Excruciating chronic left side neck pain plus lumbar issues

I am so very very sorry you cancelled your transforaminal injection for C6. The transforaminal is a much more effective injection for me,
( and more difficult, your current pain mgmt dr may not be skilled enough to do it, hence he declined it, that happened to me, he just kept doing worthless intralaminar epidurals that gave me zero relief) I really hoped it would bring you releif. My Dr gives me 1 Zanax to take 45 mins b4 the procedure so I can relax. Someone drives me. Glad the acupuncture helped you and didnt cause a bad reaction. Hope you see the new surgeon soon, I know you fear a surgery, but perhaps he can also change your meds to something that works better for you, since your pain dr isnt listening to you. I know you don't like the meds and many times it sounds like you skip them, and 2 days later you are back in very bad pain. I must stress consistently taking them is very important, they build stronger effectiveness over time. And like I stressed before please Stop bending forward, it only adds unnecessary stress to the problem.
Said a rosary for you yesterday. It's always darkest before the dawn.🙏

I am so very very sorry you cancelled your transforaminal injection for C6. The transforaminal is a much more effective injection for me,
( and more difficult, your current pain mgmt dr may not be skilled enough to do it, hence he declined it, that happened to me, he just kept doing worthless intralaminar epidurals that gave me zero relief) I really hoped it would bring you releif. My Dr gives me 1 Zanax to take 45 mins b4 the procedure so I can relax. Someone drives me. Glad the acupuncture helped you and didnt cause a bad reaction. Hope you see the new surgeon soon, I know you fear a surgery, but perhaps he can also change your meds to something that works better for you, since your pain dr isnt listening to you. I know you don't like the meds and many times it sounds like you skip them, and 2 days later you are back in very bad pain. I must stress consistently taking them is very important, they build stronger effectiveness over time. And like I stressed before please Stop bending forward, it only adds unnecessary stress to the problem.
Said a rosary for you yesterday. It's always darkest before the dawn.🙏

I would beg the Dr to switch to 600mg gabapentin 3x day , and stop the pregabalin. And switch to prednisone 4mg dose pack and stop diclofenac. Up the amitryptyline to 25mg. Take the Amitryptline at nite. Tradeoff is confused ,nausea ( try ginger beer or tea) and unbalanced, I will take that ,instead of the pain. All meds that are going to help you at this point have side effects, it just how it is. You need to sleep, sleep heals.
Nerve pain is the worse like I said, it travels or refers, especially with multiple nerves involved and the it can go down you legs etc from your neck. There is tons of info online about this and Jennifer also mentioned how she had refer pain like that. Good Luck with this Dr or get another . 🙏

Hi jm1,

how are you? Thank you for the advice.

Last night my pain has reached the worse of the worst levels since all this started back in Aug 2022.

Despite taking all my medication I couldn't manage the pain which was extremely disabling.

There were tonnes of deep, extreme pain/numbness/tightness/pins and needles in the left of my neck, lower back, groin, leg, foot as well as shoulders, arms, hands and fingers.

Earlier yesterday afternoon I have visited an osteopath for some manipulation to get rid of muscle knots in my neck/upper thoracic. I though that I felt better, but last night my pain had reached new peaks of pain that I had not experienced before.

There is something inside that is pressing very hard against me nerves.

I also had a phone appointment with my pain management doctor yesterday morning. He reiterated that I had to keep taking the medication but told him that it wasn't working anymore.

In the end my wife had to call the ambulance later in the night. The ambulance officers checked my blood pressure which was over 180/100 for a while. Then it was recommended that I would not go to hospital because I would be waiting for hours with no resolutions. This is how bad the Australian hospital system is currently, under staffed and resourced.

The ambulance officers told me that the current medication would not help my pain and needed something stronger. Luckily I had Tapentadol 50m and Baclofen 10mg.

I have let my current doctors know.

Best regards

Alfred

@jm1 @vlk420

Hi jm1 and vlk420,

Thanks for all the help and the heart breaking stories about your health. I really feel for you guys, because I am going through physical and mental health issues myself.

Just a little bit over 7 months ago I hardly had any issues, I was capable of doing things, do my sports etc.

How can 7 months change your life, from hero to zero? 😢

I feel very depressed daily, the pain is not abating, the brain is under attack 24/7, your thoughts are centred around the pain because you can't shake it off. Nearly constant headaches and bilateral tinnitus.

I haven't been driving the car for 2 months due to the fact that is painful to seat. Attending my appointments by taxi is a challenge. Some of my appointments are located near the Melbourne AUS central district, 30km each way. I can't find a sitting position that is suitable, worsened by taxi drivers that go hard on the brakes, take off too quickly or go over speed humps too fast.

Yesterday I had to cancel my CT/Bone scan appointment because I was too sore to lie down in those scan machines. I also cancelled the C6 nerve root injection planned for next Friday. I won't be attending my wife's birthday (70) party on Friday at the local pub with her brothers and sisters unfortunately, because I just have too much pain when I sit down. She is not happy about this, but I find it hard to pretend that I am happy while I am in this extremely negative state of mind.

Sorry jm1 yesterday I did go to see an acupuncturist before I read your message afterwards.

I was there for 2 hours. The acupuncturist told me that my body is dry inside and I need to hydrate it more.
I told her that I have a massive burning pain in the left side of my neck. After she put the needles in my neck and back gently, she got me to walk around the office for 10 minutes. I did buy some Chinese herbs that would help me stay hydrated once mixed with water. When I got home, I noticed that my left neck pain had gone down quite a bit, but now the pain had shifted to the right hand side, weird. I am hoping that it will improve.

If I touch gently around C6, C7 on both sides I can feel pain in the neck connecting with pain in my lumbar spine, strange.

I have 2mm retrolisthesis of C4, C5 and 1.5mm spondylolisthesis of C6. I am wondering whether the vertebrae with the 2mm retrolisthesis are pushing against my spinal cord when I slightly bend over causing all those other pains. I asked my doctors but received no answers yet. The doctors' attitude is frustrating me, because I am the one in pain and should be getting answers. Their are wasting my time while I am getting worse.
All I received is meds and more meds, but no real solutions while they are getting paid. I have read that a lot of people around the world with this issues get worse because of mis-diagnosis and lengthy delays in assessments.

I have noticed that I have a hard painful lump on the right between C4/C5 roughly. What is it?
Better check it out shortly.

I do have fear of surgery because I may need a 3 level fusion (maybe C4-C5-C6 I don't) which may restrict my movements and prevent me from driving a car.

My Italian friend from Italy advised me that he got over his issues with physio, ozone therapy and exercises for 12 months. Obviously his condition wasn't as bad as mine.

Recently I struggle to get up from bed, it takes my a couple of minutes to slowly get up, then wash my face and make cappuccino for me and my wife in the morning. I also feel pain in my hip joints.

My social life does not exist anymore. People that called themselves "my friends" never call or visit me to find out how I am going. I only receive calls from some so called "friends" when they have a computer/network problem because I have had 30 years experience in Information Technology. I am not earning any money at the moment and am relying on government's assistance to get by. In May I will start getting my old age pension which won't be a lot of money. To make things worse we have 2 adult sons on mental disability that need to be cared for. With the current cost of living rising weekly it is going to be difficult to manage bills, etc.

I haven't been getting enough exercise, because I fear that the pain may get worse. Anyway yesterday evening I forced myself despite the pain to go for a short slow walk, I nearly covered 2kms. It wasn't too bad.

Best regards to all.

Alfred

Alfred, so sad to read your latest. Did you mean the ambulance officers gave you those meds???? Seems a bit is lost in translation of "luckily I had" , dont understand how you had such a strong drug as Tapentadol, in your possession.???? The combination with amiltryptiline and other drugs you have can be very very dangerous.
And sorry but I already told you no more manipulation, osteos, chiros, physios ,acupunture , all will only aggravate you more at this point, as so sadly, you found out last nite.
I am glad your wife is there to help you. Hoping you see the surgeon very soon. 🙏

@ab6540183

Alfred, Have you discussed your feelings and fears with your wife? Does she drive? If she does, why isn't she helping and taking you to your appointments? Is she busy taking care of your sons or working, and can't leave them alone to help take you to an appointment? She can't help you if she isn't fully aware of what you are experiencing. Please talk to her and figure out a plan, and you'll feel better about a lot of this. Do you have other relatives who can help get you to appointments? In order to get help, you will need to get to appointments and figure out how you can commit to that to be a good patient. How long will it be until you see the surgeon?

If you do have surgery, there will be follow up appointments and probably some rehab too. Surgeons can back out of helping for any number of reasons, so if you want their help, please do your best. I heard a surgeon at a spine conference telling other surgeons he doesn't advise taking cases of patients with mental or emotional issues because no matter how well the surgery is done, they will not be satisfied and may blame the surgeon. I am not making any judgements here, but the surgeon will when he sees you, and you want him to see you as a good patient who wants to fix the problem and heal, and return to their normal life.

Surgery is always a compromise, and hopefully you'll improve your spine function. I am able to drive with my spinal fusion, so don't worry about that for yourself right now. It might be a good idea to talk to a counselor on how you can think about this differently and not be so stressed out about your symptoms. Remember to breathe, slow and deep and try to stay relaxed. Music is your friend, so listen and relax. I have been there too and started out being terrified, and I worked out a plan so I could relax. It took me 2 years to find a surgeon who would help me. Your plan will help you feel in control of your choices.

Please talk to your wife about all of this and how together you can both face your challenges. Good for you for going for a walk. That is a great way to lower your stress and help your blood pressure and it will help your spine. You can do this and get your mind off of your worries. Take it one day at a time. Don't push hard on exercise, just walk leisurely to enjoy it. Enjoy the sunshine and listen to the birds.

Jennifer