www.incontinentsupport.org

Found out through a MRI that there is some severe artheritis in my back and they put me on flowmax? not too sure what thats supposed to do but ill try it

I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis. That sucks, because it doesn't get any better, just worse, if it's anything like what I have. I don't know anything about Flowmax though, I'm on Celebrex for my arthritis.

The problem with it is it will cause what they call "spurs" on the back of your spine, and they will eventually begin to cause you pain as they close up the space between the vertebra and begin to pinch nerves and narrow the space around the spinal cord and put pressure on it as well. I think that's called spinal stenosis when it narrows the spinal canal area.

anyway, I'm glad you found out about it before you started to have problems with it, or did you?

Rick C.

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Some people say I have drain bamage because I'm always getting my mords wixed up! But you know dislexics are teople poo!!
And one day when I stop hurting I'll feel better too!

yea as soon as i started having problems i saw the doc and .... thats what they found. Are you sure it wont get any better?

mohawkedone,


Flowmax is a med used for over active bladder and as such, will do nothing for your back problem.

Which disc(s) are being effected in your back with arthritis?

Your post said you have "severe" artritis,... but you didn't mention any other med other than Flowmax. Is Flowmax the only med your doc is prescribing?

If I understood your post correctly, you said you never had any back problems until now?

Do you now, or have you had any problems with your bladder?

Your post about the arthritis in your spine and the use of Flowmax raises many questions. Kinda like saying the doc told me I broke my leg but put a cast on my arm. That doesn't make much sense and having arthritis in your back and being prescribed Flowmax for a spinal arthritis doesn't either.

Give us some more information and maybe we can offer you some good advice.

John

my problem is in l4-5 l5s1 . thats where the artheritis is very prominent and for that they have me taking vicoden to relive the pain but when my back started acting up was when I started having accidents so they sent me to the uroligist and he thinks i am not emptying my bladder enough so he wanted me to try thr flomax and see if that helped . so far it hasent done much I still have accidents and it is frustrating

mohawkedone,

Now your post is beginning to make some sense. In short, I had a spinal injury that did nerve damage to L5/S1 and that is how I became bladder incontinent. In addition my bladder problem, I also had spinal pain issues and was not able to walk on my left foot following the injury so I had spinal surgery (discetomy) to relieve the pressure on the nerves the disc was causing.

From what you've described, you have two very different medical issues going on here. One is spinal,.... and the other is your bladder. I'm surprised you doc did not prescribe Ibuprofen as one of your meds. This is a VERY GOOD med for arthritis.

In case you don't already know,........ spinal arthritis = degenerative disc disease,.... AKA (DDD). From what I've been told,...DDD is most common in ppl 35 years of age and older. You should get a copy of the MRI report for youself. I would be most interested to know if the report says anything about a bulging disc, or disc(s).

The use of the word "severe" would indicate that you have a lot more going on with L4/L5 than what you have described. Vicoden wold offer some pain relief,.... but would probably NOT be used as a med for "severe" pain,...... and NOT being prescribed Ibuprofen for "severe" spianl arthritis doesn't make any sense to me. That should be an automatic if you have spinal arthritis.

There are so many different things that could be going on in your situation. Right now, all you can do is continue with medical evaluations to pin point the cause of all the problems and issues.

In my situation, I went for several years with back pain that would come and go, but bladder incontinence was not one of those things that every went away. Eventually, I developed DDD in L4/L5 & L5/S1. L5/S1 is the site where I had surgery, and having developed DDD in the same location caused more problems. I started loosing control of my bowels, so now I'm both bowel, and bladder incontinent. A few weeks ago, I had two MRI's done and the spinal MRI showed bulging disc at L5/S1. I'm hopeful I can avoid back surgery for a while, but when you have two bulging discs eventually it will lead to a herniated disc,.....and when you already have bulging disc it's usually just a matter of time before one of the disc's becomes herniated leading to spinal fusion.

As far as my incontinence goes....it was caused by nerve damage so nothing can be done to restore the nerves. The good news is there is no pain being incontinent.....only the cost, hassle, and use of diapers.

In sum, you have two very different medical issues going on here and evaluation and treatment will be separate for each issue and will take a little time for the doc(s) to sort it all out.

Hope this helps.

John

Greetings everyone. Whenever I go to the doc's office for a check up, I take along an extra pair of the men's briefs and change into them when the visit is concluded. (that is, if the doc needs to see me completely nude, which isn't all that often.) He understands, and so does his office staff. I'm sure they must see lots of patients wearing protection. It's no big thing to them.

Incontinence is not uncommon so medical professionals see this type of thing all the time. For over 20 years, I've had all kinds of medical medical tests preformed and countless visits with the doc's and I always wore a disposable diaper. I would venture to say probably more than half the time I was wet during the medical procedure or visit. No big deal......

The doc just put me on naproxen for the artheritis and suggested I use some sort of protection for my inco problems

Mohawkedone,

Your post is interesting. There must be more to your situation than what you've described. Spinal arthritis (degenerative disc disease) can only cause incontinence if you have some type of a nerve issue within the spinal canal. If you have some type of nerve issue within the canal, I know your doc would be prescribing more than naproxen. Simply stated, if you don't have a spinal canal issue your spinal arthritis and incontinence are not directly related. As such, you would have two separate health problems.