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Excruciating chronic left side neck pain plus lumbar issues

Spine Health | Last Active: Nov 18, 2023 | Replies (360)
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@jm1

Hi Alfred,
Have been hoping your pain would recede by now and praying you would feel better. Read your latest MRIs. I am not a dr,( only very knowledgeable after after 25 yrs of coping and researching of my own severe issues ) but here is what I would do .Seems possible your thoracic pain still can settle down. The cervical area may possibly need a multilevel level fusion C4-C8. I say this because of the retrolithesis, spondolythesis
and multiple nerve roots in contact. I would have to go back and reread the old MRIs, but it appears your cervical problems have become much worse. Please google the medical terms on your MRI so you can better understand your condition. I would expect the pain Mgmt Dr may try and keep you in his shop, I had that happen to me before my back surgery but I would get to the neurosurgeon asap. In the meantime get prescribed for up to 3600 mg per day of Gabapentin. Research has shown taking this before surgery is Very Helpful. Request a 4mg Prednisone dose pack and an increase in your Oxy, and as I have said before Ice, until they can get you in , these will help the most. Hopefully after the neck is fixed the other areas will calm down. There is a law of neuromuscular pain generalization, that once you are overloaded everything starts to hurt. Neck fusions are usually very successful compared to lumbar, so have faith. Thats my humble opinion and what I would do for myself. Prayers for you.

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Replies to "Hi Alfred, Have been hoping your pain would recede by now and praying you would feel..."
AlfredB | @ab6540183 | Feb 2, 2023

Thanks jm1.
Yes you are right, that neck has been declining since the original neck pain in August 2022.
The August 2022 MRI didn't show all this damage.

---------------
Cervical MRI report August 2022:
The cranio-cervical junction is unremarkable. Cerebellar tonsils are
normally positioned. No abnormal focal or diffuse signal identified in the
cervical spinal cord. There is normal cervical lordosis. No spondylolisthesis identified.
No destructive bony lesions. No acute or remote fractures identified.
Level by Level Analysis:

C2/C3: [No protuberant osteophyte, disc bulging, spinal canal stenosis or
neural foramina stenosis.]
C3/C4:
Minimal broad base central and bilateral lateral disc bulging with associated minimal right intervertebral foramina stenosis
C4/C5: Broad-based central and right lateral disc bulging with associated moderate right intervertebral foraminal stenosis
C5/C6: Disc bulging resulting in moderate bilateral intervertebral foraminal stenosis
C6/C7: Right lateral/foraminal disc bulging resulting in moderate right intervertebral foramina stenosis
C7/T1: [No protuberant osteophyte, disc bulging, spinal canal stenosis or neural foramina stenosis.]
---------------

I don't know what happened, I might have done some inappropriate unintentional movements, maybe physiotherapists and osteopaths pressed too hard and I can tell you some were pretty rough. I don' t know if the cortisone injections back in December 2022 and January 2023 had anything to do with it.

I feel a massive stab as if someone is pushing a needle in anywhere between left of C6 to T7. I feel the pain in that area. I am not sure if I have occasional spinal cord compression as I bend my body. I don't know if the pain that I feel in the upper thoracic spine is referred pain. It could be nerves or facet joints, I can't tell the difference. I hope that a skilled neurosurgeon would be able to tell from the imaging.

The medications have bad side effects like total drowsiness, confusion, nausea and constipation. I made a suggestion to my pain management doctor in regards to Gabapentin, but he didn't listen. I have to follow what he recommends.

I have a phone appointment today with the pain management doctor at 1:30 PM AEST.

I tried ice but is it not helping much as expected.

If I had a C4 to C8 fusion would I get a very stiff neck with very low flexibility?

As far as surgery goes I read a lot of good things about Laminoplasty
Reference:
Cervical Laminoplasty Explained


Thank you.

Best regards

Alfred

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