MRI Results

I got the results of my MRI yesterday. I don’t understand much of it, but do understand that my nerve roots are being “pinched” and it was recommended that I get cervical epidural injections. For some reason, this freaks me more than the damn MRI!

The results are as follows:

“IMPRESSON:

1. Limited examination secondary to patient motion and susceptibility artifact from dental braces. (I get this, I have braces and they caused some distortion)
2. Multilevel cervical spondylosis, without significant cord flattening or central stenosis throughout the cervical spine.
3. Multilevel neural foraminal narrowing, most significant bilaterally at C6-C7.
4. Straightening of the cervical lordosis.

COMMENT: History: 34-year-old female with neck pain radiating into the right upper extermity for 2 months.

Comment: MRI of cervical spine was performed a 1.5 Tesla utilizing the standard imaging protocol without contrast. Comparison is made with radiographs from 8/7/2007.

Please note this examination is limited secondary to patient motion. (HUH? I *couldn’t* move!) In addition, there is moderate susceptibility artifact related to dental braces.

There is straightening of the normal cervical lordosis. The cervical vertebral bodies are normal in height and signal. There is no marrow edema. The posterior fossa of the brain is grossly unremarkable and the cervical spinal cord is grossly normal in size and signal.

Axial images are limited by motion.

At C2-C3, susceptibility artifact somewhat obscures this level. There is no disc herniation, central stenosis, or neural foraminal narrowing. There is no cord flattening.

At C3-C4, there is a small posterior disc osteophyte complex eccentric to the left that indents the thecal sac without cord flattening or central stenosis. There is no neural foraminal narrowing.

At C4-C5, there is a small posterior disc osteophyte complex that indents the thecal sac without cord flattening or central stenosis. There is no definite neural foraminal narrowing.

At C5-C6, there is a small posterior disc osteophyte complex that indents the thecal sac without cord flattening or central stenosis. There is mild right neural foraminal narrowing secondary to uncovertebral joint spurring.

At C6-C7, there is a small posterior disc osteophyte complex that indents the thecal sac without cord flattening or central stenosis. There is moderate bilateral neural foraminal narrowing secondary to uncovertebral joint spurring.

At C7-T1, there is no significant abnormality.”

Greek to anyone else or is it just me? I can follow a bit of it…bone spurring, narrowing, but what the hell is “cervical spondylosis”?

OY

Drs are from another planet…

Pain Management

Ok, I’m SO fed up with the effin neck pain and now I’ve got lower back pain as well.

I called my Ortho to request some sort of pain management. I can NOT be poppin’ pills. The flexeril does nothing, the naproxen is minimally effective and the percocet makes me sick. I have a relatively physical job (and I have to travel on monday) and I’ve got two people to take care of, I can’t be out of it.

My neighbors are constantly poppin pills for their pain (back and fibromyalgia) and constantly pawning their daughter off on others so they can sleep/lay down/rest. That can not and WILL NOT be me. I want to enjoy my time with my son. I want to be able to cook dinner. I want to be able to clean (even tho I hate it). I want to be able to be able to move and not cry when I do.

I hurt so much last night I took a perc out of desperation. The room spun for 4 hours and my stomach churned. I will admit that my pain was considerably less when I woke up this morning, but my stomach was still rolling and it was not a pleasant experience. I just can’t do this every day for the rest of my life.

Hell, I WON’T do it for another day.

NO MORE PILLS!

Please pray with me that my ortho LISTENS and works with me. Continued therapy, while ideal, will probably not be granted. MY hopes? An MRI to get a better idea of what’s going on and a possible referral for epidural injections.

I’ve been dead set against the MRI because I never knew I was claustrophobic until I had one. I really don’t want to have another one, but if it’s going to give a better idea of what’s going on, I’ll suffer through it.

And the idea of epidural injections is freaky as well. But I’ve heard of SEVERAL positive experiences with it and if it works for me, I’ll be a very happy camper.

I’ll be able to move, take care of my son (and my aunt) and eventually myself. I’ve been putting off exercise for so many reasons, but pain is a big one, can’t quite stick with an exercise plan if it hurts. I want to get back to Krav…really REALLY want to get back to it, but I need mobility.

Ok, babbling now…done.

Therapy is EVIL!

At least, my therapist is.

Or can be.

Whatever.

Needless to say, he hurt me. I mean, not the “Ow! Oooh! That’s MUCH better!” kinda hurt, I’m talking, leaving fingernail marks in wood kinda hurt.

Apparently, some of the nerves, in the bundle that is pinched, run down my arm via the armpit area. This aches quite a bit. Turns out, contracted muscle can pinch nerves as well, so Bernie (my therapist that day) decided he was going to stretch those muscles. Sounds like a good idea doesn’t it?

“Don’t you believe it.”

He had me lie on the table (on my back). He put my arm across his body and put the fingers of his right hand in my armpit while simultaneously pushing down from my shoulder with his left hand. Like he was forming clay. Let me tell you, your armpit is NOT clay. It fucking hurts. A LOT!

At one point he looked at me and asked my why I was turning red. I told him because I had been holding my breath. “Don’t do that!” Well, I’m not gonna scream or cry, that would draw attention to the fact that he was trying to cut my arm off with his fingers!

OMG I saw stars. And this was something he did for like 15 minutes straight! I wanted to cry. I wanted to scream. But I couldn’t, so I squeezed the table with my left hand and dug the heels of my feet into the table while pushing my toes against the wall. It took everything I had not to rip my arm out of his grip…or punch him. Not sure which would have hurt worse.

I just PRAY he doesn’t do it again tomorrow. I think I WILL cry then.

Sometimes, I think I need to re-think my stand against “fix it with a pill”. If Jacob hadn’t had soccer practice after my appointment, I would have gone home and swallowed the whole bottle of percocets that I had. And maybe chased it with one of the bottles of wine in my fridge. I have a very high pain threshold, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt and that I enjoy it when it does hurt.

It just means that I’m stubborn and won’t admit that it hurts.

I am woman, hear me grit my teeth and turn blue.

Pain Pain Go Away

I STILL have the damn nerve pain. It’s hovering around my shoulder, but has instances where it shoots down my arm to my elbow, wrist and hand (lot’s of thumb-numbness).

I did go to therapy yesterday and Monday. My therapist hurt me. He pushes on my neck in different spots and makes me move my arm around or my head up and down. Sometimes it makes me wanna cut my head off and other times, it’s total relief.

My kingdom for the pain to go away. I’m convinced I hurt myself YEARS ago and am paying for it now. I remember jumping on a trampoline and doing a flip and landing on my head/neck and REALLY hurting. That was when I was like 7 or so. I think I jammed myself then and it’s hurting now. It’s also my theory that I compressed my neck/spine in that fall and I’m really supposed to be like 2-3 inches taller. :-p

Started working 10s on Monday and I must say, it’s kicking my ass. There isn’t much time to do anything after work (although I did hit Staples and the library on Monday and had therapy last night). I don’t know now long I can keep it up…we shall see.

How do I get to sleep faster? I don’t want to take my muscle relaxers (because really, they don’t help with the effin pain anyway). I think I’ll start taking my melatonin again and start taking it at like 8 (after I get out of the shower).

Here’s hoping I can at least throw a load of laundry in tonite before I take Bobbie out to practice paralell parking. 🙂

Pain Redefined

I saw the orthopaedist yesterday. He diagnosed “HWP C6-C7 R side” and prescribed therapy and meds. The therapy I’m quite happy about. I asked to NOT have Percocet or Vicodin (which he offered after I turned down Percocet). He prescribed me Naproxen and more Flexeril.

Believe it or not, I’ve gotten the most relief from the Naproxen! The pain doesn’t go away, but it’s not nearly as sharp or breath-taking (or in some cases “whine inducing”). And the Flexeril knocks me on my butt so I can try to sleep. I don’t STAY asleep, but I do fall asleep rather quickly (as soon as I find a comfortable spot for my right arm).

I start therapy on Wednesday at 1100. Let’s hope this works REALLY well, as I’m SO sick of this pain.

Update

I went to the ER on Tuesday. Spent 4.5 hours there. They took xrays and told me they didn’t see any damage (duh, told them I don’t remember hurting myself). Diagnosed a pinched nerve (hell, I did that before I went in). Prescribed me Percocet and Flexeril. I flat out told them I probably wouldn’t take it. I don’t want PILLS, I want FIXED!

They insisted I take them both that night and to plan on not going into work the next day. Fine.

I filled the scripts and took the meds. Knocked me on my ass until after 9 am the next morning! And it was quick too.

After having my friends yell at me that I should “take the meds”, I decided to take ONE Percocet around lunch time. Well, I got dizzy, started to sweat and nearly passed out on my way up the steps (after yelling, “I think I need to go lay down!”). I slept most of hte afternoon.

Inny insisted on ordering dinner from a local pizza shop. Again, I decided to be a “good girl” and take my prescribed meds. Yeah, slept from basically 6 pm until 5 am. Woke up several times during the night and still have pain.

Fuck the meds. I’m not taking them anymore. I want the pinched nerve gone, not “hidden” under a fog of pain meds. I hate that feeling more than the pinch.

I’m supposed to follow up with an orthopaedist in 2-3 days. I can sorta understand that, but I need a referral from my regular doc first, whom I can’t see until Tuesday. And what’s my ortho gonna do? Prescribe meds. That’s what he does. He doesn’t FIX anything he masks it.

I fucking hate medical professionals. They’re fucking quacks. x-(

I’d rather see a chiropractor, at least they TRY to fix things (sans meds). But of course, my doc doesn’t believe in chiros and won’t give me a referral. Maybe if I badger him?

I Don’t Want Your…PAIN!

I have the WORST pain in my right shoulder. It feels like something is pinched underneath my “wing” (i.e. shoulder blade). And I am SO uncomfortable.

I finally called my doctor to get an appointment and they can’t see me until NEXT TUESDAY (0800)! I think I’m gonna die before then. If it gets too bad before then, I’ll just go to the Emergency Room. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but it’s gotta be pretty bad if it’s been getting progressively worse for over a month.

* I can’t touch my chin to my chest.
* I can’t find a comfortable position to rest my arm that doesn’t hurt SOMETHING.
* When the shoulder hurts, pain goes down my arm to my elbow, then shoots to my wrist.
* I have the “just-before-pins-and-needles” numbness in all those spots too.
* I can’t sleep.
* I just can not get comfortable.

And Advil don’t cut it. And I’m such a pussy when it comes to taking meds. I didn’t even take the damn Vicodin that I was given when I had my teeth pulled. I hate feeling all whacked out.

So, do I just go to the ER tonight, or do I try to suffer for one more week and go to the doc then?

OW!

Kar came over last night and we did an exercise/dance tape. We’re both SERIOUSLY white and old. LOL It was fun, even if I could barely do ANY of the moves (sheesh, add in hand movements and you’d think I was “special” *sigh*).

Anyway, not only did I sweat like a stuck pig, I also, SOMEHOW, got a nasty crick in my neck. I’m stiff and sore from just behind my right ear all the way down to my shoulder. Made for a pretty sleepless night and contributed to a minor occular migraine (pixelated arcs make it difficult to see ANYTHING). I don’t know how to get this crick out. It’s driving me bonkers!

I think my body is systematically giving up. Just about every joint or muscle on my right side is screaming. And has been for days, not just since last night. My right hand has been bugging me since Friday. Just my last two fingers and my wrist. If someone shakes my hand it feels like they’re crushing me.

My shoulder and back (under my “wing”) have been killing me for over a month. Feels like I’m being run-through.

I needs to get me to a chiropractor!

Cuz I ain’t takin’ no drugs.