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Pain on upper chest and mid back
Spine Health | Last Active: Sep 2, 2023 | Replies (21)Comment receiving replies
THANK YOU so much ma'am for all the information.
Yes, this sounds very similar to what I have, I started seeing an Ortho last week and have a follow-up after a lumbar MRI as I also have issues with my legs, but I have mentioned to him the pain and you know how they work, ONLY ONE THING AT A TIME, I will see him again this week, but now that you have giving me this much information, I'm actually looking for a clinic or specialist that treats TOS, I live in Tampa, I have already found a few through Google search. Have been thinking of going to Jax and scheduling something with Mayo, but the travelling and expenses make me wonder if it would be a good decision and try local first, but then again Mayo is Mayo.
Just a quick story, everything started last year in September with the issue with my chest and back locking up after having a hard workout session and mowing my lawn, I was able to take some med pain and everything went back to semi-normal, a few days later I started having fasciculations around my legs and body, went to GP Who sent me to neuro, he tested me for everything including Stiff Person Syndrom, and Thank God everything came out clear, but he didn't know what could be, so went to another neuro and he said I had Bening fasciculation Syndrom, Cramp fasciculation Syndrome, and Isaac Syndrome so you can imagine my anxiety, two weeks later after seeing him around the end of October my mid back started hurting as i have never experienced, the pain will radiete under arms and upper chest, I felt like going to ER, but the Neuro said let's do some MRIs which came out with 3 Herniated and 6 bulges on thoracic, some issues in my lumbar and also a herniated in C5-C6, but he said physical therapy no need for surgery, while doing physical therapy they had me do wall squats with a ball between my knees, two hours later my hamstring was hurting like i have never felt so bad that it locked up my calf muscle, and I had to stop driving and start walking with a walking stick, but have been able to do some walking now, went to another neuro who did an emg and saw muscle denervation on my leg so wants to do a follow in three months as she cannot discard ALS, so you can imagine the anxiety, spoke with a friend who is a neuro who lives in another country and he said, she should have sent you to an ortho to check on the leg and your back pain rather than just sit and wait as denervation can be caused by muscle injury, so this is where I'm at now, still looking, nervous and scared, but have to keep pushing.
Thank you again for all your help and hope you have a good weekend.
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@soccer1477 If you respond to me by typing my handle, @jenniferhunter, I'll be sure to see your response because I will get an e mail.
When you say Neuro are you talking about a neurosurgeon or a neurologist? With a recommendation of no surgery and with the problems with your legs and muscle loss and the new information of having a ruptured C5/C6 + herniated T discs as well, this kind of raises a red flag.
As you know, I am a Mayo spine surgery patient, and I came to Mayo after 5 local spine surgeons missed the diagnosis. I had fears of ALS too because of symptoms being greater on one side, but I've also had symptoms change sides. Muscle degeneration is a concern, and I had some of that in my shoulders because of spinal cord compression. What makes this confusing for doctors is when they expect that your symptoms follow a dermatome map which neatly maps where you will feel pain if a nerve root is compressed where nerves exit the spinal cord between vertebrae. What about the patient where symptoms change and pain happens in different body parts, and that changes when you change positions such as seated, reclining, standing twisting, etc? I was that patient. I got in the habit of reading medical literature and looking up the writings of surgeons who I wanted to consult to see if they may have an interest in the area of spine that I thought I needed. My spine issues were mainly the herniated collapsed C5/C6 disc with bone spurs that was pressing into my spinal cord and confused by the TOS which causes overlapping symptoms of pain generated in peripheral nerves.
I found at Mayo a surgeon who would understand why I had unusual symptoms (Jeremy Fogelson). When I read his papers, I found a term that I looked up regarding leg pain being generated by spinal cord compression in the neck, and when I looked up that medical term, I found cases like mine. If you find a doctor that understands this or will embrace this literature, it just might be like my luck in finding a great surgeon.
The spinal cord is floating in fluid inside the spinal canal like a rope inside of a garden hose, so you know when you bend or twist that hose, the rope inside moves to compensate. That means the spinal cord can move and make contact with problem areas of the spine that intrude into that spinal central canal space and that can change where you feel symptoms.
I think you can save yourself some time if you use the case literature when you interview surgeons for the job. If you ask them, is my case like this in literature? You may get an answer of yes, I'll consider this or no, then you can proceed with surgeons who understand this type of case which is described as "rare." Here are links about cases where cervical cord compression causes leg pain like sciatic pain. I also had leg pain and pain all over my body that scared away surgeons and a decompression surgery with the right surgeon, cervical spine surgery solved all of that. Now you know why I'm here; to help patients who's doctors are missing this crucial information as well as other conditions where I have some experience.
Funicular Pain
Here is the literature that I found.
Eur Spine J. 2011 Jul; 20(Suppl 2): 217–221.
Published online 2010 Oct 13. doi: 10.1007/s00586-010-1585-5
PMCID: PMC3111492
PMID: 20938789
"Cervical cord compression presenting with sciatica-like leg pain"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111492/
Here is some more literature about funicular pain:
BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2020; 21: 302.
Published online 2020 May 14. doi: 10.1186/s12891-020-03299-x
PMCID: PMC7227285
PMID: 32410709
"Funicular pain: a case report of intermittent claudication induced by cervical cord compression"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7227285/
Here's another link to an abstract that describes how this condition delays the diagnosis of the spine problem. Very true. I wasted 2 years looking for help and none of the 5 surgeons I consulted would help me. #6 was at Mayo Rochester and he took the job and aced it.
Journal of Clinical Neuroscience
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34509266/
If you have further questions, please ask. You will need to advocate for yourself instead of waiting to see how much worse this can get while your doctors are not figuring it out. The good thing about Mayo is that you can find doctors who understand TOS AND this funicular pain spine condition. Traveling made a big difference for me in finding the help I needed that I couldn't find in a local big city. I checked the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Page on the Mayo website and the tab for the doctors who treat this condition and it did not come up with any doctors at Jacksonville.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/doctors-departments/ddc-20353997
If you want to visit Rochester, you could see the same doctors who saw me. Let me know if you need that information.
Here is a link if you want to request care at any of Mayo Clinic campuses.
http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63
Jennifer