Multiple Cervical herniations

[VTHS]

So in December I had a press get away from me and I felt a pop in my shoulder blade and my neck got stiff. I was a week away from vacation so I just laid low.

Got back into it in January then had the same area get stiff following high volume pull-ups.

Was fine the next day. This was around first of February.

3 weeks ago I had a great workout, squats, bench, and DLs. The next morning I couldn't get out of bed, upper back pain and radiculopathy into my left bicep. Went to chiropractor and got better over a week.

For some reason I woke up in pretty bad pain on Wednesday and got into see an orthopedic specialist. Recommended PT and that while I likely had disc issues, she seemed to think that my issues were unremarkable.

Woke up yesterday to numbness in left arm and extreme pain. Went to the ER and got an emergency MRI. Here are the results:

EXAM:
MR Cervical Spine without Intravenous Contrast.

CLINICAL HISTORY:
Patient states x3 weeks left upper extremity weakness and neck pain. NKI per patient. No prior spine imaging. (Tech: lnw ) Neck pain, acute, no red flags Neck pain, chronic, degenerative changes on xray L arm numbness/pain, neck pain

TECHNIQUE:
Magnetic resonance images of the cervical spine without intravenous contrast in multiple planes.

CONTRAST:
None.

COMPARISON:
None provided.

FINDINGS:

VERTEBRAE:
No acute fracture or focal osseous lesion. Generalized marrow signal is unremarkable.

ALIGNMENT:
Bony alignment is anatomic.

SPINAL CORD:
Normal signal. See below for contour abnormalities due to degeneration of the lower cervical disc levels.

DISCS/DEGENERATIVE CHANGES:
Minimal degenerative changes are seen within the upper cervical levels.

There is a small disc osteophyte complex at C5-C6 with a prominent central disc protrusion. Results in mild flattening of the ventral thecal sac and cord. No significant spinal canal narrowing. Neuroforamina are patent.

There is a disc osteophyte complex at C6-C7 with a large left paracentral to subarticular disc extrusion. The extruded disc component results in focal contact and flattening of the left ventral cord. No associated signal changes of the cord identified. There is severe stenosis of the left neural foramen with mass-effect on the proximal C6 nerve roots.

PARASPINAL SOFT TISSUES:
Paravertebral soft tissues are unremarkable.

IMPRESSION:

Degenerative changes of the lower cervical levels as described. There is a large left paracentral to subarticular disc extrusion on the left at C6-C7. Recommend spine surgical consultation.

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Looking for advice on how to handle this. I've read nearly every post. Seems like a lot of people eventually heal, others end up with the anterior neck fusion surgery, others get inserted artificial discs.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Sounds very familiar. See why chiropractors have their limitations? I had a C6-7 fusion done in 1999, and have had very little trouble with it for 23 years. I'd go ahead and get it done. Try to find somebody who will do it without hardware left in place.

[VTHS]

Thanks for your input.

At 44, I've had a lot of shit thrown my say. This is by far one of the worst life experiences. The pain is just unrelenting.

I hope I can find someone, suitable, cut me open sooner rather than later.

This is depressing.

[VTHS]

I'm currently taking a variety of drugs. Oxy for pain, Valium to take the edge off for sleeping and Medrol for inflammation.

I'm in to see a spinal surgeon on Tuesday. My GP, that I met with yesterday, said that she would describe my situation as a case of urgent surgery based on the contact of discs with my spinal cord and the severe stenosis affecting the nerve root that controls the left upper extremities.

I had 2 good days of relatively pain free, but useless days this week. Today the pain is unbelievable and I find myself constantly trying to hold my breath to get beyond of the more intense cramping.

I'm 44 and I've had some rough patches in life but none of those compare to this;
the blinding pain, the near usless left arm, and fear of the unknown. It's requiring me to dig deep down in ways I've never expected, and I'm not sure how well I'm doing with it all, mentally.

I will never take the small things for granted again.

[Mark Rippetoe]

If I were you, I'd drop the Medrol immediately, drop the oxycontin immediately, get some decent bourbon, and go to the doctor's office Monday morning and wait in the office until he sees you. Do not allow the doctor to make you wait till Tuesday.

[VTHS]

So it's been a year. Fucking awful one but I wanted to come back and give a report on how my situation progressed, because it's useful.

So a few days after Ripp's response, I got into see the surgeon. He said that he wanted me to go through PT for a month before cutting me open. He also wanted me to get an epidural shot, which he scheduled for something like 25 days later.

He also put me on 900mg of gabapentin two times daily.

Within 2 days the gabapentin turned me into the most depressed human being on the planet. I

[VTHS]

Sorry, I fumbled the phone and hit the reply button.....

So leaving off with the gabapentin....it caused me to cry spontaneously and caused me to have the worse possible thoughts.

I threw the bottle in the trash.
From that point on I managed my pain with 4 ibuprofen 3 timed daily along with a potent cannibis strain.

A few days after I met the surgeon was when I had my first PT appointment. I was highly skeptical. To my surprise the therapist actually understood me and seemed not dogmatic.

He generally started our sessions with a 15 minute neck and upper back massage. He also manipulated my neck and shoulder in a way that created instant relief that lasted a good hour or so.

I was very shocked during the third treatment when he told me he wanted me under the bar squaring. I also benched some and did some super light dumbbell presses, basically all of the weight that I could manage (I could barely lift 5 pounds over my head).

I was showing improvement and the ibuprofen and pot were helping. I did a copious amount of research in cortisone shots and I ultimately made the decision to not get one.

This made my surgeon angry and he chewed me out and at that point I looked at him and told him that I hope I never see him again.

I was fucking pissed off at the guy.

I booked an appointment to the orginional ortho who treated me the first time. She stated that I was showing improvement but did acknowledge that my poor tricep seemed to be disappearing. My left lat also felt like a piece of meat, I couldn't flex it at all. She referred me to another neuro....that appointment was 2 months away, but I did get a 6 week extension on the PT.

I want to say it was 2 months before I scaled back on the ibuprofen to 2, 3 times a day. It was about this time when I finally was able to sleep through the night and also on my side with the right pillow.

Oddly enough i developed this other health issue, where my PT thought thst I might have cancer, so I got a CT scan, about a week before the neuro and the radiologist report showed no visible herniations (or cancer).

By the time I got to the 2nd neurologist, I'm going to say that was the first week in August. He said he was fine with my ibuprofen use since it helped and it was being tapered off. He also said no yo cortisone and said that he didn't think I needed surgery, but if I substantially regressed that he would do a replacement not a fussion (neuro #2 talked about a 3 level fusion if the cortisone didn't work).

I stopped PT end of August and I had some bad flare ups for 5 more months, triggered by a variety of things. No radiculopathy, just pain in the scapulae.

I sit on my home gym right now, with a loaded barbell for The Press, not having taken an NSAID for the last 2 months for the neck.

I've lost a terrible amount of strength and mass. I don't know how much I'll regain. But I do have an appreciation for how glorious it is not being in pain, or having an arm that can't hold a cup of coffee.

I'm also happy that I didn't get surgery. I talked to so many people who had the anterior neck fusions. So many ended up herniating the discs above and below the fusions. One friend of mine actually ended up getting one about a month after I hurt my neck and he had some bad complications with the cadaver bone.

Everything heals, except for cancer as is stated. I'm not sure how fully resolved this is, and I still might need surgery and some point, but I have my life back. I might not be able to put 225 over head ever again, but I'm fine with that.

My biggest take away is that when it comes to situations like this, you are fucking on your own, and you had best be prepared to tell doctors to fuck off.

[Matt275]

I had the same at the same levels. Lost a lot of muscle and strength. The pain went away but the nerve was still compressed. After months of trying to avoid the surgery I finally got it done and wish I did sooner.

I cannot extend 5 lbs overhead with my left arm. It looks like a noodle. When they went in to remove the disc they found severe compression and pieces of the disc in the spinal canal. I recommend getting an MRI to see if your nerve is still compressed and then go from there.

4 months post op my hand is still numb, my press and bench are pitiful and no muscle has come back. If I had acted sooner I probably could have saved some mass and strength. Time will tell if it ever comes back but from what I’ve been reading it’s less likely as time goes on with no change.