Hey!
Most all hospitals have charity programs, have you ask you Dr. if yours does or you could even call the hospital yourself.

I doubt you will find a charity group of any kind that will pay for ADR surgery.

Most, if not all, insurance companies do not pay for ADR/artificial disc replacement because they still consider it experimental surgery.

There are still many, many unknowns about the long term results and effects of ADR in the body.

Though it is approved now by the FDA, it is still not known how long an ADR will last in the body, what would or could happen to a patient if the material leaks from the artificial disc, into the body.

If the ADR doesn't work or there are complications with it, IE the patient's body rejects it, there is extreme risk in removing the ADR.

There have been reports on the net that removing the ADR is life threatening and the surgery is considered far to risky to actually do.

If you really want to have ADR done, you might want to try googling ADR and see if there are any clinical trials still going on and if you could be part of one.
By getting into a trial you would not have any expenses to pay.

On the other hand, I do not know if your insurance would cover you for any type of health issues if you where part of this study and then developed other problems later that could possibly be related to the ADR.
Odds are the insurance would not pay for anything.

Good luck and you can find lots and lots of info, both pro and con, on the net about ADR by just doing google searches.

Fran

My brother has had this done 3 different times cause when they fix 1 disc the one below ruptures and he is in worse pain now than ever so the longer you can wait the better. I have 2 disc (c5-6 and c6-7) in my neck is herniated but I'm trying to hold on as long as I can.
Betty

Above was written "On the other hand, I do not know if your insurance would cover you for any type of health issues if you where part of this study and then developed other problems later that could possibly be related to the ADR.
Odds are the insurance would not pay for anything. "

To find out what is covered ask for a copy (or if you have one dig it up) of your contract with insurance company. I was told by Insurance rep they would NOT cover it and then found the clause in my contract where they said they would treat surgery if I went outside and paid outside and indeed they admitted they had made a mistake. They won't pay for much but that doesn't mean they won't do follow up care if you go out and pay for it yourself. This is vital to know this before say heading off to Germany or other countries as many of us do. Good luck!

I have 3 herniated disc in my back! I have an extra vertebrate in my lower back! I have severe sciatica!
I have severly stretched & pulled muscles,tendons,& possibly some torn cartilage! I am broke! Almost homeless! This has stopped me from working,& as a result I am in the situation I am in! I have no family other than my sister! I am staying here temporarily! I NEED HELP! I have no pain medications! I can not do anything! I am stuck & in tremendous overwelming pain! All I ever wanted was to enlist in the freakin' military,& they have rejected me because of this! HELP! HELP! HELP!

They have been doing multi-level disc replacement surgery in Germany since 1978 with good success. The stat's they keep are on-line. They now use what's known as a Mustang disc. It's a 2 part disc with gripper teeth on the sides that fit against your vertebrae, so it can't slip out of place, like some earlier versions could. Very successful. Crap on these American insurance companies. They still live in the 50's. I hope the government puts them out of business

BrokenRIP,

I'm so sorry you are suffering in so much pain.

I would suggest that you try to get some kind of public assistance medical coverage, something like medicaid to help you.

In the mean time if you are in that much pain, you should go to the emergency room. They will be able to help ease your pain and may be able to direct you to the right services to help you obtain medical help and insurance.

Fran

Hi there

This type of surgery is a very recent development.

It might be a better option than the spinal fusion technique. The problem with that type of surgery is that the segments above and below the fusion have a double or triple load to bear and wear out at a much faster rate

In a review of 4,454 patients in 78 reports, Bono and Lee found the average fusion rate was 85%, and the average clinical success rate (pain reduction) was 75%. They also found that a successful spinal fusion takes a relatively long time (3-24 months, average 15 months) for healing and recuperation, and causes adverse effects on adjacent levels over time.
Premature degeneration at adjacent levels of the spine (Transition Syndrome) remains one of the more vexing problems in spinal surgery.

Not enough time has past to evaluate this possibilty with the artificial disc, as this type of surgery is still largely in the experimental stage.

Good luck

Kinetico

I had a spinal fusion at S1 in 2005, followed by a double disc replacement at L3/4 and L4/5 the following year. Both operations were successful in their own right, although the first operation only put extra pressure on the discs above it, resulting in my need for the second op. Subsequent MRI scans have show the second operation to have been successful, with both replacement discs sitting where they should be. I have had subsequent facet joint injections with no effect.

Unfortunately, what no one ever explained to me was that there was a condition called Chronic Pain Syndrome. A condition that affects the nervous system that causes the sufferer to feel pain even after the underlying reason may have been fixed by surgery. This condition can affect anyone and is not just limited to back pain. I have just finished a 4week residential pain management course at St Thomas’s hospital in London, during which all this was explained in some detail. The simple fact is that once your nervous system has been affect in this way, there is no cure and it becomes a permanent condition. My lower back pain has worsened over the last three years, I have not been able to work, and have experienced a slow deterioration. The prescribed treatment is controlled pain relief, exercise, relaxation and body stretching.

Obviously I guess I am one of the unlucky ones, and am only now just reading about people who have had unsuccessful surgeries, pre op everything I ready pointed to most successful outcomes. It did take a good six to nine moths to recover from both my ops, although I did return to my office job 4 months after my disc replacements. Everything was sort of OK for about 10 months, when all of a sudden just reaching to open the back door, it was as if someone had just flipped a switch and turned on a permanent and nagging lower back pain. Ever since this pain has been made worse by any prolonged walking, standing, sitting, and can be made significantly worse for days on end by the most simplest or smallest movement. I have to wear a tens machine, whenever I go out, but most of the time I am limited to staying near the home.

I am sure that this is not the type of thing that most people undergoing or have had surgery, but I wish someone had explained this condition and the risks involved pre-op.

If anyone would like to know more about this, or has had a similar experience I would like to hear from them.

Gary

Hey guys, i was also wondering about the disc replacement surgery, a while ago (before it was approved) but i can honestly tell you guys i spent over ten thousand dollars just trying to find someone that could fix me and nothing worked and nobody helped me. so i saw one of the best back surgeons in north america and he told me my only option was the spinal fusion surgery, but at 25 years old (at the time) that was a bad idea because by the time i would be 45 my bones would have crushed each other.
i finally found someone that helped me and can help you too. its a really long story and i dont know if you guys are gonna even come back to this site so im not gonna write all of it down, however if even one person wants to hear my story ill write it all down. and maybe itll help someone else the way i was helped.

Do you have legitimate information or are you here to advertise something?

If legit please post, if not WELL, there are rules to the forum. please read them.

NO, im not here advertising (now that i actually read what i wrote i can see why you would ask) I've been through all this crap so i know how most of you feel.
Anyways i was driving one day and i saw a sign that said " back pain? sciatica? guaranteed results call now!" so i called them and told them that i thought tyhey were scamming the people and that its not a joke. i told them that i had a herniated disc L5/S1 and they told me that he could help and i could try it and if i wasnt satisfied i would get all my money back.
so i went and told the guy to his face (its only one main guy) i think you are a scam artist, and he laughed and said i get that all the time. so i tried, and no kidding within 3 sessions (out of 12) i felt a complete change. This is how it works:
He teaches you why you have back problems and what you must do to avoid getting them again, the reason people have surgery and have problems again is because your not fixing the problem just addressing the symptom which takes away the pain but we are still sitting wrong and walking wrong so that puts stress on the disc so the muscles tense up to take the stress away in turn then because we continue the muscle never actually relaxes so even in a calm state a musclle imbalance would be present so, one side will always be pulling the disc eventually, pop and your back at square one.
Look guys im really not scamming or advertising, i just really wanted to know why at 25 years old i had these problems, it was because of a muscle imbalance that my left shoulder kept getting dislocated and no one knew it so they put me in rehab for my arm (which wasnt the cause of the problem) and while working out wioth the staff on a bench press by disc gave out. so this doc that a finally found after a year of different docs basically pouts you on his table face down ( not at all a chiropractor) and with all your clothes on he works on your muscles which, if your like me were so imbalanced that my whole right back muscles were stuck tensed up and my whole spine had calcium build up between the vertabrae so that nothing was working like it should. hebreaks up the calcium between the vertabrae and breaks down the muscle from its hold and everything loosens up its incredible, it takes a little time for the swelling of the nerves and stuff to go away but it does. then he teaches you with a special tool you take home, how you can keep your back muscles and spine in perfect working order all the time, so that this doesnt happen again. with this tool you can actually feel which muscle s you have been putting stress on when you do things improperly. as im sure all you know it takes 2 years approx. for the disc to heal so that it cant herniate or bulge easily after that you can bike ride and rollerblade or whatever you want (except for run that takes longer, please dont try to run) its not expensive and it really is guaranteed results, the funny thing is the sign i saw while i was driving, someone that he fixed owns the sign company and put one up a couple signs without even telling him ( i spoke to this guy so i know hes not lying) and for the same reason im posting this, its not an advertisement for him, i dont get money or credit or anything. im telling you this because i did a lot of research for many years because no one could help me and i got lucky because someone like us got lucky. forget surgery its not the reason you got into these problems that it can fix.
please reply, also because i finally wrote this im gonna post it on this other topic that this woman is also in really bad shape i think its L5/S1 surgery which is exactly what i had.
im not lying guys , this is really real.

Interesting information that you have provided, but highly questionable that it can have success in curing various spine problems.

I can't see how this kind of treatment can cure herniated discs that are being caused by spinal stenosis, narrowing of the various canal areas of the vertebrae caused by excess bone growth.

I can't see how this would cure any kind of degeneration of discs that end up causing bone on bone rubbing together.

Nor can I see how it can cure any kind of serious spinal problems.

It is true that poor posture, incorrect motions of your spine, lifting things wrong etc can be corrected with proper body mechanics, core strengthening exercises and learning how to move correctly can improve various spine problems and can help to heal a herniated disc.

But the degree of severity is an issue, as is the individual issue of the spine varies from one person to another, and to say that this treatment, what ever it is called, is going to heal various spine problems without the need for surgery, does not sound realistic at all.

It sounds far more like various chiropractic treatments that are claimed to heal any and all kinds of medical issues and are not realistic. Many times the treatment is nothing more than an expense for the patient with no real results or it makes the spine problems and other medical problems far worse than they originally where.

It's hard to really comment specifically on what you have posted, since you are the one describing a treatment that you claim to have received, but have not provided any kind of name to it.
Is there a reason that you have not provided a name to this treatment that you claim to have had?

Physical therapy can work quite well for a herniated disc, if treatment is provided in time and given a course of time to work. On the other hand, there are patients that are in far too much pain to be able to do any kind of physical therapy or even be touched by anyone to have a chance at physical therapy.

Without any idea what this, so called treatment is called or if it even has a name, there is nothing more that I can comment on or anyone else can comment about it.

Fran

Hey Fran,
i was reading up on spinal stenosis and this is what i got from wikipidea for example:
Spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc herniation, osteoporosis or a tumor. In the cervical (neck) and lumbar (low back) region it can be a congenital condition to varying degrees.
It is my personal belief (obviously im not a doctor)
that spinal stenosis could very well be caused by not taking care of ones back with strectching and proper posture and trying our best to become as lean as we can be so that our centre of gravity is where it should be and our back isnt picking up the excess weight. Now, i was also speaking to a man who is 57 years old and when he was 40 he had a herniated disc L4/L5 and then again when he was 42 same disc. he was telling me that doctors couldnt help him and he hated that even after it happened the first time he had a weak back for the 2 years between both instances and that the pain subsided buyt continued lightly as weell as the mental fear it put in him that his life was over. He is an automechanic and if you saw him work now like i have you would see that maybe its all more just how we live as oppose to a medical condition. He told me that when he decided that he was done with doctors and he stretched evry day and after a couple years he started working out (lightly) targeting his back (ab excersises will put you in the hospital faster than you know, so , dont do them) and core. it takes several years to accomplish what he did and im still under way with working out because im so scared its hard to give a little push. now with regards to what the treatment is called i really dont remember because i know he created this method and i know of at least 40 other people from ages 22 - 70 in which i had talks with at his studio,
since opening the second stage of the treatment he was operating as Saludex, if you google it you will only find the location and phone number. One thing i forget to mention and its probably a biggy is that once the pain goes away, which obviously takes time, it doesnt come back if you take care of yourself. The taking care of your back is very important to learn and is not easy but once you learn it, its like breathing because you train yourself to do it automatically. I would never say these things where i know people desperately seeking help would read them if i wasnt living proof, and im not trying to piss you off or be a smart alec,
i just really believe this and if you reallllly think about it its all symptoms from the same problem dealing with back pain. And id like to add chiropractors are the WORST doctors you could see for back pain.

Dan

Dan,

this is a copy of my post to you from the other thread that you posted on.

HI Dan,

"i was reading up on spinal stenosis and this is what i got from wikipidea for example:
Spinal stenosis is a medical condition in which the spinal canal narrows and compresses the spinal cord and nerves. This is usually due to the common occurrence of spinal degeneration that occurs with aging. It can also sometimes be caused by spinal disc herniation, osteoporosis or a tumor. In the cervical (neck) and lumbar (low back) region it can be a congenital condition to varying degrees. "

Using Wikopedia to get your medical information is not a good choice.

The errors in what they say are really scary. Osteoporosis has absolutely nothing to do with spinal stenosis. That is a loss of bone density, making the bone more brittle and more likely to fracture, especially in the spine and hip.

Instead of osteoporosis, is should read osteophytes, which are excess bone growth that grows inward into the canal that the nerves pass through in the vertebrae which narrows the cannal. This then causes the nerves to be compressed from the osteophytes or it can push the discs out causing bulging of the disc, tearing of the disc and it can force the nerves to be pushed into areas in the lateral recess area of the vertebrae where they aren't supposed to be and trap them there causing them to become compressed.
Osteophytes occur with degenerative changes in the spine that come from osteoarthritis.
As we age, ligaments in the spine "degenerate" and can become stiff and thick which can shorten the spine resulting in the potential for nerves to be compressed.

Saying that our bodies "are made to heal" is a very simplistic statement, thought and idea.

If that where true, then there would be no need for any kind of antibiotic to treat an infection, or treat any other condition that requires medications to survive, such as diabetes, seizure disorders, cancers, and many, many other diseases.

Our body can heal itself when given the right conditions, whether it be medications, surgery, exercises, etc.

But not every condition can be left alone for the body to heal.

My disc didn't heal on it's own in 12 months for many reasons and it sure wasn't because I didn't try to heal it on it's own with physical therapy, steroid injections or anything else I could have tried that would make sense.

It didn't heal because there was no place for the disc to to to return to it's proper location, and it has been leaking off and on for the past 12 months. It seals over and then leaks again.

Being that I am extremely short, under 5 feet, that creates added problems to my spine and anyone that is under 5'2" as well. those in that height range have smaller vertebrae to start with, which means narrower canal space for the spinal cord to pass through and that complicates things in the spine when one has to deal with spine issues such as spinal stenosis.
What may be no problem to someone that is taller than 5'2", is a serious problem to someone that is under that height.

I don't agree with your statement that "because nothing can actually take the pain away except for surgery in which case your only buying time. " and I don't really understand what you mean by "only buying time".

I was totally pain free for 2 years after my first surgery until the freak accident that I had.

4 months after my first surgery, I was back to work doing craft shows every weekend on my feet for 6-8 hours, bending, stooping, lifting without any problem.
that's 12 craft shows in a little over 2 months, and did that for 2 years.

After the freak accident, I had a second surgery and there was no choice with that or putting it off. When can't go around with a chipped piece of a vertebrae floating loose in your body.

After that surgery I was back to doing the same thing, until the car accident that did the disc in. Another common cause of disc bulges and herniations.

To be honest, I know so many people personally that have had various kinds of spine surgery and all have been a success and all are pain free. No one sees it as a form of buying time.

Another reason for surgery is that long term nerve compression can and will cause permanent nerve damage. Depending on the nerves compressed, it can cause a permanent life time of misery and pain. Loss of both bowel and or bladder control, inability to walk properly, foot drop and that's in the lumbar spine.

In the cervical spine, it can be even more dangerous and can lead to major total body weakness and paralysis.

There are many, many reasons for a person to have spinal surgery and a good spinal surgeon will try all conservative measures first before even discussing the subject of surgery.

Many,many causes of spine issues can be treated well with conservative measures, but not all and that is something that is important to remember.

Serious nerve issues such as cauda equina, which is loss of bowel and bladder control is an emergency situation and requires surgery within 24 hours or the loss of control can become permanent.
Inability to walk, hold your head up, move an extremity is an emergency situation as well and requires immediate surgery.
Slipping of the spine that causes spinal stenosis, bulging discs can not be healed or treated with physical therapy. The vertebrae must be stabilized for safety.

Like any other orthopedic injury, and surgery is medically considered an injury regardless of the type of spine surgery, one must continue to do exercises; core strengthening exercises on a daily basis to keep the spine strong and the muscles able to support the spine. It is also important to learn to properly move and do things, such as how to lift boxes from the ground etc. So many people don't know how to do that.

My husband broke his wrist as a teen and 40 some odd years later, he still does the exercises for that wrist several times a week. my son in his early 30's had to have his ankle reconstructed after a serious sports injury and he still does his on a daily basis. His ankle works fine, but he still does them, works well enough to have run the Boston Marathon 4 times, the New york Marathon 3 times.

I never thought you where trying to be a "smart alec" or "piss me off".

You where providing some information that helped you and wanted to offer it to others. I just wish that you had given far more information on what you are talking about so that we could understand what it is and how it works.

I personally do have faith in my doctors, all that I use, but it has been many years of a process to seek out the best doctors I can find to treat myself, my husband and my children, when they where young. My kids are in their early 30's and mid 20's now.

What they have learned though, from me, is to always question their doctors to explain everything to them. Remember that it is their body and if the doctor wants them to take some medication, or test, they better explain why and how the meds work and do so in language that is simple to understand.
I've also taught them that the doctor works for them and to never forget it. If the doctor won't answer the questions, won't explain things, gets upset at all the questions, it's time to go to a different doctor. No more blanket "yes doctor, whatever you say doctor" stuff.

It really would be good if you could provide more information about the treatment you had, a name or something.

I do agree with you on the subject of chiropractors. I can't even begin to count the number of people I personally know that have suffered serious problems from seeing a chiropractor. Spines made worse that required surgery and would have been fine if they had been properly treated, 2 women that suffered miscarriages within an hour of so called chiropractic adjustments, and I've read about severe complications from having cervical spine adjustments that resulted in death.

I'd add to the list of the worst things can can do is seek treatment at any one of the laser spine facilities that are popping up all over the country. Another scam treatment that is leaving more and more people financially destitute and still suffering in pain, many times worse pain after having one of their so called "spine procedures."

Fran

I had a ADR in c5-c6 on a clinical trial from Dr. Goldstein in NYC. I'm so glad I did, I had a friend who had a fusion at the same time. A year latter, he had to do another because of others bad disks. I have two other bad disks that are holding fine becase of the ADR.
Oh yeah, chiropractors made me worse!!