Please Help Me Understand My MRI

[Amandajg]

Okay, I am a 42 year old female with SEVERE Left arm burning, pins and needles, excruciating pain from my left shoulder all the way down to my fingertips. It feels like someone has a molten metal poker shoved from my back shoulder all the way down to my fingertips. It is like it is on fire at times and the pain can radiate into my chest neck ands back along with my arm and shoulder.

My MRI results are as follows, can someone please explain them to me in layman's terms and tell me if this is something that will improve on its own or will continually get worse.

C3-C4
Disc height is maintained. A 3 mm central disc protrusion or disc osteophyte complex results in mild spinal canal stenosis and minimal indentation of the ventral cord. There is no significant arthrosis. The foramina re patent.

I can not sleep, it is difficult to work, the pain is mind boggling and even when the worst subsides it is still present at a low roar.

[philnoir]

Numbness and pain in the last three fingers (middle, ring, pinky), indicate disease or entrapment of the lower cervical nerves -- C7 and C8.

Simple neurological motor testing of the fingers indicated damage to these nerves.

However, entrapment of nerves and arteries can also cause pain, and these conditions can be missed on MRI, but found with a thorough examination.

Other dynamic testing involving pushing down on the head, pulling up on the head, moving the head to extreme left or right, etc. can find problems not seen in MRI.

I would suggest pursuing with a pain and spine specialist.

[Amandajg]

Also the MRI showed nothing remarkable in the other vertabrea

[Amandajg]

The pain generally begins with my two fingers the ring finger and middle finger begin o fall sleep and become pained. then it starts to go up my arm past the elbow and into the shoulder. Where it begins to throb in my left shoulder. When I lay down at night to sleep is when it is the worst it seems. Some nights I awake screaming in pain to the consternation of my husband who is also awaken from my screams of acute and serious pain. When I sit up it takes about 15 minutes for it to subside to a more manageable level. It does not happen every night but it happens often enough that I am exhausted from lack of sleep as the pain level fluctuates and some nights it is worse than others.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me understand what is happening to me as the doctors seem to be minimizing my pain and the level of discomfort that I have.

[philnoir]

You have disc disease at level C3-C4 that is placing pressure on your spinal cord.

The pain radiating down your arm makes me believe that there are more involved than the findings at  C3-C4.

Is there any other significant finding on the cervical MRI at C4-5, C5-6, or C6-7? All these levels help innervate the arm and shoulder.

Information about which fingertips are numb or painful can also help isolate the problem to a particular nerve root.

But spine disease may not be the only problem here. Sometimes nerve entrapment in the brachial plexus of nerves and arteries causes pain in these areas.

I imagine that there is a great deal of inflammation within your neck that is causing this pain. Manipulative therapies, like chiropractic or physical therapy (physiatry) may be useful in reducing pain, as can NSAID medication (always take with food). Other therapies may also be helpful.

Icing helps halt the inflammatory response, and heat helps the body reabsorb fluids that may be causing the inflammation. Try alternating ice packs with heat packs on your neck and left shoulder.

I encourage you to continue pursuing treatment with your doctor. There are still other questions to answer here in order to acquire a proper diagnosis and treatment.

Pain is a serious sign and should never be ignored.