Cervical spondylosis

[Pam6971]

Woke up Saturday morning with pain in my left arm & shoulder, night I rang nhs24, sent me to hospital, they gave me diazepam, anti sickness tablets & others for my stomach, Sunday morning I was on the phone again, back to hospital where I was given a diclofenac injection & prescription for diclofenac, rang doctors Monday, was in tears when talking to her, given more diclofenac and zomorph tablets, Wednesday I was back again, told to stop the zomorph and stick to my usual tapentadol & given pregablin, phoned nhs24 6am yesterday morning in tears again, told because of the meds I'm on their hands are tied & nothing they can do for me, so not sleeping good, bandaged my arm up yesterday with heat pads under it, eased a little last night, been awake since 4am, i feel like chopping my arm off, had cs since Dec 2011 & this has got to be the worst my pains ever been, nothing kills nerve pain, fed up with it all

[Foxgal17]

I suffer with cervical stenosis, occipital neuralgia, and fibromyalgia. I know how painful neck pain can be. I must say my pain has never been as bad as yours. Meloxicam is an antiinflammatory. You could ask your doctor about that. Ice, heat, and muscle rub are my best friends. Also ask for a prescription of diazepam. The pain is stressing you, and that won't help your condition. You need to destress. Try some stretches and meditation. Doctors don't care about pain anymore. It is very sad for those of us who suffer. Hugs and prayers from Massachusetts, USA!

[Pam6971 in reply to Foxgal17]

I've had diazepam, doesn't do anything for me lol, I've got heat pads on my neck, shoulder & arm & also got a pain relieving roll on, they're all helping a bit x

[birdkeith]

sorry i havnt been on for a while but at the risk of sounding idiotic ive been ill ive had the top lobe of my right lung removed along with a string of glands due to malignant lung cancer , no excuse genuine reason

[Pam6971 in reply to birdkeith]

Sorry to hear that, hope you're feeling better

[CtKathleenUSA]

Hello, I'm sorry to hear of your painful days.

I have Ankylosing Spondylitis. I am not familiar with your specific diagnosis. Generally speaking, pain with spondylopathies are primarily due to inflammation. Before my diagnosis I used heat and moist heating pads (moist worked better for me). The problem I had was that although the heat felt nice, it causes the nerve endings to enlarge, which increased my pain. Ice causes the nerves to shrink. I often want to use only ice when the pain is extreme. In order to really reap the benefits of either, it is necessary to alternate.

Unfortunately, most doctors now believe that pain meds should never be prescribed, or only for short term pain. This is very tough when pain is screaming through our bodies. Many with chronic pain (me too) are being forced off pain meds

NSAIDS (Diclofinac) are a great starting point. Often other medications can be added to help with sleep, spams, etc. My neck was very bad for 3 years and the topical compounds were very helpful.

There are many things to try to keep inflammation down in addition to NSAIDS. Unfortunately, I haven't found a complete list anywhere. I stick to solid, reputable sites such as arthritis and spondylitis associations, research hospitals, etc. I find the USA approaches can be dated or limited. I will occasionally browse what's happening in other countries. It has been very helpful to browse posts on these forums to learn what has helped others, as well as support from people who understand.

I wish you the best of luck and many pain free days ahead.

[Pam6971 in reply to CtKathleenUSA]

The neck pain I can cope with, hand & arm are a bit more annoying, that's a week now with it so I'm learning to cope, not letting it stop me doing things, I hope your pain isn't too bad x

[birdkeith in reply to CtKathleenUSA]

thanks pam, unfortunately i have other problems one of which precludes me from NSAIDs divertriculitis as for the pain ,its constant im on morphine patches plus the usual painkillers but in the past ive had the injections plus cannabis none of them touched it ,ive been told now i just have to live with it, but if i want to talk i will always be seen, and thats it

[Pam6971 in reply to birdkeith]

It's shocking that in this day & age people have to live with pain, hopefully 1 day we will all get something that works

[Hidden]

PAM6971

Oh my Dear Pam 😢 yes - Intractable Nueropathic Pain is Horrific and we are not being recognized. I'm positive you experience this too. What happened to you? Do you think or know what the cause to have this nueropathic pain?

Have you access to any medical Canibis? I'm trying as hard as I can to try and work with this because only really really strong Opiod Medication canl help us wirh this intractsble pain, along with the much needed (*for me) Alprazolam. It calms the Central Nervous System. My present Doctor is far to "overly" apposed to this medication that I've been taking for 25 yrs. It's "original" use was for PTSD and now it's absolutely vital to "calm the damaged Nerves". The problem lies with how this all came to be from the get go.

This is why I'm asking you (if you don't mind sharing- or PM me) how do you think this all started? How long ago and the progression of etc.

I really know what you are going through. It is indescribable to others and extremely hard to understand the type of pain this is. It doesn't sleep does it? It never stops. When is that surpriseing hour of tolerability going to come? A God Send for two - three hours has topped the chart, although rarely, for me.

I was going to ask you what Diclofenic Injections are but thaught; Geesh! I CAN LOOK THAT UP ! lol

I pray you find someone who is knowledgeable about the nature of nueropathic pain. Anti suezure medication such as Gabapentin and Lyrica were of absolutely no avail to me although seem to work for some. Some respond to an antidepressant medications, which has only helped me sleep, which is good in that regard, but does not have any pain relief effect whatsoever.

I've got this Neuropathic Pain from my lower back and waist down both legs and feet and it is brutally insane pain. Intractable Pain does not stop.

So I'm deeply sorry that you are going through this. Don't be quiet about it. Speak up! Tell "the Doctors" what works better and what does not. If we are not firm about this we"ll be given little options. Eg: if you are asked to try and tapper off an opiod or anything that is working for you, stop and think, will I ever be given it back when and if I need it? Chances are, you won't be. This is becoming common place with pain medications that aren't addictive nor dangerous either when used as directed and required. The damned news and the people who OD on opiod medication is but 1/1000 of the story for all of those who do not abuse or divert their medications. That's just criminal - period. We don't get put in these "so called" statistics. The ODer's are but a sliver of a sliver who die from taking needed Opiods for severe pain conditions. I would not be walking without these pain meds. If anyone wants to tell me try yoga or exercise, meditation etc. We'll it might work for you but doesn't for me. I do find "If" I can distract as in listening to music and singing, even if I don't know the lyrics and make "em up ! It helps and sometimes I think I have better lyrics than the original! 😃😄😂 its what comes out that can just be self humorous to me.....that 5 minutes of diversion and the pain is not so bad. It's positional as well though. How long csn I stand? Not long. How long can I sit? Not long. How long can I lay down? Not long. How long can I sleep? Three hours is the medium. So it's tough, very tough Pam, and I understand what you are going through. For my condition there is no cure. I hope not for you. I pray not for you or anyone else.

God bless you Pam. Hang in there.

Xo

[Pam6971 in reply to Hidden]

I woke up with a sore neck in Dec 2011, had it over a week so went to doctor, sent for an X-ray, she suspected cs, it showed minor wear & tear, had my MRI in 2013 through a pain clinic, had more X-rays since and all still show minor, the nerve pain used to come and go but was never that bad, I've tried gabapentin, was on 9 a day the first time round, 12 second time round, on pregablin for the second time round now along with tapentadol which is the sister to tramadol, was on 8 a day of them at the start, missed a few when I wasn't feeling well one day, the withdrawals from them were horrible so I refuse to take them now, like you I listen to music to take my mind of the pain, have my phone on a timer at night, I go to sleep listening to Elvis, these days I'm awake every 3 hours, pain isn't as bad this morning, got a heat pad on my shoulder & arm, hands a bit sore so may have to start putting something on that too, I'll be back annoying doctors next week at some point, got to phone physio Monday for an appointment, which I think is pointless but will see what they say, doctors need to find something for nerve pain that actually works, I better get up & get my pills, starting to get sore now, hope you're not in too much pain today, catch up with you soon x

[Hidden]

Hi Pam, I have Disc degeneration and a bulging disc in my Cervical and Thoracic spine, diagnosed by MRI. I have lower back pain too but haven't had lower Thoracic or lumbar MRI yet. I also have Fibromyalgia and pain was been put down to

that. I knew it was something else as it is really bad and I get numbness ,pain and pins and needles in both arms. I never sleep properly always have pain and just get so fed up sometimes but try to keep positive.

I just started Tapentadol and I am waiting on a referral appointment to a pain specialist.

I totally get what you are going through.

[Pam6971 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Theresa, sorry to hear you're in so much pain, nerve pain is still with me, that's 11 days today, got a phone call from the chemist yesterday asking me what my zomorph tablets & box looked like, turns out they gave me the wrong pills, they were meant to give me tablet form not capsules, went along today & she said I'll phone your doctor and tell him you've taken the zomorph, told her it's fine as I've had them before, so they've now given me sevredol morphine tablets, doctor did tell me to hand them back to chemist, im keeping them as stand by pills, might try 1 of them tonight instead of my tapentadol, will see how I feel. Been using heat pads on my arm & shoulders, got my 10yr old to put patch on my shoulder only to find I had 3 blisters, no idea how they appeared as heats pads weren't on that part yesterday & ive not even been out enjoying the sun. Phoned physio yesterday, doctor put through an urgent referral so was pretty amazed when they gave me appt for 4th July, I've to see a senior physio, so we'll see how that goes, hope your referral to pain specialist goes well for you xx

[Pam6971]

Well tried the sevredol but forgot to take a pill for my stomach, so had to make myself sick to get rid of the stomach pain, took my mind off the rest of my pains, once the stomach pain stopped I had 4 hours pain free, last night I took another with diclofenac & oneprazole just to be on the same side, woke once through the night & woke up this morning with the pain starting, so just taken another with diclofenac, see how I get on today, it's 1 pill every 6 hours they're only 10mg so if they give me 4 hours again I'll be back seeing the doctor who told me not to take the morphine, I'll ask for the 20mg and see how much relief I get from them, was so nice last night being able to go to bed with no pain