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Hi Jennifer,
At my insistence, I just recently had the MRI on Thursday, October 10. The Cervical Radio Frequency Ablation procedure was scheduled on September 25th to be performed on October 16. The pain management Dr doing it felt that C5-6 would not be causing my severe dull burning ear pain and wanted to do the Ablation procedure on my C1-4. Since I had not had any updated imaging since August 2023 (cervical and lumbar x-ray, last MRI was February 2023), I wanted to know better what was actually going on in my cervical. My own PCP said no to MRIs twice in the last 3 weeks, said it was a pain management issue. Pain Management Dr when asked about getting updated imaging just indicated ablation was an alternative to surgery. After a third attempt with my PCP to do MRIs, he was not available due to Jewish holiday. I convinced the Pain Management Dr to order the MRI. neither my PCP nor the Pain Management Dr have reviewed the Radiologist report yet, it was just issued on Friday, October 11. My orthopedic surgeon that I was seen by in August 2023 has not reviewed the MRIs yet either. His nurse recommended that I get the MRIs that the Orthopedic surgeon would review prior to scheduling a follow-up visit. As for the chills, they are horrible and have progressed significantly in duration and intensity. Need a determination and resolution of the chills too.
Replies to "Hi Jennifer, At my insistence, I just recently had the MRI on Thursday, October 10. The..."
@dstone501957 Has your spine surgeon given an opinion? Personally, I think I would trust a spine surgeon more than a pain management doctor, but I have no experience with burning nerves. There have been members here on Connect that regretted doing that and were in more pain and dysfunction as a result of some laser surgery to burn nerves. It may confuse the diagnosis with a spine surgeon if you are having symptoms caused by an ablation procedure.
I understand that you are worried and want resolution, but please don't rush into a procedure if you don't fully understand the possible benefit vs the risks. Take your time to get enough medical opinions to make an informed decision. Did that doctor justify the reason they think ablation will help, and what are the statistics of the patients it helps vs the patients that don't improve? If you have already worked through those decisions and want to go forward, that is your choice.
You have a significant report on your MRI with a lot of structural issues and you were right to advocate to get that done. If your spine surgeon is not on board with helping you, it would benefit you to get more spine surgical opinions. The short explanation is you have a ruptured disc that has grown bone spurs like a shelf and is flattening your spinal cord at C5-C6 along with arthritis causing compression of the nerve roots where spinal nerves exit the spinal cord. You should get offers for surgery on that because it is advanced. That being said, if you have surgery for C5-C6, there may be lingering pain due to current existing nerve damage. Sometimes surgeons can't tell you exactly what the outcome will be, and won't promise pain reduction, but they focus on correcting a structural problem so it doesn't get worse. You also need to know how the issue at C5-C6 will progress over time if you have no surgery, so please ask that question. The spine can start to fuse itself when a disc collapses and the vertebrae get closer together and that isn't a good thing. C5-C6 may need priority, and it would be worth getting a review from the spine surgeon on the MRI. I think the difficulty sitting and standing and laying down may be because of significant spinal cord compression, but you need a specialist to make that connection. Those are symptoms that happen with cord compression, and I had a limp when walking because of cord compression. It can also cause bladder or bowel issues like incontinence or severe constipation, and difficulty walking. It would be to your benefit to join conversations where these issues have already been discussed among active members as opposed to starting a new discussion and hoping members will find you. Here are some discussions in the Spine Health Group you may want to check out.
Cervical Stenosis
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cervical-stenosis/
Cervical Stenosis & Leg Weakness
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/cervical-stenosis-and-leg-weaknesd/
Mayo Podcast
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/blog/podcasts/newsfeed-post/spinal-stenosis-1/
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@dstone501957 I have always thought the chills either come from the brain or the brainsstem. I have a positive Babinski reflex and my neuro says I have spinal cord damage in my neck. Oddly I have also had chills from a reaction to a medication, so inflammation must play a role.
@jenniferhunter I learned a lot from your post as well as the post by @dstone501957. My symptoms have worsened recently- the last two months, and you both have me thinking.
Also, I wonder if my trigeminal and occipital neuralgia is related to neck issues (you mention ear pain, which may be neuralgia). Tinnitus and hyperacusis have gotten worse and loud noises cause me a lot of facial/neck pain and numbness. All very confusing. It seems the auditory and facial nerves are connecting and causing symptoms but neuro says it is all coming from the neck.
@jenniferhunt you mentioned a bone spur, I can feel mine on the left side of my neck and it affects my neck, shoulder blade and arm (arm is shorter than the other now).
Also I have a note from neuro saying I cannot bend my neck back at all. I cannot look up. I get really bad symptoms. In surgery the surgeons had to adhere to that note. Is this a problem for either of you?
@dstone501957 let us know what the plan is going forward, after exploration of options. I am grateful to learn from others. I don't like wild goose chases seeing many doctors for mysteries like this, I have seen my neuro for 23 years and he thinks I am close to needing surgery. I hope you find good help.