Degenerative Arthritis Thoracic And Lumbar Spine

[Guest jstacy]

I saw a Private doctor yesterday and I hasked him if My degnerative Arthritis of the L spine and T spine is assoiciated with the Cerviical spine. He said that cervical arthritis can spread like a disease to the other spinal areas.

I am SC for the Neck and I intend to file a claim,But I want to wait until the other claims are finished.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to proceed, I have all the documentation ( Xrays and ECT

Has anyone been SC fo both issues?

Thanks

Edited March 21, 2006 by jstacy

[10thFO]

What would be best for you to do is get that Doctor to write a statement saying what he told you. I've got a Dr. whom has stated that my C-Spine injuries are related to my Lumbar injuries, as the arthritis is showing the same age on the X-Rays, MRI. I have service connection for the Lumbar and was denied the cervical a couple years ago. Am waiting on some stuff myself before I file to reconsider the C-spine.

You will need to check though and get the Dr. to write it up in VA speak. If he doesn't say something like "injury to Lumbar spine is caused by trauma of the Cervical spine or something to that sort the VA will have an easier time throwing it out. But if the statement says that it is due to or agravated by the cervical spine, I would think it helps much more.

[david walker]

I am connected for both, but my L & C spine were injured at the same time in a accident on AD. I don't see why you would have a problem getting a doc to connect. It only makes sense if a disk is injured the others have to work harder to compensate for the bad disk. What were the ECT results?

[Guest jstacy]

David it started out as Spurring and Disk herniations of several T and L spine vertabrate. Now there is spinal stenosis in 3 areas. One is between the shoulder blades and tother 2 are lower. The doc said these would be classified as severe and told me not to lift over 5 pounds or make any sudden movements. He also said a 41 year old should not have a Neck and Back this bad. He also asked me what happened to me that caused these problems.

He referred me to a different Neurologist. I will seee him next month.

[david walker]

I don't think the VA takes DDD as serious as they should. There's alot more to it than how far you can turn. It causes alot of other problems, besides the pain and limited movement.

[john999]

DDD has put many a worker on disability and limited many lives. The thing is there is no cure unless they can come up with a spine transplant.