Three weeks in...
And I'm still getting worse every day. I mentioned my problem in my last post if anyone's curious, but the rest of this is just ranting, so read only if you want to hear a long-winded entry about what's been going on.
As I mentioned before, three weeks ago I literally just woke up with an uncomfortable grinding in my neck whenever I turned my head. I know regular bone popping noises are very normal when you move about, but this particular sound I was hearing did not sound natural at all, and it felt like some bones were rubbing really harshly on each other. I first figured okay, maybe I slept on my neck wrong, which does happen, and that usually goes away.
But the next couple of days, it just got worse, and the headache-that-never-goes-away started, along with burning pain (that's the only way I can describe it) going down my neck, shoulders, and both arms. The pain from both the headache and burning was so intense it kept me awake at night. A few days later, I started feeling tingling and numbness in my hands. A few more days later, I started feeling tingling and numbness in my feet, then up to my thigh, then now half of my face feels numb. It's... fucking scary, to say the least. And I feel like the whole neck problem is what triggered everything, because the more I move my neck, the worse the symptoms get, and I still hear that disgusting grinding sound whenever I turn my head left and right.
During these three weeks I've seen:
1) My somewhat-regular physician, who I really don't like anymore -- he always thinks I'm crazy and just prescribes me pain killers and sends me home. He did have me do x-rays of my neck, and initially told me I have a mild case of "degenerative disc disease" in the C4-C5 section (that's kind of the lower neck), which doesn't sound right to me at all because that painful grinding I get feels way higher, like right at the base of my skull, near the atlas -- the very first bone of your spine that connects to your head. He eventually got me to do an MRI of my neck, and upon further analysis, he said the disc narrowing didn't even look severe enough to be causing damage to my nerves. And there was no herniated disc showing either. In the end, he didn't know what else to tell me, and referred me to the spine clinic, to see a physiatrist and a physical therapist.
2) My chiropractor, who I've always liked and seems way more knowledgeable about how the spine and nerves work. He taught me some neck stretches and done a few adjustments on my lower spine, saying it would help my neck issue too, but the last time I met with him, he offered to adjust my upper neck. Mind you, I know and trust this guy, and I LOVE his neck adjustments, because I always feel so much better afterward. He said he can do adjustments all the way up to my atlas... and fuck me, I chickened out. He's really nice about it though, saying that he would never do anything that I wasn't uncomfortable with, but wanted to reassure me that in the 22 years he's been in practice, he has never made anything worse. He said that if/when I'm ready, he'd be willing to do it. The reason I was apprehensive about it is because that's the area that causes pain all over my body, and even he said that he wouldn't want to do it if there was any apprehension -- since it would mean my muscles would reflexively tighten up and work against him, making the adjustment less effective.
3) The physiatrist mentioned earlier, who eventually refers me to a neurologist because the MRI I have of my neck isn't showing anything "life threatening" so my symptoms are unexplained.
4) The physical therapist, who actually works with the physiatrist, so I saw them both at the same time -- I'd never considered physical therapy before until a lot of my friends, and even Arleen, say they can be really helpful. I'm only on the consultant stage with her, but so far, she's tried moving my head around to test my range of motion and that made me want to kill her because it made my headache worse in less than a minute.
5) A massage therapist -- This was more like a treat for me, but it was my chiropractor who suggested it. According to him, muscles being too tense or strained CAN lead to neck problems so he figured it'd be a good way to at least get my muscles more relaxed and relieve some pressure if it's pulling on my head and neck. It was relaxing to say the least, and it felt good while I was there, but I was back to being in my usual pain afterwards.
6) Neurologist - He looked at my neck MRI and said the same thing as the physiatrist, that he couldn't see anything terribly wrong with it. My neck has a slight reverse curve, which isn't good (my chiropractor pointed that out too), but the MRI doesn't show it doing any damage to my spinal cord. From the symptoms I was describing to him, he worried that it was MS (multiple sclerosis), but according to him, the MRI doesn't show it. He did some sensory tests with me -- like for instance, poking things on my fingertips to see if I can feel it, or feel it differently than others -- which I think is a little lame, because anyone who feels some numbness can of course still feel things. You'd have to be REALLY numb or paralyzed to not feel anything. Anyway, I told him I didn't want to be blown off as if I was some hypochondriac -- in nicer terms -- but what he said was the only thing he can think of is if there is something in my brain. And if there's nothing in my brain, then maybe my nerves are just acting funny (wtf?), but he did also suggest physical therapy for my neck problem. Either way, he made me get another MRI, this time of my brain. I already received the report saying that they found nothing unusual in it, which I pretty much figured. I think because my dad had a brain aneurysm and he was in the immediate family, the neurologist just wanted to rule that out.
7) A NUCCA chiropractor -- This is a different type of chiropractor that specializes in the neck & head, especially the atlas. They deal with re-aligning your head on your neck properly, because their theory is that misalignment of your head and neck can lead to problems everywhere else in the spine, whether nervous or muscular or anything.
http://www.redmondchiropractic.com/chiropractic/nucca-chiropractic
No need to watch the video, but you can skim through that to get an idea of what NUCCA is. I was able to tell the doctor everything I'd been going through, and the first step he did was evaluate my posture with a measuring machine. He was shocked at how crooked my hips were. (I should mention that my regular chiro said the same thing after looking at my lower back xrays, but honestly, it didn't need to be explained, I could SEE it myself.) My lower spine is also pretty crooked. It makes me wonder how crooked my sister Emily is too, because she's mentioned about her spine being off. Anyway, he started me out taking several very specific x-rays of my neck. It wasn't just one of those, "Go stand by the board" and click. He had me do several angles, tilting my head in certain ways, because their objective is to see if my head and neck is misaligned. I've gotten two adjustments done so far, but no improvement shown. My symptoms are still worsening, but I can't exactly say that it's because of what he did, since I was already worsening anyway. My body apparently is fighting the adjustments, from what he could tell in the follow-up today. What's interesting is he used a heat sensor to run along the back of my neck and the upper left of the atlas had an extremely high number, which means the blood flow is unusually high or that it's inflamed.
Right, all the anti-inflammatories I've been put on have NOT worked. I've gone through naproxen, diclofenac, and right now on prednisone which is supposed to be one of the strongest. What's most frustrating about this whole thing is that my symptoms keep getting worse by the day. The headache hasn't gone away since day one, the pain and numbness has spread to my legs and face, everything I'm feeling points to a nerve problem, yet none of the tests I've done are showing anything for them to tell me what's wrong with me and how to fix me. I have to say I'm a pretty organized person, so I've been keeping track in a notebook about how my symptoms have progressed, what medications I've been on and when they started, things like that. And based on what I've been going through these few weeks, I know that movement of my neck is worsening the symptoms. That unnatural grinding sound is still there, and up until today no one can really explain what's going on there. There is no disc between the atlas and axis, so did I tear a ligament? Did I break something up there? I have NO clear diagnosis, no solutions offered, and I feel like I'm just wasting away. My breathing has become labored now, I can't concentrate on cosplay, and frankly it's hard for me to even be excited about Sakura Con anymore, knowing that I'm just going to be feeling miserable the entire time. I haven't had any wine these weeks because of the hardcore pain killers I'm on, and I doubt I'd be able to drink like I usually do at con. I was excited about Frankie being here, and clubbing this weekend, but that's out of the question as any strong movements that can jolt my neck would just make the pain even worse.
My mom has been telling me I need to keep my spirits up, and I wholeheartedly agree that stressing myself out is going to be counterproductive, but it's easier said than done. I'm not asking for a one-day miracle, but all I'd like to see is a LITTLE bit of improvement, or even if the symptoms stopped going downhill, that would be enough for me to feel a little more hopeful.
As I mentioned before, three weeks ago I literally just woke up with an uncomfortable grinding in my neck whenever I turned my head. I know regular bone popping noises are very normal when you move about, but this particular sound I was hearing did not sound natural at all, and it felt like some bones were rubbing really harshly on each other. I first figured okay, maybe I slept on my neck wrong, which does happen, and that usually goes away.
But the next couple of days, it just got worse, and the headache-that-never-goes-away started, along with burning pain (that's the only way I can describe it) going down my neck, shoulders, and both arms. The pain from both the headache and burning was so intense it kept me awake at night. A few days later, I started feeling tingling and numbness in my hands. A few more days later, I started feeling tingling and numbness in my feet, then up to my thigh, then now half of my face feels numb. It's... fucking scary, to say the least. And I feel like the whole neck problem is what triggered everything, because the more I move my neck, the worse the symptoms get, and I still hear that disgusting grinding sound whenever I turn my head left and right.
During these three weeks I've seen:
1) My somewhat-regular physician, who I really don't like anymore -- he always thinks I'm crazy and just prescribes me pain killers and sends me home. He did have me do x-rays of my neck, and initially told me I have a mild case of "degenerative disc disease" in the C4-C5 section (that's kind of the lower neck), which doesn't sound right to me at all because that painful grinding I get feels way higher, like right at the base of my skull, near the atlas -- the very first bone of your spine that connects to your head. He eventually got me to do an MRI of my neck, and upon further analysis, he said the disc narrowing didn't even look severe enough to be causing damage to my nerves. And there was no herniated disc showing either. In the end, he didn't know what else to tell me, and referred me to the spine clinic, to see a physiatrist and a physical therapist.
2) My chiropractor, who I've always liked and seems way more knowledgeable about how the spine and nerves work. He taught me some neck stretches and done a few adjustments on my lower spine, saying it would help my neck issue too, but the last time I met with him, he offered to adjust my upper neck. Mind you, I know and trust this guy, and I LOVE his neck adjustments, because I always feel so much better afterward. He said he can do adjustments all the way up to my atlas... and fuck me, I chickened out. He's really nice about it though, saying that he would never do anything that I wasn't uncomfortable with, but wanted to reassure me that in the 22 years he's been in practice, he has never made anything worse. He said that if/when I'm ready, he'd be willing to do it. The reason I was apprehensive about it is because that's the area that causes pain all over my body, and even he said that he wouldn't want to do it if there was any apprehension -- since it would mean my muscles would reflexively tighten up and work against him, making the adjustment less effective.
3) The physiatrist mentioned earlier, who eventually refers me to a neurologist because the MRI I have of my neck isn't showing anything "life threatening" so my symptoms are unexplained.
4) The physical therapist, who actually works with the physiatrist, so I saw them both at the same time -- I'd never considered physical therapy before until a lot of my friends, and even Arleen, say they can be really helpful. I'm only on the consultant stage with her, but so far, she's tried moving my head around to test my range of motion and that made me want to kill her because it made my headache worse in less than a minute.
5) A massage therapist -- This was more like a treat for me, but it was my chiropractor who suggested it. According to him, muscles being too tense or strained CAN lead to neck problems so he figured it'd be a good way to at least get my muscles more relaxed and relieve some pressure if it's pulling on my head and neck. It was relaxing to say the least, and it felt good while I was there, but I was back to being in my usual pain afterwards.
6) Neurologist - He looked at my neck MRI and said the same thing as the physiatrist, that he couldn't see anything terribly wrong with it. My neck has a slight reverse curve, which isn't good (my chiropractor pointed that out too), but the MRI doesn't show it doing any damage to my spinal cord. From the symptoms I was describing to him, he worried that it was MS (multiple sclerosis), but according to him, the MRI doesn't show it. He did some sensory tests with me -- like for instance, poking things on my fingertips to see if I can feel it, or feel it differently than others -- which I think is a little lame, because anyone who feels some numbness can of course still feel things. You'd have to be REALLY numb or paralyzed to not feel anything. Anyway, I told him I didn't want to be blown off as if I was some hypochondriac -- in nicer terms -- but what he said was the only thing he can think of is if there is something in my brain. And if there's nothing in my brain, then maybe my nerves are just acting funny (wtf?), but he did also suggest physical therapy for my neck problem. Either way, he made me get another MRI, this time of my brain. I already received the report saying that they found nothing unusual in it, which I pretty much figured. I think because my dad had a brain aneurysm and he was in the immediate family, the neurologist just wanted to rule that out.
7) A NUCCA chiropractor -- This is a different type of chiropractor that specializes in the neck & head, especially the atlas. They deal with re-aligning your head on your neck properly, because their theory is that misalignment of your head and neck can lead to problems everywhere else in the spine, whether nervous or muscular or anything.
http://www.redmondchiropractic.com/chiropractic/nucca-chiropractic
No need to watch the video, but you can skim through that to get an idea of what NUCCA is. I was able to tell the doctor everything I'd been going through, and the first step he did was evaluate my posture with a measuring machine. He was shocked at how crooked my hips were. (I should mention that my regular chiro said the same thing after looking at my lower back xrays, but honestly, it didn't need to be explained, I could SEE it myself.) My lower spine is also pretty crooked. It makes me wonder how crooked my sister Emily is too, because she's mentioned about her spine being off. Anyway, he started me out taking several very specific x-rays of my neck. It wasn't just one of those, "Go stand by the board" and click. He had me do several angles, tilting my head in certain ways, because their objective is to see if my head and neck is misaligned. I've gotten two adjustments done so far, but no improvement shown. My symptoms are still worsening, but I can't exactly say that it's because of what he did, since I was already worsening anyway. My body apparently is fighting the adjustments, from what he could tell in the follow-up today. What's interesting is he used a heat sensor to run along the back of my neck and the upper left of the atlas had an extremely high number, which means the blood flow is unusually high or that it's inflamed.
Right, all the anti-inflammatories I've been put on have NOT worked. I've gone through naproxen, diclofenac, and right now on prednisone which is supposed to be one of the strongest. What's most frustrating about this whole thing is that my symptoms keep getting worse by the day. The headache hasn't gone away since day one, the pain and numbness has spread to my legs and face, everything I'm feeling points to a nerve problem, yet none of the tests I've done are showing anything for them to tell me what's wrong with me and how to fix me. I have to say I'm a pretty organized person, so I've been keeping track in a notebook about how my symptoms have progressed, what medications I've been on and when they started, things like that. And based on what I've been going through these few weeks, I know that movement of my neck is worsening the symptoms. That unnatural grinding sound is still there, and up until today no one can really explain what's going on there. There is no disc between the atlas and axis, so did I tear a ligament? Did I break something up there? I have NO clear diagnosis, no solutions offered, and I feel like I'm just wasting away. My breathing has become labored now, I can't concentrate on cosplay, and frankly it's hard for me to even be excited about Sakura Con anymore, knowing that I'm just going to be feeling miserable the entire time. I haven't had any wine these weeks because of the hardcore pain killers I'm on, and I doubt I'd be able to drink like I usually do at con. I was excited about Frankie being here, and clubbing this weekend, but that's out of the question as any strong movements that can jolt my neck would just make the pain even worse.
My mom has been telling me I need to keep my spirits up, and I wholeheartedly agree that stressing myself out is going to be counterproductive, but it's easier said than done. I'm not asking for a one-day miracle, but all I'd like to see is a LITTLE bit of improvement, or even if the symptoms stopped going downhill, that would be enough for me to feel a little more hopeful.