[Maria]

Hi Jimmy,
Sorry you had bad results w/chymopapaine. I had a friend who injured her back when I did and she had this and was pain free, went on to have several children with her first one not even creating any labor pains except some backache when she had to go into the hospital for delivery! I had wanted this treatment but was advised against it because I was told that an overzealous treatment could destroy more than the part of the disc it was intended to treat. As it stands that's sort of what happened w/a percutaneous discectomy I had on L4 a while after my open discectomy on L5S1. I too was taking Gabapentin for 12 years for neuropathies and pain medication for the last 10 though largely untreated w/medications for many years both before,during and after surgeries.

What I wanted to say however is that it's quite possible you have MS and you have other problems with your spine. How was the MS diagnosed? Like Mark I wasn't sure if you meant that is still your diagnosis and/or you were misdiagnosed and/or you have that and additional spinal/hip probs. Which type of MS have you been diagnosed with?

Perhaps there's other levels that can be helped by further treatment/intervention surgical or non so it's best to do what you're doing which is seeking opinions and then deciding on what seems most appropriate for your clinical picture.

Good luck w/this. I have a friend who has the progressive relapsing form of MS and has had demylinazation (sp)on his left side grossly noted in left lower extremity/leg/foot now and near inability to walk. Because of the changes structurally his gait has been affected for many years now and has caused back and hip problems as well.

He was misdiagnosed at first as only having disc problems in his neck where his sympotms first began (and affected his left arm re weakness) and for about 5 years continued to be misdiagnosed. I believe he was properly diagnosed about 13 years ago although currently he's in the process of needing to have his back pain treated as well.

Good that you found this forum and Mark who hopefully can help you figure out with whom you may want to further consult.