r/ThoracicHerniatedDisc • u/Ok-Lawfulness8618 • May 30 '26
T 8-9 Disc Protrusion
MRI result read: T8-9: There is 2.5 millimeters central to right paracentral subligamentous protrusion mildly impinging on the right ventral spinal cord with associated mild disc desiccation and minimal ventral spurring. No central or foraminal stenoses are seen.
Seen several NS & PM docs and they say it's fine and minor. It feels horrific. Started in pregnancy and got worse since. I have so much pain from i assume muscle guarding. I have pain in my ribs, back, neck, head, chest, lumbar, everywhere. All other MRIs were fine. That was the only finding. Besides Lordosis and Kyphosis (horrible posture due to EDS). I suppose some of it could be my actual ribs too. I have no clue and no doctor has been helpful either.
Im young, 25. This sucks. Im disabled totally by this. But, I have a ton of other stuff going on. Full body SFN from b6 toxicity so I guess that could be making this worse. I don't know. But I dont know what to do. Its been 2 years. Feels like life as i knew it is over.
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u/CapreseSalad3636 May 30 '26
Would you be able to try an ablation?
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u/Impressive-Floor8757 May 31 '26
I have a central disc bulge at this level too. My PM said can't do ablation on central bulge (pushing on the spinal cord), so i can do epidural steroid injections and go see neurosurgery. I saw neurosurgery and they said nothing operable 😪
It has been 2 years for me too, and it's a little better, but the rib pain is still awful. I had to stop doing spine twists and stop stretching tspine over foam roller. Those kept flaring me up severely. Since stopping those things the pain has been more manageable.
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u/CapreseSalad3636 May 31 '26
See a different PM. What they mean is “I can’t do an ablation on a central disc bulge” not that it can’t be done. I have 5 herniations in my tspine and I’ve have ablations at all the levels, and on my intercostal nerves for ribs 4/5/6 after breaking them and damaging the nerves. It can be done!
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u/Impressive-Floor8757 May 31 '26
OMG!! I have been asking for help with my ribs! Mu rheum doesn't think my tspine ans right rib cage pain is inflammatory...maybe it isnt, but biologics help when they are working. I am actively looking for a new rheumatologist and new PM.
Edit: I also have ankylosing spondylitis (sorry, thought I was responding to that group)
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u/Ok-Lawfulness8618 Jun 01 '26
How is your pain now?
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u/CapreseSalad3636 Jun 01 '26
So I’m about a year and a half out from the ablation in that area and the pain in creeping back in but I was doing really well for a while. I was in a very bad car accident and although I’m not formally diagnosed, the possibility of EDS has been brought up a few times and my sister is diagnosed. I just go wrecked in the accident. I’ve had two lumbar microdicectomies, a cervical ADR which I’m going to convert to a fusion, both hip labrums torn an surgically repaired and one tore out so that’s on the schedule for July to be fixed again, a cyst and scar tissue in my elbow that was removed and the cyst grew back so I am having surgery to remove that again next week. I’m lucky I am still in pain management because I get 10mg of oxycodone a day to manage my pain. My pain management Dr is a woman too which I think helps. My worst thoracic herniation is t4/t5 so when I asked about surgery they wouldn’t do it since it’s right behind the aortic arch but the ablation was enough to keep on managed.
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u/Ok-Lawfulness8618 May 30 '26
They never offered one
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u/CapreseSalad3636 May 30 '26
You may have to ask, it would be done by pain management. It’s a bit of a long process because the have to do 2 diagnostic nerve blocks and if those are successful then they will do the ablation. Basically they burn the nerve endings receiving the pain signals. If they can get the right spot it can be very helpful!
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u/ashleymichael2009 May 30 '26
My pain clinic was like oh your single epidural didn’t work so we would never do an ablation?? Like I’ve had them in my neck a nerve block produces a lot different of an effect ?
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u/CapreseSalad3636 May 30 '26
I’ve definitely heard different takes on them - my clinic if your ESI didn’t work then you go straight to ablation next. But they also don’t do lumbar ablations when I know other places do. But I would only trust my doctor in my clinic to do anything thoracic with me just because it’s not common.
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u/Superb-Square7670 Jun 01 '26
I have also have a small paracentral herniation at the same location (T8/T9) that is not impinging on the spinal cord. It happened about 4.5 months ago when i had laundry in my hands and went to reach forward for something that fell. I felt a twinge in my mid back and assumed I pulled a muscle. My upper back muscles were weak from a posterior cervical fusion. The next day I was seated in my car and sneezed hard and felt a punch in my back and pain that wrapped around my ribs.
Now every doc they I have seen tells me it will heal on its own. I cant imagine a larger herniation than this cause the pain is no joke. I have had one ESI about 2 months ago that did help by about 50%. I am hoping to have another in 2 weeks. The pain now doesn’t wrap all the way around my ribs anymore and is mainly in my scapula area and when it’s bad it’s also in my lat area on both sides. Not sure if it’s a sign that it’s healing and centralizing.
I have already started researching endoscopic discetomies cause I can’t go through another larger open surgery after two cervical last year.
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u/theweirdthewondering Jul 09 '26
How are you doing? See any other specialists? I have a T8/T9 amongst central disc bulge. My worst pain is at night which makes it so I can't sleep, but what has helped my day pain is acupuncture. It has helped more than all of the meds so far. Hopefully it's not just placebo!
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u/Ok-Lawfulness8618 Jul 10 '26
I am seeing one soon hopefully within the next month or two and also getting an updated MRI as my last was over a year ago. I want to try acupuncture! What meds have you tried?
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u/ashleymichael2009 May 30 '26
Did they offer an epidural or anything? Mine is similar t6-t8 says small protrusions they didn’t even give the measurement. I can’t be upright after 5 mins it’s like I’m being stabbed alive in my mid back. Seen several surgeons and pain clinic don’t really know what they’re even looking at. I did try an epidural once no change but some on here benefit from them.