bertolotti syndrome

Hi there

I have just been diagnosed with Bertolottis syndrome and surgery has been recommended. Has anyone had surgery for this?

How can I find out exactly what Bertolottis syndrome is? I cant seem to find anything online in regards to this... It sounds like me but what type of doctor do I see for this diagnosis and where on the internet is good information or description of this problem? Thanks

chastity

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I had an x-ray done just over a year ago now, as I was suffering with lower back pain which I thought was more to do with my hips as the pain seemed to sweep round to the sides of my back.

The xray result came back with "Both hips appear normal. Both S.I. joints also appear normal. There is a transitional vertebra at the lumbosacral region with makes pseudoarthrosis on both sides with its transverse processes."

I didn't have a clue what any of this meant and started to google some of the terminology given and I do believe that I may now have Bertolotti's syndrome. I was pretty much just handling the pain with pain killers and anti-inflammatories for the last year, but just this week I have had a real bad time with the pain. I therefore, went to see my GP and he just suggested stronger pain killers. I am due to see an orthopedic GP next week and I may raise my self diagnosis of Bertolotti's syndrome with him to see if he agrees with me.

I was just wondering though if any of you guys also thought my diagnosis was right?

Thanks
Tracy :-)

I'm 47 and have been diagnosed with Bertolotti's as well, after one year of total hell. I started having hip and butt pain about 10 years ago. Told doctors many times. Had my hip X-rayed, as well as my kidneys. Turned out negative. Went on with my life and learned to live with the occasional pain, which was on and off. Last year, I had to do intense lifting for 6 months at work. I started to have more hip and butt pain, a bit of limping after getting up from sitting.

After a few months, I had problems falling asleep. Changed mattress, no improvement. Every bed was fine for the first 5 or 10 minutes, and then it got painful to the point I had to take sleeping pills to get some sleep. Then, after another hard day at work, I found out I couldn't sleep at all the next morning. It's been a year that I can't sit, nor work.

Bending, standing still, lifting and sitting bring instant worst pain. Right foot and calf is numb most of the time. Reports says: two bulging discs (L3-L4 and L4-L5) along with lumbosacral scoliosis, associated with a unilateral anomaly of segmentation of the left side of L5, with partial sacralization and an abnormal joint with the sacrum. I've tried PT, massage, chiro and accupuncture, nothing works. Traveling, either lying down on the back seat of a car (I can't drive anymore, as I can't sit for more than 15 seconds) or standing on a bus are the worst things to trigger pain.

Considering surgery, would like the advice of somebody who's been there.

I have the same as everyone on here and sadly it has taken away alot of things i used to do in my life i took for granted. I am 37 and i have started with pain since i was in my early 20's. My nightmare was going in a wheelchair well i am there now it isn't so bad i just wish people wouldnt try with all their might not to look at you. I can't feel my toes and part of my feet? And my hands are losing their strength? I am getting scared and trying daily to get a appointment to see my doctor but he over books and isnt seeing patients until Feb, 2012.Not easy finding new doctors in this smaller city in Canada, alot of people have to go to walk in clinics.

I am tired of pain like all of you are...i am instructed not to get out of bed or the couch because of all of the falls out of nowhere i get?? This sure is a boring way to live. I'd give anything for my life back  and i know all of you would too life is meant to be enjoyed. Let us keep our heads up it ;-)

 

 

I am a black woman in my early 40's. I was always a active person who loved to garden and workout, but i have had lower back issues mostly on my right hip growing up. But the last 2 to 3 years I have had substantial pain on my lower back hip area. I have been to every conceivable doctor, have tried accupunture and even water therapy. That was so bad I ended up in the hospital for 4 days. The more I would stretch and tried to exercise the worst it got. Been to a chiropractor and even to a pain doctor,more and more meds. I was told that I had somthing called a false fusion.Didn't make much sense to me. But finally a friend referred me to a spinal doctor in Omaha NE. Today they finally explained what was wrong and in simple terms. Bertolotti's syndrome is simply put, we were born with an extra joint on one or both sides of our hips. When we move alot it causes more pain since we don't have alot of space to move around because of the extra joint.Before I too received injections I would take a 800mg tablet of Ibuphrofen and where a Flector patch or medically called Diclofenac. The two would work great together but I got tired of always having to wear a patch and take so much medicine because I would have to change the patch twice a day and take up to 3 pills a day to stay on top of the pain. Then I tried the injections they were very shot lived. As soon as I would try to exercise the pain would come right back. Than I would have to result to taking Hydrocodone to get me back on top so than I could go back down to my patch and Ibruprofen. The doctor mentioned removing part or all of the extra joint, but he said there wasn't much success with that. He also mentioned fusing and he said they had better success with that surgery. I don't think I want that because it would just create another type of pain. So I am interested in what this surgery that this young physician is talking about but I would like for her to explain more about it and what it is all about. Because this not the life for anyone and we were not created to want to live a life like this. Thankfully the Bible talks about a time when all this pain and illness will be a thing of the past. Revelation 21;3,4 Read and you will thoroughly enjoy. There is much more scriptures to validate that one if anyone would like more info.

I had an xray for midback because the area where your spine would "bend" when you slouch forward, would hurt from sitting all day. I also have LOTS of upper back issues, chronic myofacial pain, knots, neck pain. I do have the sciatic act up now and then, but I could control that pain, well had the xray and turns out the sacrum is fused on on one side to my spine, after googling, I cam up with Bertolotti's, no diagnosis as of yet, my PCP is speaking with a spine specialist to see if we need to do anything (especially since I don't have much LOWER back pain) But my question for everyone is:  Does anyone has a fused sacrum to the spine, and has had UPPER back & neck pain??    could this make my upper body overcompensate for the lower bodies issues? 

Hi, I am not sure about the lower back of mine except my l5 and l5 has completly turned to bone, no disk or liqud to support that part of the spine it just dried up? I have 2 hernied disc's also and upper back pain and a very sore neck. I have been waiting to see a neuroligist 10 months now, who knows what other damage they will find with the next mri and bone screening test, i have no feeling in my toes and now recently the pads of my feet by my toes..last but not least my arms and hands have weakened so much i can barely hold a cup of cocoa, geez i am just 37 i had to go in a wheelchair my walking and the pain was just so extreme..Jace

Just diagnosed w/Bertolotti's and I've never heard of this. I've had severe back problems for the last 14 years. I've done everything under the sun and nothing has worked. I had surgery last summer to remove bone spurs irritating the sciatic nerve, and that didn't work. I've been on pain meds for years - Tramadol, and recently added Cymbalta. The combination of these 2 meds has helped, but I don't want to take this for the rest of my life. Does anybody have any ideas or suggestions???

Hi, I was dx'ed with the same and it is very painful to say the least..Any doctor here in Canada has not been helpful at all but put me in a wheelchair and say they hope i can handle the pain??? We have been saving to go to a clinic in the States not terribly far from from fargo.north dakoda.. I am sorry i have epilepsy and the high dosage of medication messes up my shoty term memory, better then bad seizures i guess. Last Mri i had i had 2 slipped discs abd the fluid that the bones sit on with the discs are drying up and turning to bone and i am due for a bone scan and another mri. In this city of almost a million people now and so many with problems you can wait up to 3 years to see a neuroligist. My toes are numb and have been for months and now the pads of my feet are very numb i can't walk well without holding onto stuff. There isn't a soul to yalk to here and i am so scared:(
I will br 38 years old coming this June and married with 2 kids, my daughter 15 at home feels she has to be a slave and i hate it, the same with my hubby. I have been having weird falls that come out of no where for 2 years and have broken my arms twice and numerous bruises and huge bumps. Onre or two doctors said it was Bertolotti's which i never heard of either when i went to get my cast on and they were specialists.. I just want the pain under control but no doctor will give pain medication because of all i am taking for the epilepsy, it never ends..so i rarely sleep, maybe the most 4 hours a day. I wish with all my heart Mary Cat i could help you out i sincerely do, i will pass your question on to my family doc as he is pretty smart just not in my complicated case as he calls it, please take care..Jace

My daughter had this and she had the bone resected. she is doing great now

Hi there, I have recently been diagnosed with bertolotti. I'm 40 and have suffered with lower back pain sine I was a teenager but thought it was a sports injury. I have had issues with my neck and shoulders for probably 10-15 yrs now. I don't know if two are connected but it's definitely an intersting thought. My pain has been unbearable since first of the year when I joined the YMCA. I was trying to do something good and now have diffiiculty walking, laying and sitting. For the last two days I have been I have been in constant pain. I had a steroid shot done today and I'm praying for relief!! If this doesn't work next step is Ortho consult. I have a 6 yr old I can't live like this. If u find out if e two might be connected I would love to know and I'll do the same nothing would surprise me. I'm just starting to research this syndrome and I'm soo happy I found this site. I need to find a dr that is an expert in this. Good luck!

I was diagnosed with bertolotti's syndrome when I was 18 and had surgery to get some of the bone removed in 2010. For about a year my back felt completely better, I was even able to run half a marathon! But after a year and a half from the surgery date, my pain has been progressively getting worse. This night has been the worst yet, I'm trying to go to sleep but the pain is going down to my left leg in any position I lay. My surgeon suggested anesthetic/steroid injections but after reading some of other peoples posts it doesn't sound like it will help much. I pray for all of us in pain that someone will find a way to cure this strange syndrome.

Really pleased for you Katarina. I've got an extra Bertolotti joint and I wonder if this could be the cause of my back pain of 13 years. I have just had to have surgery on my spine after 4 months of severe worsening sciatica, to the extent where I could no longer walk. I have had a discectomy and lumbar decompression only two weeks ago. However after waking up to no pain it has started to come back. I've been told to stop my exercises and walking completely for a week.

Did your pain go gradually over a period or quite quickly and what are you like now?

I was diagnosed with this in 2008. I had a spincal fusion to correct it Feb of 2009. I have 4 screws, 2 rods and cadaver bone in my spine. My fusion did not work. I am still in constant and if not worse pain. My bone did not fuse to the cadaver bone and my screws are coming loose. I am onlu 18 years old and am schedued for my next fusion this winter. This is a terrible thing to suffer from and  not many doctors know about it. a chiropractor found that i had an L6 vertabra attatched to my sacrum. They said the bones above my fusion will eventually develop Degenerative disk disease and that i will have to get rods to hold my spind in alignment when they degenerate. I regret this surgery and do not reccomend it. I have had steroid shots, numbing shots, numbing patches, narcotics, muscle relaxers, physical therapy and anything else you can think of. I barley sleep because if i lay to long in one poeition i hurt. I constantly hurt. the one think that i have found that relieves some of my pain is a heating pad. If anyone has other suggestions please let me know