Question
I'm just giving you the bad's from the tech. i hope you can help me understand. There is a disc degeneration, a diffuse bulging annulus, and facet arthropathy at L5-S-1. There is a pars defect at L5 bilaterally.                                                c-spine There is a small central disc protrusion at C4-5 There is mild narrowing of the CSF space anterior to the cord at the level of the disc protrusion. An incidental note is made of increased T1 and T2 signal in the right side of the T2 vertebral body. This may represent a benign hemangioma. Decreased T2 signal in the posterior aspect of the spinal canal at T3 level may represent calcification of the ligament flavum or degenerative change of the facet joint. He/she advises an MRI of my thoracic spine. My Dr. won't do the thoracic spine, she wants me to do only physical therapy.                                                    I can't sit, stand, lay on my belly.......I'm scared shooting pain all the time I've been in car wrecks, always been athletic(no more ,I have trouble getting up the stairs.I feel as though my hip is going to fall out,I think it's made my knee hurt. I had major brain surgery in 2001 for 2 aneurysms, now a grand mal epileptic. Sorry about past history I'm afraid of the hemangioma being another sack of blood ready to burst. Please focus on what the MRI tech report. If you can help me with any advice or even tell me the meaning of these things I'm totally indebted to you !!! THANK YOU MORE THAN I CAN SAY,Jean

Answer
Whew.  This is a lot to answer.  First, let's translate some terms.

DISC DEGENERATION - This is the process that discs decay by.  They dehydrate and don't cushion as well.
FACET ARTHROPATHY-  This is a fancy way of saying arthritis.
PARS DEFECT - The pars connects the pointy parts of the bone to the body of the vertebra.  I think pars actually means bridge in Latin, in fact.
HEMANGIOMAS - Are benign blood tumors that I frankly wouldn't worry about. They don't burst, so don't worry.  My mother had an aneurysm, the surgery and had hemangiomas, I told her the same thing.

The thoracic spine is different than the rest of the spine in that it is really well stabilized by the ribs.  Based on your symptoms, it sounds like most of your troubles are in the low back.  Have you ben to a DC to see what they can do?  We see lumbar disc and cvical disc issues ALL THE TIME!  You can read a lot about discs if you go to my website, www.dynamicclinic.com, under the articles section.  

My advice: Stick to the two scans you have; it sounds like your doc is looking out for you, and go see a chiropractor.  Hope this aqnswer helps!

Dr. Peter Carr