Excruciating chronic left side neck pain plus lumbar issues

@robinsitzmann Welcome to Connect. I see you just joined and we're glad you're here. Did you want to share more about your situation and pose any questions to other members?

I also suffered from neck and upper shoulder pain, I have had surgery on my shoulders and neck cervical 3-4 suffered for years till just last year when after repeated visits to my PCP for the same issues led him to actually have me get on the table and perform a physical exam, he found these areas to be very tight, he had me stop statins for a week to see if my pain went away and it worked. Doctor said that I’m allergic and it is a classic symptom of pain from using the medication. I still have to take statins but I’m on a much smaller dose

Attention: Right Shoulder Pain and loss of feeling in outside right arm into two small fingers in right hand due to pinched nerve in C-6, C-7 area.

Had a cortisone shot six weeks ago and lasted only 2 weeks. Severe pain now. Have been going to PT regularly.
Anyone tried a neck traction device and comment on how successful or not it has been for you. Thx. TB

Yes, Traction for neck helped me. But be sure they start at low settings and dont increase quickly either. For my back it backfired and caused worse pain. Recommend wearing a neck brace . I also had to back off on PT. In my experience many of them push too hard and over exercise you, they caused me worse pain problems. Finally found one who is very gentle, uses neuromodulation and never exercises me when in pain.

@ab6540183

Alfred, I am going to ask you an important question, and if you do your homework and honestly work toward finding your truthful answer to this question, it can help you get past the anxiety and the fear. The question is:

WHY are you doing this to yourself?

In other words, identify the things you are doing, your thinking patterns, and how does it relate to your anxiety and high blood pressure? What is it that you believe about your spine condition that is triggering you, and WHY DO YOU BELIEVE IT?

One path to answer this question is to think about times in your past when you felt similar anxiety, and why did you feel that way? What happened? Where you in physical danger? Did you not feel like you were getting support during a fearful event in your life?

Believe me, I have been there too, and the day I asked myself these questions was the day I began to unravel all the reasons that FEAR WAS CONTROLLING ME, and in finding those connections, I deprogrammed the fear. I used to fear pain so much that I passed out anytime I got an injection. All it took to push my FEAR button was for a surgeon to tell me that I had significant spinal cord compression and I needed surgery as soon as possible, and then with his arrogance, he didn't have time to answer my questions, yet he was asking me to sign up for his surgery. Later on, he continued sending me quality of life surveys for 2 years sniffing for business. His position as a surgeon elevated his importance and he had been in a magazine for his fashion style and elegance unrelated to his medical career.

After that, every morning when I thought about myself needing spine surgery, my blood pressure shot up and my heart raced. I had to learn to stop having panic attacks because I knew I was in trouble and needed to have my spine condition fixed which could only be done with surgery.

Consider this..... the fear response is learned and remembered by your brain. Every time your brain sees a similar threat, it goes right to the fear response that it knows. That is a survival reflex that is meant to get you out of danger as soon as possible. You were not born with this fear and anxiety. Babies don't worry about what will happen. Somewhere along the way, you learned to be fearful and accepted fear into your life without thinking about it. Here is your chance to think about it now and deprogram it, and if you do this right, it will change your life. That was my greatest lesson in facing my biggest fears.

Fear will increase pain a lot. There are people who can endure pain while using their mind so they do not feel the pain. How do they do that? If I had to guess, I would think they have severed the link between pain and fear.

I think you know how others view you when you say that your spouse and doctors are "not supportive." Here is your quote: "I have been bombarding the doctors with phone calls and emails nearly every week. They are not being supportive."

What happens when you keep repeating everything all the time to everyone over and over?

People stop listening including doctors.

If you keep telling surgeons your pain is at a specific level, you are diagnosing yourself and in effect, you are telling them how to do their job. A surgeon has spent years learning medicine and may be offended by a patient who keeps doing this and making demands. The surgeon's job is to figure out if there is a structural reason for your symptoms, and if it is something they can fix. Often, they do not promise to cure pain because pain can be for many reasons out of their control. If they think your pain is coming from something else or if it is in your head, what can they do to help you? Nothing..... except refer you to pain management.

Surgeons jobs are stressful and they are overworked. As you say, there are not enough surgeons to meet the demand in your country and the medical system is flawed, but it is what it is. This is why you need to be the best patient you can be. Be the patient that everyone wants to help.

What do you think your doctor thinks if you second guess them by looking things up on the internet and you tell them what is wrong? It's true that doctors can miss things. In my case 5 surgeons missed the complete diagnosis. When I found the medical literature that described my condition, I posed it as a question and asked the new surgeon if they thought my case could be like this case in the literature? It's an important difference in the way you communicate. Let them be "the BRAIN" and you are there to learn from them; not to tell them what you think is the cause of your problem. Describe your symptoms instead.

I believe that you can lower your pain response and your anxiety if you commit to doing that. Working with a counselor can help a lot. Decide what it is that you really want.

You said, "I am currently in hell. I have been up all night, it is 5:13 am in Melbourne, I took all my tablets but they are not managing the pain at all."

The choice is yours. Either stay in your current mode, adrift without a plan and hoping to be rescued, or take steps to help rescue yourself and change your life. You are the only one who can do that. Make an informed choice so you can answer honestly to yourself WHY you made the choice. A journey begins with a single step.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer, can you please explain to us why doctors are not always listening to what we are trying to tell them, they are not always right and it’s that very reason why they miss potential life threatening conditions. I would be a lot worse off if I didn’t be more pro bono with the rare conditions I’ve had to help them make the correct choices for me. I have walked out of more than one doctors visit from their unpleasant and unprofessional attitude.

I have c5 and c6 fusion on Dec. 13th. I'm at the 3-month date and still have pain in my right arm, tingling in fingers occasionally, and some burning in my neck. I'm actually worse than I was before surgery. They keep saying it just takes time. I am going to PT 2 times a week plus started on Lycia. Lycrica helps some but I want to be better. Just wondering about other things people have tried such as myofascial, etc. I'm open to any ideas.

I've similar issues ..However I've also narrowing of the cartoid arteries up front of neck & having spoken to neurosurgeon need to see a vascular surgeon. I thought the pain radiating under collar bone & up left side of ear was related to neck issues, it wasn't. I've also pulsating tinnitus caused by the narrowing of said arteries. All discs gone in neck with osteophytes & encroachment of nerves .Anterior cord contour deformity which is responsible for the pain numbness & not been able to hold head up properly..in the meantime lumbar dics have gone with Stenosis, if it's not one thing it's another. Plus due to narrowing plays havoc with my blood pressure, turn my neck it goes through the roof then stables when facing forwards, like yourself Steroid injections offered but declined had 3 prior that hadn't worked so just get on until I can no longer control bladder/bowels then neurosurgeon will operate mmmm .

I had a neck fusion and started getting severe tightness and pain that was awful, for years I begged my son to rub me and I went to professional massage, acupuncture, even bought a heated massage water bed, doctors was prescribe pain meds for 10 years, but my new doctor found out that I was allergic to the Statin, after I cut way back on the dose, my neck and shoulders relaxed
and that’s a common side effect of Statins I don’t know but maybe some of your meds could cause your ongoing pain, if it worsens you should be seen 3 months isn’t very long. Are you sure your fully fused? I ask because I also had broken finger fused almost a year ago and it is just now really feeling stronger . Fusions take time, L5_S1 fusion 2005 no back pain but now I’m feeling like I want the hardware out because it seems like it’s putting pressure on my nerves. It does take time to heal.