Injury and nerve damage

jmbcary44 · Mar 24, 2015

I am looking to see if anyone has dealt with this and if any specific recovery helped as I would like to avoid surgery. A little background first.

May 2014 injured neck shoulder area causing a bit of a disc bulge in neck and pinched nerve in shoudler area. Muscle spasmed so bad over the time period it pulled the spine into an unnatural straight position. Physical therapy and therapeutic massage did not work. Suprisingly cupping did for a bit maybe 1.5 months.

Fast forward to February this year pain is back 24/7 dull pain and spike based on position and stress etc etc. Doctor believes nerve may still be pinched but not as bad based off movement and triggers however left side is much weaker due to this and affecting multiple life aspects as you could guess. At this point medical options for me are coming down to another MRI and possibly surgery, though I hope not. As nerves take much longer to heal and because of it still being pinched or pressure on it from muscle injury in shoudler I am kind of at a loss for treatment. And I cant afford to keep doing therapeutic massage for it as its out of pocket.

Anybody dealt with similar circumstances? thoughts? or any ideas to speed up nerve regeneration growth/function down left shoulder arm?

buck · Mar 24, 2015

have you tried chiropractic care? HGH should help in the healing and repair of a nerve. but first you would need to stop what ever is causing the problem.

jmbcary44 · Mar 24, 2015

thats just it, it hurts due to the nerve still being pinched or pressure from still aggravated muscle tissue, but it is constant and just spikes from random positions I am in or for no reason at all so I'm not sure doing anything in particular makes it worse, just that its still messed up or pinched.

I though about HGH but wasn't sure on the CNS aspect and nerve repair or usage for that matter.

But thanks, and no I have nto tried chiro care either as it would also be out of pocket to me unless i can get the VA to put in for it.

chinaboy · Mar 24, 2015

Ice your neck and shoulder 3-5x day for 20 minutes. Get the inflammation down. Do not get surgery unless you do not have any relief from at least two epidural injections or if you are loosing true function. Are you using any NSAIDs? Keep up with your PT as long as it doesnt aggravate the situation.

Floxedone · Mar 24, 2015

I would do LED/infra-red light therapy, seems to have good response working with inflamed/bulging discs.

For nerves, you could try things to make them "heal", a problem might be the pain sending nerves becoming "too strong"/sensitive and creating more pain through central sensitization. But here are some NGF and nerve strengthening things.

Uridine
DHA
Fish oil
Choline
Choline + Uridine: Build New Neurons and Protect Against Alzheimer's! | Smart Publications

NGF boosters

Inosine
Ashitaba Keiskei
Acetyl-L-Carnitine Arginate + Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Lion’s Mane Mushroom

Good luck man

Ice, Infra-red light therapy should give best luck at getting local inflammation down and possibly giving more space for pinched nerves.

GettingBackIn · Mar 24, 2015

I was hit by a car a while back. Disc herniated and pinched my sciatic nerve. Doctors didn't want to do surgery, so we tried other options for a year. Finally they cut on me, but now I have permanent nerve damage. Leg always hurts, and I've lost a lot of function in my leg. Now they tell me if they had done the surgery right after the accident, I wouldn't have the nerve damage I do now.

If I were you, I'd get the pressure off the nerve as soon as you can. I've tried many things, but nothing seems to be helping my nerve to heal.

jmbcary44 · Mar 25, 2015

Thank you for the input, I will look into these options

SugarFree · Mar 25, 2015

GettingBackIn said:
Finally they cut on me, but now I have permanent nerve damage. Leg always hurts, and I've lost a lot of function in my leg. Now they tell me if they had done the surgery right after the accident, I wouldn't have the nerve damage I do now.

Similar here

Now just permanently taking pain killers.

jmbcary44 · Mar 25, 2015

See I have all that crap too, but hate taking it, especially trying to function at work with it, originally gave me muscle relaxer, tramadol and Vicodin and anti inflammatory....looked at them like they were crazy, I just take the motrin or lodine now for inflammation the rest sits in a drawer gathering dust. I cant function on all that crap daily

Bio · Mar 25, 2015

GettingBackIn said:
I was hit by a car a while back. Disc herniated and pinched my sciatic nerve. Doctors didn't want to do surgery, so we tried other options for a year. Finally they cut on me, but now I have permanent nerve damage. Leg always hurts, and I've lost a lot of function in my leg. Now they tell me if they had done the surgery right after the accident, I wouldn't have the nerve damage I do now.

If I were you, I'd get the pressure off the nerve as soon as you can. I've tried many things, but nothing seems to be helping my nerve to heal.

Have you tried RFA?

meanman · Mar 25, 2015

I had something similar to a lesser degree.
One day last year i notice my bent over rows were weak on my left side. Next day chest press ...same story. ..

I quickly went to my chiro and ART therapist for deep tissue massages. My therapist really tears my body a new one ....
The numbness hadn't gone away for almost 4 weeks. I really started to panic that I had a small stroke or nerve damage.
From this day looking back I think my nerve was being pinched off due to my lack of flexibility and overall irresponsibility to care for my joints.
After while the feeling was regained and my strength came back quickly.

I now go to a deep tissue therapist at least 2 times a month. I wish you good luck brother, hopefully you can gain some feeling back if you try the above suggestions.

jmbcary44 · Mar 25, 2015

I am goigng to try and get therapeutic ultrasound for it next week, had it done on my back for an injury years ago and it helped a bunch...I go to the VA though so it may be a pain in the ass