Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] In 2007 I had a lumbar fusion L4-L5 with donor bone not my own and hardware with a laminectomy at L4 I had a MVA in 2005 and fractured my spine and spondylolisthesis. I have been having so many problems with my back and throughout my whole body ever since. I was treated with PT, narcotics, injections, exercises, OTC medicines. I starting detoxing off all pain medications and prescriptions June 27, 2014. I could feel my body getting worse. I am having burning up and down my spine that radiated every where. My lungs were on fire and chest pain with inflammation. I had fluid building up through out my body, basal temp is 96.5. I have to constantly battle to get it up to 97.5 and above to keep my kidneys working. I have continual spasms of all my organs, eyes, throat, back and chest, legs. My spine feels like it is on fire. All labs come back normal, including T3 and T4 and TSH. My tongue is huge, my face swells at will, I have stiffness in my legs and back. I have increasing low back and leg weakness. My legs go completely numb, tingling, cold from the knees down. I think its the hardware or the donor bone. I have multiple chemical sensitivity to alcohol, alcohol by-products or medical products that alcohol is used to process it. Also any medications or medical implants that may be enteric coated. I think those little bone chip things might have been! It feels like my body is attacking itself. I had an appt with an allergist/immunologist oct 1, 2014. He didn t do any tests just took my medical information and promised to contact me. No return call. I called him twice. I afraid I am going to lose my ability to walk before I can get help. The I have to go to the ER for temporary paralysis, hypertensive crisis, and allergic for shortness of breath due to the severity of the spasms. My eye doctor put me on Prednisone 20 mg for the inflammation in my eyes and fluid build up, another doctor gave me Clonidine 0.1mg to manage the hypertensive episodes from the continual spasms. Medications that would normally be used to treat spasms my body reacts with increased spasms and hypertension with syncope. Crazy. This has been going on since July 24, 2014 after all the narcotics and prescription drugs were out of my system. Will an MRI give better detail what s going on in my back? When you see the image of the hardware on the CT Scan part of the metal has a bent gap and crooked and is glowing white. I know it s a lot of stuff to hear. I am living with it. I am 98% home-bound. My legs are too weak to control. I can t drive any more.
[|AI|]  Hi, Thanks for writing in. MRI is an investigation of choice to study the spinal cord, intervertebral discs and nerves. It is important that you confirm that the metal hardware is MRI compatible. This is because the MRI machine is a huge magnet and if the hardware is not MRI compatible then you might have serious injury during MRI scan. This happens when there is ferromagnetic properties in the metal which will attract the hardware. This might cause the hardware to get pulled from its fixed location and cause injury to surrounding structures.  It is also possible that you have an MRI compatible hardware and if this holds good then there is no need to worry about any problems in MRI scan. Then your MRI imaging will be safe and the causes for your pain and discomfort can be evaluated in more detail than a CT scan.