@jenatsky
@jenniferhunter

Thanks for your reply jm1.

Yesterday I received nerve blocks for the facet joints, not the cervical nerves.

The pain Dr wants to see if there are any problems from the facet joints first. There will be other facets joint nerve blocks in the near future. Then he is going to systematically target the cervical nerves that he believes are impinged according to the MRI and the symptoms.

The new pain DR told me not to take Gabapentin, Lyrica and start using Nortriptyline 10mg nocte only. This is not helping me therefore I am pairing this with 25mcg of Clonidine so that I can get some sleep.

This is an excerpt from his letter to my own GP:
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I have got the following recommendations
1. I think we should stop gabapentin and Lyrica.
2. I referred him to a neurologist for consideration of nerve conduction studies of his upper and lower limbs.
3. I think we should repeat the diagnostic medial branch blocks on the left side. We will go from C4 to C7. I have advised him to avoid cervical manipulation.
4. I asked him to keep walking.
5. I think he would benefit from active physiotherapy. I would like to see him in three months. Hopefully we will have done the injections by then.
6. I am concerned he may also have had some false negatives from the thoracic facet joint injections.
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I had an EMG this Thursday and the nerve blocks on Friday. The EMG proved that I have radiculopathies.

The extreme pain is still there.

I told him that the pain is mainly coming between C7/T1. There are 2 large lumps that you can feel on the left and right of this area. I feel an extreme stabbing between C7/T1 that I never had 2 months prior. I remember that the osteopath was pretty rough back in Feb. He caused me a lot of pain after that manipulation.

Question: Can the disc bulging/protrusion between C7/T1 be pushing onto my spinal cord cord causing referred pain where the left leg joins onto the left hip and the left foot?
I am frequently getting shoulders' pain, ring/little finger referred acute pain.

3 months ago I never had issues with tightness, numbness, pain in the groin area and the feet.
I do know that there is an impingement of right lumbar L2/L3, L3/L4 and that is why I feel these symptoms on the right foot but the left lumbar was always fine.

Also my pain management psychologist is encouraging me to do short slow bike rides (finish the ride just before symptoms kick in using the pacing technique) only on the bike track.
He believes that my mind is preventing me due to flee response, I.E. I am fearful of getting worse.

One one hand my pain DR suggest to walk a bit, on the other hand my psychologist encourages me to do short walks and bike rides using pacing.

I find walking harder because the weight of my head and torso puts a load on my lower back. When I ride I don't feel this load.

Best regards

Alfred