Cervical radiculopathy

Hello. I'm new to this forum. I have been dealing with cervical radiculopathy in my arm for almost 6 months now. I have a disc protrusion at c5-6. My pain is better now than it was in the very beginning, but it has not completely went away. I still have pain in the shoulder, elbow and forearm and wrist. It is constant pain. Often, my whole arm feels like one big "Charlie horse" some days are better than others in severity and stress makes it hurt more. I am young, still working full time but finding it difficult to manage. Rainy days hurt more and are really depressing to the point of tears. I keep telling myself that time will heal, and I need to be patient, but it seems like its been so long and I worry this will go on forever. I will not do a fusion surgery, and epidural steroid injections do not work for me. I can't handle narcotics or gabapentin as I drive long distances for work. My dr doesn't know what to do with me. I'm going to ask about a prescription nsaid next time i go back. Is there anyone who has gone through this? I am wondering how long it takes to get through this type of pain. I have read cervical radiculopathhy can take up to 6 months to go away, but it has not for me. I also have cervical central canal stenosis but mild to moderate as the disc is pushing into the spinal cord. I don't have loss of spinal cord signal or myopathy. Thanks for understanding.

Hello hurts and welcome to the forum. Yes patience is not a pain patients best virtue. Its hard to be optimistic when every waking moment is filled with pain.

As for neurontin the lethargy side effect subsides with time in most but there are other meds to treat nerve pain and this is your best option. I've known people who have had to take and use their vacation time or take a leave of absence from work until they get titrated to therapeutic levels on the nerve meds. Like I said most of the side effects subside.

Narcotics and even nsaids have very little effect on nerve pain.

It's still early out in the healing process for nerve cell regeneration as they learn to follow different pathways not actually heal to pre-surgical state.

Are you in with a good Pain Management doctor? (you didn't mention what type of doctor was helping you) You might want to get a mri of your shoulder to rule out anything coming from your shoulder and to rule out any rotator cuff injuries...Has your doctor tried you on a medication called Lyrica as it might help with the nerve pain. Others will come by with better advise and I sure hope you can get some pain relief soon, many well wishes and keep us posted as we do care...

Hi Armhurts,

I suffer from similar problems -- C4-T4 scoliosis, with most of the degeneration at C5 through T1. I have constant radiating pain down the back of my left arm, pain up the left side of my neck and down to my mid-back between the spinal cord and scapula. My spine itself is also tender.

Symptoms began in 2007 and have never abated. Some days are better, some are worse. Weather and activity play a significant role.

I've tried gapapentin and neurontin, both made me too dizzy. I've just started Cymbalta and am waiting for it to kick in.

As for driving, I agree that you need to be very careful, but as your body gets used to the medication, it will start to do little else that help with pain (i.e. its euphoric soporific and/or stimulant effects diminish in time). Additionally, time-release narcotics will likely not interfere with driving, even early on. I found tramadol ER to be very effective for about 5 years (Alice too notes its benefit for her).

Let me also add that although I work from home most days, my office is 50 miles away from where I live. So, twice a week I go in, and have a 100 mile round trip.

Thank you all so much for your suggestions, understanding and listening to me!

I did have an mri and confirmed nerve compression along c 6 root. I have no sensation in my first finger, sometimes it is really numb and somedays it just feels like pins and needles. I did over the door traction which helped in the acute phase but not so much anymore. I did one ESI, and some meds with no luck so far. I also get massages, chiropractic care, and have thought about acupuncture, but Its all getting a little spendy at this point so I'm holding off on acupuncture. I did an Internet search on decompression and found inversion tables. They look interesting and oddly enough hanging upside down makes sense.

I also do rehabilitative exercises, eat a well balanced diet, walk when i can, and recently started seeing a counselor to help cope and manage stress.

I only see a GP, I asked about lyrica and cymbalta but my insurance won't cover it. That's why we tried gabbapentin and he already mentioned a pain management clinic. I have actually thought about canceling my next apt with him. I just don't know if that is where I should be?.

Will a pain management Dr. want to see me if I don't want a shot in my spine or narcotics? I'm not familiar with how pain management dr work. There is one doctor in my area otherwise the rest are about 2 hours from where I live. I wonder about a neurologist? Are they trained in pain management when it comes to nerve pain or just diagnostics? I just don't know where my situation fits.

Right now i am doing everything i have been told to do an then some to treat this as conservatively as possible. I'm so tired by the end of the day. It's just wearing me out.

Thank you all again!

Hi white beard. I don't want to do surgery sooner than necessary. I am worried about needing future surgeries. The surgeon can't tell me it will take all my pain away. No one can tell me when or if even it will go away with or without surgery. I am still hoping i can heal without surgery. Pain is getting old though. I think I'm going to have to keep toughing it out. Just wearing me down. No magical cures or wonder drugs that's for sure. I am starting to really hate my arm, I really don't care to have it anymore. :) I'm glad u found relief through surgery. Thanks

Armhurts straydog hit the nail on the head so to speak the thing I am most worried about is the herniation becomes worse and the nerve become permanently damaged. If that happens it is possible to lose the use of your arm, or worse. My disk actually ruptured and the surgeon had to fish out the pieces of the disk that had gotten inside the spinal canal. My spinal cord was actually being bent, and it was nothing short of a miracle that I wasn't a quadriplegic. Those were the neurosurgeons words not mine. He said somebody was definitely watching over me, but yet all I felt was extreme pain in my arm. I am not trying to alarm you, I am just telling you my experience. It is possible to have permanent nerve damage from this. I am not sure what you mean about future surgeries? It is true when you have a discectomy and fusion that it does put more stress on the disk above and below the fused area, and often the disk above or below will go bad over a period of time. One surgeon told me usually in about ten years, I went 25 years before the disk above my C6/7 went bad. So I thought was pretty good. Just something to consider, if your arm pain is caused by the disk impinging on the nerve root, it would just make since that when they remove the pressure off the nerve then the pain would also go away! I know it is a difficult decision but I just look at where the disks are located, and what the consequences would be if it went really bad. After what I went through,my first time.......well........... let's just say.....Cervical disk scare me, when they go bad!

I do wish you well, and hope your arm pain gets taken care of.

Good Luck to you!

White Beard

Those exercises really work! I am still giving my body time to heal without surgery. My pain 1 year later is still here, but much more manageable than it ever has been and with ZERO medications. With less pain i can think clearly! I am so grateful! I have worked my way up to 40 min of cardio and some light weight training too! I even went golfing towards the end of last summer! I still have my days but have found chin tucks as you mentioned and some light neck stretches really do help. I wanted to add, that that changing my posture has been a great help. I can't sit in cozy recliners because I can't be straight so i sit on the floor or a yoga ball or use a pillow for support. I try to read, use my ipad, computer etc at eye level when ever possible. I get massages monthly and do my own massages with a tennis ball against a wall when I get tight. It takes a long time and requires lots of patience though!

Armhurts
Thank you for update - great that you have found so much relief !!

I wanted to add that the Charlie Horse (muscle knots) may be myofascial issues.. since self-therapy is helping, perhaps researching that will give you even more info.

BigSexyC
IMHO Workmans comp requires
1) patience including documenting Everything
2) a good attorney
3) common sense, ie do not do stupid stuff - ie, claim you can barely walk yet go out dancing every weekend.

For me personally
Going on 11 years & it's been a rollercoaster ride involving :
some months with no meds/ dr / treatments
no $$ though it was court ordered,
years to get $$ reimbursements,
their doctors' extremely painful, exams, often to point I complained - in writing !! -to my attorney about harassement
as well as out & out lies from these same medical professionals, well you name it ..

I feel for you. I do. My story would take pages and pages.

Only other advice, which is hard, do not take this personally.. you are truely just a number to the majority of the people you deal with, I'm sorry to say. Speak up for yourself.

Good luck

Armhurts - Just gonna start by giving a description my pain and symptoms. I currently have a cervical radiculopathy at c5-c6-c7, going down my right lower trapezius to my triceps and into my elbow, and into my lateral forearm. This happened a month ago. Occasionally I get numbness and tingling into my hand and fingers. Its been a month since I've had symptoms with extreme pain to the point where I just wanna cry my heart out. But I do see a physical therapist 2x/week because money is tight and my job denied my claim for workers comp. I do 3-4 sets of 10 chin tucks, 2 sets of 10 cervical rotations to the left/right laying supine, and some occasional downward dog yoga poses. Altogether, my pain and symptoms went from a 8/10 to a 2-3/10. Oh and I was taking Naprosyn (Naproxen, an NSAID) and tramadol (pain analgesic) for 2 weeks. Recently, switched to Meloxicam (Mobik) and Cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril, muscle relaxer) and been taking them for 2 weeks. Naprosyn and Mobik worked for me. Not too sure with tramadol and flexeril. Like you said, the exercises do work and relieve pain and symptoms to allow for nerve recovery. Does cardio exercise really help much?

Hello Seacoast & welcome to the chronic pain forum. Since you have posted on an older thread some of these folks are no longer active here at the forum. If you would we ask all new members to make their own intro post so that everyone will see it & be able to give you a proper hello & welcome aboard. By posting on this older thread not many people will see your post.

To make a new thread to the left you will see Post New Topic, click there, then fill in the heading, hit enter & copy & paste what you have written above, its perfect.

My son was having problems very similar to what you are going through & I have some ideas for you.

Thanks so much. I will go ahead & lock this so others will not post until we have your thread posted here.