1. < Spine Health

3 top neck vertebrae damaged

Posted by dmg777 @dmg777, 5 days ago

Hello,
My wife was hit by a car when on her bike and thrown 18 feet when a child damaging 3 vertebrae in her neck with no Cartlidge left underneath causing arthritis when an adult. Now at 77 and very healthy otherwise - vigorous aerobic exercise 3 times a week - but due to 1 knee, 2 hip, and one shoulder replacement she has to be on blood thinners (coumadin). The two surgeries where she was not protected for the possibility of blood clots caused the problem. This really limits what she can do for pain. She has been in physical therapy in addition to needling for 3 months. This only provides temporary relief. The spine doctors in this area say that there is nothing that can be done to help her. One even said "Why are you here? We can't do anything for you." when she walked in. As far as any sort of surgical help they are mostly concerned about the blood clot potential. The spinal doctor said that reconstruction would be tedious and probably would not help the pain anyway. Yet, Doctors were able to deal with that with the hip replacement that she had done a year ago without any problems (a process for taking one off of the thinners prior to surgery and then getting them back on), but the hip is not as close to the brain. She is a survivor having been free from cancer for 5 years and dealing with several replacements. To watch her move you would never know she had a replacement. The main thing would be to figure out some pain relief. Tylenol Arthritis is the only thing that helps. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Now, I also have spine issues as I broke 5 vertebrae and slipped one disk when a very large refrigerator fell on me. I can deal with the pain, but my main concern is that without changing my diet I have lost 30 pounds since this happened and a lot of muscle. Blood tests, feces tests and a colonoscopy show zero problems. All of my health stats look very good. Any ideas?

Dan

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dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | 4 days ago

@dmg777
Did your wife have surgery on her cervical spine as a child? Does she have hardware in there now? Has she had recent MRI of her cervical spine and EMG/nerve conduction studies of upper and lower limbs? If the orthopedic spine specialist talked to me the way they did to your wife, I would be looking for a different, highly rated surgeon or two for 2nd and 3rd opinions.

How did a refrigerator fall on you and how long ago did this happen? Did you injure your cervical or lumbar spine? Where did you get hurt and did you fall with the weight of the refrigerator on you? Have you had MRIs with/without contrast and EMG/nerve conduction studies of upper/lower limbs and are you seeing a neurologist and orthopedic spine specialist? Did your gastroenterologist do an endoscopy and ultrasound/MRI or CT scan of your abdomen?

REPLY
1 reply
dmg777 | @dmg777 | 4 days ago
In reply to @dlydailyhope "@dmg777 Did your wife have surgery on her cervical spine as a child? Does she have..." + (show)
@dlydailyhope

@dmg777
Did your wife have surgery on her cervical spine as a child? Does she have hardware in there now? Has she had recent MRI of her cervical spine and EMG/nerve conduction studies of upper and lower limbs? If the orthopedic spine specialist talked to me the way they did to your wife, I would be looking for a different, highly rated surgeon or two for 2nd and 3rd opinions.

How did a refrigerator fall on you and how long ago did this happen? Did you injure your cervical or lumbar spine? Where did you get hurt and did you fall with the weight of the refrigerator on you? Have you had MRIs with/without contrast and EMG/nerve conduction studies of upper/lower limbs and are you seeing a neurologist and orthopedic spine specialist? Did your gastroenterologist do an endoscopy and ultrasound/MRI or CT scan of your abdomen?

Jump to this post

Thank you for the reply,
Here are answers concerning my wife:

No surgery as a child. She only had a crack in the skull after the car hit her. No hardware in her spine. Her shoulder surgery has been damaged due to a fall after her dog tripped her about a year ago, so there is pain there also.

Yes, on MRI's. She corrected me that it was six vertebrae and not 3. She has also had some numbness at times.

No on EMG Nerve connection studies

Here are the answers concerning my back:

I had the fridge on a dolly with me pulling and two strong ladies pushing on the other end while going upstairs. Since they were pushing instead of lifting some, the fridge suddenly jumped a stair and fell on me. When I tried to get up with the fridge I heard a loud pop. I should have taken more time.

Happened about 2 years ago - pain when in bed is worse and about the same when up and walking around - pain when I step into a small hole - jar it. The injuries were to my lower spine. I am doing some aerobics with my wife and that does limber me up and help some.

I have had the MRI's and an XRAY. I have not had an EMG nerve connection study or seen a neurologist.

I have had no scan of my abdomen or seen a gastroenterologist - just tests by the DR and the colonoscopy. No one has looked at my abdomen. More recently I have developed some rib pain, and it hurts sleeping on my side. I thought I needed another MRI to see if something had changed but the orthopedic spine specialist wanted to go for the shots and not another MRI. I was not sure if I wanted to get into that cycle. This was a different spine doctor than the one my wife had. In my prime and in tip top shape my weight stayed steady at 165. Last night when I weighed it was 164 but not muscle weight which worried me.

Thank you for the information. It sounds like I need an actual gastroenterologist and a neurologist.
My wife may also need a check with a neurologist and maybe a shoulder replacement repair although shoulders are tricky. Another possibility is the MAO Clinic but that is about a day's drive from where we live so we would have to figure that out.

Dan

REPLY
2 replies
dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | 4 days ago
In reply to @dmg777 "Thank you for the reply, Here are answers concerning my wife: No surgery as a child...." + (show)
@dmg777

Thank you for the reply,
Here are answers concerning my wife:

No surgery as a child. She only had a crack in the skull after the car hit her. No hardware in her spine. Her shoulder surgery has been damaged due to a fall after her dog tripped her about a year ago, so there is pain there also.

Yes, on MRI's. She corrected me that it was six vertebrae and not 3. She has also had some numbness at times.

No on EMG Nerve connection studies

Here are the answers concerning my back:

I had the fridge on a dolly with me pulling and two strong ladies pushing on the other end while going upstairs. Since they were pushing instead of lifting some, the fridge suddenly jumped a stair and fell on me. When I tried to get up with the fridge I heard a loud pop. I should have taken more time.

Happened about 2 years ago - pain when in bed is worse and about the same when up and walking around - pain when I step into a small hole - jar it. The injuries were to my lower spine. I am doing some aerobics with my wife and that does limber me up and help some.

I have had the MRI's and an XRAY. I have not had an EMG nerve connection study or seen a neurologist.

I have had no scan of my abdomen or seen a gastroenterologist - just tests by the DR and the colonoscopy. No one has looked at my abdomen. More recently I have developed some rib pain, and it hurts sleeping on my side. I thought I needed another MRI to see if something had changed but the orthopedic spine specialist wanted to go for the shots and not another MRI. I was not sure if I wanted to get into that cycle. This was a different spine doctor than the one my wife had. In my prime and in tip top shape my weight stayed steady at 165. Last night when I weighed it was 164 but not muscle weight which worried me.

Thank you for the information. It sounds like I need an actual gastroenterologist and a neurologist.
My wife may also need a check with a neurologist and maybe a shoulder replacement repair although shoulders are tricky. Another possibility is the MAO Clinic but that is about a day's drive from where we live so we would have to figure that out.

Dan

Jump to this post

@dmg777
Hi, Dan.

It does sound like your wife may need surgery to fix her shoulder injury where she already had surgery. She may also need cervical spine surgery to stabilize her neck if there is disc degeneration. Bone spurs/osteophytes can form and put pressure on or pinch nerve roots/nerves and even spinal cord. A neurologist can tell you with EMG/nerve conduction studies if there is a spinal nerve being compressed and causing radiating symptoms in arms/hands (radiculopathy). Spinal cord compression can be weakness/numbness in arms/hands where you drop things or handwriting worsens. Cervical spine can also affect bowel/bladder control and walking/legs. I had ACDF surgery on c5-c6 and will have c6-c7 done next month (May). I have degenerative cervical myelopathy spinal cord compression injury and radiculopathy plus carpal tunnel.

For you, I would focus on ensuring you had cervical, thoracic, lumbar and pelvis/hip MRIs and abdominal ultrasound to see how your spine and abdominal organs were affected/injured by the fall of the refrigerator and dolly onto you. I’m assuming you had some impact with the stairs, too. Your ribcage/sternum and liver/kidneys, gallbladder/pancreas or stomach/spleen could have been injured. You want to get to the bottom of the unexplained weight loss. I was reading about adrenal gland injury (near kidneys) causing unexplained weight loss (Addison’s disease https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350293).

REPLY
1 reply
dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | 4 days ago
In reply to @dmg777 "Thank you for the reply, Here are answers concerning my wife: No surgery as a child...." + (show)
@dmg777

Thank you for the reply,
Here are answers concerning my wife:

No surgery as a child. She only had a crack in the skull after the car hit her. No hardware in her spine. Her shoulder surgery has been damaged due to a fall after her dog tripped her about a year ago, so there is pain there also.

Yes, on MRI's. She corrected me that it was six vertebrae and not 3. She has also had some numbness at times.

No on EMG Nerve connection studies

Here are the answers concerning my back:

I had the fridge on a dolly with me pulling and two strong ladies pushing on the other end while going upstairs. Since they were pushing instead of lifting some, the fridge suddenly jumped a stair and fell on me. When I tried to get up with the fridge I heard a loud pop. I should have taken more time.

Happened about 2 years ago - pain when in bed is worse and about the same when up and walking around - pain when I step into a small hole - jar it. The injuries were to my lower spine. I am doing some aerobics with my wife and that does limber me up and help some.

I have had the MRI's and an XRAY. I have not had an EMG nerve connection study or seen a neurologist.

I have had no scan of my abdomen or seen a gastroenterologist - just tests by the DR and the colonoscopy. No one has looked at my abdomen. More recently I have developed some rib pain, and it hurts sleeping on my side. I thought I needed another MRI to see if something had changed but the orthopedic spine specialist wanted to go for the shots and not another MRI. I was not sure if I wanted to get into that cycle. This was a different spine doctor than the one my wife had. In my prime and in tip top shape my weight stayed steady at 165. Last night when I weighed it was 164 but not muscle weight which worried me.

Thank you for the information. It sounds like I need an actual gastroenterologist and a neurologist.
My wife may also need a check with a neurologist and maybe a shoulder replacement repair although shoulders are tricky. Another possibility is the MAO Clinic but that is about a day's drive from where we live so we would have to figure that out.

Dan

Jump to this post

@dmg777
When you fell with the refrigerator on the dolly, were you facing the refrigerator and dolly with your back to the stairs? Did the full weight of the refrigerator and dolly fall on you and did you hit the stairs with all of the weight on your torso/abdomen?

Do you only do low impact aerobics? If you injured your spine or have disc issues, you do not want to do any high impact exercises like running or jogging or high aerobics. I would also not use a chiropractor since adjustments can worsen spine/disc issues.

I have had lumbar surgery, too (l3-l5). At first, I tried injections but they only worked in the beginning. The last 3 did nothing so I moved to surgery. My symptoms were low back, hip, buttock and leg pain, weakness and numbness. I am diagnosed with spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, and neurogenic claudication. I started having symptoms earlier than others typically do because I was born with a congenitally narrow spinal canal. My pain started in my 40s and I’m now in my 50s.

REPLY
dmg777 | @dmg777 | 3 days ago
In reply to @dlydailyhope "@dmg777 Hi, Dan. It does sound like your wife may need surgery to fix her shoulder..." + (show)
@dlydailyhope

@dmg777
Hi, Dan.

It does sound like your wife may need surgery to fix her shoulder injury where she already had surgery. She may also need cervical spine surgery to stabilize her neck if there is disc degeneration. Bone spurs/osteophytes can form and put pressure on or pinch nerve roots/nerves and even spinal cord. A neurologist can tell you with EMG/nerve conduction studies if there is a spinal nerve being compressed and causing radiating symptoms in arms/hands (radiculopathy). Spinal cord compression can be weakness/numbness in arms/hands where you drop things or handwriting worsens. Cervical spine can also affect bowel/bladder control and walking/legs. I had ACDF surgery on c5-c6 and will have c6-c7 done next month (May). I have degenerative cervical myelopathy spinal cord compression injury and radiculopathy plus carpal tunnel.

For you, I would focus on ensuring you had cervical, thoracic, lumbar and pelvis/hip MRIs and abdominal ultrasound to see how your spine and abdominal organs were affected/injured by the fall of the refrigerator and dolly onto you. I’m assuming you had some impact with the stairs, too. Your ribcage/sternum and liver/kidneys, gallbladder/pancreas or stomach/spleen could have been injured. You want to get to the bottom of the unexplained weight loss. I was reading about adrenal gland injury (near kidneys) causing unexplained weight loss (Addison’s disease https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/addisons-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350293).

Jump to this post

Thanks for the additional information. My wife and I will use it to help with our decisions.
Dan

REPLY
dmg777 | @dmg777 | 3 days ago

Hi again,

I forgot to answer your questions:

I was facing the fridge and went down on my back on the top, level platform. The vertebrae popped when lifting the fridge and standing up from being flat on my back. The two on the other end heard the pop. The disk was only slightly slipped, and I may have done that prior to the fridge, but yes, the pain will not allow me to run or jog - wish I could but any jolt hurts. I don't use a chiropractor, but my wife does along with the physical therapy and a "neck stretcher" for no better term that the chiropractor recommended and the physical therapist (Dr's degree) is OK with. My wife also takes a Prolia shot every 6 months, and she may not be able to get off of those. She has two areas of concern lower down from her neck in her spine but those don't usually cause pain.

I use an inverter at times when my back is not hurting too much which helps me walk more upright after some minor popping of vertebrae when hanging upside down - generally I feel better afterwards. The spine DR. said that put less stress on my back then standing when I asked about it. I do have pain mostly on one side when sleeping on that side and maybe rib pain when sitting in a chair with a belt on. I am down to about 1/4 of my strength based on what I can lift which I assume is from the muscle loss or perhaps just my body saying stop.

Thanks again for your input.

Dan

REPLY
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