OT: EVER HAVE A PINCHED NERVE IN THE NECK AND SEVERE PAIN?

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Friends,

I think that I may have a pinched nerve in my neck. The pain was so bad that I drove myself to the hospital on Wed evening. I have SEVERE pain - stabbing pain in the neck, traveling to my left should and down my left arm to my wrist. My shoulder and arm feel as though they are in a vice being squeezed from the inside out. The pain is so SEVERE that 2 shots of morphine in the hospital did not kill the pain, just took it down from a 10 to an 8. I saw the pain doctor and he gave me some pain meds just until I can see a Neurologist on Monday. The hospital thought that it might be a pinched nerve but do not order MRI's through the emergency room.

Question: Is there a cure for this? I have been in terrible, escruciating pain since Monday morning.

Until I see the neurologist is there anything that I can do to ease the pain?

Also, my AHI has greatly increased since Monday night - going all the way up to 4.3 (I am usually a 0.9 to 2.9 at the most).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jersey Girl

[DoriC]

Oh Jersey Girl, I'm so sorry you're in so much pain. It does sound like a pinched nerve, I've experienced it myself and had the MRI to r/o anything more serious. The pain did subside gradually after about a week with painkillers (which made me sick) and I wore my arm in a sling, no fun but it helped. The ER Dr gave me some samples of BioFreeze to rub in(don't know if it's in pharmacies) and that helped too. I still had some real discomfort for a few weeks so I went to a Chiropractor who told me I was completely "out of alignment"and after 2-3 visits all discomfort was gone. My neck is still a weak spot so I go occasionally to get "straightened out". I'm thinking of you.

[Jersey Girl]

Thanks Dori. I do have some bio freeze in the house and I will try it. Also, I did go to the chiropractor twice, but that seemed to make it worse! I am going to ask my husband to rub some bio freeze on my neck/shoulder and see if it helps. The hospital gave me a sling, but I'm not sure as to why that is supposed to help?

Regards,

Jersey Girl

[vtcpa]

Seven years ago, I had a bulging disc in my neck, causing the same horrible nerve pain. You are right, NOTHING touches that type of pain. Even my chiropractor thought I was going to need surgery...but I avoided it, and it did heal.

First: ICE, ICE, ICE (your neck). Ice reduces inflammation. Heat will just make matters much worse

Talk to your doctor and/or chiropractor about some kind of traction to help separate your disks and provide relief from the pinched nerve. I had traction sessions at chiro, and have an at-home system that I still use if I have even the inkling of neck issues.

I ended up at a spine surgeon who recommended (as a last-ditch effort before surgery) cervical epidural steroid injections. I had two of these administered under x-ray guidance by an M.D. who specializes in pain management. These were successful and reduced the immediate inflammation/pain so that my therapy could aid in healing.

It was nothing short of a miracle to me. I wish you the best and hope you can find relief.

[DoriC]

The sling seems to relieve the pressure on the nerves in your neck from the weight of your arm pulling down on them . I'm probably not explaining it properly.

[kempo]

Jersey Girl about 10 years ago I was having horrible pain in my neck, left shoulder, and arm. My left thumb was numb. I let a doctor talk me into surgery (fusion 3 and 4). Big mistake. It didn't help.

About 2 years ago my left arm, thumb, first and second finger went almost completely numb. I went to a see a neurosurgeon and he said it was a protrusion in my neck. He set me up an appointment for injections to help relieve the pain and gave me a prescription for Gapbapentin which is a generic for Neurontin. He said it would help heal nerve damage. Before my appointment for the injections the pain started to go away and most of the feeling came back into my arm, thumb, and fingers. I canceled the injections and continued to take the Gapbapentin for I think several months. I still have a little numbness in my shoulder, arm and left thumb but I can live with it.

The moral of this story is to avoid surgery if you can.

Go to your drug store and get a neck brace (insurance collar) to help relieve the pressure on your neck until you can see your doctor. Good luck.

[Madalot]

Oh Jersey Girl,

I feel for you. I have been there, done that. I have several herniated cervical disks that in years past caused me the same pain you describe.

I saw a neurosurgeon that said with my medical history, surgery would be a last ditch resort. He gave me Vicodin & Ultram and said that usually in cases like mine, the pain would subside in about 6 weeks. I know that sounds HORRIBLE (it was) but almost 6 weeks to the day, the pain went away.

I have flareups occasionally. I know what triggers it (usually overusing the computer) and have found what to do to minimize the amount of pain and how long it lasts.

Please take care of yourself. I'm sorry you're in so much pain.

[Pugsy]

Oh I am so sorry you are going through this.
Pinched nerve probably but need to find out what is pinching or pressing on the nerve. Sometimes something as simple as muscle spasm. Also could be compressed disc pinching a nerve. The pain is awful. In my case the cervical vertebral bone itself was slipping and compressing on the spinal cord and the nerves in there. Felt like a hot poker in my neck all the time and drugs wouldn't even touch the pain.

Do you have any muscle relaxers handy? If muscle spasm involved it might help with the discomfort. Not normally advised for someone with OSA but sometimes you gotta do what you can to get any sleep at all. If you can tolerate plain ordinary aspirin take some. It does have anti inflammatory properties and acts much quicker than over the counter motrin because it takes longer for motrin blood levels to get to theraputic levels. It is taken to help get rid of the inflammation that is causing pain more than simply masking the pain.

[sleepycarol]

I found that a rolled towel or other similar material and hung over my neck will hold in the heat (do not heat the towel) and help ease it some. Usually I find that I need muliple adjustments to get mine back in line. My family has a type of degenerative disc disease and surgery has not helped my siblings so I have foregone the surgery route and have taken a more conserative approach to treating my back and neck pain.

The "heat" patches have helped me as well. They are the ones that have the adhesive and apply in the area that is affected. You get them over the counter at most drugstores, supermarkets, WalMart, Walgreeens, etc.

[the reach]

There are a lot of things it could be. For my husband it was an inflammation of a nerve, initially it was "just" pain but he became unable to move his arm, which he did get back eventually. He needed to have something called a nerve induction test to confirm what was wrong.

Don't be shy about asking for different meds - morphine does not work well for everyone. My husband went through three different pain killers until he found one that worked (ironically, one that is normally not as effective as what they tried first).

Hopefully you'll get an answer soon. Better yet, a solution.

[MsBea]

Jersey Girl about 10 years ago I was having horrible pain in my neck, left shoulder, and arm. My left thumb was numb. I let a doctor talk me into surgery (fusion 3 and 4). Big mistake. It didn't help.

About 2 years ago my left arm, thumb, first and second finger went almost completely numb. I went to a see a neurosurgeon and he said it was a protrusion in my neck. He set me up an appointment for injections to help relieve the pain and gave me a prescription for Gapbapentin which is a generic for Neurontin. He said it would help heal nerve damage. Before my appointment for the injections the pain started to go away and most of the feeling came back into my arm, thumb, and fingers. I canceled the injections and continued to take the Gapbapentin for I think several months. I still have a little numbness in my shoulder, arm and left thumb but I can live with it.

The moral of this story is to avoid surgery if you can.

Go to your drug store and get a neck brace (insurance collar) to help relieve the pressure on your neck until you can see your doctor. Good luck.

I have had the numb hand for 1 1/2 yrs now and learning to live with it too. Mine started with a numb feeling going from my left face, down my neck, left arm, left hand. At first my whole arm/hand was numb but now it's just the palm of my hand.

[MsBea]

Dear Friends,

I think that I may have a pinched nerve in my neck. The pain was so bad that I drove myself to the hospital on Wed evening. I have SEVERE pain - stabbing pain in the neck, traveling to my left should and down my left arm to my wrist. My shoulder and arm feel as though they are in a vice being squeezed from the inside out. The pain is so SEVERE that 2 shots of morphine in the hospital did not kill the pain, just took it down from a 10 to an 8. I saw the pain doctor and he gave me some pain meds just until I can see a Neurologist on Monday. The hospital thought that it might be a pinched nerve but do not order MRI's through the emergency room.

Question: Is there a cure for this? I have been in terrible, escruciating pain since Monday morning.

Until I see the neurologist is there anything that I can do to ease the pain?

Also, my AHI has greatly increased since Monday night - going all the way up to 4.3 (I am usually a 0.9 to 2.9 at the most).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jersey Girl

I
Our family has found relief from these things with a good chiropractor. Note the word good as not all of them are.

[Chitowndude]

I'm a pain doc. Several things: First off, muscle spasms can mimic 'pinched nerve' pain. To confirm it's a nerve issue, pinch your skin on the arm and touch the skin to see if the sensation is altered significantly (not 'slightly') from the other arm. If so, it's possible either a disc is irritating a cervical spine nerve OR the nerves are being pinched by the scalene muscles on the way out. Opioids are pretty worthless as they's only 'take the edge off'. You may do better with Lyrica or Neurontin, although they can dope you up a bit (take them at dinner and bedtime only). Cymbalta is OK but will take 2 months to work. Tramadol is another option. Second, if chiropractic or PT do not help (MAXIMUM of 4 sessions for either one- if there's no significant improvement by 4 visits STOP) get an MRI. If either tell you you need 3 months of PT/chiro in the absence of improvement, they are charlatans and you should run like hell). IF a consistent disc change is found, epidural steroids by a qualified pain doc under fluoroscopy (xray) guidance is a quick way to get symptom control, but if 2 injections don't give months of relief . . . I hate to say, but surgical eval might be needed.

[DoriC]

Welcome Dr. Chitowndude, thank you for some good information.

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Friends,

Thank you all for your kind advice. I did see my pain doctor and he put me on 100 mg Neurontin 3 times a day, Relafen - an antiinflammatory 500 mg twice a day with food, and dilauded 2 mg tablets - 2 every 4 hours. My pain is on the ceiling right now. It's awful. Nothing really seems to be helping yet. the pain seems to go from neck to the shoulder and down the arm to the area before the wrist. I have had this pain since last Monday morning.

I only had 2 days with the chiropractor - Mon and tues, because the pain became so much worse on Wed. I found a neurologist who will see me tomorrow morning. I am hoping that he can help me quickly, as I have to put in a 12 hour day at work tomorrow - going to work immediately after the doctor.

Please, pray for me...I don't want to lose my job and so I have to work, no matter how much pain I am in!

Regards to all,

Jersey Girl