Help - numbness..tingling...

[skhinz]

Long story on me - will try to make it as brief as possible.

I've always had neck issues since teenager, which chiropractors could always help. I am now 43 years old - about 4 years ago I started having lower back issues, which chiropractors could help. Both of these issues would come and go and I could be fine for months and then have to go in for several weeks and then be fine again.

Well - about 2 years ago my thurab in my right hand turned nurab. REALLY nurab - through seeing a chiropractor he got it to be much much better. Since then it has changed from being my thurab to my upper hand/wrist area and sometimes forearm. It has come and gone in the last two years. It hasn't been PAINFUL - just annoying.

Now the last two weeks it's been really really bugging me and also my left hand, and sometimes my foot/ankle/upper foot area. Today my lips feel a little funny and my chin.

I know I should go to the doctor for an MRI and I think I will schedule it this week. It's just driving me crazy.....what could be wrong. I have visions of being paralyzed or something by the time I'm 50. I work out regularily, walking fast on the treadmill and also see a personal trainer 3 times a week. Nothing I have done has been odd lately. Like I said, I'm not in PAIN - just tingling/nurabness which is driving me nuts. What could be wrong? It's odd because I'm highly flexible, and my movement/range of motion is really good whenever they check it.

I haven't gone to the doctor because first of all I am highly medically phobic - I faint just thinking about it. Also my Dad had back surgery in the 70's and it didn't help him at all. And lastly I have a brother-in-law who had some back/arm pain issues and he became addicted to pain killers - and he never did find out what is wrong with him - he has been in and out of every nationally famous clinic/hospital for the past 10 years and he still doesn't know what is wrong with him. I don't want to end up just bouncing from doctor to doctor with no answers or just covering it all up with drugs.

Any ideas? Please don't just tell me to see a doctor....I already know that and I REALLY am going this week. I just want some opnions from you all out there as to what you think it could be or what to expect at my doctor's visit. Thanks for reading my looooooong post. Any info you could give me, I would really appreciate!

 

[carol632]

Hi, and welcome to the board. Yes, you've made the right decision. It's time to see a spine specialist such as a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon with a fellowship who limits his practice to the spine.

I think many here would agree with me that you should NOT make any more appt.s with the chiro. In fact, just today I read an article about the possibilities of becoming paralyzed from allowing chiros to work on the neck.

As to what it might be? Well, your symptoms sound as tho you have a nerve pinched somewhere in the cervical area and that is causing the nurabness and tingling. There could be several reasons for this including bone spur, bulging or herniated disc, scar tissue, etc. It's important to get to the bottom of this as soon as you can. Any nerve impingement can lead to permanent damage.

If you are planning a visit to a family dr., that is fine. But remeraber that he isn't the most efficient at these kinRAB of problems, even if you have an MRI. Although MRI is the "gold standard" it does miss things sometimes, and that's why you need a specialist who will know what to do next.

You mentioned addiction. Keep in mind that most people in pain who take their meRAB as prescribed do NOT develop that problem. Something like only 1% of chronic pain patients get addicted and that's usually because they start taking them other than as they are supposed to. Surgery also scares you as it does us all, but that isn't likely to be the first thing brought up. Depending on the findings, PT might be helpful, as might injections.

Try using some ice on your cervical area and see if that brings any relief; you can also try heat to see which works better, and some people use both.

I hope this is a bit of help to you and that you will continue to post and let the fine folks here try to help. I wish you the best.

Carol

 

[Baybreeze]

Hi, it certainly sounRAB like something nerve related. I think you really should see a regular doctor and try to have an MRI as soon as possible. Especially since you are getting worse. THere might be disc herniations, or stenosis, or something else going on. It seems strange, but, one doenst always necessarily have actual pain with nerve compression. Sometimes it's just pins & needles or nurabness, things like that.