus cause lower sacral root dysfunction. I just find it so strange that a problem in the thoracic spine could cause my issues when like i've written here so many times my progressive bladder and sexual dysfunction deficits correlated with worstening of the my L5-S1 disc herniation. Therefore, I and the doctors assumed it was either Cauda equina from the lower disc herniation or nothing. Maybe the lower back pain is a red herring. However, I do remember when I went to Mayo Clinic 2 years ago the chief Urologist told me erections are initiated actually in the Thoracic spine and not the lower sacral roots so any problem "north" of this regions could cause issues downstream. He also said the Urodynamics test cannot tell if there is sensory dysfunction. That could explain why my 1st one showed a weak bladder and the one at Mayo was normal. Then again, I also need to remember that I do not have disc herniation in the thoracic spine and it is simply the spinal cord that is displaced which likely to cause said issues. I'm just grateful this ER doctor had the foresight to imagine the entire spine. No other doctor thought it was necessary and I immediately called the Neurologist who wanted to have me "committed" thinking I had a psychiatric disorder to have her look at my MRI and since her brother is the top Neurosurgeon at Georgetown maybe she will refer me to him and I will get an apology and a CT myelogram confirming.

jellyfish ,

No weakness or sensory disturbances in the legs. I do have perineal numbness and the classic "saddle anesthesia" of cauda equina which i developed a year after surgery but it is very mild and there is no total numbness. I get the feeling that because i have no weakness or abnormal reflexes docs take me less seriously because i walk normal and look fine. The problem is none of my lumbar MRI's ever showed any cord compression; just compression of the exiting s1 nerve roots. The two thoracic MRI's i had in 2007 and 2005 were normal but then again at the time they were looking for MS lesions and not cord compression so who knows.

jellyfish ,

Thanks. Will keep you posted. I have an appointment with the Neurosurgeon in two weeks. It's interesting that my thoracic MRI's from 2005 and 2007 were normal because even when they did the MRI a few days ago the initial report came back normal for the thoracic spine. Apparently, the next day one of the chief radiologists read it again based on my history of neurogenic bladder, ED symptoms and that's when they discovered the potential cyst as maybe an explanation. My point is that this was missed initially by the radiologist so maybe in 2005 and 2007 it was also missed. Unfortunately I can't get copies of those MRI's and if I remember correctly the one done in 2005 was done a crappy .3 Tesla open MRI so I wouldn't trust it too much. The 2007 was done on what at the time was a state of the art 3T scanner (there were only 2 on the island I grew up in at the time). I'm at least glad the radiologist gave me images a second look. I'm just scared I'm getting too much false hope that I might find the cause of my ordeal but either way if turns out to be true it means I must be super unlucky to have both an idiopathic arachnoid cyst and L5-S1 disc degeneration.

Another thing I"m totally confused about. How come in all my other MRI reports including the ones i've posted here, my L5-S1 vertebra is listed as lumbarized but in this report it's listed as sacralized? Aren't they two completely opposite congenital defects of vertebra failing to fuse properly?

phugoi1982, good that at this incredibly long time a doctor will finally check you out thoroughly!
Do you already have an appointment for the CT Myelogram?
Were you told how big the cyst is?

jellyfish,

May 6th, they will the do the CT Myelogram of cervical,thoracic, and lumbar spine. The doctor didn't mention the size of the cyst but said CT myelogram was better than MRI at seeing how the extent of cord compression due to arachnoid cysts/webs. Then, he was thinking about doing discograms of my lumbar spine to see how bad my L5-S1 is before considering the fusion.

jellyfish,

Got my CT myelogram done yesterday. Frustrated because the results look same as MRI and equally vague. The only thing that concerns me is the flattening of the the thoracic chord regardless of how mild it its. The neurosurgeon mentioned to me that that that's what think might have happened two weeks ago to cause my spinal chord injury like symptoms Here's the report


FINDINGS:

NUMBERING: 12 thoracic and 4 lumbar vertebrae. The L5 vertebral body is partially sacralized.

ALIGNMENT: Minimal retrolisthesis of L4 over L5.

VERTEBRAE: Vertebral body heights are normal. No fracture.

PERIVERTEBRAL SOFT TISSUES: Normal.

ATLANTOOCCIPITAL JOINT: Normal.

ATLANTOAXIAL JOINT: Normal.

SPINAL CORD: Thoracic cord is anteriorly displaced and slightly flattened, at T4-T5. Conus terminates at T12.

OTHER: Prominent cerebellar CSF space may represent megacisterna magna.

C2-C3: Normal.

C3-C4: Normal.

C4-C5: Normal.

C5-C6: Normal.

C6-C7: Normal.

C7-T1: Normal.

THORACIC DISCS: No foraminal stenosis.

L1-L2: Normal.

L2-L3: Normal.

L3-L4: Normal.

L4-L5: Disc bulge and ligamentum flavum hypertrophy causing bilateral lateral recess stenosis. No spinal canal stenosis.

L5-S1: Normal.

IMPRESSION:

1. Anteriorly displaced thoracic cord with mild flattening at T4-T5

similar to prior MR may represent an arachnoid cyst or arachnoid web in posterior subarachnoid space.

2.Disc bulge and ligamentum flavum hypertrophy at L4-L5 is causing

bilateral lateral recess stenosis.

No spinal canal stenosis.