Chronic pain all over nerve and muscular, What is it?

[Niffer991]

After a severe MVA 4 1/2 yrs ago with broken scull, neck C2 C3 C4, RT shoulder, back L2 L3 L4, jaw upper Rt, and other facial bones, I have had chronic pain ever since. I have had physio, massage, prolo treatments as well. I am on anti-inflammatory, and nerve pain killers. Now it is spreading and getting worse in my Rt ankle, Lt wrist, knees, Lt shoulder, neck, Rt SI joint. The doctors are clueless except that I had sever brain damage and extreme trauma leaving me with a liftime of pain. Now I am getting nerve pain down my left leg (sciatica maybe) and all down my left arm. I have been refered to a physiatrist sometime, not sure when.

Family History: My mother has osteo-arthritis and breast cancer, my grandmother had lupis, and I have IBS

Health: I get vitamin injections from naturopath, eat a very healthy diet as I am a Personal Trainer with Nutrition certification.

My question is, I think there is something else going on, I am negative for rhumetoid arthritis, uric acid, and low inflammation levels, anyone have any ideas?

[Tuckamore]

Hi Niffer,

I apologize. I don't know how I missed your original post in March but I did. I do have a thought, for what it is worth. The following is my opinion. I am not a DO or an MD.

Those that know me have heard me many times praise my PCP who is a Doctor of Osteopathy (DO). I apologize to the other members for repeating myself so often. For years I went with undiagnosed, severe pain. About 5 years ago I took the "new doctor" in our local clinic as mine (not so helpful anyway) had left. She is an Internal Medicine DO. They practice medicine a bit differently than a MD. She discovered that my extremely painful sciatica was attributed to a very diseased SIJ. I have severe SIJ Dysfunction.  

I see her every few weeks for manipulation of that SIJ,, more often if it "goes out." If it were not for her I would not function. I feel she has saved my life. So obviously I highly recommend that you see a DO.

The fact is that both D.O.s and M.D.s are fully qualified physicians licensed to prescribe medication and perform surgery. Osteopathic physicians continue to be on the cutting edge of medicine. They are able to combine today's medical technology with their ears, to listen caringly to their patients; their eyes, to see their patients as whole persons; and their hands, to diagnose and treat injury and illness.

D.O.s receive extra training in the musculoskeletal system-your body's interconnected system of nerves, muscles and bones that make up two-thirds of your body mass. This training provides osteopathic physicians with a better understanding of the ways that an illness or injury in one part of your body can affect another. I cannot say enough good about their training and education. In my opinion it may well be worth your time to locate a newer graduate or one that still performs manipulations. Some DO's, due to lack of practice, lose their ability to do hands on manipulations. They may be able to find some solutions for you.

Best of luck to you. I hope you are able to find some treatment and resolution to your painful condition. Please keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. And as always, take care, Tuck

[Niffer991]

Thank-you for all your replies.

Yes I have had many MRI's done but they were not really looking for nerve damage as it was all very obvious the extent of the nerve damage in the brain. At this stage it would be good to look again and see what is going on, but hey I will just wait patiently and see.

MS, well I don't think so only because I feel it is a progressed problem due to my head injury, although it is worth me considering at this point.

Lyme disease, well I don't really know much about it so maybe I would read about it and see what that is all about. Thank-you

Every thought from all of you helps as two heads are always better than one.

Jen

[nurseaudrea]

Have either one of you had a test for MS? I have a friend who has these types of nerve pain throughout their body and she was diagnosed with MS. I hope this is not the case, but I know you would feel better to at least know what it is. Also Lyme's disease can cause severe nerve pain as well. Often these are overlooked when looking for a physical reason for the pain. Just thought I would throw that out there. Good luck to ya both.

[Mollyrae]

Hello Niffer and welcome to the Pain Forum.

Welcome to the world of Chronic Nerve Pain. I too suffer from debilitating nerve pain from head to toe. It started in my arms and legs. The nerves made it so that the air hurt my skin. Cold temps. were extremely painful, almost to the point that it felt hot. It has since worked it's way throughout my body.

If I am overly active on a particular day, it hurts just to lay down. The bottoms of my feet are so incredibly painful that it is hard to walk.

I have had every possible test with no real results. I do have an elevated Sed Rate along with high RBC & proteins but not a diagnosis. My MRI with contrast of the brain did show a few Hyper intense White Matter Lesions and the MRI will be repeated in 6 months.

Are you having these symptoms?? If so, I would recommend an MRI with contrast of the Brain. It would be interesting to chat with you. You can send me a PM if you'd like and we can discuss the matter further. I think we can better arm ourselves further and have better info for the Doctors if we can rule things out or add things up together.

Please take care and I hope to hear from you. Thanks,
Mollyrae

[nurseaudrea]

Have you had an MRI done to see if there is any nerve compression going on? If so what did it show? I would keep going to the docs and find one that will really listen to you about your pain symptoms. You may have to go through a lot of testing and have patience through the whole process, but keep at it until you get your answers.

I hope you find the answers you are looking for. Maybe you should see a pain management doctor in the meantime to really help you out with your pain. They can also suggest the type of tests you would need to find out where the pain is coming from.
Good luck.