rpowell01

Well after a lot of testing it has come down to a few things. I have DDD and DJD and its the DJD (Osteoarthritis) that is causing 99% of my issues. Since I wrote my posts I’ve had a few EMGs two on my upper arms and one on my legs. The one on my arms showed no radiculopathy but the doctor stated it doesn’t mean I don’t have a pinched nerve. Then I had an EMG in 2013 that showed bilateral radiculopathy at L5-S1.

Long story short, the VA will not touch me because they say I am too young (46) but I see others around me who are younger having surgery with DDD. The VA Neurologist and Pain Management told me that I will have to live the rest of my life in pain.

So, I’ve taken up their offer on placing me on Oxycodone and 3600mg per day of Gabapentin. They help but somedays they don’t help at all. I am a 100% DAV with the VA and I was approved for SSDI because of all these issues.

Here is what is so, so , so weird, my lumbar back doesn’t hurt that much but my legs, feet and toes are in pain a lot. But, my mid back at T8-T10 are in a lot of pain, 24/7.

Can the T-Spine issues and the radiculopathy in my legs be related since the spinal cord is separated at the end of the T-Spine? A Neuro-Radiologist in Maryland conducted a physical on me, read over all my records and he explained that issues in the neck can cause issues in the legs so I am now wondering about this.

XRays on my lumbar shows DJD that is progressing even today.

Dr. Corenman I have one more question on something that is bothering me. On Tuesday evening I didn’t take my Baclofen. On Wednesday I awoke with the chest pains, shortness of breath and a spasm at my upper left inner shoulder blade area. Last night I took my baclofen and I feel really good today. A lot of my radiculopathy I had has disappeared and I hope they stay gone. What is causing the radiculopathy in my chest and upper left muscle like that? I go see my Orthopedic Spine Surgeon on Tuesday, is there anything I can recommend to him to check for this.

If everything else holds up I am going ask him to check out the Type II endplate disease at T9 and early spondylosis thoughout my mid thoracic spine. This is the spot where the orginal injury occured 15 years ago. I jumped out of a black hawk helocopter but my foot got caught on a seat. As I fell to the ground my face hit first then the person behind me hit my legs as he jumped out. My neck bent backwards, I heard a huge crack in my neck then I seen my feet in front of my face. I guess you can say I hyperextended my neck all the way down to my lumbar. I felt fine whenever I got up. I was more worried about my lip than anything. Well two weeks later is when everything started showing up. My thoracic at T9-10 was hurting bad. The PT stated I had a couple of facet dysfunctions. I didn’t know that they were but the PT pushed on my back. She stated she couldn’t get a couple of them back in. Well she finally found someone who stated he could do the job. Keep in mind I was in the Army who didn’t and probably still doesn’t us chiropractors. Well, after he pushed on my back I awoke 3 days later and couldn’t get out of bed. From there I had all kinds of issues with my Thoracic Spine and muscle spasms to the right of T9-10 next to my shoulder blade. Then in February about 2 months later it was then I started having problems with my cervical and lumbar. I has spams all over my back. I seen a Internal Medicine Doctor for a year or so before he determined that what was going on with me was degenerative and would get worse.

What can I ask the Orthopedic Surgeon to give me relief in my thoracic spine and lower back because these two issues are my next problematic issues. See my neck has given me problems all this time, it just got worse but now I feel they have somewhat relieved the symptoms of the cervical radiculopathy my thoracic spine has more pain than anything else now.

I guess I am just bad off with my spine at 42 years of age.

Whenever I wrote I missed some keys points. I am 42 years of age. In January 2010 I awoke with numbness in both hands, not just one area but all over. I thought to myself, okay there is noway I was sleeping on both hands to cause them to go to sleep. I didn’t have the pain in my arms just the numbness and tingling in both hands. I didn’t feel any difference in my neck. In May 2010 I had a MRI on the cervical which showed bulges at C2-C3, C5-C6 and C6-C7. A month later I started having the shortness of breath and chest pains. On August 6, 2010 I ended up in the ER because I thought I was having a heart attack. After lab work and Chest Xrays and two hourse of observation the Doc told me it was Anxiety. I could understand how this was Anxiety because my blood pressure went up to 197/93 and I normall have really good blood pressure. Yes I am a little overweight but I do work or did excersise by working outside of what I could do. Anyway, I dealt with all the numbness/tingling, shortness of breath and chest pains up to December 2010. That is when I said enough is enough and that is when I went to the Neurologist who ordered all those test I wrote above.

Since I wrote my topic above I have been having numbness bilateral in my triceps. And, the pain in my hands has now went up to my forearms and elbows. I was really concerned at this point. So this past Monday I seen a Chief Orthopedic Surgeon who was baffled that the MRI report showed left foraminal stenosis, I had bilateral pain and after conducting a few test on me said my right arm was weak. He ordered a ECI and on Tuesday I had the procedure. Wednesday I felt really great, just little pain in my right arm. I had not chest pains or shortness of breath. On Thursday I awoke with stiffness in my neck and a headache which last about 6 hours. Still had pain in my right forearm but no numbness btw. Friday (yesterday) wasn’t a good day. Once again the chest pains and shortness of breath came back to haunt me and numbness in both triceps are back. I want to point one more thing out. A few weeks ago I had this feeling in my neck which I never had before. It felt like a knot was there. I bent my neck backwards and I kind of bent it hard. Well, I almost passed out and I caught myself. It was the next day that I started having the numbness in both triceps and more pain in both forearms. Did I possibly do some more damage?

I want to say I think I found out what is causing the chest pains and shortness of breath. The culprit is trigger points on the muscles going between my ribs because whenever I touch them they are painful. I think what is happening I am having spasms and they are causing my chest pains and pulling up on my diaghram causing the shortness of breath. A friend of my who live in another state was concerned last year about the shortness of breath and chest pains. He had the same type of injury has I did but his was worse. For a long time they couldn’t get the diagnoses correct. Oneday a Neurologist decided to try a few tests. First he had a Xray which showed a elevated diaphram. Second, he had to do a sniff test to see if his diaphram was working and it showed something was abnormal. The Neurologist ordered a special procedure on him to do a EMG on his diagram. Sure enough it came back that his Phrenic Nerve was paralyzed causing him to have shortness of breath.

Doc you have given me good information for me to research with. I will look up all the information you gave me. Also, the Orthopedic Surgeon who did the ECI showed me the disk herniation, yes he was baffled by my right arm pain and the numbness. They told me if the ECI doesn’t work they will need to go in and correct the issue. So far it hasn’t worked.

I take Baclofen and Tramadol. I have realized that if I quit the Baclofen the chest pains come back. Inflammation causing the spasms in my chest?

I have one more question. After a lot of researching it is my understanding the numbness in the triceps is from the C6-C7, C7 nerve root. Is is possible that because of C5-6 damage it could have herniated the C6-C7? I have read where the lower disc would be affected if the current one above is not corrected. Thank you for your information Doc….