Excruciating pain from cervical (C7/T1) radiculopathy

I have a C6 herniation with severe pain going down into my shoulder that continues down my arm, forearm, into my thumb and index finger. My shoulder pain is so severe they checked to make sure I didn’t injure my shoulder or rotator cuff when I went to the ER (there was not). The shoulder pain is deep and intense.

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I have a C6 herniation with severe pain going down into my shoulder that continues down my arm, forearm, into my thumb and index finger. My shoulder pain is so severe they checked to make sure I didn’t injure my shoulder or rotator cuff when I went to the ER (there was not). The shoulder pain is deep and intense.

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Hello I am new to this group, 7/23/2021 I had arthroscopic repair of right shoulder , I had a fall & came down on the right shoulder. There were X-rays done before surgery MRI of shoulder & x-ray of neck. The neck x-ray did show degeneration & radiculopathy. The surgeons Physician’s assistant gave me flexeril for what he thought at that time was muscle spasm & tightening. I had the shoulder surgery which thankfully no large tear in rotator cuff, but prominent osteophite (bone spur) . The second week of recovery one evening I had the most excruciating pain started in neck went down right arm, took all the pain medications didn’t seem to help just took edge of pain away. When I went to therapy, the therapist put a traction machine on my neck & that really helped. By the end that week Friday night my therapy day the pain had returned & was so bad I thought to go to the emergency room, called the on-call staff at surgeon’s office ordered a Medrol dose ok steroid taper thinking it is inflamed initially that helped but would wear off till next dose. When I sent message to the physician’s assistant he said you may want to make appointment with neck specialist. I couldn’t get appointment till Sept 22nd. I did not have this kind of pain before the shoulder repair surgery. I ‘d like to think I have pretty good pain tolerance but this is intolerable. Sorry message so long

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@1dlynnborst Hello and welcome to Connect. I am a spine surgery patient for cervical stenosis and had surgery to decompress my spinal cord. With a spine issue, it helps to avoid any posture or bending of the spine that exacerbates the issues. I used to get neck muscle spasms that moved my vertebrae around which then put more pressure on my spinal cord because there wasn't any space left around it. I used a microbead neck wrap that I microwaved and I would lie down on my back which helped. I would think that your pain is probably increased by inflammation from your recent shoulder surgery. Not knowing is also stressful and stress increases pain, so do your best to relax any way that works for you. Did your therapist check the alignment of your spine? With muscles that connect your shoulder to your spine, if you had a spasm in your shoulder, it can pull on your neck vertebrae and put more pressure on something that already hurts. Spasms can twist or tilt vertebrae. The spinal nerves exit the spine between vertebrae, so you can imagine if the vertebrae gets tilted to the side, it could make that space smaller. My therapist was using a Dolphin Neurostim on me to ease the muscle spasms and pain. It has electric signals that block the neurotransmitters that transmit pain, and I used to get about a week of relief before the spasms started again. If you can maintain the normal curve in the cervical spine, is helps ease symptoms.

Have you had an MRI of your neck? How did they diagnose radiculopathy?

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Hi Jennifer, thanks for your message. I am having a MRI of my neck & brachial plexus , the tests aren’t scheduled as yet first insurance authorization. I also have switched orthopedic practice because the other practice could not get me seen for 7 weeks for this neck problem & pain. I really want to know what’s causing the severe neck pain & hopefully treat with therapy I really don’t want surgery, only as a last resort.

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I recently posted about my experiences with realizing that I have (99% probability) cervical radiculopathy, plus possible ulnar nerve damage that causes pain and tingling from my neck down to my right hand. All fingers are affected, but mostly my thumb and index finger.

But the most pain I have is in my shoulder. I have assumed this was related to the neuropathy, but then I realized that the amount and intensity is almost the same as when I had a rotator cuff injury from playing tennis... probably at least 15 years ago. But I have not done anything like that to cause that problem to recur.

Does this sound to anyone here like it is part of the nerve issues? Has anyone with C6/7 nerve pain had shoulder pain?

Thanks,

Mitch

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@mlerin With stenosis, when it is bad enough and causing nerve compression, epidurals may not have an effect. An epidural works by reducing inflammation which takes a little bit of pressure off, but if it is too far advanced, the pressure will be caused by arthritic changes, abnormal bone growth or a ruptured disc. If there is any instability or a collapsed disc, it can put extra pressure on the compressed nerves. I had one epidural injection and it only stopped all the pain for 5 days, and then it slowly returned over the next few weeks. I can tell you that cervical spine surgery is not that bad at least in my experience. I had an ACDF or anterior procedure which is an easier recovery that a posterior approach that goes through muscle layers. If your issues are just in the foramen where the nerve roots exit, there are some procedures that just clean out the compression without removing a disc. If you have stenosis in the central canal, they access it by removing a disc. I had spinal cord compression in the central canal from a collapsed disc and bone spurs at C5/C6, and had a fusion. I had a great recovery and had a fusion without hardware, and only a bone graft. I stayed in a cervical collar until it fused. I took it easy during my recovery. You may want to get other surgical opinions before deciding. Ask your doctor about prolotherapy. I have heard about it, and it relies on an injection that causes some inflammation which is a step toward healing, but it will not fix any stenosis that exists. If you have muscle spasms causing mal-alignment, physical therapy may help realign your spine and could help if alignment or instability is adding to the problem. It will not fix stenosis either, but could buy some time.

Generally, fixing this by decompressing the stenosis is best done before permanent nerve damage happens. Ask your surgeon's opinion on that and about how soon they think that should be done, and ask what will happen if you don't have surgery or wait too long. I had to make that choice too, and I didn't want to become disabled because of my spinal cord compression. I was also loosing the ability to use my arms and coordinate my movement. I lost about half my muscle in my arms and shoulders to atrophy. I tried to find surgical help for 2 years and was turned down by 5 surgeons, so I came to Mayo and had a wonderful gifted surgeon who gave me back my ability to do my artwork. I wish I had come there first and not wasted time with doctors who didn't want to help me. Epidural injections can also take a couple days to work, so time will tell. When I woke up from surgery, all of my pre-existing pain was gone, and I only had pain from the incision and surgical path. I also had a great physical therapist who did myofascial release before and after surgery. You need to trust your surgeon completely, so ask lots of questions and get as many opinions as you need. I'm glad that the others didn't want to help me because I had a better choice of fusion without hardware and probably would not have had that choice if one of the others had operated. I understand the anxiety, and I had a lot of that, but I learned to understand and control my fear and was able to be calm on my surgery day. I expected spine surgery to really hurt a lot, and it did not. Other patients who waited too long and have permanent damage talk about having pain that is not resolved by surgery. Doctors can't promise the surgery will take away pain, and they tell you it will keep it from getting worse. My surgery resolved all my pain and my range of motion is normal. Do your homework and research so you'll be able to make an informed decision. Here is my story on Sharing Mayo Clinic. https://sharing.mayoclinic.org/2019/01/09/using-the-art-of-medicine-to-overcome-fear-of-surgery/

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I would love the name of your neurosurgeon at Mayo
Facing the same thing
Thanks
Pamela Ombres

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