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neck, left shoulder and arm pain

I've been having alot of neck, shoulder and arm pain.  My doctor ordered an MRI and the report showed bulging annulus c6-c7 but no focal disc protrusions, mild posterior lateral spurring on the right at c5-c6 with a slight thecal sac encroachment.  What does this mean?  Will this get better on it's own?  I have severe pain that travels down my left arm so bad I can't even use my arm.  It's worse when I first get out of bed in the mornings.  Is this going to require surgery?  If it will get better on it's own, how long will it take before the pain is tollerable?  Thankyou, Rhonda
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Avatar universal
Dear Rhonda:

Sorry about your pain.  I am not sure what to tell you.  Most of the time slight disc buldging has no effect.  The spurring, which can cause problems but yours is on the side of your body that gives you no problems.  So the question remains why the pain.  Did your neurologist indicate that your neurological exam was completely normal?  Do you have diabetes, vasculities, vitamin B12 or folate deficiency, drink alot of alcohol, osteoarthritis, etc?  Does the pain come and go, or is it the same every day?  Are there specific areas in your shoulder and arm that hurt more than others?  Where in your hand, which fingers hurt?  How did the pain start?  What is your age?  Any medical problems other than your pain?

Pain medication might help but you need to find the etiology of the pain.  If you haven't seen a neurologist then I would make an appointment to see one.

Let me know the answers to my questions and I will get back to you.
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Hello for about 2 years, I have been experiencing pain. I have bulging disc to my c-4/c-5. My doctor told me that its pinching my nerves cause I would have pain to my neck, shoulder, arm and fingers. My left side would become very cold, it tingles, burns, and pain would be very sharp. I was in a motor vehicle accident 2 years prior so my doctor doesn't think that cause the bulging. He then referred me to physical therapy and that helped lot. Just this past november I was in a bus accident and it bulged again but this time tore it as well so the neck pain is more severe. This time the pain is my entire neck all around, and the arm pain is still there, numbness, tingling, burning, coldness. Over the two years things have become worse, it is now of my entire body, including the nerve pain with is all through my entire body as well, I also have complete spinal pain, it burns and tingles up and down. I have seen a neurologist and was told I didn't need surgery( eventhoufh it'd torn, and my pain is more servere now), she also said that the pains I have to my left side, mny entire body, or the rest of my spine is not associated with the bulging disc, and that I may experience more pain....please help me and tell me what is best. I didn't agree with what was said. Thank you.
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also i forgot to mention that i can not sleep with pillows. i have to lie flat in order to fall asleep.  when i sleep with a pillow i have a strong pull feeling.  imagine that you have a crick in your neck, and when you try to turn or bend your neck all the way down or to the side, that really sharp pain you get.  imagine that 24/7 and sometimes amplified if i raise my arm the right way or lay down the right way or just turn my head.  it is becoming unbearable, to the point that i will do what ever it takes to fix it.  i am not afraid of surgeries,  i had to have my knee pretty much reconnected after a sports injury.  i just want to know or have an idea of what to expect when i go to  the doctor.
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Dear DR., I am a 21 year old female.  i am currently in the military and noticed when i was in basic about 3 years ago and started having some slight pain in my left side of the neck, that moved down to my shoulder blade, and now is moving down to my elbow.  i never thought anything to much about it. i am R side dominant.  i can not sleep on the left side and when i lie down it has to be on my stomach and hurts to raise my arms to lay my head on them.  i have recently started going to a chiropractor to see if it will help.  he told me to get an xray and possibly an MRI.  i have a few other back and hip pains he wants to check on.  so as of right now i have no idea what is wrong with me. the Chiro said that my lower lumbar region is too curved and the my neck is too straight.  i do not know if that has anything to do with it.  does anyone have an idea of what it may be???
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Dear. Dr hi my name is mika I'm 32 I deal with pain in my neck left upper arm an forearms an lower back an the same on my right side the pain is so bad I keep a headache I thought I was having. A heart attack I had many test ekg blood work they can't found were the pain coming from I was even admitted in the hospital for a night still nothing so can you please help me
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I pull metal from a press for over 5 years having to turn my neck to the right to reach the metal that was so short and stand on my toe to get to it, i went to work and everthing was fine but that night i got out of the tub and couln't use my left arm at all i've have every test done that could be done now i;m being told that i have some bone spurs on c5 and c6 that run down my left arm and the shoulder pain is so bad i can't use me left arm i was told that the nervr on the left lattary was damage so i need to know if there is any thing that can be done so i can work with out pain i have to take pain medican ever day so i can work now and i;m having nerve block to help bloce the pain but i know i can't keep taking them for ever the doc. are telling me that this is work related i've not been hurt in any way so if you can help me to understand this please e;mail me at ***@**** can this kind of thing just happen over night or was it there ready to happen
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I had shoulder surgery for bone spurs on my right shoulder 3 weeks ago. The pain the first day was unbearable but I did make it with lots of pain killers. The next day the pain subsided tremendously. Thank God. I go to PT 3 times a week and the progress is very slow. The pain is bad at night and first thing in the morning. I am off the Vicodin for three days and can't get any decent sleep. All other over the counter drugs don't work. I suggest researching PT or alternative to surgery until you are absolutely positive you have tried everything possible. I thought I did but now I'm wondering if PT alone would have done he job. I'm sorta down on the surgery but won't know for a few weeks if I made the right decision. Good luck to you and I hope you make the right decision. Scott
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I also have a herniated disc and bone spurs at c6 c7.  I have had this since a car accident in 1990 . During the last year I have had continual Blinding Headache's pain and numbness in left shoulder and arm and if i take a deep breath can feel it in the left shoulder.
Many ortopedic docs told me to rest it would get better they suggested cortisone shots, last month i went to see dr martin jones at health south in Birmingham he did a open mri which reveald the herniated disc and spurs. I am having surgery Jan 2,01 and am so relieved that he found it. This guy is sharp and good . I will let you know the outcome. Go see a spine specialist and bring your mri no need to suffer in the year 2000!!
good luck
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If I could just add something to this board for any visitors who are considering surgery. I was 40 year old when I had anterior diskectomy and fusion at c6/c7. (bone plug from hip.)

I had suffered years (about 5) of severe dibilitating pain of vary degrees over those years. About 3 times a year this pain would put me in bed. Almost unable to move because of it. It was only when I lost the feeling in my right arm my GP sent me to a neuro surgeon, after a MRI scan my problem was revealed.(Prolapsed disk at c6/c7 resting nicely in spinal canal)

By this time my tricep in my right arm had disapeared, my bicep was down to 2/3rds its size.
I was taking pain killers like a child eats sweets.

I had the surgery 5 weeks after diagnosis, (I had never had surgery or been in hospital before) First thing I noticed when I woke was I could feel my arm again. Its now approaching 3 years since my surgery. I no longer take pain killers, my right arm muscles have returned. I still suffer pins/needles down my right arm into my hand, my right thigh is numb since the surgery. I have never (fingers crossed) suffered any attacks of pain that put me to bed. I will swop my dead thigh from the surgery for my relative change in condition since the op.

The Neuro shook my hand when I was discharged from his surgery and said I was a success story. He thought he pins/needles, dead thigh would never go away. I will settle for that.

All I am saying that if the conditions are right (I was checked for arthritis and free at that stage) the surgery can work for you. I know how it is to suffer pain day in, day out with no respite. A close friend has O.A. and multi level disk desease, she has had 2 operations to remove disk from her neck, her condition gets worse. I feel for her, and her family.

But surgery can and does work in some cases. I hope you are one of those cases.

Just wanted to put my twopence worth in, a positive view from a former sufferer, to anyone considering surgery out in the big wide world.

mailto:***@****




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I don't have a reply, because I just don't know where to go to find detailed and accurate answers.  These are my concerns.  My wife woke up one morning and felt pain in her neck, on a wednesday, by the next wednesday she had pain in her shoulders and pain shooting down her left arm, when this would happen the left hand and fingers would go numb for a few minutes, by friday she was crying when ever she was awake with pain and the symtoms had spread to her right arm pain and numbness, and right side of her face, and worse than migraine headaches,(comparing to having ten kids at once).  The only relief she got was drug induced sleep.  On that friday the doctor put her in the hospital for pain management, on sunday she had an MRI done and reveiled a ruptured Cervical 5and6 disks.  She has an appointment with a neurosurgeon on thursday,(a very good one from everyone I trust told me), but I still want all the options I can look at I can get.  So if anyone out there has some detailed and accurate info. they can pass on I would greatly appriciate it.  Results from disk removal surgery, VS. drug and physical therapy, and long term affects of different treatments, pain management long term, ability of movement of the neck after surgery. anything 10/2/00
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How do mucles work.
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After many time since 1984 hurting my neck down the left shoulder and arm to numbness in the finger in my left hand, I finally went to have an MRI last June.
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After many time since 1984 hurting my neck down the left shoulder and arm to numbness in the finger in my left hand, I finally went to have an MRI last June.
I had hurt my self at work, after having to take two weeks off of work, I went back to work to soon. I had to go back on leave the following week.
The MRI results I have to herniated disks c5-c6 and c7-t1.
After all this time I get pain in my neck and left shoulder, to numbness all the way down my left arm and fingers. Just in the last few weeks to a month I have been getting numbness in my right arm and fingers though no real pain in my right shoulder. I am also having weekness in my shoulders, like I can not keep my arms up to long to do anything before I have to put them down again. I have done physical therapy, steroids in my muscle neither helped nor worked. I only seem to have two options left a shot in my spine or surgery neither of which sound appealing.
My Question is after all this time of having my problems on my left shoulder down my left arm can this problem start spreading also to my right arm and shoulder so that I have this on both shoulders and arms. My neck also cracks, What causes this? sometimes I try to have my neck crack on purpose could this cause more problems with my hernitated disks. Sometimes it actually feels good to have my neck crack.
Thank You
Gin White

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After many time since 1984 hurting my neck down the left shoulder and arm to numbness in the finger in my left hand, I finally went to have an MRI last June.
I had hurt my self at work, after having to take two weeks off of work, I went back to work to soon. I had to go back on leave the following week.
The MRI results I have to herniated disks c5-c6 and c7-t1.
After all this time I get pain in my neck and left shoulder, to numbness all the way down my left arm and fingers. Just in the last few weeks to a month I have been getting numbness in my right arm and fingers though no real pain in my right shoulder. I am also having weekness in my shoulders, like I can not keep my arms up to long to do anything before I have to put them down again. I have done physical therapy, steroids in my muscle neither helped nor worked. I only seem to have two options left a shot in my spine or surgery neither of which sound appealing.
My Question is after all this time of having my problems on my left shoulder down my left arm can this problem start spreading also to my right arm and shoulder so that I have this on both shoulders and arms.
Thank You
Gin White

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After many time since 1984 hurting my neck down the left shoulder and arm to numbness in the finger in my left hand, I finally went to have an MRI last June.
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This past month, I have been experiencing a panic disorder.  I had tingling in my fingers and tingling on my legs.  I also have Mitral valve prolapse.  My doctor put me on lorazepam which has helped the panic, but I am experiencing slight burning sensations on my lower arm and supersensitivity in my upper arm as though something is wrapped around it.  Though I don't have any muscle weakness, it's more of a discomfort.  I do have a slight b12 deficiency.  What do you think there's a connection.
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I'm a 37 year old male, whose condition started as far back as late 1998, and became acute in Feb 2000. The first week or 2 the pain down my right arm and scapula was excruciating. I was given a Medrol DosePak, Collar and told to Ice the area, which gradually helped.

In successive weeks the pain has gotten better, and the numbness in the middle and index finger have also become less, although they are still there. My main problem now is muscle weakness and atropy, in the Chest(pectoral), Tricep, and shoulder area,

I've had an MRI and Cervical Myelogram done.  Which confirm the rupture at C6-C7, bone spurs and discs bulging at higher levels.

I've been to 2 neurosurgeons in the past month, both believe I should have surgery to correct the deficit, Both surgeons said that either procedure would work, The first surgeon decided to go with a "Posterior Cervical Laminectomy", But I'm concerned about the procedure that was recommended (Posterior) vs (Anterior) and the dangers, as well as future stability of the spine with the posterior procedure.

I am scheduled to undergo the procedure April 18th. and am wondering if I should postpone, and see if I can live with a little pain vs. uncertainty.

Can you shed some light on this?
Thanks.


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