STAYINGAFLOAT,MY GOD!!!
Reading your blog was almost like reading my own biography!! I started with a minor burning behind my right shoulder blade when I was a sophomore in high school, more of an irratation after sitting in the same position for a long time. I was in multiple sports and at the time the Dr said it was probably from starting to lift weights before I was done growing. It has been back with a vengance for the past 7 to 10 years. For the last 3 years it has taken over my life. Everytime my Dr sent me to a specialist, I would explain my symptoms(blow torch on my shoulder blade, no feeling on my skin oaround the area of the burning, back of my head is numb in the morning, at least a30% loss of strength in that arm and shooting pains down my back and up my neck and sometimes down my arm), and they would send me for an MRI of the shoulder area and xray. The first time they found my collar bone had ahook that poked into my joint and 6 bone spurs. He said with surgery they could clean up all that and it was probably me using my arm wrong trying to favor the shoulder that's causing the burning. After following the rules of pt to the "T" after a year I told him it was still there and he said it was my mechanics and that it would take a long time to for the burning to go away but asured me it would. A few years later when I just couldn't take it anymore my Dr sent me to a shoulder specialist who was the best and all the pro baseball players get reffered to him. After the mri and xray he found a small tear in my cuff, bone spurs, and impingment. I aked him if it showed anything around my shoulder blade, I felt like I was blown off and he assured me it was my mechanics. After that surgery, I did the whole pt thing and the burning was worse. When I was calling and speaking to the nurse about the amount of pain, she acted like I was lying and said she had the surgery and I should be fine by now. I could tell after a few of these conversations she assumed I was calling to try and get more pain meds. I went back to my Dr and he sent me to a muscular-skeletal specialist who did the EMG tests and a few others that I dont recall. She first did the Trigger point shots which she did 3 times, and after each session I got maybe a few days relief, if that. She did say after the EMG tests that there was some nerve damage and a lot of tiny dead muscles around the blade which she said probably died from the nerve damage. After a few visits and another round of pt she sent me to a pain clinic. I forgot to say that the last specialist tried about every narcotic med out there and ended up on the Fetenal patch, which I quit using because of all the potential side effects. So when I went to the pain clinic I was using Percocet and that's it. The pain clinic tried an anti immflamatory with augmentin along with the Percocet. Which made me sick and didnt really add any relief. They then performed nerve obliteration which was very painfull and I got a little relief for about a month before it was in full force again. My Dr now ordered a neck xray and found that all my discs in my neck are bulged. He said that maybe this is causing the nerve damge that started all this in the first place. So now I am waiting to start another round of pt to see what happens. He currently has me on Naproxen, Diazapam, and Percocet. It doesn't do much but gives just enough to get up everyday. By taking the Diazapam and Naproxen at bedtime I can sometimes get up to 4 hours of sleep. I was so excited to see your blog and maybe even find out about some Dr.s or procedures that my place isnt using or doesnt want to do. I am sorry to hear about your situation because I know first hand that it seems impossible to live with this sometimes. I don't think the Dr's seem to understand that this hurts 24 hours a day and all you have are bad days and worse days. I thought I was alone the way the Drs react. This has affected my whole life and I dont know whats worse the pain or being judged for taking pain meds by my family. Anyways I know its hard and its hard to act like your not depressed and miserable. I relate it to putting on a costume when I go to work to cover up the way you feel on the inside. MY regular Dr and nurse are very supportive and I am lucky for them because I dont have much of a support system at home. Well I hope to hear back from you to see if you have gotten any relief and what they did or suggested to get it. If I recieve anything new that even works a little bit I will be sure to share because I know what you're going through and if your like me, Its hard to believe that I have to go through the rest of my life feeling like this and dont know if I could. I forgot to add that this showed small signs of being when I was sixteen and I am 39 now.
Good luck in the future and hope to here any input you might have. thank for your time
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Post Edited By Moderator (White Beard) : 10/13/2011 11:52:57 PM (GMT-6)