I posted in the scoliosis community a question similar to this. I have lost 4 inches in height in the past 8 years. I'm barely 5ft. tall currently. I have several different diagnosis that contribute to this problem including DDD, but primarily progressive scoliosis. I hate the loss of height but a bigger problem is the pain from my rib cage sitting down inside my pelvis. I no longer recognize my reflection when passing a store window, (very weird feeling).

I have 6 crappy discs all operated on in 05.

last physical had me at 5' 11'' that's 1 1/2 inches shorter than I used to be. 1/4 per disc.

Doug

When I was first diagnosed I was 5'9 3/4" and now I am 5'8" so I guess there is something to loosing inches because of DDD.And the thing is they said that I only have 5 slightly bulging disc`s.I think that is more than slightly if you ask me.

I use to be taller than my hubby and now I am not. The last doctors appointment I found out I was shorter by 1 1/2 inches. Kind of scary.

Losing your height puts more pressure on the spine, or at least I feel this way. And any one who says that DDD isn't painful doesn't have DDD. My whole spine hurts and now to top things off, I have a burning sensation from the cervical spine clear down to the lumbar, which is getting alittle scarey for me. Not sure what is going on there. Blessing to all and thanks for the replys...missourigal

missourigal,you might have that burning in your spine checked out ,I had the same kind of pain and they found out that I also have Syringomyelia which is cyst`s called syrnix in the spinal cord and it can couse a lot of problems.Let me know if I can help.

Hi Monte, thanks for the tip. I work for a pain doctor and I have not told her yet about the burning in the spine. It just started about a week ago. It is a little scarey. In working for a pain doc, I just keep going and doing the best I can and I try not to bug the doc to much. She knows my history and I know if she knew this she would not be happy. I guess i am hoping it will just go away...thanks again..Blessings....missourigal

I've lost 1 and a half inches over the years due to DDD, but the doc also told me that we lose height as we age because of gravity and compression. I would imagine that anyone who is physically fit might not see any loss in height - but that ain't me, LOL...hugs jilly

have you been checked for osteporsis....I have where the weight has shifted down on one side and my spine is unbalanced so I have to be careful walking and stuff...I think as you get older you shrink some...I would mention it to the dr...next time you go...hugs

I have been checked for osteoporsis. I had a bone scan and it showed osteopenia in the spine but worse in the hips. My hips really hurt at times. I am taking a calium supplement. What is weird is that I took estrogen for 27 years. I had a hysterectomy at the age of 27 and took estrogen for all those years. My thing was..like I won't have any trouble with my bone with all the estrogen that I have taken..Yeah right. I was shocked to find out I had osteopenia. So I am doing the supplement, cut out all the caffene...that wasn't pretty at all..my husband almost left me (not really) but it was bad withdrawing from caffene. But I was really shocked to learn that I had lost 2 1/2 inches in a year and I know as we get older we loss some bone mass, but I thought my bone loss was a little extreme. Blessings...missourigal

I was 179cm when I was diagnosed with DDD I was 179cm now 4 years later im 174cm. as of last doctors visit.

I always take my shoes off to be weighed and measured, and all through my 20's,30's and up to my early 40's when I had been last measured the medical technician's always said out loud,that I was 5'4 and a 1/2 . I started to notice when I was 44 that the same average length jeans that I always wore around the house with just socks and no shoes,were now slightly longer,my heels were now stepping on the ends of them.


When I was measured at the same gynecologists's office that I was measured at my true height 9 years before,the technician said I was 5'4 which nobody had ever said before,so at first I thought there must be something wrong with their measuring device,but about 5 months later I was measured as 5'4 at a totally different doctor's office,and then I knew that I had shrunk.I also started to get mild lower back pain not nong afterwards,and I thought that I was getting Osteoporosis,so I asked my doctor for a prescription for a Dexa Scan and it showed that I had some bone loss.

About 9 months later I went to see an orthopedic doctor who didn't practice surgery anymore and I told him about my loss of height and mild lower back pain and I showed him the Dexa scan,and he said it doesn't say that I have any marked bone loss and he took an X-Ray and said I have Degenerative Disc Disease and that it's very common and most people have it and he said that it's like Arthritis in the spine.


And he said the reason that I'm shorter is because my disc is being pressed down from the DDD and I asked him if my back pain was going to get worse and if I was going to loss more height and he said likely yes and sadly he was right about both things.I had asked what I can do about this and he said nothing,there is nothing you can do to treat or prevent it,but I know you can do something to about the pain.

6 Years after I first learned that I had lost a half of inch of height, I tried on a pair of very good jeans that I had never tried on after they were hemmed 3 years before,and when they were hemmed it was 3 years after I learned that I was now 5'4,when I tried them on for the first time,they were too long and at first I thought they didn't hem them right,but then I thought oh no I bet I lost even more height. Sure enough about 2 weeks later, I was weighed and measured at a doctors office as a new patient,and I was now 5'3 and a 1.2! All of ny average length pants are too long now,so is a full length winter coat I bought many years ago,and I was actually weighed and measured the same day I then bought this coat.


I was very lucky to have reached 5'4 and a 1/2 since my mother was only 5'2 and my older sister was the one that was always 5'3.

I just noticed that I made a few typing mistakes.

I meant that my sister was the one that was always 5'3 and a half.

Two years after I saw that orthopedic doctor, I got a lumbar MRI that showed that I have diffuse Degenerative Disc Disease,and mild bulging discs.And then in November 2017 I simply bent down to get a vegetable out of my refrigerator's vegetable bin which is all the way at the bottom near the floor, and was fine,but a minute later when I bent down to get another vegetable I suddenly had a strange sensation in my lower back like something moved,and then I had excruciating pain in my thigh, and I thought that I had gotten a sprain. I took Ibuprofen for 2 days which wasn't helping and I had to go to the emergency room 2 days later and I was diagnosed with Sciatica which I never heard of before,and I really wish I hadn't.



I went to my regular now former internal medicine doctor and I asked him for a prescription for a new MRI,and this MRI showed the diffuse DDD,but now my bulging discs were worse and not just mild, I now have Spinal Stenosis, and a Sequestered Disc,which means that a piece of my disc broke off! I fell 6 times,5 times in my house the first time right after I got this condition I fell on my hard bathroom floor while using both legs to get off the toilet,and once on the pavement steps right after I came back from the emergency room,and I had been using a cane getting out my father's car who took me.


I couldn't even walk for 2 months without a walker only in my own place to get to my bathroom,and out of my bed because my left thigh,which is the side the piece of disc broke off,was so weak that I couldn't even lean on it without falling down, I had to have a nurse,nurses aid and a physical therapist come to my home for a few months and I can walk again but it's difficult and I have sharp back pain off and on.My left thigh was very sore for the first 2 months also but that's gone.