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I have two bulging disks that are significantly pressing on my spinal cord in my neck, and they're suspecting MS because even though the disk problem is significant enough that I've been recommended to have surgery, those disk problems don't begin to account for all of my symptoms.

So my neurosurgeon wants me to be evaluated for MS before he proceeds with surgery, even though he says the surgery is definitely needed either way.

My question is, if I do have MS, do MS symptoms tend to worsen if you have any kind of major surgery? If the MS symptoms do often worsen with surgery, in what ways do they generally worsen?

Also, does having MS tend to make it more difficult to recover from surgery in any way? If so, how?

How about for more minor procedures - for example, even though it's not really surgery, I'm scheduled for a colonoscopy in a couple of months. Is there any risk of symptoms getting worse with that type of procedure?

I'm not at all assuming that I have MS (I have my first neurologist appointment next week) but at the same time I need to factor in at least the possibility of my having MS into the other stuff I'm trying to do.

Surgical inflammation: a pathophysiological rainbow
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2667492/

Postshock Intervention With High-Lipid Enteral Nutrition Reduces Inflammation and Tissue Damage
http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery ... al.21.aspx

worst article title ever, but...

POOR NUTRITIONAL STATUS AND INFLAMMATION: Serum Albumin: Relationship to Inflammation and Nutrition
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 603.x/full

i've posted extensively on the poor nutritional status of typical ms patients, so, nuff said!

When I needed surgery a few years back I was told that it should have no effect om my MS and it did not.
However, at my pre-op interview with the gas-passer when we were discussing preferences, the Dr. did mention the the 'conventional' wisdom in the gas-passing fraternity is that patients with MS should not be given spinals but rather go for a general. He was also quite clear on the point that there is NO real science behind this - just generally accepted practice.

Hi,

After a bad accident I had spinal cord compression at C4 and C5 and had major neuro surgery. I had the discs at C3,4,5 removed and replaced with titanium cages and then had the three vertebrae plated together with a titanium plate and screws. It didn't cause any complications with the MS at all.

I have also had a couple of other minor procedures done under GA and again no adverse affects on the MS.

Good luck with the operation.

Belinda

re GA:

Postoperative myeloneuropathy: a preventable complication in patients with B12 deficiency
http://thejns.org/doi/abs/10.3171/jns.1990.72.5.0732

Neurologic degeneration associated with nitrous oxide anesthesia in patients with vitamin B12 deficiency
http://archsurg.ama-assn.org/cgi/conten ... 28/12/1391

as usual the 'normal' range for acceptable serum b12 is too wide by far. deficiency based on hematologic criteria not cognitive