God bless us all and hoping others don't get into our predicament. I had the first surgery June 2006 C4-6 and in Jan 2010 C3-4. Pain all day long, similar experience to yours. I now tell other people I meet with similar complaint to think long and deep before surgery unless they have been told not getting surgery will lead to paralysis.
Hi ARIES! Well I had a c-6 and7 cervical operation for the same thing and as a drummer it has made my life hell.i was at first told it was my shoulder after the neurologist missed the issue completely, so i went on to have what was my third shoulder surgery and began back to work with the same life stopping pain.I could not move at all the nerve pain was so much.Well they finally figured out the nerve issue in my neck and i had the surgery 4 years ago.though I do not have the horrific pain anymore,I do have nerve pain, weakness and need to take meds forever...sometimes I want to give up and god forbid be disabled but i cannot. I have tried most everything. I do find a light weight lifting program a bit effective so i move on. god bless you and much success. Michael
I am 10 months out from my C6-7 ACDF, was doing well until I fell at the 7 month mark. Since that time I have had continuous spasming. For the love of God, I am about to lose my mind. I have to work, I am only 52. Some days I feel like 152. I hate the spasms. I get itching, burning, zingers and stiffness. I work as a RN in an ICU. I use lidoderm at work and at the end of 12 hours, sometimes it is all I can do to drive home and sit like a zombie. My xrays and tests look normal. The surgeon is happy, his work looks good. I am a 1000 times better than the original pain, but I am still tired of the spasms. I use heat, and at home salonopas, as the insurance does NOT cover the lidoderm. I started using something called zyflamend, it is a natural anti-inflammory, I also take magnesium. I have tried massage, but when anyone touches my shoulders, upper back or neck, I go ape. I am looking for natural ways to manage my spasms and pain. I on occassion resort to Robaxin, however, it does make me very sleepy. My Dr finally told me, I may always have this problem. OMG ... really, I am so irritable after I work and tired of being tired. I want to be the person I was before the accident and I want this to stop! I am looking for anyone who has suggestions in making this better without narcotics, muscle relaxants or ICE, which locks my muscles and makes me spasm like a beast.
I will not do injections, as this is what ended in surgery, when I lost use of my triceps on the left side. I want to be a productive member in society, a loving mothe, daughter and wife, but a lot of days, I feel like a mega troll. The zyflamend has decresed the spasms, but not stopped them. Any suggestions. I have spent so much time researching what to do, it is all encompasing. My frustration level with all of this is a 10 out of 10. Any natural ideas would be helpful. PT ... uh no ... it makes me hurt more. I feel like this for the rest of my life will make me insane.
I had A&P cervical fusion on March 21, 2011@ SUNY Upstate in Syracuse, N.Y. My surgeon was also Associate Professor of Orthopedics. Dr. William Levelle. Fantastic doctor. I had C- 2-3-4-5-6 fused due to a massive compression injury at work. For 2- 1/2 years I took Oxycontin 40mg, Opana 10mg, Flexor patches, as well as a plethora of NSAIDS which destroyed my stomach. It got to a point where all the pain meds were doing little to subdue my pain and I was taking more to try to get relief. Since I went through detox ans rehab, I have since descovered that my pain would subside the more I did not use it. The pain relief was deteriorating my muscle tissues due to dis-use and actually increased my pain. I got off the pain-killers and started to eat a really well balanced meals which contained a large amount of proteins. I ate more chicken without the skin, more fish, nuts, a ton of oranges, grapes, and a whole range of veggies without a lot of dressings: Mostly oil and vinegar. I walk about 2 miles a day now because I got on the scale and it said, " You fat pig !! Get offa me!! ". When I had the surgery I was 213 lbs. When I got to 255.5 lbs, I said, " That's it! " and started to walk the dog a lot more. I hope this helps you 'cause it's the only thing that helps me besides Jesus. God bless and happy healing, Bruce
I would like to ask a question concerning Anterior Cervical Fusion surgeries. What type of surgeon was used in your surgery - neurosurgeon or orthopedic surgeon? And why did you chose one over the other?
I had my c-4 through c-7 fusion surgery done by a neurosurgeon who specialized in cervical radiculopathy. I had three disc cages implanted as well along with the plates and screws. Four months later, I have no pain and am no longer taking any pain medication at all. I have also regained my ROM with both my neck and arms. So my question is, did you have nerve compression as well?
I did not have nerve compression, I also in between surgeries had so many infections I lost track. None of Helped. the last injection I had was them going in while I was awake and actually burning the nerve, that didn't help either. Consider yourself very lucky to be pain free and able to move your head. My surgery was intense and I wasn't even allowed to drive in 4 months let alone turn my head. I was in a collar for months. I am able to turn my head but not like I used to before I had the 2nd surgery, way to much hardware in my neck. My biggest problem is sitting for long periods of time anymore, it's just not happening. I am learning to except the fact this is how I have to live my life, there isn't much more can be done.
I meant injections not infections!! Lol
Okay, so that answers the question why you were referred to an orthopedic surgeon. I had nerve compression. I was in the collar for two weeks, then did physical therapy to regain my ROM. I've had steroid injections as well until they no longer worked for me. That's when I was sent to see a neurosurgeon. I asked about getting the facet injections to burn the nerves, but they told me it wouldn't help and would only be a short term solution.
I would also agree that this is a hard surgery to recover from. I was told not to do surgery until it was a last resort. But I wonder if I would have recovered easier had I not waited until I was so run down from not sleeping and the pain. Good luck to you and thanks for your insight!
I wasn't referred by anyone, I took it upon myself to go back to Rothman, the doctor that originally operated moved his practice. I also did 3 months of PT, it helped somewhat. I have so much tissue and muscle damage in the back of my neck. Actually where my scar is in the back it looks so nasty and feels even worse. I have 2 bumps that now stick out, if I was only cut in the front of my neck, I think I wouldn't have had such a long recovery, but I was cut in the front and back the second time around. Make for a tough recovery!! The nerves being burnt did nothing but numb the whole back of the lower part of my neck
Thank you!! Good luck to you as well.
Reading all your stories really helped me just to know that I wasn't alone dealing with my ongoing pain following my surgery back in May 2009. I had Anterior Fusion c4-5, C5-6 with corpectomy. I resisted the surgery for years going from 1 dr to another looking for a different answer at the time I only had the C5-6 issue. I tried every alternative therapy I could find avoiding surgery. I was a very active person an avid runner and a group fitness instructor, however, my full time job was a desk job with continuos phone use. I was young when I first attempted care. I was only 28 and not smart enough to recognize that I spent all day with a phone cradled between my shoulder and ear in order to key into my computer at the same time. My company didn't offer ergonomic solutions. My problems were definetely job related but because it was a small company and we were like a family atmosphere the thought never crossed my mind to file a worker's comp claim. I'm kicking myself in the ass now. Live and learn. I was seeing a pain mgmt specialist and getting all those injections that did absolutely nothing for my pain. I could hardly hold my head up by the end of a work week and was spending the weekends in bed to be ready for another work week. I took 10 mg of oxycontin, Lortab, Neurotin, and multiple meds to sleep due to the pain. Nothing worked my hard cervical collar was my best pain reliever of pain and a heat pack. I was later interested in the artificial disc and found a dr in Syr NY that was doing them at the time and visited him. I really didn't like him much but listened as he too informed me the surgery could offer me at least 50% relief but suggest the fusion. I left never thinking about it again. My pain progressed even worse in the next 6 mo the pain and the depression were just more than I could handle. I was so irritable becuase I had so much pressure with my job as it was extremely high pressured job and my home responsibilities as a single Mom. All I could think about was my financial burdens and I couldn't be out on disability with 2 kids. I eventually got worse and a new mri was ordered and I found my C-4-5 had herniated but was compromising my spinal cord I had no choice but to have the surgery ASAP. So I went ahead with the previous surgeion and had the surgery. OMG the initial recovery with the muscle spasms was awful. I ended up being out of work for 4 mo. My employer was not happy but just as they were getting ready to fire me I got an early release from my dr to return to work. I was able to tolerate my life now as I felt the pain had improved somewhat let's appx 50% I was pleased , however I was still taking 20 mg oxycontin as well as very high doses of flexiril for spasms. I was good for about 15 months. And THE NIGHTMARE STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN. I am now in worse pain than ever and I'm so depressed the pain just wears on you and every dr. I go to see just doesn't care. My surgeon got sick and closed his practice which has made this situation so hard no one wants to be bothered with someone else's surgical problems. This has just worn me out I am only 48 and like all of you I feel 88. I just cry because I can't get any help. I saw 2 dr's after the surgery 1 did that dye test i can't remember the name but the pain unbearable and it suggested c-5-6 may not be fused and he feels I need a fusion on C6-7. the other dr I saw said he felt 5-6 is fused and that it appeared that a screw was slightly placed incorrectly and just may be touching the cord. So I go to a 3rd dr and he tells me and this is the kicker there's nothing wrong with me I just have neck pain. he disagreed with both but he had none of my records because dr' #1 failed to send the paperwork via fax as I requested I couldn't get them from them just a very unorganized dr's office. So Here I am in the same place no answers MRI after MRI, they just continue to show more changes of spinal stenosis in additional spaces. There seems to be problems seeing things where the instrumentation is. Do any of you have that problem? I'm so sick of people telling me that I just need to get up and go out and do things it will make me feel better. I'm currently out of work on workers comp for a lumbar back injury so I'm fortunate I can rest my head along with my lower back. People just dont' get how much pain I'm in and that if I could i would do things. I hurt, holding my head up for long periods of time hurts. I don't know maybe they mean well but you can't see pain but I don't want to feel like this and wish people would understand my pain is real. I'm truly jealous of anyone that has success with cervical spinal pain. I want my life back. Sorry this is so long. thanks for listening.