@noteworthy
You may need to get an MRI of your cervical spine to see if you have a disc bulge/stenosis which is impacting your spinal cord/nerve roots/blood flow.
@noteworthy
I have cervical (and lumbar) spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. My C5-C6 vertebrae/disc was compressing/flattening my spinal cord which is spinal cord injury (cervical spondylotic myelopathy). It affected my head/neck/shoulders/arms and hands due to cutting off blood flow and nerve communication. My arms and hands were weak plus I had pain which eventually evolved into numbness. Spinal cord injury is serious so you want to get checked asap so it doesn’t become permanent.
@noteworthy It would help if you could give us a bit of history of how this happened for the loss of strength in your arm and hand. If that was sudden, then it may be an urgent situation as others have suggested. If this is something that happened gradually or after and accident or injury, it may be a physical problem that needs diagnosis of if it is a possible neurological or muscular problem or a circulatory or inflammatory problem, and a neurologist may be a good choice for a first consultation. Since you have a referral to Mayo, it sounds like you have already discussed this with your doctor.. correct?
The answer to your question of what can be done to help depends entirely of what the problem is. Are you waiting for an answer if you can get an appointment at Mayo?
I never had a spinal cord injury but I am sure my nerves are being compressed, plus have loss of
motion in my left hand, plenty of nerve pain and neuropathy. But yes I hope I can get some help.
Thanks
@noteworthy It would help if you could give us a bit of history of how this happened for the loss of strength in your arm and hand. If that was sudden, then it may be an urgent situation as others have suggested. If this is something that happened gradually or after and accident or injury, it may be a physical problem that needs diagnosis of if it is a possible neurological or muscular problem or a circulatory or inflammatory problem, and a neurologist may be a good choice for a first consultation. Since you have a referral to Mayo, it sounds like you have already discussed this with your doctor.. correct?
The answer to your question of what can be done to help depends entirely of what the problem is. Are you waiting for an answer if you can get an appointment at Mayo?
Well I cannot get into Mayo in Jax as they are booked. They suggested Univ of
Florida, Gainesville so I called. Since there lines were down, I could not get through. I have been to a neurologist and just put me thru nerve testing, MRI of my neck and appt in Aug for MRI of lower back. This started in May and was all of a sudden and just waiting on appts. Its progressive but I do not know what can be done.
@noteworthy
You may need to get an MRI of your cervical spine to see if you have a disc bulge/stenosis which is impacting your spinal cord/nerve roots/blood flow.
Well I cannot get into Mayo in Jax as they are booked. They suggested Univ of
Florida, Gainesville so I called. Since there lines were down, I could not get through. I have been to a neurologist and just put me thru nerve testing, MRI of my neck and appt in Aug for MRI of lower back. This started in May and was all of a sudden and just waiting on appts. Its progressive but I do not know what can be done.
@noteworthy Keep on advocating for yourself until you get a diagnosis. If this is a nerve problem, it can be a problem anywhere along a nerve path from the brain to the hand causing an issue. They may also check for a brain issue. Spinal tumors can put pressure on the spinal cord. Imaging like an MRI would be the way to look for these. You can also request an appointment at one of the other Mayo campuses which of course involves travel costs. It is normal to have to wait for an appointment at Mayo. Did you send in records and ask for a review in requesting an appointment? That's the usual way to get an appointment. If not at Mayo, go to the best place you can. If you need surgery, you want to be where really good surgeons work.
Do you have a primary care doctor helping you to find specialists for consultation?
@noteworthy
Yes, lower back MRI includes your lumbar spine usually from T12-S1 levels of your vertebrae which includes lumbar L1-L5. I just had mine today. Good luck!
@noteworthy
Cervical MRI is for your neck and is different from lower back/lumbar spine MRI. Am I understanding you correctly you already had your neck/cervical MRI and waiting for lower back/lumbar MRI in August? What did your neck/cervical MRI show? This would most likely be the source of your arm/hand pain/weakness/numbness. They may want to do a head/brain MRI to rule out other conditions tied to your symptoms.
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Yikes! Did this happen suddenly?
Have you ruled out stroke as a possibility? If there's even a chance of that, don't wait around -- get help immediately.
I should have acted sooner when I had a stroke. It might have saved my right side.
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3 Reactions@noteworthy
You may need to get an MRI of your cervical spine to see if you have a disc bulge/stenosis which is impacting your spinal cord/nerve roots/blood flow.
@noteworthy
I have cervical (and lumbar) spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. My C5-C6 vertebrae/disc was compressing/flattening my spinal cord which is spinal cord injury (cervical spondylotic myelopathy). It affected my head/neck/shoulders/arms and hands due to cutting off blood flow and nerve communication. My arms and hands were weak plus I had pain which eventually evolved into numbness. Spinal cord injury is serious so you want to get checked asap so it doesn’t become permanent.
@noteworthy It would help if you could give us a bit of history of how this happened for the loss of strength in your arm and hand. If that was sudden, then it may be an urgent situation as others have suggested. If this is something that happened gradually or after and accident or injury, it may be a physical problem that needs diagnosis of if it is a possible neurological or muscular problem or a circulatory or inflammatory problem, and a neurologist may be a good choice for a first consultation. Since you have a referral to Mayo, it sounds like you have already discussed this with your doctor.. correct?
The answer to your question of what can be done to help depends entirely of what the problem is. Are you waiting for an answer if you can get an appointment at Mayo?
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
5 ReactionsI never had a spinal cord injury but I am sure my nerves are being compressed, plus have loss of
motion in my left hand, plenty of nerve pain and neuropathy. But yes I hope I can get some help.
Thanks
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 ReactionWell I cannot get into Mayo in Jax as they are booked. They suggested Univ of
Florida, Gainesville so I called. Since there lines were down, I could not get through. I have been to a neurologist and just put me thru nerve testing, MRI of my neck and appt in Aug for MRI of lower back. This started in May and was all of a sudden and just waiting on appts. Its progressive but I do not know what can be done.
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
1 ReactionI am set up with a MRI of my lower back Aug 7 is that different from cervical spine?
@noteworthy Keep on advocating for yourself until you get a diagnosis. If this is a nerve problem, it can be a problem anywhere along a nerve path from the brain to the hand causing an issue. They may also check for a brain issue. Spinal tumors can put pressure on the spinal cord. Imaging like an MRI would be the way to look for these. You can also request an appointment at one of the other Mayo campuses which of course involves travel costs. It is normal to have to wait for an appointment at Mayo. Did you send in records and ask for a review in requesting an appointment? That's the usual way to get an appointment. If not at Mayo, go to the best place you can. If you need surgery, you want to be where really good surgeons work.
Do you have a primary care doctor helping you to find specialists for consultation?
-
Like -
Helpful -
Hug
2 Reactions@noteworthy
Yes, lower back MRI includes your lumbar spine usually from T12-S1 levels of your vertebrae which includes lumbar L1-L5. I just had mine today. Good luck!
@noteworthy
Cervical MRI is for your neck and is different from lower back/lumbar spine MRI. Am I understanding you correctly you already had your neck/cervical MRI and waiting for lower back/lumbar MRI in August? What did your neck/cervical MRI show? This would most likely be the source of your arm/hand pain/weakness/numbness. They may want to do a head/brain MRI to rule out other conditions tied to your symptoms.