This is the furthest I’ve gotten in 12 years of dealing with my stupid neck pain. Thank you Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine!
I finally have some clues to what’s causing my pain and we are moving towards finding some relief to this terribly annoying pain!! Horrrayy!
I took my CD of images from my MRI back to the nurse practitioner and they found that I have a bulging disc that’s compressing my nerve root C8. They also said I have degenerative disc disease (which I already knew).
Basically the bulging disc has been pushing on my nerve which has caused the burning & tinging pain I’ve had in my left back / shoulder / neck area.
They scheduled me to have a selective nerve root injection in a week. Next Monday I’ll have a huge epidural like shot IN MY NECK. Kindaaaa freakin’ out a little about that!!!
After my shot, I’ll probably have to do 2 to 3 physical therapy sessions a week for 4-6 weeks. WOW. That’s a lot of PT!
I’m nervous but totally thrilled that I’m finally finding some type of answer to my neck pain.
It’s been 12 years. 12 damn years with no answers! My previous doctors have taken xrays and told me I’d just have to deal with this pain forever and there’s nothing they could do about it. I’m so glad I’m on my way to possible relief.
Here’s the latest pic of my neck.
The white line is supposed to be relatively smooth. You can see the bulges of my discs pushing into the fluid of my spinal cord. They aren’t herniated yet but are definitely bulging! I don’t have the other picture she showed me which showed the root nerve being pinched.
My doctor also told me to chill out with heavy weight lifting. Oh boy 🙁
She said that any overhead lifting is going to make my pain worse. I asked her more about weight training and she said all those heavy squats with the bar on my back and standing calf raises are NO good for my issue. This could be a game changer for me. I’ll have to completely adjust how and what I lift now.
I’ll have to make lifetime changes at this point. Wow.
Not the best news but at least it’s some news.
So in a week I’ll be headed to the doctor to get a huge shot in my neck. I hope my doctor has been practicing 🙂 ahhhhhhhhh scary!!!
Do you have any experience with degenerative disc disease, selective nerve root injection, bulging discs or pinched nerves in your neck? If so, tell me about it in the comments section below!!!
Did they conduct a nerve test on you and what were the results? My MRI looks very similar to yours but my nerve test came back negative. Been dealing with pain in my neck and shoulder for some time now and gets worse when I try to do anything with my left arm.