is it unusual to have more than 1 disc go bad?

[mopinko]

someone made a comment to me that 2 discs herniating was unusual. seems like most of the people i have talked to only had one, with the exception of my BIL, who has severe RA, and had 3.
i just can't help wondering why this happened. i have some sort of autoimmune malfunction that i have had several opinions about, none of which jive exactly. it is lupus-like, but, i am told, not lupus. the neuro doesn't seem to have any idea what i am talking about, probably because i do not have the ama approved jargon for him. rheumie says- shit happens.
but it really did pretty much come out of nowhere, 2 discs bad enough to fix, and a third not perfect. i feel like- if they can't tell me what is wrong with me, exactly, i can't see how they can assure me that this is not related.
yeah, i need more things to worry about. it is true.
meanwhile, i am recovering, a little slowly, but getting there. still can't talk too well, which is a really huge hardship for me!

[Warpy]

1. I've seen multiple bad discs both in cervical

and lumbar patients. The cervical ones actually have a better overall prognosis, but they're getting better all the time at the lumbar discs.

[sam sarrha]

2. i have 3, neck, between sholder blades and lumbar.. hard life

[ThomCat]

3. I have two herniated disks.

My pain-management doctor thought it was very unusual that I was still able to stand upright. So I guess most people get these things identified and treated before they get to the second disk. :shrug:

[flamingyouth]

4. I have three in my neck and two in my lumbar spine that bother me.

One (C5-6) in particular is pretty bad and I just reinjured it last week.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

5. Donno, but I have 2 bad ones...

C4-C5 and c5-c6. Sure makes my migraines a lot more fun :sarcasm:

[JerseygirlCT]

6. Can you tie those to migraines?

I've been struggling to pinpoint what it is that triggers mine, but I think it's a potpourri. But I've recently been told that C4-C5 is degenerated, and that I've got osteoporosis (young for that). The orthopedist didn't blink when I mentioned the migraines - not as in ignoring it, but more as in - yeah, of course, that would be expected.

[lizerdbits]

7. I've got 2

L4/L5 and L5/S1 herniated which are apparently pretty common. Mine must not be too bad since I don't have many problems moving around.

[libodem]

8. I have my neck fused from C3-C6

I'm not sure what made my neck go bad. It had hurt me for 20 odd years. My migraine headaches did seem to be less after my fusion. I squished a disc at L4 S1 in 2002. I had a discectomy and it was better until it collapsed in'06. I had a cage placed and a fusion last year in May. The recovery was awful. I'd had a dural tear in the hospital during OT. I had a splitting spinal headache for 3 days. It took a long time to be able to straighten out my left leg with out nerve pain all the way down the back of it. I'm a lot more prone to migraines again since the dural tear. I'm stuck with permanent nerve damage in both legs especially the lower half and my feet. I call it paresthesia the pins and needles falling asleep numbness, which I believe is a type of neuropathology. I've been a mental case wondering what type of work I'll ever be able to do. I've filed for Social Security Disability. This has ruined my life.

[mopinko]

9. hard to have a good life with a crappy body.

i am one of the lucky ones to have married well, and done a good enough job in my 20 years as a full time mom, that i do not have to worry about keeping a roof over my head. but i always thought i would have a life and resume my career when my kids got bigger. hard to build a career when you need 11 hours of sleep most nights, and have shit like dissolving discs happening.
frustrating too to have good insurance, great docs available, but still no answers. just a lot of pain, prescriptions, and weird test results. and the icing on the cake that docs who don't know what is wrong like to make you feel like it is just you.

i mostly recovered pretty well from surgery, but still have some pain, and add sensations in my fingers. not sure at what point they decide stuff like that is permanent. the doc asked how much it bothered me. really, it is a small thing, and not really affecting anything. but it is a constant reminder, every time i use my right hand, that i cannot trust my body, and am not real keen on trusting doctors, either.

take care, libodem. wish i had some magic fairy dust or something. so many friends at du that i would bestow it upon.

[Liberty Belle]

10. I've had a couple of bad disks, and chiropractic fixed one.

My doctor wouldn't believe it until they did before and after MRI.

i still get discomfort but not the sharp unbearable pain anymore.

I still see the chiro for adjustments as needed.

To find a good chiropractor, call your local pro sports team (baseball, football) and find out who their team chiro is. Mine works on all the pro athletes in our area.