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Cervical Spondylosis ?

Posted , 12 users are following.

ivanlaszik
ivanlaszik

I'm 28, work in IT, sit 8h (With 5 min smoking breaks/h) in front of the pc and a few more at home. Exactly a month ago, while on vacation in the mountains, one morning after eating breakfast and sitting down to drink my coffee I started having light dizziness. I panicked cause I was never dizzy in my life and it was new to me, except after nights of drinking. The whole day was scared and worried. The next few days were ok again. Then I had days with light dizziness at work a few hours, then sleepless nights because of panicking that I can't sleep and what is wrong with me. Meanwhile I feel very light tingling in left arm fingers and sometimes in left foot as well. One day at work I panicked because of feeling a little dizzy again and went to the companies onsite nurse. She took my blood pressure and it was at 160/85. I started worring more. She thought it could be a calcium or magnezium deficiency so she gave me a Berocca tablet. After I left her office and before taking the tablet I returned to normal. Next days again I was confrunted with light dizziness, tingling in left hand and foot at random times, mostly at work and very bad sleepless nights. So I went to my GP. She sent me to take blood and urine test. The results of those were PERFECT. Every bit. Blood presure was once 140/85 and 130/85. Next, I went to a neurologist. After 10-15 minutes talking to the neurologist and going through some exercises she told me I have cervical spondylosis and sent me to an xray. Result of the xray is that I have deformed neck from siting to much at the pc and small lower osteophytes. The neurologist said its absolutly nothing to worry about, the dizziness and tingling will go away, especially if I change my lifestyle. This was 2 weeks ago. Since then I go every other day swimming for 1h, daily neck, back and sholder stretching in the morning after waking up for 20-30 mins and will soon exchange car for bike, and go walking as much as I can. I am not sporty at all. I am 187cm and weigh 90 kg constant for the last 3-4 years. This is my story.

Now, because I was NEVER in my life sick (only the ocasional cold) I am very sceptical about doctors and would like some advise from other people, because I am bit scared right now. I still experience light tingling in left hand and sometimes feels like it will go numb (but never did), can't remember when I last time felt it in the foot. Dizziness appears for a few minutes in the morning when I sit down at the PC at work, goes away shortly after. I now quit smoking (its been 4 weeks and don't miss it), instead stretch arround in the work breaks and after lunch I go walking for 30-40 minutes. But being scared about the situation I tend to "feel" different symptoms including being weekend (probably all in my head). Bottom line: is it possible to be affected by cervical spondylosis ? If I keep up with the lifestyle changes, will I have it under controll and will the symptoms go away ? Any advise is appreciated.

Ivan.

1 like, 24 replies

24 Replies

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  • ivanlaszik
    ivanlaszik

    Posted

    Forgot to mention: I feel absolutly no PAIN in neck, back or anywhere else.
    • Arran103
      Arran103 ivanlaszik

      Posted

      Hi Ivanlaszik

      If you have been diagnosed with Cervical Spondylosis I am sure it must be mild or in early stages. I sat at a typewriter for most of my life (Iam now 67) and have cervical spondylosis although mine is severe.   Docs did all the tests and scans and told me I had broken discs in both my neck and back.   They cause me severe pain and numbness in neck, shoulders, arms and hands.   I am on numerous tabs and also morphine for pain as it is horrendous.   It sounds to me that if you have been diagnosed with cervical spondylosis it must be very mild and if it were me I wouldn't worry too much about it except perhaps taking more breaks away from computer.   Keep in touch with doctor if symptoms get worse.   Hope things work out ok for you.

      Arran103

  • cheshireguy
    cheshireguy ivanlaszik

    Posted

    hi Ivan......... I'm sure sitting at the same position at a pc for your length of time cannot be good..... need more frequent breaks, as I did when I worked in telecoms........Giving up the smoking will i'm sure help.......................

    I would just monitor the situation - worrying will not help either, if you are not happy sat after a few weeks - you could always ask for a 2nd opinion.............

    The neurologist I'm sure sees these conditions and their causes frequently, and would have gone for a mri scan if she thought appropriate.

    Hope this helps.

    • cheshireguy
      cheshireguy

      Posted

      just to say whilst i have cs, i have csm which is compressing the spinal cord!!!

      i knew nothing of this as thankfully no arm/shoulder pain.............

      i went to the neuro guy for spinal stenosis. which yes i have BUT he sees the

      mylopathy as a priority........... so i have the leg / burning pain on standing or walking too far...............

      but will have a c5 c6 fusion to halt any spinal detiroration - which could be catastrophic if left !!!

      i am trusting the neuro specialist - as he sees this daily !!!

      A.

  • ivanlaszik
    ivanlaszik

    Posted

    Thanks for the answers. Today and yesterday I walked in the morning non-stop for 2 hours throughout the city. I can say that I almost forgot about the spondylosis. But I did feel very small amount of tingling now and then in a finger, but again absolutly no pain. I just wanna know that if I keep up exercising (and I will take it even further, just to get in shape) these symptoms will go away at least for a good number of years ? I cannot imagine from now on living with tinglings and weakness and fear of numbness in hands and feet and maybe fainting (my worst fear). I work in front of a PC since only 6 years. Can't this be something else ? I have a feeling my doctor doesn't take me serious, being to young.
    • Arran103
      Arran103 ivanlaszik

      Posted

      I find the only exercise I can do is walking.   I have been told not to swim or do anything where I put my head backwards.  Unfortunately the pain  just comes on of  its own accord.   I have been told nothing I am doing makes it worse.   I know your illness is not as far progressed as  mine (Iam 67) so don't worry too much.  Just do what you can and don;t think about it too much.   You probably have many years to go before the illness progresses to the stage mine is at.   Mine only got bad about 7 years ago and got to critical stage last year.   You don't appear to have any of the pain I have in my head shoulders arms and hands only the numbness so I would think your diagnosis is very early stages.   Take it a day at a time and don't worry.   Kep yourself buy and don't think about it and you will be fine.   Take cae.

      Arran103

  • ivanlaszik
    ivanlaszik

    Posted

    The last 4 days were waaaaaaaaay better. But some symptoms appear now and then. Most of them when I am at work, which kinda bother me. For example shortly before lunchtime (I eat arround 1PM, but have breakfast at 7:30AM and eat alot) I start feeling weak and have this weird feeling in my hand or foot that its going to misbehave (but they never do). When having lunch, I felt my upper right foot - ankle area heating up. So I walked arround abit, and it went away. After lunch I go walking for about 30 mins. When I come back and sit back to the pc i start feeling very tired for about 1 hour and again strange feelings in hands and or legs (tinglings, weakness, sensation of misbehaveing). The feelings are only either in the left or right hands+legs, never in both at the same time. These feelings go away eventually, but when I arrive home after 5PM, nothing happenes anymore and feel much better. Today I had weird feelings with hands and legs twice, just out of boredom I ate an apple at some point, and suddenly all the weird feelings went away. Today I felt again something new, in my left calf i had the sensation of getting a cramp for about 15 mins but didn't actually happen, But I was very restless and kept moving my left leg and could not stop thinking about what is happening. So currently I am kinda frustrated because its over a month now and I didn't have one day without a strange feeling. I simply cannot ignore these things, or get used to them. I hope this is not the beginning of something bad or something that cannot be diagnosed and treated. I have no idea what doctor to visit, or whom to talk to. My friends do support me but they all say that its all in my head and it will go away on its own. Can it be from food, blood, neurological ? As mentioned before, I have absolutly no pain. I sleep very well and enough, go to bed at 12AM and get up at 7AM and sleep without interuption (don't wake up at all) and wake up feeling rested. But as soon as I am up, I start worring about what is going to happen to me today, and go to work with a bit of fear. Generally, I am a very calm person, don't get agitated at all, and keep everything for my self. But I have no idea how much of this I can stand.

    Any advise, comment is appreciated.

    • cheshireguy
      cheshireguy ivanlaszik

      Posted

      Hi Ivan,

      Yes agree with smoll, go have frequent work breaks rather than sat all day in the same position.

      Not sure if you are in the UK ? but if you are do ask your Dr for a referral, to whoever they think best , possibly a neurologist. There would be a wait time, but this can be reduced IF you could go for a private consultation, usually with teh same specialist, however if they wanted a scan you would have to pay also, unless you went back straight into the nhs system which you can do, with only the referral, but again a wait time. Going private in the UK - is far far quicker for the dagnostics, but yes it does cost, i would think depending on where you lived you would be seen within 1-2 weeks,

      In my case i had diagnostics, csan,xray result all in 6 days.. but i do live within 3 mins of the private hospital where the diags were done.

      If abroad, i have no knowledge of their systems

      Hope this helps

    • ivanlaszik
      ivanlaszik cheshireguy

      Posted

      Hi guys,

      Obviously I don't stay all day long in the same position, evey hour or latest 1.5h I get up, go out with smokers for 10 minutes and after 4h I take my lunch and go walking for 30-40 mins.

      Another thing I noticed, today for example, the weakness kicked in arround noon and went away 1h after lunch, but was not as hard as last week. (over the weekend I had absolutly no problems), on Sunday I spent all the day at an indoor aquapark. On Friday I met with a friend I didn't see for a while, he told me he went through the same situation 1year ago. He does not work at a pc, he's a writer since 2 years, but he is very active: fitness, weight lifting, jogging. His entire family and relatives are doctors of all kinds.So I talked to his father, a doctor who teaches and practices general medicine, works a lot with people my age and is very appreciated. This guy told me that I have calcium deficiency even if the blood test does not prove this. Its something that gp's usually tend to ignore (When they see blood test results) and send pacients to different specialists, each telling their opinions in their own area of expertise. His son was in the same situation. So now, since 2 days I am taking 2twice a day Cal-D-Vita chewable tablets for 10 days. Doc says that I'll be back to my old self in 3-4 days. Same said his son.

      I also don't quite believe this being related to CS because I have absolutly no pain. Even the doctor said the same thing. If I do have a slight issue with the cervical area, it should not effect me this way at this age. The way this guy talked to me made me trust him very much. I will see at the end of the week, beginning of next week. Last week I kinda observed that the weakness kicked in always at work, before lunchtime and slowly went away after eating. But no matter what, I don't give up swimming (today is on schedule) and the other activities I started.

      BTW: I'm from Romania, and untill now I must admit I have not to much info about our medical system. All I know is that my company has a ton of medical services for free. And that my current GP is a joke, and will soon switch. I also made changes to my sitting position since this outbreak. I raised my monitor, sit straighter (locked the back of the chair to not balance anymore). It is very uncomfortable to sit like this but at least it makes me get up more often. 

      Thanks for the advices, but more is always welcome.

      I'll update as soon as I have more info.

      Ivan.

  • Smoll
    Smoll ivanlaszik

    Posted

    Hi Ivan. When I was 1st diagnosed I had neck pain and the same symptoms as you have, with the tingling finger and thumb (now numb). I worked for the council in IT and was bought a fab chair and made some adjustments to how I worked. I was instructed to stand up and walk around for a few minutes every 20 mins or so, so that I never ended up hunched up with my head tipping backwards, as tended to happen in my old chair and working style. If you contact access to work, they will send an Occupational therapist to check out your work station and make it much more comfortable for you and allow you to do your job more easily.

    Best of luck

    Sarah

  • ivanlaszik
    ivanlaszik

    Posted

    New features are added now to my "illness". Tinglings and weakness are gone now since ~2 weeks, I finished with the calcium treatment yesterday. Last Thursday after going home from work a weird falling sensation hit me when walking. Because it was a new thing for me I panicked and my entire day was ruined. How it feels: while walking I feel like falling backwords or my feet are slipping, like on ice, or like if someone would pull the rug from under me. Is this dizziness ? Its not happening all the time, but enough to make me be afraid of walking. This has been going on since last Thursday, every day. It starts arround noon. I am trying to ignore it, but its very difficult. I am now affraid to walk on the street to not actually fall. And since Thursday i had 2 times a sudden lightheadedness which was a bit frightening. I hope this will not lead to something serious, (don't even wanna say the words). All the doctors I saw have no idea what is going on. A friend of about 45 told me he went through the same thing when he was 30, for almost 2 years. In time it went away. Its just something that can happen to anyone, he said. Because walking is affected I am now desperate as ever.

    Again, I have absolutly no pain.

    Any idea what to do or what doctor to see ?

  • Smoll
    Smoll ivanlaszik

    Posted

    Hi Ivan I think you need to see a neurosurgeon or neurologist. They can take xrays and MRI's to look at your neck and see what can be done. You could also have a problem with your ears (most common cause of dizziness) Blood pressure being too low can also bring on dizzy spells as can a fast heartbeat. There are lots of things that could be the cause so please don't panic.

    Sarah

    • ivanlaszik
      ivanlaszik Smoll

      Posted

      Thanks for the advices. I will visit my neurologist soon. As told ealier I had an xray and turns out all is fine. I just saw your post about flare ups, my question is how old are you (if i'm not too descreet smile ) ? I can't believe at 28 (me) to be so affected by CS. Especially that it all started while I was on vacation and work at a pc since only 6 years.
    • Smoll
      Smoll ivanlaszik

      Posted

      Hi Ivan

      Like you my problems started in my mid-late 20's after a whiplash type injury that has never healed. I finally got a proper diagnosis 5-6 years ago after trying everything. I get nasty muscle spasms and nerve pain (feels like toothache in my arm) as well as the tingling etc... I do get the odd dizzy spell and my balance isn't  great, but I have another condition that could also be the cause, so it's hards to say what is doing what. My best tips to reduce the tingles is to correct my posture as soon as I feel it starting. 

      Regards to the XRAY, it will only show what is happening with your bones, it can't detect soft tissue problems, you would need an MRI to find which discs are involved and which nerve roots are being compressed or maybe even the pressure on the spinal cord itself. That will determine what the best course of action is. Personally I have 3 discs that have prolapsed and 1 is pushing on the spinal cord, but I fear more damage as I have new symptoms now.

    • ivanlaszik
      ivanlaszik Smoll

      Posted

      Thanks for your answer. I like to chat here with others as it makes me a bit feel better. I never ever had any injury. I also go regulary swimming since 4 weeks and my tinglings are long time gone. All that remains now is this nasty falling sensation (can this be called dizziness ?). But for example yesterday I walked around town with a friend and after 2h i started feeling that my legs would slip for a few seconds, after which I drank some water, didn't sit down at all, and everything was fine. Today, already since 5h at work and nothing bad happened. Can't this be related to something else, other than CS ?
    • donna03
      donna03 ivanlaszik

      Posted

      Ivan, I had a very similar experience after working several months on a book to be published.

      Mine was a rupture disc which eventuality I had repaired. The dizziness is part of the symptom and my guess is head positioning can bring on dizziness (vertigo).

      Save yourself grief and see a neurosurgeon so you can get an MRI and keep up with progression of deterioration of bulging disc.

      My rupture was pressing against the spinal cord so I had to have surgery after trying to heal naturally for several months.

      Hope this helps!

      And I will me too that even though the surgery is awful, I am back doing all the athletic things I love. I am a self proclaimed athlete.

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