Fellow Spineys,
I am right there with all of you with Degenerative Disc Disease and the chronic pain and limited lifestyle that goes with it. I have five herniated and degenerated due to an injury I received while on active duty in the Air Force in 2003 and 2005. I just recently got out of the service ( 28 Aug 2009) and I have been in since March of 2002. I wanted to make it a career. I am 28 now and I was only 25 when I received the MRI while home on leave, and got the great news. Since then it has been daily chronic pain.
That was just a little bit about me. Now on to a brighter topic.

We all know that there is not a cure for herniated and degenerated discs to date, but that does not mean that medical science is not advancing at an unprecedented rate and that there will not be one in the future. Too many times I have been told to stay away from surgery. That surgery is more times than not ineffective and always causes advanced degeneration through the rest of the spine. Because I am so young (28), have so many levels of herniation and degeneration, I have been down so many routes with alternative, conservative therapies to no avail, I have been told by doctors to continue the conservative therapies and pain meds and to deal with the pain until I cannot bear it anymore and then get surgery. Although it is bad, and at time, excruciating, overall it is bearable. I will bear it. Especially if something is right around the corner. I know this is not everyone of you so please if you need surgery get it! Most importantly listen to yourself and your doctor. Surgery is permanent and final. If I have anything to say about it I will hold off on as long as I can as there are very promising technologies just on the horizon. My plan with this blog page is to post links and some information periodically on some interesting things I have found throughout my internet searches. My goal is to provide hope both to myself and to bring that hope to you. If any of you find an article of interest please post it here on this blog. This blog is to bring hope to me too!

EDITED
This article (above link) is what inspired me to get back onto spine health and to start posting again. EDITED, an Australian company has been doing research in regenerating intervertebral disc cartilage. On September 10, 2009 they announced “A single low-dose injection of EDITED's allogeneic or "off-the-shelf' adult stem cells into severely damaged intervertebral discs resulted in dramatic reversal of the degenerative process, regrowth of disc cartilage, and sustained normalization of disc pathology, anatomy and function.” Very inspiring news. I have this company (EDITED) bookmarked as they are one of the only companies doing research into regenerating spinal discs instead of replacing them and has made substantial progress.

EDITED
Another company (EDITED - above link) has recently reported success on Intervertebral disc regeneration.
This is a company who although is not as far along as EDITED in their research, they are an American company. So for you Patriots like me rooting for the red white and blue this is the company. Even though I am rooting for an American company to be the first in finding a cure for degenerative disc disease and herniations I really dont care where it comes from as long as it is effective, is long lasting and it comes soon! I will post more info on stuff I find periodically on this blog as I find it.

Links and institution names removed by forum Authority Cath111. We do not permit publishing links or specific institutions. If anyone wishes to receive this information from the poster, please do it via private PM.