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Neurology (Expert Forum)
Chest Wall and Shoulder Neck pain
This forum is for questions and support regarding neurology issues such as: Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, Autism, Brain Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Pain, Epilepsy, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, MS, Neuralgia, Neuropathy, Parkinson's Disease, RSD, Sleep Disorders, Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury.
Chest Wall and Shoulder Neck pain
by Heinz__0, Dec 15, 1998 12:00AM
I am a 53 year old male. Had double pypass 5 years ago. Bypass was success!! But surgery
left me with severe chest wall and neck pain. Deppression etc. Biggest problem has been
doctors attitude. Phantom pain???????? Eh? Pain management clinic, try to rub my chest
to desencetize the skin..... I am at or close my my limit of pain tolerance.
I have found one great doctor who undferstands pain, but it seems there is very, very little
information on this situation. Can anyone help with more info, any personal experiences,
or names of any doctors that can or might help.
Thank you and god bless......
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Thanks for your question. Given the temporal relationship between your
open-heart surgery and the onset of your pain symptoms, it is very likely
that the surgical incision damages some of the cervical and thoracic nerve
terminals, and that the subsequent healed nerve stumps continued to generate
innapropriate pain "signals". The term "phantom (limb) pain" was initially
described for post-limb amputation patients, where one would find the same
nerve ending "stumps" causing sensory disturbances (pain, itching, sensation
of movement). The classes of medications that appear to work best for this
type of neurogenic pain are: tricyclics (e.g. desipramine, amytryptiline),
carbamazepine (Tegretol), gabapentin (Neurontin). Oddly enough, analgesics,
even strong ones, are usually not very effective for neurogenic pain.
Please mention these therapeutic possibilities to your physician.
I hope this information is helpful. Best of luck.
This information is provided for general medical education purposes only.
Please consult your doctor regarding diagnostic and treatment options.
