Cervical Spondylosis Explored

If people ask if I'm working ,I say I'm on the sick with a bad back ,rather than tell them about spondylosis,I find it easier so as I'm not boring them with the details .they usually reply ,oh another one ,

Hi Sonia.

It's happy b'days all round...mine was a few days ago.  Hope yours went well.  Don't think you'd get much joy from revisiting old records...they can't re-diagnose on reflection,  and injury based C/S is such a slow developer it's probably impossible to state anything for certain.  I just use my intuition to try and spot the possible starter....and even then I don't think I had any symptoms for maybe 10 years.  However,  I've had 30 years of various C/S phases,  and that, despite all the difficulties,  gives me some familiarity with what to expect when a new symptom comes knocking.  I think it's different for anyone with late developing osteoarthritis,  because the degeneration comes a lot quicker,  and symptoms can bounce around a lot more confusingly.  Hopefully the phase you're currently in will settle down soon and become more manageable....probably best to not strain neck if at all possible until some natural flexibility returns without the dizzyness etc.  If you can determine which neck movement sets something off,  then it helps with avoiding those movements in the future....that seems to be the nuts and bolts of managing the future intensity of symptoms,  along with adjusting sleep postures,  which I find really useful for easing muggy headaches, and other symptoms too.  Have to say,  might be different for anyone with different grades of C/S.

I think C/S, as a condition,  is peculiar,  in the sense  that it encourages a lot of head confusion,  especially when headaches or mugginess is involved.  It can be difficult to separate out the different symptoms and see them for what they really are,  and the inclination is to lump it all together and see it all as something which will only get worse with time.

 My experiences tell me something different,  and I like to try and understand the detail of the condition and explore ways of dealing with each symptom.  So far,  most of my 'solutions',  or 'symptom easers'  are geared around sleeping postures and avoiding neck discomforts,  and not listening to anyone suggesting that the neck must be further exercised in any way.  Besides all the ifs and buts associated with Physio, Meds, Surgery etc.  I still think that ergonomic self- management is a basic requirement for best future outcomes....the devil is in the detail, and it's up to us to prise it out !

Gerry

I had Mri last August that showed spondylosis and stenosis in 4 vertebrae.i was in pain for years before that and was always told that there was nothing wrong with me ,.it wasn't until my left arm went completely numb that I was sent for Mri .the chest pain is like a steel band being tightened around your chest ,I get that ,tired all the time ,headache ,dizziness .you not alone in this ,keep well 

Hi UnhappySpine

Glad to have your comments onboard,  despite the circumstances !  I agree wqith your observation about delayed symptom reactions,  sometimes that can be a day or two after lifting something too heavy,  or some awkward movement of the neck,  or even just a bad sleeping posture.  The same delayed reaction would,  in theory,  also apply to any beneficial improvement of the symptoms....if correct management were applied ! ,  so discovering a good sleeping posture, for instance,  might not show benefits for a couple of days.  Patience has to be the key in any explorations of that nature,  although I've found that I can get almost instant results sometimes with just a 'nap'.  It's all about easing the worst phases into something more manageable,  and then the 'butterfly effect'  extends to all other coping mechanisms.

I kinow there are those who would disagree,  and insist that the symptoms maybe only get worse,  but that's not my experience.  The symptoms fluctuate,  and any control achieved over the fluctuations beats the comparable impact of continuous medications any day.  It's  kind of difficult to discuss here because many will hold dearly to the only relief formula they know....medications,  and such an adherence is a barrier to thinking beyond that option.  If we put our total reliance into the health services,  which claim,  without dispute,  that they haven't yet found the answers for the C/S condition,  then, as I see it,  we are complicit in their failures with C/S,  and we are being irresponsible in our own needs by favouring their methods over any ideas about what might be best for us.  It seems we must cross the chasm of realising that treatments are doubtful,  before we really take a good look at ways to improve.

Re: exhaustion....I think that's typical of C/S,  and probably why it is easy to confuse C/S with Fibromyalgia.  I think the exhaustion happens because,  even when we sleep,  the neck is continually making adjustments and never gets a proper chance to rest.  Good sleeping posture can help to resolve, or ease,  that,  along with headaches and stiff neck.  Chesdt pains/aches are a common feature also,  usually due to radiated reactions to a threatened nerve in the neck.  All these fluctuating symptoms com,e with their own confusions,  but mostly they will dissipate with time and good management.  The numb/pins and needles issues will likely persist without surgery,  but I've found them to be easily managed....even when there was total loss of power in hand.  HYeadaches were always my main concern,  because of the muggy thinking,  but I also think that headaches can be eased with sleeping posture changes.

Any ideas...,.more than welcome.

Gerry

Like you Shauno44, I was in pain for a little over 4 years before diagnosis.  The pain was terrible.  Right arm pain from shoulder into ring and pinky fingers.  It was as clear as a bell.  The chest pain is in the wall on the right side and it felt like I was being stabbed and somebody was blowing on and ignighting hot coals in there.  That along with a tight band of pressure around my chest.  I also had sciatica primarily in left leg but also often in right leg too.  My doctor told me it was nothing.  She would not investigate.  I eventually went to other doctors with much the same result.  Finally, a doctor orders an MRI but it was of my chest wall.  Luckily the people doing the MRI were onto it and they told me they would not do as my doctor ordered and would instead check my cervical and thoracic spine.  When they were finished and I seen there faces I knew something was wrong.  Isn't it frightening when you know something is wrong and when you are in too much pain to sleep but nobody listens?  Anyhow, I was listed as urgent but referral was lost and then there were other blunders.  Still waiting and deteriorating.

Do you know what it means when the arm goes numb?  I still remember the first time it happened to me.

 

Hi

Just for information....a numb arm usually indicates some stenosis  i.e.  where the vertebrae in neck might be touching the nerve root.  It's fairly common with C/S,  but might require surgery depending on severity.  If you google stenosis,  you should get a clear picture of problem + treatments...it's well documented,  and it is one of the C/S issues where definite treatments are well defined.

The affected vertebrae is pressing on the nerve that exits the spine to your arm ,sending the wrong message to your brain ,it's not nice is it .my arm was like it for two months and the doctor said it was carpal tunnel syndrome and gave me anti inflammatory tablets ,it wasn't until the Mri that he believed me .i usually get it if I lean over ,or stretch for something 

Hi Gerry,yes the headache that lasts for days and nothing shifts it ,I find mine are affected by the weather,ie if it's overcast and raining ,which it usually is up here in the Welsh valleys,I know I'm going to get one ,but if it's sunny I don't get one ,

Gerry,

I find symptoms come and go constantly.  It drives me crazy because as I learn to adapt to pain it spreads or new pain arrives.  Occasionally the pain lessens too though.  Other symptoms too keep changing and that makes for a challenge when it comes to coping and making plans.  Although I don't like to hear of others suffering it helps me to know I am not alone.

I have not found pain relief at all helpful but accupuncture and kinesiology have helped both with pain and sleep. 

I am interested in your theories about sleep and CS as I have insomnia.  I am thinking that constantly changing symptoms are a challenge when you are trying to sleep because the mind tries to track it and decipher it.  On top of that is the pain which makes it impossible to get comfortable and something else I am unable to put my finger on.

I just do not know how to sleep or even what type of pillow to use if I should use one at all.  I cannot imagine sleeping in an upright position as you do.

I have a theory that if you cannot get adequete sleep that increases pain and in turn affects sleep.   This cycle continues and worsens and must be broken.  Would love to hear what works for others in order to best support the neck.

Mine comes and goes and was always on my left arm,but last two weeks been getting the same thing on my right .my bicep goes like bingo wings ,sort of just hanging there ,I would see your Gp straight away and tell him all this and get him to make you another appt with the surgeon, take care 

I only use the sitting semi-upright sleep posture, on a sofa pushed against some bigger furniture,  when the neck is stiff and sore,  and for any headaches that last more than a couple of days.  That's quite rare these days,  maybe twice/threetimes a year,  just to shift the worst phases. Otherwise I sleep flat out on sofa with head tilted up slightly with soft pillow on arm of sofa.  If I sleep on mattress I find that symptoms can become cyclical and difficult to shift,  but it's ok on mattress at other times.

Re the different symptoms......A compressed nerve causes numbness, pins and needles, and sometimes a burning pain along the nerve extension,  whether shoulder, arm, or hand., or leg.  Loss of power or control are also caused by compressed nerve or nerve root. These symptoms can go through differing phases,  but they tend to be long lasting,  although not necessarily all that painful....mostly annoying.  Most other symptoms, whether chest pain, frozen shoulder, stiff/sore  neck, headaches,  sore muggy head are caused by muscular reactions as the neck tries to protect the nerve/s.  These associated symptoms can be relieved gradually by allowing the neck to do its protecting with the least possible resistance. Both sets of symptoms can come in any combination depending on how the nerve/s are being aggravated....so,  understanding the possible irritants, and adjusting to safe mode,   can make a big difference to intensity and longevity.

That's my take on the whole C/S thing,  seems to work for me with that understanding.  Always, at the back of my mind there's an anxiety,  borne of experience,  which doesn't allow me not to worry about what tomorrow might be like,  but if I rationalise the possibles, and try to manage within a safe zone,  then I worry less.  Even if the theory about the differing symptoms was wrong,  I still get the benefits of a limited posiotive outlook.

 

PS....

Stenosis and pressure on nerve roots are the same thing,  they both happen in the root canal and affect the nerve root,  which is normally protected by a viscous rubbery fluid which keeps the vertebrae separated from the nerve root.  the other type of compression occurs where the nerve exits the spine and might be impeded by osteophytes,  which are little bone spurs which grow on the vertebrae,  initially to protect the nerve channel,  but can become a problem themselves as the condition progresses.  The two symptom classes which result from these separate causes are called Myleopathy and Radiculopathy.  Might be best you google them, save me going into detail.  Your MRI result should show which applies,  or if both apply.