Cervical vertebrae as indicators of Lumbar pain involvement

@marilynnovak Welcome to Connect. I am a spine cervical surgery patient and had spinal cord compression from stenosis in the central spinal canal because of a collapsed disc and bone spurs that grew there. That generated pain all over my body. I did not have any foraminal nerve root compression. My first symptom of cord compression in my neck was only a pain in my ankle. This caused a lot of surgeons to miss the diagnosis completely and 5 refused to help me. These surgeons thought that the cervical area would only generate arm pain. Kudos to your surgeon if they are looking for something like this. The only fix for compression of a foraminal nerve of the spinal cord itself is decompression surgery. I had a fusion of my C5 andC6 disk with a bone graft. The cord was decompressed when the surgeon removed the disc. There is medical literature about cases of sciatic pain being caused by cervical cord compression, so it should not be assumed to be coming from the lumbar area. The surgeon will get a better detailed look in an MRI of just the cervical area. As for physical therapy on the neck, that tries to maintain proper spine alignment, and the PT can use a Dolphin neurostimulator to suppress neurotransmitters for the pain signals. There is a window of opportunity for collapsed spinal discs. If it goes on too long, the spine can fuse itself and the compression of the nerves and spinal cord remains and may become worse. There are also artificial discs, but a patient would not be a candidate for that if there is instability in the spine.

Dear Jennifer, Thank you so much for your detailed reply. I learned a lot from it. I probably didn't explain clearly that my pain is in the lumbar area; my latest MRI speaks of problems at L5-S1, and all the L1-5 combos. It feels as if it goes from the center of each buttock across to the center of the other buttock. My surgeon just moved to Albuquerque, where I live, from Harvard, where he worked for the last 5 years, so I think that I have a really good doctor. I am now supposed to get a cervical MRI, although I have no neck area pain. I hate having to ask my family doctor to write the order for the MRI. Do you know why spine doctors cannot or will not write their own Rxs for the MRIs? Thanks again. (By the way, I am a retired Hospital Pharmacist, and I blame "being short, 4'11", for the way I have to bend in a certain way to work on today's standard height counters, both at home in the kitchen and in a Pharmacy.)

I have been having headaches for months that will go away for a week or two, but then come back, ever since I had my transplant. Tylenol doesn't help my headaches at all. I believe that with my blood pressure being up (used to never get up to 100) due to my new meds, that it is putting more pressure in the area. My transplant pulmonologist had me have X-rays of my cervical spine taken with my head in different positions. The X-rays show some compression on the nerve. My doctor says that my dizziness (to the point of passing out a couple of times) is due to the compression. The spinal surgeon reviewed the X-rays and said that I could go on vacation and that he would see me after I returned. Now his office says I need to have an MRI prior to them making an appointment, so I am waiting for that to be set up for me.

I hope that you are recovering well though.

@chickytina i wanted to point out to you that the post you replied to is over a year old.

@chickytina I had dizziness and even vertigo when my upper cervical vertebrae were rotating on their own due to muscle spasms. I had spinal cord compression at C5/C6. Since my corrective spine surgery, I don't have these problems anymore.

It may be wroth trying some physical therapy to see if that helps. It all depends on what your MRI shows and what your surgeons recommends. An MRI is a good thing to document your current condition. You are welcome to share what you find out.

Jennifer