What is cervical mylopathy is it curable?

Answer 1

My "April Fools Day" gift in 2006, as waking up in the am numb from the waist down. A trip to Emerg, and seeing several Neurologistsover several months, ct scans, x-rays, emg's and numerous MRI's concluded two things.

1 - I am inconclusive to MS ( i do have dimelianation of the spinal cord and "marks" on my brain, and

2- I have severe cervical mylopathy in the c2-3, 3-4, 45, and 5-6 areas of my spinal cord with moderate to severe cord signal change.

Cervial Mylopathy is central disc herniations compress the spinal cord, in any / all of the following : c1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-7. It isn't easy to diagnose, and usually this conclusion is reached when nothing else seems to fit . I was tested for several things, including but not limited to the following:

Ametrophic Lateral Sclerosis - more commonly known as ALS ( Lou Gehrigs Disease ) - negative

Transverse Myelitis - negative

Guillian Barre Syndrome - negative

Multiple Sclerosis - inconclusive - I do show dimyelination of the spinal cord and marks on my brain indicative of MS

and even far - out tests for Peripheral Neuropathy, Lyme Disease, and even certain types of Cancers.

It can be multilevel or only on one or two levels. I was diagnosed with C.M two years ago when I woke up numb from the waist down, and in both hands and arms. Each time I would move (or jerk) my head suddenly, I got the "pins and needles" sensations worse than they were in the first place.

My feet felt hot - like they were packed in dry ice, yet numb and unable to bear any weight at all as I couldn't hold myself up. The pins and needles sensation lasted 24 hours per day 7 days a week. I had an unsteady gait when I did walk short distances, and most often either fell or ended up walking sideways on my feet cause I couldn't feel or find the bottoms of them ! (Unless I looked)

I ended up in a power wheelchair and last April ( 2007) finally had a multi - level cervical fusion done. The surgeon deemed the surgery a success - and for 6 weeks, it was!! I could feel my feet ands and arms and the numbness and tingling were totally gone!! More importantly, even though I was very weak, I could once again walk!

This lasted for 6 weeks and now I am in the same boat lol. (Numb hands, arms feel and legs - welcome back pins n needles - that awful "everything is asleep feeling ALL the time now) However, now they are looking at my secondary diagnosis, Multiple Sclerosis, even though they insist their original diagnosis several months after onset (from April 01 - 2006 to February - 2007 I went daily not knowing what was wrong with me) was correct.

So,is it curable? Your surgeon may say so, but as someone who has lived with it now going onto 2 1/2 years, and following a multi - level cervical fusion, I say it isn't.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but this is my personal opinion as one who lives with it daily.

PS: i was 43 when diagnosed - am 45 1/2 (Female) now.

Good luck to you in whats going to be a rough journey.