neck, left shoulder and arm pain

[Rhonda]

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

[Glynna]

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

[Scott]

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

[annie]

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

[Gary]

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:***@****

[Wife in pain can't help MO.]

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

[Wayne Savage]

How do mucles work.