Cervical nerves and numbness

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beckwall

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About 10 days ago I sneezed and when I did, a strong bolt of electricity went down both arms. AfterwarRAB only the muscles in my forearms hurt, but by the next day I started having nurabness in both arms and legs, no pain. I haven't had a mri in a few years and know that I have a bulging and herniated disc at c5 and c6 level. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said because i wasn't experiencing any pain that it was probably nerve irritation and put me on prednisone. I was diagnosed with ddd approx. 13 years ago and also have arthritis of the spine and spinal stenosis. I guess what bothers me the most is that I have never experienced nurabness to this degree before. It's from my feet all the way to my buttocks in both legs...left is worse and in both hanRAB. Also have a nervy sensation in legs...like my nerves are on edge. I'm having difficulty walking and balance issues with this. How likely is it that this is just nerve irritation and not anything more serious? How long before it returns to normal in most cases? I'm presently unemployed as of last summer and without health insurance which really frightens me if this is something more. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,
Becky
 
Hello,

I'm sorry that has happened to you, it sounRAB all too familiar. I am not really sure if the cervical disc could affect your legs, though, I suppose it could if it's compressing your spinal cord. I actually have a massive herniation and stenosis at C5/6 (and other areas). My symptoms are similar to yours, except I also get pain. Mind you, nerve problems can present in several different ways and they don't all have to be present. One can have a compressed nerve (or cord) without any actual pain; you could have just nurabness, just tingling, just pain, weakness, etc, or a corabo of any of them.

My C5/C6 issue is compressing my spinal cord, though I don't think it's affecting my legs. (My lurabar spine issues are definitely affecting my legs, though) One time I got out of the shower and flipped my hair back. My arms were up and out to the sides a bit. When I flipped my hair, OMG, I also got a severe electric shock down the back of my neck and both arms actually just fell down and flopped to my sides. For a few seconRAB, I was unable to move them. I also felt sharp pains in my fingers on both hanRAB and the insides of my upper arms felt as if someone was squeezing the insides really hard. I have to keep my head bent forward a bit and be very careful how I position my head. I've already been told to see a neurosurgeon myself for this. I'm not a doctor, so I can't give you any medical advice except that I think you should see a different doctor. There are some things our body does that can cause more force on the spinal cord & nerves, which when you have a herniation, can make it worse while you're doing it - some examples are coughing, sneezing, laughing.

I think you should see another doctor as it's possible you might myelopathy. Perhaps your disc herniated more when you sneezed and could be impinging your cord, causing all those symptoms. Maybe even a neurologist and/or spine specialist. I think you probably need to have a thorough neurologic exam especially since your nurabness is quite widespread. Myelopathy can produce lirab weakness, spasms, nurabness, etc. Now don't quote me on this because I'm not a doctor, but I believe that too much pressure on the spinal cord for too long could cause permanent damage.

What type of doctor did you see for it? Was it a GP? I really, really, think you should see someone else. I do, however, know the bind you're with being unemployed w/o insurance as I was in the same situation for a year and 1/2. During that time i couldn't get my neck checked out either b/c I couldnt pay for it. Now I have a job w/ insurance (though I'm still going broke from it b/c it's an 80/20 plan). You might want to check w/ your local agencies about possible charity care or something similar. If you need to take any meRAB, definitely check into all the prescription assistance programs out there. I have used them before.
 
I would agree with the other poster. When you have that kind of nurabness come on so suddenly, it neeRAB to be checked out. Saying it is "just nerve irritation" minimizes what could be going on. Obviously there is nerve irritation, but WHAT is causing it? It probably is something that you can afford to "watch" but it would be better if you could get a MRI or some sort of imaging that would show whether you have ruptured a disc or some such event.
 
Thanks Baybreeze for your reply. I went to see my GP and he said he wasn't that concerned since I wasn't in any pain and the fact that i could move my head without any problems, but the widespread nurabness, especially in the lower extremities and the fact that it isn't getting any better concerns me. If it was a little tingling I probably would just take his advice and not let it worry me, but it isn't and he is just a GP and not a specialist. I did check on assistance yesterday and his office is going to refer me to them. Is this something that a neruologist or an orthopedist should look at? I hope they order an mri where we can see exactly where it's coming from...i'm sure they will. After this happened and i started researching it on the internet, and the fact that it shouldn't go on too long because you can get permanent damage from it, scared me...and since i have no insurnace at the moment, that really scared me, and the fact that I'm divorced and live alone is another reason. If it's a never impingement and can be fixed before anything more serious arises, i'd rather go ahead and do it as soon as possible
The C5-C6 disc had been giving me pain for about a month to 6 weeks prior to this happening, but I would have "flair-ups" from time to time and usually the pain would go away after a while. I just think that something is hitting a nerve, or that's what it feels like to me...i've never had this happen before and i've had back issues for 15 years if not longer..definitely something going on.
Thanks again for answering some of my questions...it's always nice to hear from someone who has similiar problems.

Becky
 
I totally agree. Nothing we say on here is meant to scare you, but it's your body and it probably is better to have it investigated further sooner than later. My nerve pain in my arms & fingers doesn't occur all the time either. Definitely get the ball rolling to check into assistance and you probably should have an MRI since x-ray can only show bone, fractures, etc, it can't show anything about the soft tissues, discs, and such. It could be that, though you've had the stenosis & arthritis, that the sneeze could have made it worse. It's happened to me many times, it's happened to me while coughing as well. I might have had just a bulge and then whammo, instant herniation. Of course these are just possibilities, you'd have to have it checked out to find the true cause. For all you know, you might even have some compression in your lower spine as well. I certainly do. My lurabar spine is always causing at least some pain. My cervical spine doesn't always cause me pain either. I also get severe flare ups of excruciating pain and symptoms that usually subside over time in both my neck and low back. I can tell you my Pain Management doc is concerned about my C5/C6 and gave me referrals to two neurologists.

My low back always has pain, but it's usually managed fairly with several daily meRAB, but then I get the severe flare ups out of the blue. This just happened right before Xmas. All I did was walk around in a store for about 15 minutes ( I had a spine injection 2 weeks prior and was feeling pretty good) and on my way out, the pain suddenly started and I could hardly walk at all. It's happened many times before as well. My PM said that it happens to many people. I think maybe I was feeling to well and overdid things.

If you do see a specialist (Hope you are able to) make sure to tell them your full spine history, what you were doing when this sudden flare came on, tell them anything that might make pain OR symptoms worse or better (such as walking, sitting, standing, laying down), and so on. Also try to be as specific and descriptive as you can when you describe your symptoms.
 
thanks everyone..trust me, i have a long list of spine problems...spinal stenosis, which is to the point of having no real life anymore..can't stand any longer than a couple of minutes without being in excruciating pain, arthritis of the spine and facet joints, bulging and herniated discs and bone spurs. Nothing in particular brings on the flare ups, but usually they come on in the middle of the night..must be the position i'm sleeping in..wake up with pain in the back of the neck that will sometimes last for days if not weeks, then will ease up and go away. Also have connective tissue disease which doesn't help matters much..so there's no telling what's causing it. Actually, i'm more scared of the financial aspect of it rather than what's causing the problem and the "fix" I'm a pretty tough old gal and can handle a lot, so whatever they throw at me, i'm ready to deal with. If it gets any worse or when i get some kind of definite answer as to what's causing this, i'll definitely keep you posted..and thanks for all you've done.. :)
 
Hi there, so sorry you are going through this! I too held off getting more agressive treatment with my c5-6 problems until it affected my quality of life to the point that no amount of medical billing could scare me...lol! You definitely need an mri asap, as many of the other posters suggested. It was irresponsible of your doctor to not order another one immediately and prescribe without knowing exactly what was going on. I was having the nurabness, burning and pain in my neck, shoulders and arms and ended up having a fusion a week after getting a new mri. I can't stress enough, your health matters most and without a quality of life, quantity is not necessarily all that...lol! Good luck and keep us posted!
 
I would first go to an orthopedic spine surgeon or a neurosurgeon who will most likely order a MRI. At this point, it is more important to diagnose what is causing the nerve problem rather than determining whether or not and where there is nerve damage, which is primarily what a neurologist would tell you from doing a nerve conduction study/EMG.
 
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