Hi. I'm a 44 yr. old male with some spinal cord problems and would like a little advice of what to expect. Here's my story: Back in Jan. of this year I started getting dizzy and lightheaded. I thought it was due to an inner ear infection. Went to Dr., ears were clear. About a week later, I abruptly started getting shortness of breath. Back to Dr. I go. Chest X-ray showed a spot on my lung. Went and had a CT Chest scan, which came back ok. Then had a nuclear stress test for my heart, also came back ok. Then is was off to the ENT. Everything was fine. By now I'm depressed and broke, but wasn't ready to give up. I knew something was wrong, cause who knows our bodies better than ourselves, right? Well, next was a pulmonologist. Lung functions all normal. Ok, last stop, neurologist. Did an EMG which was alright, but he ordered an MRI. BINGO!!! BTW, in Feb. I started experiencing my left leg going numb and going out from under me, then my left arm goes numb and falls asleep all the time accompanied by a headache at the back of my head that's been there everyday for 4 mos. OK, back to the MRI. To make it short, it said I have: 1. severe cervical spondylosis at C4-5 through C6-7 with moderate to severe central canal stenosis at C5-6, moderate central canal stenosis at C4-5, and mild central canal stenosis at C6-7. 2. Right sided neural foraminal stenosis at C4-5 and bilateral neural foriminal stenosis at C5-6 secondary to uncovertebral joint arthrosis. It also says moderate disk space narrowing and diffuse disk bulging at C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7. Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced shortness of breath with a spine condition? I go to a neurosurgeon the 22nd . What can I expect? Thanks, Ray
Good questions to ask and I'm sure you'll get a lot of information from this board. I am just responding to tell you...yes, I have experienced shortness of breath on occasion, very random and very sudden onsets. May last for 10 min. or a couple of hours. I had ACDF surgery 3 months ago due to a C6-7 disc herniation compressing my spinal cord. My breathing irregularities have been less frequent since my surgery. I don't know if my breathing stuff is related to my spinal stuff, but so far, no other problems have been discovered with my health, but have had (and still have) lots of crazy neuro stuff. Oh yeah, and lots of dizzy stuff, off balance, leg/arm numbness etc, etc. Keep checking the board; lots of experience and knowledge here, along with great support. Good luck.
Ray: my story is similar, although I don't ever remember shortness of breath. I had neck pain and right arm numbness and muscle weakness. I had severe cord compression with stenosis - don't remember all the specifics. That was diagnosed by MRI late last Nov. Saw the neurosurgeon on Dec 20th and he scheduled me for surgery IMMEDIATELY. Please be careful - severe cord compression is nothing to mess around with. I work a desk job and I was rendered "totally incapicitated" that day - he wanted me minimally exposed to computer work which is what was generating my neck pain. He also told me that any neck injury could leave me with paralysis. I was glad he got me in for surgery so quickly- if it wasn't for Christmas I think he would have done it sooner. I had two level ACDF (anterior cervical discectomy with fusion) with artificial disks. I experienced immediate relief post-surgery. Recovery does take a VERY long time for some people and it seems every NS is different in terms of post care instructions. I found this board to be very helpful - just read through prior postings and you'll find lots of helpful tips.
I just found out today that the symptoms I am still experiencing like are due to conduction problems between my neck and my legs - it's something we are working on with more tests and meds to try to determine if it will get better over time, or if it's nerve damage I'll have to live with.
I'm glad you are headed to a NS - definitely the right direction. I wish you well...keep posting questions. I didn't discover this board until after my surgery and sure wish I had done so before surgery!!
Hi. I'm a 44 yr. old male with some spinal cord problems and would like a little advice of what to expect. Here's my story: Back in Jan. of this year I started getting dizzy and lightheaded. I thought it was due to an inner ear infection. Went to Dr., ears were clear. About a week later, I abruptly started getting shortness of breath. Back to Dr. I go. Chest X-ray showed a spot on my lung. Went and had a CT Chest scan, which came back ok. Then had a nuclear stress test for my heart, also came back ok. Then is was off to the ENT. Everything was fine. By now I'm depressed and broke, but wasn't ready to give up. I knew something was wrong, cause who knows our bodies better than ourselves, right? Well, next was a pulmonologist. Lung functions all normal. Ok, last stop, neurologist. Did an EMG which was alright, but he ordered an MRI. BINGO!!! BTW, in Feb. I started experiencing my left leg going numb and going out from under me, then my left arm goes numb and falls asleep all the time accompanied by a headache at the back of my head that's been there everyday for 4 mos. OK, back to the MRI. To make it short, it said I have: 1. severe cervical spondylosis at C4-5 through C6-7 with moderate to severe central canal stenosis at C5-6, moderate central canal stenosis at C4-5, and mild central canal stenosis at C6-7. 2. Right sided neural foraminal stenosis at C4-5 and bilateral neural foriminal stenosis at C5-6 secondary to uncovertebral joint arthrosis. It also says moderate disk space narrowing and diffuse disk bulging at C4-5, C5-6, and C6-7. Any thoughts? Has anyone experienced shortness of breath with a spine condition? I go to a neurosurgeon the 22nd . What can I expect? Thanks, Ray
Ray,
My husband is 55 and has basically the same dx. as you. He had an anterior cervical fusion in September 2006 was only in surgery for a couple of hours . He has a lot of the same symptoms as yours, In fact when the nurologist ordered the MRI of his neck, it came back like yours and he was encorged to wear a neck brace for protection of becoming parylazed. Well to make a long story short, after the surgery in Sept. his symptoms got worse and worse, the nureosurgeon released him In December 2006 and when I called his office to tell him about all of his issues like yours, he also has severe urning sensation from his head to his toes. Says it is like a fire burning inside of him.
So after the first surgeon would not see him anymore we returned to the nurologist that we had previously seen in August of 2006. She ran a number of nerve test and MRI frm the end of December 2006 to March of 2007. She ordered a new MRI of his cirvical spine and it showed that their was a fusion from C5-C7 ( Surgoen said he would be an old man before he needed anything done with C3 and C4.) but that there was not much change from the previous MRI done in August of 2006. She then got him into a nurosurgon that worked with her. He ordered a mylogram of the cervical neck and spine with a cat scan. The mylogram showed there was extreme pressure on the spinal cord from a bony spur and that if my husband would fall or turn his head/neck the right way that it would just go through the cord.and that would be it. Informed us that surgery was the only way to take care of it and if he did not have surgery he would be in a wheel chair for the rest of his life withing 1-2 years. My husband finally agreed to the surgery, he had a 5 1/2 hour surgery on May 9, 2007 for c3 to c7. The previous surgery had to be taken out and redone. He took a 3/4 length piecle of calsified bony spur that was intwined in the ligment in the back of his neck out and harvested bones from his hip for the fusions. My husband still has the severy burning sestation from his head to his toes, very weak and off balance at times. He has not grip in his right hand ( surgeon said that a big part of the spur was pinching the main nerve to the right arm and hand. He came home with a feeding tube as his throat was so swollen he could not swallow right. The feeding tube will probably come out some time in July. He hopes to get the neck collar off nexrt week at his six week checkup. He is on 2400 mg of Nurotion and 90 mg of Bacolfan for the severe burning in his lft side, but has to take a pain pill a couple of times a day to take the edge off the burning. They told us it would take six months to a year or more for the healing of this surgery and least 2 years for the spinal cord to completely heal from the truma. It is going to be a long haul and he has good days and bad days, but I am so glad that the nurologist kept looking for answers . He could have become parlayzed at anytime and we had no idea. the nurosurgeon said it looke like the first nurosurgeon got in their and saw in boney spur pressing in the spinal cord and decided it was to difficult to get to so he just did the c5-c7 fusion and left it at that. I really wish he had told us about it after the first surgery. In fact when my husband went to file for social security and we got the progress notes from the first surgeon, they said that my husband wa healing fine and there were no problems noted and the surgery was a success. You don't find many surgoen like the first one. I thank god for the nurologist and the 2nd nurosurgeon. So hang in there and everything will be fine .
Re: Severe Cervical Spondylosis Among Others.. 
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