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PINCHED NERVE RELIEF


BigStewMan

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If you do have the surgery, use a neurosurgeon, not an orthropaedic surgeon. Before my wife had her 2 lower back fusions, she talked to everyone she could. It seems that those who used a neurosurgeon had less complaints post-op.

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Some here know my story.....in short I was not walking and on Vicodin for months......mild herniation at L4-L5, arthritic knee and hip, the list goes on...

3 orthos said just be happy walking with a cain and take your meds and lets cut in three area's!!! hip knee and spine

Well I felt like my life was over, so I said what do I have to lose? Started training with a sports rehab trainer and a PT who specializes in MAT (muscle activation tech)

well its been about a year and I'm back to 260 lbs but only 6% bodyfat!!! (thats only 4-5 weeks out from a body building comp) .....most importantly I chucked the cain in the fire, I won't run bcause I'm afraid of the compression but I can......and I'm squating 315 lbs for 12 reps!!!! NO PAIN!!!!

all just from rehabilitating the muscles properly.....thats my case, I know yours is different, but PM me if you want to discuss further....

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I hope you are able to find a sucessful solution. My heart goes out to you. I have a progressive degenerative disc desease. My first lower back herniated disc happened about 15 years ago. I was lifting a 110 lb. object when a piece of a buldged disc fragmented into the nerve. I fell to the floor and couldn't get up. Because a piece had fragmented physical theropy wasn't an option. My surgeon suggested I put off surgery in the hopes that the fragment would disintegrate into smaller pieces. That is exactly what happened. When the piece broke into smaller pieces my pain level dropped alot. I was advised that surgery should be put off as long as possable. That after surgery disc scar tissue would end up putting presurre on the nerve resulting in more surgery, resulting in other discs rupturing. That eventually I would end up having to have the vertibrae pinned together losing the mobility that I have. I have had 3 ruptured discs since then. The worst one I lost all feeling in my leg and lost control of my bladder. I have been able to put off surgery so far. My surgeon told me that under no circumstance should I go to a chiropractor. That I would risk a fragment severing the nerve and ending up in a wheel chair. I ended up losing a 20 year factory job because of the disability. I have to be careful in every thing I do. Sometimes I take risks that I shouldn't(K horns/lascalas/Cornwalls). I am a recovering alcoholic and would like to stay sober so I opt not to take pain meds. In my 21 years of sobriety I have seen pain meds bring many AA members to a sad end. I haven't taken anything stronger than tylenol. I am never pain free. My pain level varys from low level to not being able to move. The worst has been herniated disc and strained back muscle pain at the same time. Once in a while I get depressed. Making a gratitude list and helping others nips the depression in the bud.

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Hi BigStewMan. I'm almost 50 now but just after I turned 40 I woke up one morning with what felt like a golf ball shoved under my left shoulder blade. The muscles were spasming and soon after my index and middle finger started tingling. Many doc visits and MRI's later I was diagnosed with C5,C6, and C7 herniation in the neck. My doctor prescribed physical therapy and some meds (anti-inflamatory, not vicodin), I used alcohol when necessary for the pain. It was one of the scariest times since I was semi-built from weightlifting and the signal loss to my left arm caused my arm muscles to shrink to half the size of the right. Surgery was discussed but my doctor said that in 50% of the cases he knew about the patient ended up worse/no change than before. So I stuck with the physical therapy and read everything I could about what was going on with my condition. One thing I learned about was TOS or thorasic outlet syndrome, where the nerves coming out of the neck are pinched off going to the arm by the thorasic muscle bundles(near the collar bone). It was a viscious cycle in my case where the discs were causing my nerves to spasm in my neck and back causing the TOS which was in turn keeping the muscles in my neck tight and thus keeping the discs herniated. The physical therapy eventually caused the muscles to relax and eliminate the TOS, the discs could then relax and after three months I had started to get back to normal. It took about a year to get my muscles on that left side back to where they were before.

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Thanks everyone for the advice and for sharing your experiences--I guess in this case we can accurately say "I feel your pain." I went back to the doctor and declined an epidural, and also declined a referral to a surgeon. My doctor is really cool and she will sit & listen and allow me to ask as many questions as I have. So, I told her that I wanted to exhaust ALL possible avenues before I would agree to, what i consider, more drastic or invasive stuff (epidurals, surgery). Since my supply of Vicodin (which was given to me in January when I got ran over by the truck) was the same batch that i've been taking recently, she commented that I'm obviously not abusing the pain killers, so she gave me a months worth of vicodin. She also gave me 800mg Motrin to help reverse the inflammation, and i go to physical therapy today. The CT/MRI done in January read just like the ones done in 2006 and 1995, so its pretty obvious that I have the two herniated discs in my neck--the only difference is this time the nerve is involved. I was fearing an EMG test, as I had one years ago and it was the most painful medical test that I've ever experienced. The doctor at the hospital where it was done told me that Joe Montana reported that getting an EMG was also the most painful experience of his life. Perhaps there will be another one in my future; but, right now I'm hoping to get a good physical therapist and that I can get some relief/improvement without surgery or more drugs.

thanks again everyone.

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Oh yea, the EMG test, I didn't mention that since I was trying to keep my answer short. The day I had that test done was an incredible experience of both good and bad stuff. Of course the test was a bummer since I had no idea going in that they were going to stick needles in me and basically shock the begeesus out of me repeatedly, first the bad arm and then the good arm for comparison. The doctor told me this is one of the ways they diagnose diseases like MS and MD, a testing of the human electrical system so to speak. When I was in the waiting room though, I saw and talked to a lot of people who were much worse off than I was, people with cervical and lumbar disc problems that weren't ever going to get better. I felt ashamed of the ways I had been feeling sorry for myself and it helped me get my act together for moving forward and getting better.

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I would get to a really good sports medicine MD or really in this case a DO especially if you have any that work with atheletes in your area.

In my teens and to mid 20's I was really active in martial arts and contact sports. Regular doctors just never really helped me...I got hooked up with an awesome DO and I got relief....

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Been there (L4-L5) done that (twice)... see my avatar. If PT and anti-inflammatory meds will fix it and/or help it, then go with it. Unfortunately for me, pain radiating down into my hips and left leg never got any better with PT/meds and slowly worsened over time... which eventually led to surgery. Find a great neurosurgeon if you go that route. Thankfully for me the PLIF (Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion) worked and I have no ill effects.

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Big Stew, I have been through four back surgeries and all the collateral damage that goes with two lower back herniated discs. Whenever I went through an episode like you have been experiencing, it seems like it would take a combination of two or three different treatments to get me through the ordeal. You need something to alleviate the pain, something to regain your posture, and something to ease your musculature pain response.

Muscle relaxants worked somewhat, but my injury occurred when I was 25 and very active, so I found a better route. Occupational nurses at various sites I worked all recommended BioFreeze as a topical ointment, and it has helped tremendously getting my surrounding muscle tissues to relax and stopping spasming and/or locking up.

Posture treatment has included PT, chiropracters, DOs, weightlifting, and an inversion table. For me, the last two have worked the best long term. It is difficult to find a medical professional who has worked with patients who have had the identical physiological condition, and know a magic bullet treatment schedule. The PTs seem to have been the best at assistance, and even then I would put my success rate at 25% over the last 20 years.

Pain management is the most ephemeral of the three facets. I have stayed away from scripts out of fear of addiction, and knowing even the strongest won't significantly reduce long term pain. Accupunture provides short term relief, but is a lot more expensive than the Tylenol and Advil I routinely pop. When the pain gets too bad, I end up shutting down most of the nonessential heavy activities until the pain scales back down.

Good luck with your situation, and don't get too down. In time, it will pass.

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The epidural is not that bad. The nerve root injection is the bugger. And the EMG is not all that rough either IMO. Seriously if you have ever had to have a steroid injection into a joint that is worse than the epidural and the EMG study. The nerve root injection is rough because of how they get there. They drive a big arse needle through the front of your neck all the way to the spine. You cannot move. I did mine without anesthesia. Not smart.

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i didn't read anyone's comments so forgive me if this has been answered.....

what you need to do is see a massage theiropsits. my wife is one (not suggesting her) and i and many of her clients have had pinched nerves. for them it's quite easy for them to"undo." go to a local REAL massage business and tell them your problem. when they are done, you should be fixed.

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okay read a little bit more, you most likely won't be fixed in one setting....my bad. i can tell you this....true story i swear on my 7's.

my wife had a client, she was in really really bad shape. she went to my wife 5 times. she then had her doctors appoitment. the lady was working on her range of motion among other problems, numbness, aches, stuff like that. so she sees her doctor and he is floored on how well she is doing. she was having issues for 2 years before someone suggested a massage therapist. she saw my wife once a week. when she went is all the numbness was gone, pain gone, she had most of her range of motion back. she was so happy she brought in her file to she my wife just so she would know for a fact on how well the massages were going.

i think i summed up the story correctly, if you want every fact and all the medical mumbo jumbo, pm me, and i will have the wife explain.

so in closing, try a real licensed massage therapist. make sure you ask for a license!

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  • 3 weeks later...

so, i went the physical therapy route and after a few weeks, i'm feeling MUCH better. not sure how much can be attributed to the PT and how much is just time healing the wounds--probably a combination of both. I'm off all pain meds at this time. i still have to be careful as some movements are still very painful; but, its a world of difference than when i started this thread. and as an added bonus...i passed my first colonoscopy--two polyps but no sign of cancer. i knew that diet of Del Taco would pay off eventually. (for those that don't know, del taco is a mexican fast food place out here in the west. I've been hooked on it since 1969).

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Big Stew,

You have just been warned by your body to take care of it...and it will take care of you.

Congratulations on making improvements. The PT created stretching and reduction of swelling so your body could heal. If you start to exersize under a trainer, (similar to PT), you eventually will feel young again. It is dedicated work but what are your other options?

Hang in there dude!

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 Big Stew,

You have just been warned by your body to take care of it...and it will take care of you. 

Congratulations on making improvements.  The PT created stretching and reduction of swelling so your body could heal.  If you start to exersize under a trainer, (similar to PT), you eventually will feel young again.  It is dedicated work but what are your other options?  

Hang in there dude!

[Y][Y][Y] Great advice!!!

on a personal note, I was told by more than one Ortho that without multiple surgeries(that had a good chance of making me worse) for my degenerated vertebrae and knee......that I probably would not with out a cane and with a big limp......

long story short...... self will, perseverance, a great PT and another great trainer.......and viola, I'm under 7% bodyfat... and this morning I jumped rope for 15 minutes as a warm-up to boxing 10 rounds with a light heavyweight GG division champ...... the only thing I can't do is run for any distance

exactly one year ago I was sitting in my chair, staring a a bottle of Vicoden...and I decided to just get off my *** and do it

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