My neck spine is farged up

[Diomedes]

Constant pain for at least 4 months.  Shoulder pain same side.  Electric fire running down the arm in certain positions.

Doctor visits reveal herniated disk between c5 and c6. 

Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon suggests....wait for it....surgery.  Wants to fuse vertebrae together, bone graft from a cadaver, etc.

He'll give me a script for physical therapy, which I intend to do and take seriously...but it's clear from the MRI (wow, those things are awesome!!) that this condition ain't going away...shtein is farged up in there.

My mother and her father both had these problems; this is not a result of work or car accident injury, etc.  If anything, it comes from too much head banging in my now long dead youth.

motherfarger

[Geowhizzer]

I've had that in my lower back, so I know what that pain feels like.  You have my empathy- that firey pain is intense.

Probably obvious, but I'd get a second opinion before agreeing to have my spine fused.

Not being a doctor, but for my lower back I had a much less invasive surgery (microdiscecthomy or something like that).  I don't know if that's available for you or not.

But I can agree.  That farging hurts.

[Diomedes]

Yeah, I'll take a second opinion before getting cut for sure.  But the guy makes sense and the pictures are pretty clear.   It's a classic case.

Yoga massage and PT aren't going to make the gooey shtein stop pressing on my spinal column and go back to where it's supposed to be, that's for sure.

[SD_Eagle5]

I've had lower and upper back problems for the past decade, my lower back got so bad they wanted to cut a part of it out and fuse a rod to my spine. I said no thanks and opted to use traction and physical therapy.

Good luck with that Dio, what type of meds did they give you? My g/f just got flexiril for her sciatica

[Seabiscuit36]

haha

seriously though Dio, take PT seriously, work your ass off they know what they are doing unless they are young.  Surgery is a bitch man, especially that type.  But if its the only shot they can give you for a pain free life, i'd do it. 

[Father Demon]

Sorry to hear all that.  Hope it gets taken care of, no matter what course you take.

How's this going to affect the new career?

[Diomedes]

I haven't lost any strength, and I can work just fine.   For now, it's a matter of pain tolerance.  I cna handle the pain, but it makes me cranky and I'm losing sleep from having to adjust position a lot.  My mobility is down a bit...have to sort of roll into the car because it hurts to duck my head.  But for now, no work trouble.

Of course if it gets worse I'll start to lose function in my arm and that would suck.

Right now, the plan is to give PT my all and at the worst case scenrio, schedule surgery for winter when I have less work anyway.

[Diomedes]

Regarding meds, I've told them I don't want to go that route.  I need to preserve liver function for booze and recreational drugs.  I'm wary of the slippery slope of pain management through pills.

If it gets real bad, I'll go for it but for now I'm just dealing.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Sorry to hear, Dio.

All bullshtein aside, as I am sure you can attest to since it was a family issue, but fargin around with backs and necks is tricky as hell. Make sure those 2nd and maybe even 3rd opinions are dead on with the first because once they cut, it will never be the same.

Good luck with the therapy.

[Susquehanna Birder]

Sounds like you're getting good advice here (shocking, I know). Surgery should always be the last option. Isn't there a less invasive version of that procedure, as well? I suffer from some arthritic nerve impingement, and I've looked into the options.

I've been doing my own things, from stretching and lifting to relaxation and tai chi. It's really working. Not exactly the same scenario as you, I know...but I think (in my non-medical opinion, natch) that strengthening the muscles in the neck and surrounding areas will help support your spine, and take some of the pressure off of the disc(s).

And if you have to do pills, stick with ibuprofen.

[Geowhizzer]

Agreed, Phreak and Sus.

I had no choice (had done PT and Cortizone), and the surgery made the difference like night and day.  Did more PT (as much as allowed by my health insurance) afterwards.  Still feel the occasional tingles in my feet, and even ripples of pain if I overdo the lifting, but I'm fully functional.  I just have to be smarter about things and take care of my back.

I'm a big guy (6'4" and 240), and my doctor said that I could take the maximum amount of ibuprofen if needed for up to a week, then take at least one day off.  I hardly ever need it anymore, but on the bad days, they usually do the trick.

[Diomedes]

Ibuprofen helps a little, but the basic issue is the ruptured disk and that it allows stuff to leak out onto the spinal columun.  That's not a swelling thing so much, so basically I'd be taking ibuprofen just for the pain.  And if its a matter of that then hell...I'm not kidding...I'd rather leave the liver be to process two or three drinks a night than give that up in exchange for the ibuprofen relief.  Call me a drunk but if I'm taking ibuprofen for pain (and not the anti-inflamatory benefits) then I might as well take nothing.

[MadMarchHare]

If it's neuropathic pain (i.e. nerve pain), the SSRIs (anti-depressants like Prozac) have done pretty well (meaning better than anything else).
And they only farg with your sex drive, not your drinking.

Plus, they might cheer your gloomy ass up

[Zanshin]

Not much else to say.  Try to manage it, and feel better.  To the extent you can, try not to exacerbate it at work.

[Diomedes]

If it's neuropathic pain (i.e. nerve pain), the SSRIs (anti-depressants like Prozac) have done pretty well (meaning better than anything else).
And they only farg with your sex drive, not your drinking.

Plus, they might cheer your gloomy ass up

those things make me shtein like a viet cong peasant