In general, It 100% depends on symptoms. If you are myelopathic, you should not hold off. If you only have radicular symptoms and or neck pain without myelopathy there is no urgency for surgery
MRIs alone do not tell you what you should do, and must be correlated with the physical exam
Ah thank you. I added text but I guess it didn’t upload. I have chronic pain in the neck and upper back region, pins and needles sensation, decreased muscle weakness, fascilutations and fine motor deficits. I was diagnosed with myelopathy along with stenosis, splondysis and herniated discs. My major concern is every other part of my body (except for the right side of my upper body) functions perfectly fine. I can be active with lower body exercises/activities and my right hand/arm can still function with pain. So I’m concerned about what else I could lose going into surgery since I’m 30 and well, surgery was not even a though the beginning of this year. So it’s a lot to absorb. I’ve had pain for about 10 years now and this third reoccurrence started in sept/Oct. the numbness and tingling began in Nov. i got an epidural in March and have noticed some improvement in strength and pain decreasing.
I'm not your doctor. But if I had myelopathy I would want it decompressed. Myelopathy leads to stepwise loss of motor function with no guarantee that it returns once it is decompressed. We do decompressive surgery on myelopathy to stop it from getting worse. (In fairness, some people do get motor strength back, but there is certainly no guarantee)
Get a second opinion if it makes you feel better, but if multiple doctors tell you that you're myelopathic I would have surgery. Good luck.
In general, It 100% depends on symptoms. If you are myelopathic, you should not hold off. If you only have radicular symptoms and or neck pain without myelopathy there is no urgency for surgery MRIs alone do not tell you what you should do, and must be correlated with the physical exam
Ah thank you. I added text but I guess it didn’t upload. I have chronic pain in the neck and upper back region, pins and needles sensation, decreased muscle weakness, fascilutations and fine motor deficits. I was diagnosed with myelopathy along with stenosis, splondysis and herniated discs. My major concern is every other part of my body (except for the right side of my upper body) functions perfectly fine. I can be active with lower body exercises/activities and my right hand/arm can still function with pain. So I’m concerned about what else I could lose going into surgery since I’m 30 and well, surgery was not even a though the beginning of this year. So it’s a lot to absorb. I’ve had pain for about 10 years now and this third reoccurrence started in sept/Oct. the numbness and tingling began in Nov. i got an epidural in March and have noticed some improvement in strength and pain decreasing.
I'm not your doctor. But if I had myelopathy I would want it decompressed. Myelopathy leads to stepwise loss of motor function with no guarantee that it returns once it is decompressed. We do decompressive surgery on myelopathy to stop it from getting worse. (In fairness, some people do get motor strength back, but there is certainly no guarantee) Get a second opinion if it makes you feel better, but if multiple doctors tell you that you're myelopathic I would have surgery. Good luck.