Excruciating chronic left side neck pain plus lumbar issues

@ab6540183 Hi Alfred,

I remember lots of noises when I moved my neck. I think that can be caused when a bulging disc is rubbing on a vertebrae. I can get some cracking noises too from the facet joints.

Physiotherapy sounds like a good thing as long as it doesn't worsen your symptoms, but that is something to talk to the provider about.

You can practice with deep breathing and music and see if you can lower your blood pressure. I did this and would take a reading before and after, and I found I could lower mine by 15 points.

Once you get good at that, add imagery, and keep focusing on something you like. If your mind wanders, circle back. You can use a video you watch to do that without sound while you listen to the music of your choice. I also added singing to the mix. All of that taught me how to relax and manage pain when I was going through it. It was my go to self help any time I needed it. When you master that, you will know that you can cope with a difficult situation, so you can stay calm and not panic.

Does anyone else have suggestions for tips to stay calm when you're in pain? @jm1 @pamela35

Jennifer

Had given some tips to Alfred way back in this thread, about listening to Mozart or soothing instrumental classical. There is research that Mozart helps you reorder your thinking patterns and can help you heal. Watching movies always helps distract me from my pain also, but with Alfred's neck maybe not possible. ICE always cools my down.

Hi jm1,
how are you?

A few days ago you asked me:

"Did they use a new stronger MRI 3T machines like they have at Mayo"

I just found out that my local MRI services provider, called Marina Radiology, only uses MRI 1.5T machines unfortunately.

I suppose that the MRI 3T machines would provide twice the details compared to a MRI 1.5T machine.

Anyway this is my 2cents worth today.

Thank you.

Alfred

I see nothing was said about C1, C2. Ever thought about seeing an atlas orthogonal chiropractor?

@brendaohrt You are asking a good question, and I see you have some experience with C1/C2 instability. That is a delicate situation. My physical therapist told me that it can be it can be very dangerous to move the spine with C1/C2 instability.

For myself, I would not want a chiropractor to move my neck. I had spinal cord compression at C5/C6 and adding extra pressure on an already compressed spinal cord (because of bone spurs) could damage the spinal cord. I did have decompression surgery and a cervical fusion which was successful.

Can you share what your providers have advised for you? Have you consulted a spine surgeon who specializes at those levels?

Like you, just seeking options.

Hi everyone,
not feeling well at all. What follows is the letter that I wrote to my pain management specialist due to the extreme phase that I am going through.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spine worsening gradually over time.
Lots of red flags, severe symptoms

Thursday, 9 February 2023

To: Dr. xxxxxxx

As of 3 weeks ago my neck, spine conditions have worsened drastically.

Last night, the 9th of February 2023, I have had the worse night in bed since this problem started 5 months ago in August 2022.

When lying down in order to sleep, I have the following symptoms:

1)Last night I took my pain management medications comprising of Endep 10mg, Pregabalin 75mg, Clonidine 50mcg, Diclofenac 50mg and Targin 10/5.
2)As soon as I placed my right side of the head on the pillow, I started to feel almost immediately a bilateral constant excruciating (10/10), burning, pain starting at the rear bottom of the skull, going down the base of the neck and spreading further into the first 10 cm of the mid spine bilaterally. It feels as if there is barb wire inside my neck and spine. There is also tightness, numbness, and tingling. Sleeping on my back hurts just as much. I can’t sleep on my left hand side either. There must be some badly pinched nerves and degenerated facet joints.
3)When I move my head, I hear a lot of loud creaks inside.
4)I feel pain in the upper part of the thoracic spine
5)I feel pain in both sides of the lumbar spine, especially on the right. There is constant sharp pain above my right buttock. When I walk, I limp due to the pain in the right and side of the lower back.
6)There is pain between both ball joints of my legs going into the hips. The hips also hurt.
7)Numbness and tightness are felt in the area below the scrotum, behind my legs, all the way to the feet and toes. Pain, tightness and tingling are felt at the bottom of the feet, toes, back of the foot, the Achilles tendon and the calves.
8)Pins and needles occur and are felt in the anus, the back of the legs, arms, elbows, knees, on top of my head on and off.
9)I get strong headaches left and right of my head. I get dizzy and confused at times.
10)My jaw, my left and right ears hurt at times.
11)My left ear has been deaf since 2019 when a van hit me while riding my push bike in the bike lane. My existing left tinnitus is much louder now. As of 2 months ago, right ear tinnitus has developed. Now I suffer from additional ringing and sound hypersensitivity. For example, the noise of cutlery hitting a porcelain plate sounds extremely loud.
12)I feel strong really deep aches in the left and right sides of the neck. Now the right side hurts more than the left side. It used to be that only the left hurt. These deep aches are felt under the jaw, at the back and sides of the head, down the left side of the trachea near the throat. Also feel left facial numbness occasionally.
13)I am getting abdominal pains from time to time, even on an empty stomach. I have referred pain that runs into the chest pectoral muscles on and off.
14)My legs and arms twitch from time to time. My shoulders, arms, hands, fingers (thumb, index, middle and sometimes little finger) also hurt badly. The arms are a lot weaker than 2 months ago, especially the right arm. My right-hand knuckles can hurt and my right hand fingers feel tight and painful when I clench my hand.
15)When lying down, my legs and head jerk from side to side automatically on their own on and off.
16)When I get up I hear loud creaks in my shoulders, wrists, hips bones.
17)When my left and right side of neck hurts badly, I feel referred pain into the legs and feet, either left or right.
18)Anxiety, stress and depression have reached new highs.
19)I am not copying and I feel desperate, because things aren’t improving. I cannot understand what is happening to me and now the medications, despite making me pretty drowsy, are not shutting down the pain signals. I get really dry mouth and bad constipation. This is a real torture, hell on earth.
20)Sitting down is not as bad as lying down, but moderately painful. I cannot sit for more than 20 minutes, before more pain starts kicking in. When I stand up, I feel the least pain.
21)I need some resolutions.

Best regards

Alfred

Praying that you get relief- and soon.

What do I do when pain management drugs aren't working to mange your pain?
Do you increase the dose?
I can't cope with the unbearable pain?

Hi Alfred
When pain shifts from side to side, that is sign of spine instability, it can happen. It's scary, but for me on a positive note sometimes it give me a breather as the pain on the old side gets a rest. The creaking or cracking is called crepitis .
No one but a dr can tell you to increase your doses. Sorry to say drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation and (stomach pain probably from Diclofenac, zinc and tumeric) are just par for the course. Eat soda crackers as empty stomach makes it worse.
I completely rest in ice all day long, use Biotene gel for dry mouth and senna, when this bad.
You sound so bad today, it might be time to go to hosptial and get the morphine shots. At least it will be medically supervised and provide some relief quickly. Prayers for you