u/No_Basis4198

i’ve had mine for about a week now and i haven’t noticed much of a difference in the toes flattening out even though i’ve been wearing them as flats. i’ve seen some people suggest putting dumbbells on them while not wearing them but i’m afraid it might noticeably crease the material? this is my first pair of pashion’s and i feel like when i wear them i’m not exerting much weight/force through my toes while they’re in the flat mode. i certainly do in the heel mode but i’ve only wore them once as heels so far so i’m not sure if that might be more helpful or not

Hi! I'm wondering if someone else might be experiencing something similar to me. I told my neurologist that I regularly have neck and lower back pain, and it tends to get worse later in the day, but sometimes it onsets quickly in the morning as well, so he decided to perform an EMG/NCS study on my upper and lower extremities as well as a cervical and lumbar MRI. These are the results verbatim from both (it should probably be noted that the EMG/NCS was fully completed before my MRI imaging):

- EMG/NCS Findings: Showed evidence of “acute on chronic neurogenic changes at C7”, “left L4-L5 chronic radiculopathy with some denervation”, “mild to moderate distal sensory neuropathy with evidence of acute on chronic denervation worse on the right side”, and “right mild ulnar neuropathy at the elbow”

- MRI cervical spine findings: "The cervical vertebral body heights and alignment are maintained without Modic type I or type II degenerative vertebral endplate marrow changes. Craniocervical junction is unremarkable. The cervical spinal cord signal is normal. There is no cervical paraspinal soft tissue edema or fluid. There are minimal disc bulges at the C5-C6 and C6-C7 levels without cervical spinal canal or neural foraminal stenosis or focal cervical disc herniation." 

- MRI lumbar spine findings: "The lumbar vertebral body heights and alignment are maintained without Modic type I or type II degenerative vertebral endplate marrow changes. Conus medullaris is unremarkable terminating at the L1 level. There is small sacral Tarlov cyst at the S2 level. There is no lumbar paraspinal soft tissue edema or fluid. There are minimal lumbar disc bulges at the L3-L4 and L4-L5 levels. There is no lumbar spinal canal or neural foraminal stenosis or focal lumbar disc herniation."

Because my MRI showed "minimal" bulges, I think my next step is to advocate for my neurologist to order another MRI where I'm standing and/or sitting instead. My symptoms almost always get worse after sitting, standing, or otherwise moving around for prolonged periods of time. My guess is that the bulges look "minimal" while lying completely flat (as I was in my recent MRI) since they are not actively bearing weight (which would also align with the fact that my symptoms tend to improve upon lying down), and that the bulges become more pronounced and cause significant irritation and inflammation while I'm upright instead. I mean, the EMG/NCS would not have shown that there are "acute on chronic neurogenic changes" in the same spinal levels as the disc bulges if they weren't actually affecting those nerves, right?

I've also read that Tarlov cysts usually aren't symptomatic, but they are significantly more likely to occur in people with connective tissue disorders and EDS. I'm worried that since the radiologist described it as "small" that it won't be taken seriously, since most studies/articles suggest that only "larger" cysts are symptomatic, but I know for a fact that I do experience pain in that region as well. I know my anatomy, and I know that if spinal pain is happening below my hips, it's the sacral region, and if it's above my hips, it's the lumbar region, and I can describe specific days where I know I felt pain in one area but not the other and vice versa. I've also thought before that I might potentially have a CSF leak because my symptoms can also include having headaches that I can only describe as feeling like there's an excess amount of pressure in my head that improves after lying down, having random, clear, watery drainage out of one side of my nose while bending over or leaning forward despite not being sick or having nasal congestion, and hearing a popping sound in my ears when I swallow that only goes away if I'm lying completely flat with a neutral spine. The headaches tend to be worse some weeks more than others, but I've noticed it tends to accompany alongside the nasal drainage, though the popping sound in my ears is pretty constant. I guess that Tarlov cysts can form due to CSF leaks (since they're filled with CSF), but they can also cause CSF leaks too? It seems like a weird chicken vs egg situation, but I definitely plan to discuss that more with my neurologist during my follow up appointment.

Anyways, I just want to know if there's anyone else out there who might have a similar experience with this, and what kind of steps you took with your doctor to diagnose/treat it correctly.

i’ve recently started to put together that i might have a CSF leak. i have highly suspected hEDS (beighton score 9/9 confirmed by my PT who specializes in hEDS and HSD, on top of many other clinical presentations that fit the diagnostic criteria that i won’t get into, but as a side note i do already have a formal evaluation scheduled with mayo clinic for this upcoming august) and i have also been dealing with migraines for a while now, which are sometimes helped by rizatriptan but not always. i tested a theory yesterday when i noticed my headache was getting gradually worse throughout the day and i decided not to take any of my meds to see if it would go away on its own by the time i woke up after sleeping/being horizontal the whole night, and it did! (but it has now returned again this morning after commuting to work, more on that in a second). i’m already seeing a neurologist for my migraines, neck/back pain, and evidently cervical nerve compression as revealed in my recent NCV/EMG, so i already have a pending brain and spine MRI ordered to address those, and hopefully i can get some more insight regarding a potential CSF leak through that imaging.

for at least a year or so i’ve been having random episodes of clear/watery nasal drainage that only comes out of one side when i bend over as well as tinnitus that pretty much never goes away, but i didn’t think much of it until recently. the drainage happened twice yesterday as well and whenever i wiped it with a tissue it was completely clear and also didn’t stiffen the tissue whenever it dried. there was no blood though so i was not able to observe a halo sign. on top of that i noticed over the last few weeks that every time i swallow i persistently hear a crackling/popping sound in my ears EXCEPT when i’m laying 100% flat with my neck being completely neutral, if i’m laying flat and my neck is even slightly tilted or bent it’ll usually come back.

anyways to relate this back to biking, i ride an ebike to work every day (velotric breeze 1) and i recently had my tires filled to 40 PSI because they were apparently at 15 PSI. this bike doesn’t have much suspension and once the tires were filled back up i noticed my rides got SIGNIFICANTLY more bumpy. especially on sidewalks, which is usually about 75% of my route. immediately after riding over some particularly big bumps or cracks, my headache started to come back this morning and it was like i could feel it messing with the pressure in my head. so all of this to say: is it possible that my bike is making it worse? i’m already planning on taking air out of my tire (probably starting out with 25 PSI since the low end range of my tires are marked at 20 PSI) to see if it will help with the bumpiness and thus not trigger the headaches/pressure problems i just described.

I’m trying to look for places online, but a lot of them just say to buy items off their amazon wish list or donate money. I am specifically looking to donate my cat’s two water fountains and litter boxes so I can replace them with stainless steel ones instead (they’re all plastic, and they work perfectly fine, but I’d like to own more sustainable items for them going forward). I really don’t want to throw them away because I’d rather give them away to someone else who needs it. I’m still within the return limit for one of the litter boxes (I just bought it two weeks ago) but all of the rest I can’t return anymore. Please let me know if you have any suggestions! And if you’re personally in need of these items I’d be happy to discuss that further as well