cervical neck pain - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

JoLynn39 · 12-14-2008, 07:50 PM

Hello I am new this board. I am a 39 yr old ***removed*** I ruptured c5/c6 disc 3yrs ago had same repaired with anterior disectomy and laminectomy with fusion. Since then had continued pain in left shoulder to which I am on Pain med around the clock now up to 10mg lorect and soma which doesnt make the pain go away but allowed me to work with a clear mind. Well One month ago i was working and was on my knees ***REMOVED** I was rocking back and forth **REMOVED***when I felt something pop in my neck a sudden burning pain started in neck and radiated to both arms. I have been out of work since that time had a mri that states broad based buldge with a superimposed protrusion at c4/c5. My symptoms are getting worse. Neck pain unbarable going up to the back of my head causing headaches and numbness and tingling in right arm. I woke up last week with my thumb and pointer finger of right hand totally numb feels as though they have been injected with lidocain. I have follow up appt with ortho md this tues but not looking for much to happen there? Has any one had these symtoms or know what the reading of the mri i means i know about the bulge but the other stumps me. ***REMOVED***. Any response will be greatly appriciated..

feelbad · 12-15-2008, 10:02 AM

i just had a couple of questions for you. number one,and the biggie here,are you 100% certain that your original fusion actually took for you? did they actually do a flexion and extension series of x rays to just totally prove it did indeed fuse? that really is the only true way of knowing for certain. MRIs and CTs sometimes don't show squat. i was "told' according to my CT that i WAS totally fused,only to have that set of x rays done a couple months later since i KNEW based upon symptoms that i wasn't,and of course,as suspected, i had been right the whole time. my CT was wrong,very wrong. based upon your actual symptoms,it does sound like that very same area could be the bigger source here. so that is why i am wondering about your fusion,that could also explain the "superimposed' stuff. when something is super imposed,it means it is kind of lying next to or across something else,you know what i mean(think of what an actual superimposed picture is like?)? that area of fusion may be a problem,thats all i am trying to say given your symptoms. if it was not actually fused,it could have popped out of alignment and be causing you the symptoms you are now having. it needs to be thoroughly checked out at this point. what has your surgeon had to say about your MRI?

another thing i was wondering about was you mentioned this was an anterior appraoch? how did they actually manage to do a laminectomy from the front?? i am really confused there since an actual lami is removing the 'back' of a vertebrae. any enlightenment there would help. marcia

JoLynn39 · 12-15-2008, 04:56 PM

Thank you so much for your response>> Well they did xrays at ortho appoit and the PA there states it is stable. I have not seen nuero surgeon yet. And to answer the question about anterior I only can tell you the rupture was so bad it intangeled into my spinal cord nuero md states it was one of the worst he ever saw..He also stated the safested way was to go through the front of the neck. That is all I really can tell you. All I know is my symtoms since the first of last month are getting worse. And I have to get some help soon before I lose my mind. Again thank you so much for your response.

feelbad · 12-16-2008, 09:45 AM

that really IS bizzarre. did they ever do a post op MRI just to check for any actual spinal cord damage that could have occured when it became 'entangled'(that doesn't even sound good to read). while doing the fusion itself is indeed the best and safest way for fusion,doing that lami from the front is something i have never ever heard a surgeon do on a patient. thats kind of a rare thing i think. it would not hurt you to simply obtain ALL of the medical files that were generated by the surgery from the hospital,including those very very important "op notes"? those op notes are the narrative(in printed form) from your surgeon that simply state what took place during your surgery.it would really be interesting to find out why he chose to remove the back of your vert from the front and not turn you over an do it from the back. i would have alot of questions if i were you and getting the medical files on you from not only that hospital central file but also from your neurosurgeons files too would really be some interesting reading.

you DO have every right to obtain all of this info on you. i keep up on all surgeries and all my medical files from all the specialists i have to now see. i get my records updated like every six months or once a year,depending upon how often i am seeing any given doc or what surgery i had to have done(so far,since 2001 i have had to have six surgeries and an aneurysm coiling done). this is just my own files on me that contain all of 'my' medical history,including what was actually done from every single surgery i have had to have.

it sould be interesting to see what the doc thinks of that superimposed finding,like i said,i am not too certain about what that means either. i have never seen that one written in any of the many peoples MRI reports that i have read here before. it could be a something or a nothing type deal,you know what i mean? but while you are waiting to find out everything,i would start getting the records,espescially those op notes from that surgery,you REALLY do need to know just what took place there. it just doesn;t sound too good to me(or i am sure to you too) ya know? your symptoms do fit with what that report appears to say about the hard finding up there tho. it may be the involvement of that c 5 that is casuing your numbness that correlate with those two fingers. did you happen to have the very same fingers involved in some way with the first herniation too? the thumb and forefinger usually are innervated by the c 5-6. once you get down to c 4,nothing is actually innervated as far as fingers go,its mostly from c 5 on up to the c 8 -t 1 area. but there can be some subtle variances with anatomy too. good luck with this and please do keep me posted on all things. marcia

JoLynn39 · 12-17-2008, 07:01 AM

Marcia thank you so much for ur insight....God Bless it sound as though you have been through it too...I went for ortho appt yesterday they are sending me to nuero surgeon He seems to think it is ruptured but not sure go figure...I will deff get those records I did not do too much research on this before my surgery All I wanted was to get fixed and get back to work. To answer your question about the numbness on last rupture no I did not have that at all. My only symtoms before were I was unable to turn my neck from side to side or lift my left arm above my head. Doesnt sound too bad but it was very painful. I also went through my fist appt with physical therapy yesterday they did this ultrasound thing with heat and they put me in traction. No improvement yet but still hoping for same. I will keep u up to date on all of this and will scan my or report when I get it if I can do that on this thing. Ur the bomb thanks again