[R7063]

I am a 38 yr old female, started having symptoms of carpal tunnel back in Feb. it took 2 hands to brush my teeth, sent for test and it came back negative,doc gave cortizone shot and symptoms left, pain went to neck/shoulder area,severe muscle spasms,doc gave shot no help,sent for massage therapy,no help,chiropractor,no help,MRI shows bulging disc at c6 c7,sent to neurologist with symptoms of face numbness,muscle spasms,pain under ear and behind eye,nausea,sore throat and whole body going numb,another neurologist gave relafen and scheduled another neurologist waiting for that appt ended up in ER not being able to walk or move,gave valium to keep me calm until appt. didn't bother to fill cause I'm not upset just in pain,waiting on neurologist appt now,just wanted to know if anyone had any ideas
Thanks in advance

[CESElizabeth]

Do you have urine and bowel incontinence?

[R7063]

Thanks for responding, I'm fine in that area,keeping fingers crossed I don't get more symptoms,if you can think of anything I could stress to the doctors or anything at all I would really appreciate it

[smearcase]

Maybe a pain clinic at a teaching hospital could help you. Constant referrals are the way it works unfortunately. Most young doctors are becoming specialists. I had to wait 2 months to see a local neurologist and they demanded a referral from my family doctor. So they are not only becoming very specialized but they are very selctive in who they will see and of course many are not accepting new patients. If I had problems similar to yours, I would be heading to Johns Hopkins or another big teaching hospital.

[CESElizabeth]

Not medical professional. If you start getting the b & b issues go to an ER immediately, it could be pressure on the spine which has involved the cauda equina, not treated immediately could lead to parapalegia.
The narrowing of the disk space at c6-c7 may be the cause of what you are feeling. Check the MRI report if it mentions narrowing of the spinal canal. Then again, it can be caused by either carpal tunnel syndrome or ulnar nerve neuropathy.

You need EMGs of both arms, and you need (IMHO) a cervical MRI, maybe a thoracic MRI, and you may need an MRI of the shoulder(s), maybe the arms.

You are not glass; without testing, the problems can't be isolated. And the MRI(s) would allow doctors to see what may be compressing what where.

It is important to remember that 3 things drive the possibility of recovering from most compressive nerve injuries:

1. The location of the nerve(s) being compressed;

2. The degree of compression;

3. How long the compression has taken place.

Given too much time, without some sort of relief, and too much compression, you risk the situation staying the way it is and never getting better, or the situation getting worse with the possibility of losing, permanently, function in one or more part of the limb(s).

Frankie

[R7063]

Thanks for all the advice I will definitely take notes, I got in to see the third neurologist today and she said I have a herniated disc and its got nerves "pinched" and "trapped" she gave me a shot behind my ear and made appt for MRI of the brain to check for MS that's scheduled for Tuesday Sept 23, she said I should know if the shot was going to help within 24 hrs,its been around 12 hrs and no relief yet

[CESElizabeth]

The reason I answered as I did is I had a herniated disk that caused compression to the cauda equina. Take care.

[danielnoahsmommy]

Be careful with pain meds. Easy to get addicted when you have this kind of pain. My sister inlaw had all these types of pains as well got tested for everything. In the end as a final option they ran genetic testing and found she had a genetic syndrome. Be sure you get screened for all possibilities

[R7063]

Again I thank all of you for responding, that is what I've been trying to tell these doctors, just passing me from one to the other isn't doing anything and the doc at the ER giving me Valium,that was the icing on the cake,his reasoning was to keep me calm until next appt. I'm not upset I'm in pain,I sure don't need to get addicted to Valium in the middle of all this drama,if anyone thinks of anything else I would appreciate it

[Need a friend]

Have you tried speaking with a Chiropractor that does CPK? It is amazing and might give you an answer to what is going on.

[simoneaugie]

I had an MRI to get the okay for a medication and it was found that I had lesions in my brain consistent with MS. It was also found that I had a bulging disk in my cervical vertebrae. Sorry I can't remember the exact one but it's C-3 or 4.

One of the neurologists told me that the numbness in my fingers, hands and arms was likely caused by the spinal problem and recommended a halo device for my head and neck. The numbness of my left leg, memory loss and fatigue are supposed to be related to MS.

That information may not lead to specific questions for your neurologist, but I'd thought I'd share.

[Twinkey30]

I had the same problem 20 years ago had to wrap my wrists up to drive the car and shift painful, turned out I had Lupus, do you have any little purple dots on your body?

[twinkiedooter]

Was the bulging discs the result of an accident you sustained recently? I had/have carpal tunnel and that does not exhibit the same symptoms you are referring to. I think there should be something else going on here for you to have the numbness in legs, etc. By the way, the EMG's will only make any nerve pain worse. I had many EMG's and each one was just as bad as the last. I would scream when they did 1, 2, and then at 3 I would scream when my dr turned up the juice for this test. I found this test most excruiciating to put it mildly. If they can diagnose you without doing an EMG, I hope for your sake they can. You must have some sort of problem like MS. MS is hard to properly diagnose. Don't give up either. MRI's don't hurt either. You just have to lie still (boring). I used to go to sleep even with all the banging noise of the machine.

[R7063]

Sorry to be away so long,thanks for all the help,I had the MRI and it came back looking good except when I finished the lady asked if I had done something to my forehead and I said no, when the results were back I picked up a copy and the last line says "metallic artifact involves the frontal region in the midline,uncertain etiology" haven't heard anything from neurologist and my appt isn't until Oct 27