Spinal nerves

[Still in the hunt]

correct me if i;m wrong,, I was at my Pcp last wek,, and I told him that I was having arm pain,, numbness tingling,, everything going numb when i stand up,, he said if it were a cervical problem, it would only affect the arms, now I dont know anatomy that well,, but if theres a compression,, its going to affect just about everything, MRI shows some minimal compression in the cervical spine,, ,, Neuro said yesterday to see a neuromuscular disorder doctor in the practice,, I had asked about that a year ago,, but she said,, no,, its not neuromuscular,, gottalove these people,,

[Skylar]

I had something similar - I had bulging cervical discs causing all those nasty electrical feelings down my arms along with the numbness, pain etc. Along with that I had it running around my mouth and the bottom part of my nose along with incredible facial pain. I saw all kinds of doctors, I even had my dentist remove a perfectly good filling - and I had some relief until the novacaine wore off.  Finally one of the neurologists went back to the books and found that some people have an aberrant nerve that can run from that cervical area back up to innervate that area of my face - and finally everything made sense and was all from those bulging discs. I was told everything from I was nuts, to it was dental problems to Bell's Palsy - and it none of those. Unfortunately you might have to just keep pushing your doctors to look for those aberrant nerves that could explain your symptoms.

I have to tell you I am thankful that the neurosurgeon told me I had so many unexplained neurological problems (I had a lot of crazy stuff like food drop, muscle weakness, not just the cervical disc problem that I wanted him to operate on) that he wanted to postpone surgery so the neurologist could do more testing which gave me time to thoroughly explore physiotherapy and especially neck traction. Between neck traction and working hard on changing my posture and some other things I was able to get over this problem without surgery. It did take several months to get it back to feeling normal and for awhile it would, every once and a while start up again so I was given a home neck traction machine. Most people, when we reach middle age will show abnormalities like slipped or bulging or compression discs in an MRI even if we don't have any symptoms - while others have all the symptoms but a completely normal MRI - so it's a very difficult area of medicine. I found this book Stabbed in the Back by Dr Nortin M. Hadler to be very helpful. I borrowed it from my library. It was helpful to know how common these problems are and the difficulty in treatment - and how poorly some treatments can be.

I hope you find relief quickly - that tingling, electrical feeling is so uncomfortable.

[Carolina]

Yes, my cervical spine is a mess.  Dead places for both nerves and muscles and constant pain.

Sometimes when it's bad it feels like a sick toothache in my neck.

I however, am not big on having surgery.

All of my spine is deteriorating.

But I did have the muscle nerve tests on my arms, hands and neck last spring, and so far only my neck is affected, I don't have any loss in my arms and hands.  Tho' I did show up with carpal tunnel (who knew?).
I think it was just lost in the fog of all my other problems.

I did have surgery for a trigger finger (finger that would stick in the bent position because of a node on the ligament) so the surgeon corrected the carpal tunnel in the same hand at the same time.

That makes three surgeries on the one hand alone!   I guess I'm just special

The first was to remove the carpal metacarpal bone and replace it with ligament.  It worked a charm and all is fine.

I've finally decided  my spine isn't causing my PN, which the doctors also had concluded.  So the PN remained idiopathic until my new rheumy noted that my long term use of an antibiotic could have caused it.

AHA!

Talk about the rock and the hard place.  I've had an acute almost deadly kidney infection, from e coli, so I am frightened of UTI's with e coli.  Yet when I took the antibiotic for the UTI, I wound up with PN.

Well, as a friend pointed out, we ARE all going to the same end point, one way or another.  He meant that lovingly, BTW!   And I will be 70 in March.

Trying to be philosophical here SITH.

But then I don't suffer a tenth of what you do, angel.

Keep us posted.

Hugs

Elaine

[Still in the hunt]

i kow Ihave ddd, and i dont want surgery onmy back,, seems everyone i get something else goes wrong,, thought the chiarisurgery wold help,, but it didnt,, i still suspect some nerve damage from teh spine,, although Neuro said yesterdayitsnot compression,, I called today and begged about these salivary glands,, I was able to get in on monday,, now if i can only not eat till then,, i cant eat a thing without puss and pain,, no fever, just goo,, oh,, my sister was over,, shehas a bellyache,, drama queen,,

[Narablueeyes]

i kow Ihave ddd, and i dont want surgery onmy back,, seems everyone i get something else goes wrong,, thought the chiarisurgery wold help,, but it didnt,, i still suspect some nerve damage from teh spine,, although Neuro said yesterdayitsnot compression,, I called today and begged about these salivary glands,, I was able to get in on monday,, now if i can only not eat till then,, i cant eat a thing without puss and pain,, no fever, just goo,, oh,, my sister was over,, shehas a bellyache,, drama queen,,

SITH, has anything ever been said about sialadenitis?

[Carolina]

Wow Nara

I have to look up everything on this forum!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002036/

You would think since SITH just had gland surgery that this would have been found??

Well, you would think maybe....

Elaine

[4Kids]

I had that when the first outbreak came for me. You get a bitter taste in your mouth, it is disgusting but it isn't thick or gooey or at least mine wasn't. I did indeed have the type of virus that attacks your glands, just to make this all more fun (me and my diagnosis).

I wonder if what is thick and gooey is what they are producing, not saliva.

Horrible, it is horrible what you suffer through, still.

[rnathans]

Cervical problems could affect the arms but not the legs. I am very sorry it has taken so long but given your symptoms I do think a neuromuscular neuro is the way to go for your many neurological problems. Obviously the glands and sinuses will not be part of what he can address. The neuromuscular guy may also decide on IVIG again. I know you do not want more meds because it masks symptoms but masking symptoms helps get you through the day. It may be the best they can offer. Hang in there.

[Narablueeyes]

Wow Nara

I have to look up everything on this forum!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002036/

You would think since SITH just had gland surgery that this would have been found??

Well, you would think maybe....

Elaine

Sure sounds like it, doesnt it.  I do a lot of research at works so it's just in my nature to go looking.  I didn't know he'd had surgery, I'm still catching up on subjects.  It was just a thought.