loss of sensation in both upper / lower body - no pain

About 3 years ago I deliberately cracked my neck in a seated position. I felt a sharp pain down my spine and immediately lost sensation / use of my left hand with severe numbness in most of left face. The numbness subsided when I was laying down, but during that time it would sometimes shift to my right face and hand. I got an MRI while I had little to no use of my left hand - no significant conclusions. About a week later I noticed numbness in my left thigh and distinct lack of sexual function. I have since had 5 brain MRI - contrast and non, 1 MRA of the neck, 4 cervical MRI's and 1 lumbar MRI. Nothing of significance has been observed in any of the tests. MS and brain tumors are consistently ruled out by the neurologists, but they do not have a precedent for this. Physical therapy, weight loss and chiropractics have definitely improved my condition, but today I still deal with the following:

Loss of sensation on both sides of the face - get's worse with walking
Loss of sensation / function in both hands (I can still type fairly well but no fine movement) - worse with walking
Reduced sexual function - highly positional and worst when lying on back
Reduced sensation in both legs
Lessened sense of taste and smell - Sense of smell appears dependent on how I position my neck

Before I cracked my neck, I had the following symptoms:

rushing noise / sensation in cervical spine when hungry - commonly reported by many people but never explained as far as I know

loss of sensation in a small area just left of the mouth


I believe this is a type of dystonia related to a change in spinal alignment.. I have gotten very tangible results from promoting muscle awareness and have trouble isolating core muscles on both sides of body in a symmetrical way. I believe other people have that issue but am convinced that this got notably worse after the neck-cracking.

What should my next step be with this? I have no pain, but consider my sensation loss very real and highly positional.

[selmaS]

  Hi and welcome to the Spinal Cord C/D forum.

Not being a medical professional I can only suggest some things I am familiar with....one, with my condition Chiari malformation we were told no chiropractors as they can add to the issues within the neck from the  manipulations that are done.

I know u said u see a difference but to what end?...It may be a pinched nerve that can not be seen...have they done a MRI w/wo contrast?

[prettyconcerned]

I had one neurologist look at an MRI and rule out Chiari, but I understand people got multiple opinions before they found a diagnosis. I have had both non-contrast and contrast brain MRI's.

5 things helped me significantly:

Occipital press on a drop table - better sense of smell and a normalizing of pressure in the head. Improved sensation in various other places for a short time.  

Lumbar roll - occasional improvement in sexual function / sensation. Does not last.

Pilates / Core work - dramatic improvement in sexual function, but not sensation.

Some soft-tissue chiropractic work aimed at relieving tension (Epstein school of chiropractic) - improved sensation all around, improved taste. Does not last for more than a day.

Arthrostim directed at the C2 vertebrae while standing - improved sensation all around, but this similarly does not last for more than a few hours.

[selmaS]

  Do u have copies of ur MRI and the report?

The problem is the MRI is relatively new for dxing things like Chiari and it is not taught in med school except for a 5 mins gloss over...and so many Drs have the impression that it will not cause issues so consider it an incidental finding.

It is the only thing I was Dx'd with and had surgery for that helped with a multitude of symptoms. ....