1. Community
  2. Bones, joints and muscles
  3. Cervical Spondylosis

Cervical C5-C6 misery!!

Posted , 10 users are following.

crystal17584
crystal17584

Long story short. Had compression at c4-c5 three years ago. Now have same stenosis and herniation at C5-6. Anyone have any experience with terrible migraines and dizziness. I get so light headed and almost out of body like. Very weird and anxiety through the roof. Anyone experiencing same problems. Weird thing is this time around all the pain stays at my base of my skull or a squeezing pressure on my brain. It has me so freaked out. All tests are coming back pointing to the neck issue. I just really don't want to do surgery again as the last one lasted barely a year. Suggestions?

1 like, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • dolores07100
    dolores07100 crystal17584

    Posted

    I am struggeling with same. C4-5-6-7. I get extreme pressure and sometimes feel like I am going to faint. Currently going to chiropractor which helps. Had survery on tbe c6-7 and really do not want another surgery.  Also get the dizziness. This has been going on 4 minths and  so far my 3 trips to chiro have been the best remedy.  Will not reverse it but stop it from getting worse.     
    • sandra63280
      sandra63280 dolores07100

      Posted

      Hi Dolores saw neurologist on Tuesday. Sending me to pain management and been told to increase my gabapentin. I told him they aren't really helping. Letter being sent to my gp to recommend other meds and pain clinic referral. Wants me to have cbt. Cbt didn't work in the past , just fed up with taking meds.

      I'm currently trying out a superfood supplement which touch wood is helping me so going to Continue with that. I'm now taking 4000mg of gabapentin a day! Until gp receives the letter. It's taking 8 weeks atm for consultant letters to get to gps, seeing gp next Wednesday so hopefully some more progress then.

      neurologist still says I'm not to work until pain is under control and it's not bad enough yet for surgery. Unable to lift my left arm no grip in hands and arms and knees give way as well as pain in my right wrist now too.

      it's really frustrating.

  • acydgod
    acydgod crystal17584

    Posted

    I have similar problems but not the migraines...Yet. the constant pain at the base of my skull and bouts of dizziness. I think the base pain is getting better 9 months later , could have been just time or could be physical therapy/massages I have been getting.

    I believe my desk work and poor posture was potentially part of the problem so I would encourage you, if your posture isn't great, to really work on that. It means increasing flexibility in part of your neck and strengthening the back so that your head is positioned directly over your spinr and alleviates the strain. You can YouTube search for all sorts of neck stretch/pain exercises.

    Impacted nerves seem to be able to produce a nearly limitless number of crazy symptoms.

    • dolores07100
      dolores07100 acydgod

      Posted

      Glad you are feeling better. I am working on my posture and chiro told me to sleep on my back. In addition my c4-5-6-7 being so  out if algnment, he has been working on that. He just says my neck is really, really bad.

      i have no migraines just a lot of pressure in lower back of skull and forehead. It is terribly scary sometimes. He wants me to get my carathoroidies  checked. Not sure of the spelling.  

    • Iwan
      Iwan dolores07100

      Posted

      Careful with any manipulation of the cervical spine without a MRI because it could be spinal cord compression myelopathy have a look online
    • dolores07100
      dolores07100 Iwan

      Posted

      Thanks for your comment Iwan. All tests show it is arthritis and degeneration. My chiro is very careful  and I have seen good

      results.  My spine is misaligned from the C4 down also. He is trying to align that slowly.  I have checked into the myelopathy as well. No numbness anywhere , no pain anymore only the pressure keft and that is slowly gettng better. 

    • Iwan
      Iwan dolores07100

      Posted

      That's good to hear it's just that so many people aren't aware of the dangers of manipulation with myelopathy wishing you the very best

  • steve36143
    steve36143 crystal17584

    Posted

    Hi crystal we were talking about cervicogenic headaches caused by stenosis and compression in the cervical myelopathy support group on Facebook earlier. Join up and join in the conversation you will meet lots of others going through the same as you. It is common to have degeneration above or below the level of fusion 
  • ihavenonickname
    ihavenonickname crystal17584

    Posted

    Ditto my great friend....Sept 28 she returned to have the entire cervical spine fused...brace comes off Dec 28...she is doing fabulous.

    I truly hope this works out for you...I will ask her anyrhing you would like to know.

    big, warm, gentle hug

  • nancy0902
    nancy0902 crystal17584

    Posted

    I am having headaches too and saw the neurosurgeon who of course wants me to have epidurals that never worked and an EMG which I will never submit myself to that torture again. I will not have surgery unless it is at the point of losing my ability to walk, what no one told me was that it would weaken the spine above and below the fusion which is exactly what happened. I woke up one morning and felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest. I had the fusion done 15 years ago so I could continue a huge work agenda and I use to love to water ski, snow ski and was promised I would be better than ever, well that elephant on my chest was the rupture of two discs in my T1-T2 and of course they wanted to do surgery immediately but I refused! As I knew this was never going to stop, it cost me my career and life. I live in chronic pain as I also had lumbar surgery and have neuropathy in my legs. I worked so hard to be able to enjoy these years of my life, I loved my career and feel hopeless now. I did ask him about a disc replacement as I have heard great things about it and he said at my age 62 it would be a waste. I looked at him who was 61 & thought really? Would u like your career taken away, I think what he met as since I have Medicare/UnitedHealth care he would not get reimbursed enough! I will not go back to this uncaring doctor! He made me feel like I was wasting his time, I was a throw away person. I worked in healthcare my entire life and have known doctors like him. So I will get another opinion at UCSF! They are awesome over there! Good luck try acupuncture it is awesome but 

    Medicare won't pay for it, however they will pay for a 100,000 surgery! 

    • dolores07100
      dolores07100 nancy0902

      Posted

      Nancy I know what you mean about medicare i am seeing a chiro and they only pay for doing adjustment. Not accupuncture,or pressure nor other services. Ridiculous, but like you said would oay fir 100,000 surgery in a heart beat.  
    • nancy0902
      nancy0902 dolores07100

      Posted

      I think we all need to write our new Presidnet and the new man who will be in charge of repealing Obama care which has been one of the biggest disasters for healthcare since Medicare DRG's that caused many non profit hospitals to go under as it paid all by the diagnostic code of your admission so if you ended up staying longer you would get a small increase in reimbursement but not much. I worked in the business office at that time and often in one day would write off a million dollars of charges that we would never get reimbursed for. They had set payments for each disease/diagnosis on admission so say pneumonia we would get 2,000 the ER charges were more than that but you could not charge for the ER charges if Medicare Medicaid patients were admitted. Typical Medicaid/Medical we received if we were lucky 10 cents on the dollar. This was the beginning of the huge HMO that wanted to do the same thing. So a typical vaginal delivery we would get 650.00 - 1,000! The Insurance companies stocks were going high making big dollars while the non profits were laying off much needed staff so nurses would often have 10 patients to care for plus every year the .government required more and more documentation. So the patients suffered as the nurses spent more time checking boxes on forms than caring for patients. We need a major rehaul of the medical system as America is no longer the leader in patient outcomes, just like education we have fallen to all time lows. When ever the Government gets involved you can guarantee it will destroy a system! Sad! 

  • michael_kkk
    michael_kkk crystal17584

    Posted

    Crystal, just wondering how your neck is cause I am having the same weird feeling like your description lately.

  • kim26095
    kim26095 crystal17584

    Posted

    Hi,I have foraminal narrowing at c5/6 due to disc and osteophytic material and spondylotic changes,and disc bulge. I have had a constant headache since last march,it starts behind my right ear and goes to my temples and over the top of my head,I've got facial tingling and tongue pain.my flesh between my shoulders has so much nerve tingling that it feels like my flesh is crawling. I've had physio... no help,I've ha MRI guides cortisone.... no help made head and face worse. I see my consultant in a few days I'm sure he will come up with another useless way to help,apparently I'm not in enough pain for surgery

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.