Excruciating chronic left side neck pain plus lumbar issues

Hi
Sounds like you should get another Doctor. Ask them if you can try Gabapentin and get off the other meds that didnt help me at all. Try a steroid injection or dose pack for flare ups.

Hi Alfred -

I do not hold the expertise to interpret your MRI results.

I would seek an opinion of another medical professional.

Best of luck to you

Hi everyone,

as of last night I started feeling a new pain in the right hand side of my neck. It is quite painful and it is shooting down the right trap, shoulder then into the right hand.

Looks like that I am slowly deteriorating. 😢

My anxiety and depression have gone up. I am feeling a bit lost.

I'm so sorry you are experiencing this. I, too, have degenerative disk disease in my neck and am often in serious pain. For me, at 55, I still have more good days than bad, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared to death when it's at its' worst that, if it should stay that way, my quality of life would be nil. I am reading your posts with interest and empathy for what you're going through and hope you can find some relief, both for yourself and to give me some hope for what lies ahead for me.

@ab6540183 Alfred,
You need another doctor. I don't know how your insurance system works in Australia, but this sounds like what we have in the US that sounds like an HMO where you have to see doctors in their network. This is run for profit, and doctors may be getting bonuses for saving money and avoiding surgery, so they can delay care. What are your options for seeking care somewhere else?

Medicine should not be like this. Don't give up. You have to make some noise to be heard. When you get a "non- answer" like other patients have MRIs like yours and do not have pain, that is just a dismissal and they are wasting your time while your condition worsens. They know better and are treating you badly.

You can look up new surgeons at a respected multidisciplinary medical center and see if you can book an appointment. Keep learning about your spine condition so you can ask educated questions. That is the only way you can figure out if the doctors are willing to help you. They also might be considering their reputations above anything else and may not want to take a case that may not have have good results that would lower their statistics of success. You are going to have to advocate for your care, but please find a doctor who wants to help. The more complex the case is, the more difficult it is, and some may not want that risk to their reputations. You need a better surgeon. Your report and your symptoms should not be ignored. I do think your reports suggests that surgery is indicated, however, only a surgeon who examines you can tell you that.

Hi Jennifer,

thanks for your wise words.

I have gotten another referral to see another neurosurgeon in Melbourne last Friday.
All the documentation has been uploaded and am awaiting for an appointment day that I can see him.
I will ring them up on Monday to gate the actual date.
I hope that I don't have to wait too long because I am not coping.

As I said, last Tuesday, 10 Jan 2023 the right side of the neck started to hurt badly around the C6/C7 area I believe. I do not know how this started.

Since this begun, I have been getting bilateral excruciating pain of the neck also exacerbated by my lumbar issues. The pain feels stronger than the left hand side in a different way, it feels a lot sharper. For the last few days I have been experiencing unbearable pain starting from right of neck, then going into right trapezius, shoulder, arm, forearm, wrist, hand and some fingers. My whole right arm is in continuous really bad pain despite me taking the recommended medication comprised of 2 x Endep 10mg, 1 x Lyrica 25mg, 1 x Diclofenac 50mg, 1 x Clonidine50mcg and Targin 10mg/5mg. This morning I woke up at 3AM in excruciating pain in my right arm, the medication is not helping at all.
Last Friday I told the pain management doctor about this new issue which I can't explain and was told by him to keep taking the medication, but it is currently not working.

My body is full of referred pain going everywhere. I tried meditation, but the pain is so bad that I couldn't meditate.

I have been with these neurosurgery group for 2 and half months now (initial pain started in Aug 2022), but I have made little progress except for getting pain medication and 3 cortisone diagnostic injections in C7/T1, T1/T2, T2/T3.

My anxiety has reached astronomical levels, I am not coping. I am totally depressed becuase I am always in pain. I try to sit, lie down, but no position relieves it.

I told them that this is an emergency because the pain is too much.

I am even contemplating to have the cervical spine re-scanned with another MRI to see if anything has changed in the neck.

In Melbourne if I call an ambulance, they will take you to the closest public hospital, settle you with a morphine injection, overnight stay, then they will discharge you the next day.

Yes, we have a truly appalling system here.

Alfred

Hi Alfred,

I really feel for you, having to wait while in such pain. The best advise I can give is lay on ice every 20 mins. Ice will be your best friend until you can get to the dr. NO HEAT. Very important you stop all this typing, reading, any activity that engages your neck posture. It is making you worse. Get some relaxing classical music, like Mozart and rest as much as possible. There are neck braces at med supply stores and Amazon that you might want to order, they can provide relief. The pain can receed, but it does take time. Ask them to call in a steroid dose pack in the meantime to reduce inflammation quickly. Been here , so know the drill all to well. Prayers for you. XO

Hi Jennifer,

Thanks again.

I have already been wearing a soft neck collar and will try your music suggestion.

The current pain management specialist has been contacted by me. I asked him to revise the pain medication to handle this extra pain but he is also arranging more cortisone diagnostic injections.

I have uploaded my GP referral and all the documentation to the new neurosurgeon office but I will have to wait until mid to the end of March. 😞

This is their website

Alfred

@ab6540183
Hello Alfred,
Thank you, but that nice recommendation for Mozart came from @jm1 . I was about to suggest something like that too. You can reduce your pain if you use peaceful and beautiful mental imagery, soothing music and slow rhythmic breathing in time to the music. This is how music therapy works, and music therapy can also help patients with PTSD. I did this when I was anxious before my spine surgery and I found I could drop my bloop pressure by 15 points. I would listen to the same music, breathe deep and look at pictures and it really helped.

Don't tell yourself that you can't do this. Focus on small victories.

I can tell you the most painful experience for me was not spine surgery, but instead, a diagnostic spine injection that caused so much pain that I was convulsing and could not stop shaking. It was off the charts for all the pain I had ever known, and I was on my way to passing out, but I remembered my routine of peaceful imagery and I imagined an eagle soaring in the sky and flying with it. I did my deep breathing, and also played the music I loved in my head that I was using for these relaxation sessions. It worked, and I was able to regain control and cope with the pain. It probably reduced it a a bit. Stress, fear and anxiety will increase pain a lot, so this is your way to fight back against that, and not become a victim of pain. Instead, you will soar above it as best you can. I learned that I can cope and handle a difficult situation, and that it is temporary, and the pain will get better.

You are welcome to vent and question here as much as you need to do, but if it is causing more pain, do take a break. We will still be here when you need to come back.

I did look at your next surgeon. I would like to know more about the USA training he says he has, but the North American Spine Society is well respected.

Jennifer

My last 4 and half months with extreme cervical and lumbar pain

As my body is waking up from the drugs I am getting a strong pain feeling going down the sides of my neck that also feels numb and unconnected to the rest of the spine and the body. It is weird. I am awake, but I feel distant from my inner self. The depression is high. I am not enjoying life. The drugs are modifying my personality. It is an awful moment of life to live like this without a goal and a solution to my issues yet.
I tried to make an appointment with another neurosurgeon, but I will have to wait till the end of March. My current doctors have been informed but the response is slow.
I get told that, if the pain is too high, to go to hospital.
The last 2 times that I went to the hospital emergency department I was given a morphine shot and sent home the next day.
The public hospital, the doctors are not really concerned with your issues and in the meantime my body is deteriorating. I have constant neck, lumbar, shoulders and arm pain. The arms are getting weaker.
The system is about money and has abandoned me in the middle of the ocean with no way of being rescued.
I am sure that if I were a politician, an important person I would have been rescued by now.
No one cares.