MS Spinal Lesion Pain

[jo206]

I have an MS Lesion between c-2 and c-3 which presses on a nerve that comes from the spinal column at that spot.  It causes exterme pain at night.  This has been going on for 4 years.  Recently the pain has increased and I have been unable to sleep for more than a month.  Does anyone know of a similar situation and solution?

I did go to a holistic pharmacy today and am going to try topical progesterone for 1.5 weeks to see if I get any relief but I am open to suggestions.

Have been on anovex for 8 weeks.  taking 2-8 aleve/tylenol/advil oer night for pain

[jo206]

Thanks for the response, but i have tried all of that over the past 4 years this has been going on.  Have spent hundreds of dollars on differnet pillow, tylenol, packs, etc.

It has only recently been this bad.  Going to the Clevelnad CLinic on Wednesday.  Hopefully can get some resolution or at least a game plan on what to do.

[jo206]

Thanks for the advice.  I called the cleveland clinic today and they gave me a heavy pain medicine and are going to see me on Wednesday to re-MRI the spinal lesion to see if there is increased activity.  I will ask them about the lyrica then.

[jensequitur]

Sounds like a good idea!  Sometimes neck and shoulder pain can be relieved by the simple addition of a new pillow.

If the pain has increased, are you going through a flare-up?  Perhaps this is nerve pain from an exacerbation.

I haven't had my spine MRI'd, but I'm pretty sure I have at least one lesion in the spine, maybe two.  When I have real trouble with my back, I lie on my stomach and place a gel pack on the area at night.  It reduces inflammation and relieves the pain.  I'm not sure how you would sleep with a gel pack on your neck, but you might be able to do it while watching tv.

[Quixotic1]

Hi, I have heard several people who seem to have direct pain from a spinal lesion.  Certainly it is possible from an anatomical perspective.  I hope others will join in if they have been able to solve their problems with this.  Have you explored differnt kinds of pillows?  I suspect the position you lie in at night may have a lot to do with the nighttime pain.

I have a different problem with nighttime.  I have spasticity in my lower back.  If I lie staight out on a bed my back is knotted and painful within a few hours.  I solved the problem by sleeping in a recliner, which I have done for two years now.  You would want to support your neck with a cervical sitting pillow, but perhaps you could try it.

The Lyrica may well help with this also.

Good luck and welcome to our forum.  It's a great place to find a lot of answers and a lot of support.

Quix, MD

[Freespirit24]

Well I do not know about your exact complaint but I have nerve pain and one in particular is according to the Doctor caused by a nerve being pinched. It is a burning sensitive pain that I just cannot get relief for so today I started on Lyrica which is a new drug made  for nerve pain. It take 2 weeks I believe to see results.

Other than that I do not know alternative therapies are definitely worth trying because it is very debilitating. Let me know how you get on as I would be interested in any other ways also of treating this kind of pain.

Hugs

sarah