Originally Posted by
dalan
I haven't seen the podcast, I'm actually nervous to watch it, weird as that is. First time I had a bad nerve problem was about 15 years ago. Intense pain all down my left arm but there was no loss of strength and no muscle atrophy. Since all I had was pain, I worked over, around and through it the best I could. About 8 or so weeks later, it gradually, but fairly quickly went away and then it was business as usual.
The second time was on my right side about two years ago only this time it was just as you described, severe pain and immediate loss of all strength and atrophy of the tricep and lat on that side. I could almost watch my tricep atrophy down to nothing before my eyes, it happened that fast. Same with my strength. Whatever strength I had was gone literally overnight. I did the same as you and tried to fix it on my own. After about 8 weeks there was no improvement at all. I could not bench press a 5 pound dumbbell and the pain was horrible. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I don't think I slept more than 5 minutes at a time or about an hour a day total for those 8 weeks. I did up getting surgery and the pain relief was immediate, though my tricep still suffers from the damage done, and although it's better than it was, it's still weak and atrophied to this day. I can bench press 185 pounds now, though it's heavily left side dominant.
The psychological aspect you mentioned is right on the money. The surgery made it worse because after neck surgery, you can't really do much of anything for a very long time which only exacerbates the depression. The negative mental aspect of this whole mess can't be over stated. It's not like tearing a muscle, which I've done, where you know from the start it's going to heal and in a few months you'll be fine. I was a mess for a long time, especially when it came to be obvious that my tricep was probably never going to fully recover. It still gets in my head from time to time but I think of people with far worse issues, like missing limbs, that still train despite it and it makes me feel like a jerk for complaining. I may have limited muscularity and strength on one side but at least I have an arm there to complain about and it doesn't impact my daily life outside the gym. I know I'm also in good company as Bas Rutten has a similar problem and he still manages to be cool as hell!