Cervical and lumbar radiculopathy

Hi I'm new here. I'm wondering if I can get some advice and support for a cervical radiculopathy I have. I've also developed a what seems to be a lower back injury, possible lumbar radiculopathy, as well.

It's a bit of a long story but I'll try and explain it as simply as I can. I went on a long plane trip (36 hours) to Europe about five weeks ago. And four weeks ago I developed tingling in my ulnar distribution in my hands (my pinky and my fourth fingers) and numbness in this area overnight. This then progress to tingling in this area during the day and eventually progressed to pain, burning pain up my arms.


Four weeks later I'm still experiencing the tingling in my hands, it also affects my thumb and index finger and into the front of my hand and wrist, a bit up my arm. It comes and goes and sometimes I experience it as pain. Lately the worst of it has been a night when it feels like my hands are very stiff and kind of swollen. And they tingle a bit as well. I also get muscle pain especially in the areas where there's been tingling. I'm also experiencing pain in my upper back and neck. about a week ago I also woke up in the middle of the night with a numb sciatic nerve down the back of my right leg. So now we think I also have lumbar problems as well. My right foot is often numb if I sit for longer than about 5 minutes.

I guess what I'm looking for is a bit of advice about the symptoms. I'd like to know if its normal for this type of thing to have the symptoms come and go and get worse and then better. It feels like every night there was something different and it does feel like I'm not getting better. I also have another chronic disease and at first I thought it might be peripheral neuropathy from my medication. But the doctors seem to think that this would present a bit differently. I find the tingling and numbness quite distressing especially at night.

I know it hasn't been that long yet, but I am struggling to see improvements as it just feels like it is constantly changing and evolving. I'd appreciate any advice or support you could give me. Thank you. Pininpain.

Thank you for replying :) I have scoliosis, but have been treating it for years, I have orthotics and a heel raise (right leg is shorter) and have had muscular aches and pains, but have never had problems like this before.

The doctor thought it might be from carrying luggage also? I only did this up a couple of flights of stairs. The only other thing it could be is that I slept on a very low pillow and my neck was sore just prior to the symptoms starting.

I am seeing a regular doctor and they have given me anti inflammatories so far. I am also having physical therapy once a week, with lots of stretching, heat, ice etc.

It just keeps freaking me out when I get something new, like yesterday morning I had a tingling/numb thumb out of nowhere and then this morning it feels so sore in that muscle I can barely use it.

Is there anyway to tell if it is improving? Do the symptoms just get less frequent or less intense when it gets better?

Thank you so much for your help, dealing with this on top of the chronic illness is hard :(

The part that stresses me out the most us when different parts of my hand and arms go numb when I'm sleeping :(

The spine is connected so one area can make another area worse, or so my neurosurgeon says. He said once my neck heals from my surgery that it should calm down my sciatica and low back pain. Get an MRI so you know what is going on and proceed from there, e.g., PT, pain management, etc.

We are not drs here & we speak just from our own experiences. If you are this upset then you need to contact your dr & get an appt & be seen. I understand that you are new to this, however, you need to remain as calm as possible. Getting stressed out & upset will not hep at all. When you do this it causes your body to tense up which will result in possibly more pain. Don't let the what ifs eat you alive that will not resolve anything.

Take care.

Can you get in to see your dr? Perhaps you need to discuss the anxiety all of this is causing you & see what he thinks. It sounds like you have a lot on your plate.

Take care.