Problems following disc rupture

[greeneyedlou]

I'm hoping someone has heard of the problems I'm having or even has had them that they can lead me in the direction I need to go.  I had a disc rupture at c5/c6 2 years ago.  3 days after the rupture the tip of my thumb started going tingling.  I had the disc replacement and my thumb still tingles.  I had carpel tunnel surgery last year and my thumb still tingles but some sensation on the side of my thumb has come back.

My biggest problems are: when I pull my wrist back the muscle below my elbow tightens up and my entire lower arm goes numb.  If I pull my arm behind my back, my upper arm will go numb.  My thumb is still "hyper sensitive" and tingles all day.  I have weakness in my hand.  The muscle below my elbow will jump around a lot and cause my thumb to twitch and move.  I can't grasp papers and my thumb and forefinger and things generally feel very heavy when I use that hand versus my right hand.   I've had anther MRI, EMG and some muscle test (where they stick a needle in and move it around and test something) and nothing is showing what is going on.  I still have pain in my shoulder blade (where I had spasms when the disc ruptured) and wonder if something in my shoulder blade area is pinched and causing these problems.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[greeneyedlou]

I did have another MRI done about a month ago.  It showed nothing different from my MRI 2 years ago, except that the pinched nerve that was pinched from the C5/C6 rupture is now back to normal.  I've been to a neurologist 5 times in the last 6 months and he can't figure what is going on at all.

I definitely have strength loss in my hand and it's odd, but I can't separate pages with my thumb and forefinger cause of the strength loss and not being able to grasp things with my thumb.

This whole thing is more than fustrating.

[ggreg]

I think if you went to a neurologist and had a scan done of your cervical spine, the doctor will find what is amiss, be it in the disk replacement that was done two years ago, or another disk that is pushing on a nerve.  You should expect to be able to hold some papers in your affected hand without difficulty, so the source for the problem must be found and corrected if possible.  But the short answer is, you have a nerve in the cervical spine that is being pushed on or pinched or is damaged in some manner, and this has got to be diagnosed by a neurologist and he will decide whether to go with moderate treatment like physical therapy, maybe a brace, and medications to help the problem, or he'll go the surgery route.