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Author
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Topic: Looking for some medical help
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J_hun
Knows what it's all about
Member # 872
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posted July 04, 2011 06:01 PM
I have been diagnosed with radial nerve damage in my left arm all the way down to my hand. The pain is soo bad I cried yesterday morning. I checked into the emergency room with severe shoulder spasms and forearm pain. I have already been to the chiropractor twice to no avail. I have seen my doctor for chest exrays to no avail. I have had a MRI and the doctor doesn't see anything, so he sent me to Rapid city to a nuerologist and he did an EMG where they stick a frickin electrode in your muscles with an electrical impulse. Not a fun deal. He gave me some pills and sent me home. He ordered more chest xrays and another MRI. That is due tomorrow. I am canceling that and calling Mayo clinic to get in. Last night at the hospital, they gave
me four shouts of Morphine. This morning they sent me home and I feel fine. Wondering what tomorrow morning will bring. For the last month I have weathered the pain but it is getting the best me. The first two hours in the morning are a killer. Never had anything hurt like that ever. Have any of you guys had anything like I described. They ruled out pinched nerve in neck. All they said is I have somthing pinched somewhere.
[ July 04, 2011, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: J_hun ]
Posts: 141 | From: Pierre,S.D. | Registered: Jun 2006
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Possumal
HONORARY CALLS FORUM MODERATOR edit: AND TOKEN LIBERAL
Member # 823
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posted July 04, 2011 06:16 PM
Jerry, I think you are doing right going to Mayo. They'll find out what is going on and get you squared away. Prayers coming your way from Kentucky.
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Al Prather
Foxpro Field Staff
Posts: 781 | From: Nicholasville, Ky. | Registered: Mar 2006
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TA17Rem
Hello, I'm the legendary Tim Anderson, Field Marshall, Southern Minneesota Sector
Member # 794
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posted July 04, 2011 06:31 PM
Jerry have you broken the bone in the upper part of youre arm? I think its called a femer.
Or have you used crutches in the last year or wear a tight watch band or in the habit of placeing youre arm over the back of a chair???
The things mentioned can lead to nerve damage and can take up to 3 months to heal its self..
I had minor damage to my nerve in left and right arm due to how I operated a excavator at work.. The cure for me was pretty simple, I just had to change a few bad habits and take a few brakes every so often and through winter layoff it healed up.
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What if I told you, the left wing and right wing both belong to same bird!
Posts: 5064 | From: S.D. | Registered: Jan 2006
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted July 04, 2011 06:40 PM
Well, good luck, whatever you decide.
I'm not suggesting what you have is similar but I have something called spinal stenosis, which I had never heard of.
It involves pressure on the spinal cord and can show up just about anywhere, but for me it's mostly in the sciatic nerve and lower back, pelvic areas and numbness in my toes, of all things. I take morphine sulfate and that masks the pain pretty well, but it's progressive so eventually, I may need the surgery, unless Obamacare decides a man my age isn't worth the expense.
Sounds like Mayo is a step in the right direction, and as I said above, good luck.
gh....lb
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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J_hun
Knows what it's all about
Member # 872
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posted July 04, 2011 06:57 PM
The only thing , I have had is tennis elbo and that was from golfing too much. I don't even golf anymore though. I have some pretty strong nerve pills , so see what tomorrow morning brings.
Posts: 141 | From: Pierre,S.D. | Registered: Jun 2006
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TA17Rem
Hello, I'm the legendary Tim Anderson, Field Marshall, Southern Minneesota Sector
Member # 794
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posted July 04, 2011 07:24 PM
Jerry if you head over to the Mayo don't forget to stop by, my place is'nt too far off youre route...
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What if I told you, the left wing and right wing both belong to same bird!
Posts: 5064 | From: S.D. | Registered: Jan 2006
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tlbradford
Rimfires are MAGIC on COYOTES! If you do your part
Member # 1232
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posted July 04, 2011 07:34 PM
I have growths in my left arm that have bothered me for a lot of years. I think the doctors called them subdural hemangionomas or something like that. They show up on x-rays and an mri I had done. They are a fibrous growth and the pain comes when they wrapped themselves around my main nerve down my arm. Most days it is a dull throbbing ache, and some days my 2 year old will bump into my upper arm and it will feel like I grabbed onto an electric fence. For me the treatment is antiinflammatories, but I try to live with the pain, since I figure my kidneys are more important. Good luck and hope they find that it is something treatable.
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"Dan Carey ain't that special" - LB
Posts: 423 | From: Spokane Valley, WA | Registered: Mar 2007
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the bearhunter
HM PROSTAFF & MIDWEST REGIONAL GURU VOTED MOST HANDSOME MINNESOTAN
Member # 3552
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posted July 04, 2011 08:08 PM
good luck Jerry.
Posts: 1049 | From: minnifornia | Registered: Jan 2010
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted July 04, 2011 08:59 PM
First off, good luck, Jerry,.
Secondly, and not to seem like I know it all, but man, oh man, I feel your pain. Have had the same thing happen to me. Twice. The first time was after I had shoveled a truckbed full of dirt both filling and emptying the truck. Felt my neck hurting and, like a dumbass, just decied to work through it. Oops. The next day, I hurt like hell. And yes, nothing ever hurt so bad. The second time, I slept wrong on my right side and when I went to straighten my neck at 5 a.m., I felt and heard three distinct "pops" and immediately lost the use of my right arm which lasted most of about six days. How anything that didn't work and that I couldn't move could hurt so damned bad was a shocker. A bolt of pain went through me unlike anything I had ever felt before. I went straight to the ground and could hardly breathe and the sweat was just running off me. I knew I was in a bad way. Didn't want to wake the wife because both the kids had things to be at around 7, so I bit the bullet, pulled a pair of shorts on, woke the wife and told her I was going to the ER and drove myself there - stick shift F150, and no right arm. First gear for ten blocks in blinding pain. She called the hospital an hour later to see if she'd dreamed me waking her up.
What you likely have is called cervical radiculopathy. The femur is in the upper leg - the upper arm from the shoulder to the elbow is the humerus and neither are involed here. What might be happening with you is the cause of a bulged intervertebral disc. In my case, it was between then 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae which is about two inches above the protrusion at the base of your neck in the rear when you lean your head forward.
The spinal cord, when you look at it from the top in cross section, consists of two halves - the left and the right. The disc can protrude into the foramen - the holes through each vertebra through which the spinal cord passes - and intrude upon the spinal cord or a nerve root coming off the cord. Anything that touches the nerves or roots that isn't supposed to be there will cause a response - usually pain well beyond just a tingle.
What Leonard describes - stenosis - is a narrowing of that foramen - the hole - either through calcification cause by age, inflammation, or disc trauma. I have stenosis in about fifteen of my vertebrae - got it from my dad - and I bet most guys here do too, thus the morning backaches. You can't get out of its way.
I treat my neck - two places - and another in my lumbar back with the utmost care and respect with even the slightest discomfort I might feel there. I use a special memory foam cervical pillow to keep my neck in alignment at night.
For meds, I use tramadol, naproxen, and methylprednisone in stepped doses called a medrol pack. When it's really bad, I've alternated lortabs (10 mg) and Tylenol 3's every two hours.
The EMG was appropriate and if the results were negative or unremarkable, that's a good thing. Indicates no actual physical damage to the nerve itself. And yes, those bastards are painful.
An MRI will likely show a bulged disc between C4 and C5. If so, you should have severe pain initiating in one side of the neck - I described it to my dr as an intense toothache type pain - radiating down that same side arm clear to your hand. You may feel the sensation of a hot band around your bicep at times and experience muscle spasms in your forearm, down the top, with numbness to the thumb-side half of your hand. The experience really is interesting to see what nerves control what in your arm and hand, once you get past the incredible pain.
Here's ultimately what works for me. To start, physical therapy, with ASTEM, a form of electrical deep muscle therapy, with heat, ultrasound, and deep massage. At the same time, ask your doctor to prescribe form you a round of prednisone as a medrol pack. You take six the first day, five the next, so on and so forth, for six days. If you're still hurting, ask for a second round. My neurologist will go two rounds before looking for another route.
I apply ice rubs and ice packs the first day - 20 minutes every 2 hours - then a hot pad after that.
Also, ask for a prescription for a TENS Unit - Trans Epidermal Neuromuscular Stimulator. My insurance company bought mine, and it was only $50. This is a little doodad about the size of a cell phone that attaches to four electrode pads that are positioned to form an X, centered over the spot where the nerve is protruding. Sends an electrical current through the nerve and wears it out, basically. Won't kill it, but makes it bearable.
Naproxen (either 375mg or 500 mg every four hours, as needed. I had to use codeine to sedate my stomach to prevent stomach pain from the naproxen.)
Yep this shit hurts. When my neuro first looked at the MRI films, he turned to me, said I had 83% impingement on the right side, and then said, "I bet that hurt like a bitch!". Just looked at him and said, "Yep, had me shittin' naked babies for a little bit there." Made him laugh.
Just remember, medrol packs, naproxen, TENS unit, physical therapy with ASTEM and ultrasound, and massage, and from now on... prevention, because you now have a weak spot and it WILL happen again. You learn to watch for early signs, which for me is a dull pain in the side of my neck or isolated muscle spasms in the muscles of my upper and lower arm. Prevention involves sleeping the right way and not doing anything that requires you to work over your head for any length of time.
Sorry to hear about this. I know for a fact that you're in a LOT of pain. Brought a tear to my eye, too.
[ July 04, 2011, 09:10 PM: Message edited by: Cdog911 ]
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted July 04, 2011 09:53 PM
<sniff, sniff> hey, what about ME?
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted July 05, 2011 04:58 AM
You're already on the good stuff. Same advice. Good looking blonde giving deep massages.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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angus74
PAKMAN
Member # 3650
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posted July 06, 2011 06:45 PM
I have stinosis in my back and neck along with arthritis and bone spurs. Have surgery on back 4 different times. Seems like after the first surgery the scar tissue just builds and causes more problems. Took morphine based drugs for 8 years. just take Non narcotics now. you learn to live it. And be careful what you do.
Posts: 4 | From: midwest | Registered: Aug 2010
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted July 06, 2011 06:59 PM
That's what they say about bone spurs. Operate and they either just grow back, or the scar tissue is just as painful as the bone spur.
Well, I have bone spurs in both heels. Talk about something painful! Have had a couple pair of orthotics at $500 which work okay, but these days I'm not on my feet all day so they don't bother me very much and I don't wear the orthotics.
gh....lb
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31459 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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fgf4
unknown comic
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posted July 06, 2011 09:23 PM
quote:
you learn to live it.
That's about all you can do... taking pills leaves you woozy or stupefied and then it's hard to function. It sure can make a person grumpy!
I know the feeling of having your whole arm feel like it's gone dead or like you just had a hot nail driven into your shoulder. Makes sleeping difficult, too.
Fibromyalgia has similar symptoms from what I have been told. Hopefully you will find the cause so it can be treated. I'd head to MAYO if it were me.
Nikonut
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Possumal
HONORARY CALLS FORUM MODERATOR edit: AND TOKEN LIBERAL
Member # 823
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posted July 18, 2011 04:55 AM
Jerry, have you made any progress with your problem?
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Al Prather
Foxpro Field Staff
Posts: 781 | From: Nicholasville, Ky. | Registered: Mar 2006
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted July 18, 2011 03:25 PM
My arm went numb last night while lying on the sofa watching tv and I, too, thought about Jerry. Anyone heard from him?
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rich
2,000th post PAKMAN
Member # 112
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posted July 18, 2011 05:51 PM
"My arm went numb last night while lying on the sofa watching tv"
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Tell her to turn over Cdog. Must be nice to have a wife like yours.
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If you call the coyotes in close, you won't NEED a high dollar range finder.
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