Nerve Damage

280 · Oct 13, 2011

I wrote back two months ago and described how I had a pain that ran through my shoulder down to my fingers. I ve tried to get an MRI 3 times now, but the pain is too strong for me to sit there for 30 minutes. Currently, sometimes my entire arm goes numb and my left thumb and index finger are partially numb all the time. Also my left calf is partially numb now also. I am losing a lot of strength in any pressing movement. I am going to a chiropractor 3 times a week, they stretch out my spine with a machine of 25lbs of pressure and he adjusts me. It is helping and the pain has diminished 80% but the numbness is getting worst.
My action plan:
1) Going to an upright MRI or couscous sedation MRI ASAP
2) Once I get the MRI I can go see the Orthopedic Spine Surgeon at Rush Medical Center.
Is there anything else I should do?
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far, you guys are great!!!

bapperfan · Oct 13, 2011

280 said:
I wrote back two months ago and described how I had a pain that ran through my shoulder down to my fingers. I ve tried to get an MRI 3 times now, but the pain is too strong for me to sit there for 30 minutes. Currently, sometimes my entire arm goes numb and my left thumb and index finger are partially numb all the time. Also my left calf is partially numb now also. I am losing a lot of strength in any pressing movement. I am going to a chiropractor 3 times a week, they stretch out my spine with a machine of 25lbs of pressure and he adjusts me. It is helping and the pain has diminished 80% but the numbness is getting worst.
My action plan:
1) Going to an upright MRI or couscous sedation MRI ASAP
2) Once I get the MRI I can go see the Orthopedic Spine Surgeon at Rush Medical Center.
Is there anything else I should do?
Thanks to everyone who has helped so far, you guys are great!!!

Hi 280, I'm a chiro, when you say the numbness is getting worse, do you mean in the entire arm, or in the thumb/index finger?

bigsport · Oct 13, 2011

Bro you need to get your ass into the MRI machine. Take yourself to a different level and accept the pain for those 30 minutes. If this is now causing your legs to go numb that is serious shit because if you lose the feeling in your legs you wont even be capable of walking bro. Think about when you wake up in the middle of the night and your leg / foot fall asleep and you get out of bed to take a piss.. What happens? You fall right the fuck over.

Take some pain meds if you need to and get this done ASAP. You are now going beyond the scope of Orthopaedic medicine, your next stop is going to be the Neurologist.

MRI and EMG (nerve) would be a good start.

280 · Oct 13, 2011

Thanks guys. Yes the numbness is in my finger tips. The whole arm will go numb for a little while sometimes.

I will get the MRI ASAP.

thebrick · Oct 14, 2011

280, this sounds exactly like what I dealt with early in the year. I ended up having a anterior cervical discectomy procedure (levels C4-C6 for me). This surgery has a very high success rate. FYI, Peyton Manning just had this procedure done on one level.

My symptoms were the very same as yours… pain in the neck, trap, shoulder, numbness and tingling down the arm into the finger tips, weakness on that side. I could not get comfortable in any position day or night. The pain kept me awake at night it was so bad. I went to a chiro too and that helped, my PT pre-op helped but I improved only to a certain point. Predisone helped my pain a lot in the beginning. The other symptoms did not go away though.

Get the MRI and probably an x-ray as well ASAP. Could be a number of things pressing on those nerve roots… disc hernia(s), bone spurs formed from disc degeneration. My surgery was not a big deal and my adverse symptoms went away immediately post-op. I am still dealing with weakness issues although this has improved a LOT. Nerve regeneration is very slow and unpredictable. My surgeon did say the longer you wait to act and get that pressure off the nerve roots, the more damage they suffer and complete recovery becomes more remote. A sports otho spine doc did my surgery.

The calf pain sounds like another issue further down your spine.

Good luck and let me know if you have questions. I'll try to help having been there myself.

bapperfan · Oct 14, 2011

280 said:
Thanks guys. Yes the numbness is in my finger tips. The whole arm will go numb for a little while sometimes.

I will get the MRI ASAP.

Sounds like a discectomy might be on the cards, but to have that procedure you would need a pre op MRI, so the sooner you get one the better...

hd250 · Oct 22, 2011

I had the same thing happen to me last year. Prior to that I had numb fingertips, which I thought was neuropathy. In November, my foot, hand, calf, etc would either tingle or be numb. I wasnt training at the time, either BB or Martial arts, and I felt myself getting weaker. Around November I started getting consistently numb in my feet, which spread about an inch or two daily. In like 2 weeks I couldn't feel anything hardly up to my dick. It felt like it does when u sit on the john too long. At that point my balance was altered, and I stumbled a lot. I would also feel an incredible shock as if being electrocuted when looking up. Suffice to say, I went to the Dr. no sugar problems, so he suggested I go home and take lots of B vitamins. Lol, I had to do a little research and figured it out. went back. told his dumb ass and made appt with surgeon. Had an Mri, but had to wait like a month to get surgery 2/25/11. c3-c6. its been a long road, no picnic, but I can walk normally now and have regained my balance. Gonna start training soon but the lack of flexibility in the neck and weakness physically bother me. So I'm taking it slow.

Glad I had the operation tho, as I had bones 6.7 sticking out of my back for 26 years that were sensitive to the touch, along with regular pain in upper back, like stiff soreness.

It will be fine Bro. Get the MRI. Take some pain pills b4. You will be taking lots over the next few months.

250

QuietStorm · Oct 22, 2011

my advice is to stop going to the chiro immediately. he may have made you feel better initally, but the numbness is getting worse, which means there is a more sever problem going on than he can deal with. he isnt doing you any good and he could cause more problems at this point than anything else. get to an orthopedic dr immediately and get that mri done. tell them you cant tolerate the pain long enough to sit thru the mri and they will prescribe some pain meds for you to take during it. i wouldnt wait any longer.

TIMMO · Oct 23, 2011

im waiting for surgery right now , i havent been able to get to the gym for 3 months, i have a prolapsed disc in the c5 position, ive lost 1 1/5 inches of size on my right arm but nothing anywhere else, pain in the neck and right arm numbness and thumb.
im having a presteige artificial joint put in with disc removal i will let you know how succesfull it is, should be in a few weeks,
a neuro surgeon is doing the op so go see one NOW