I suffer neuropathic pain in neck after bad slip

Posted , 3 users are following.

I stepped on a small bit of white board on a tiled floor landing hard on my hip and shoulder compressing my neck as I held it up so it didn't hit floor . After I stood up I felt something traveling from neck to top of head then it exploded leaving me with massive headache ,no nerve damage showed up on MRI but I am left with chronic pain in neck close to base of skull and left side of face with numbness /pins and needle down my left arm .lyrica didn't work after many types of drugs have found that I get best relief from 120 mg of Cymbalta and 40 mg of OxyContin 3 per day but have had to stop working over 18 months now and just been told i have chronic adjustment disorder with anxiety and depressed moods and likely somatostatin . Over last 8 months I sleep on and of all day and night hardly leave room ,getting worse

CAN SOMEONE PLS TELL ME WHY I STILL GET THIS PAIN AND HOW TO GET A DIANOSTIC ,WILL I HAVE THIS FOR EVER NOW 54 PLEASE HELP ME

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • Posted

    Hello Phillip, I am sorry that your suffering so much with all this pain. Your injury is specific to you so it is very difficult to be able to understand what why you are still getting these problems. I suffer pain especially nuropathic pain, thou i know mine is due to damaged nerves from having lots of operations. My advice to you is to go back to your gp and ask to be refered back to a specialist dealing with injury. If you have seen a specialist before ask to be refered back to them. You could ask for a second opinion.

    I hope you get to the bottom of this as living with pain is debilitating.

    Wishing you the best.

    Elizabeth.

  • Posted

    Did you happen to have your arteries checked? I would think you haven't because CT scans are usually used to determine bleeding. I say this partially because of the immediate headache, and partially because arterial injuries can sometimes lead to the same symptoms as injuring the nerves in that area. That's the only thing I can think of it being other than direct injury to the nerves themselves. If you are desperate for answers, it wouldn't hurt to run the idea by your physician and see if they think it is a possibility.
    • Posted

      Hi omnomnom

      Thanks for the reply and let's say it was a arterie will I heal over time or leave damage

      As I still get the pain in the area where it all started from ?

      So you saying go and get a ct scan of the arteries in that area now ?

      Thanks PHIL

    • Posted

      Hi omnomnom

      I forgot to mention that every time I turned to my left it would instantly start pins and niddles with numbness in my left arm and stop soon as I straighten my neck back but that was only within first 6 mounths

      Is it possible for Mri scans to miss nerve damage high up on neck near base of skull ???

      Thanks again

      PHIL

    • Posted

      Ah, thank you for the updated information. I'm not qualified to give medical advice since I am not a doctor, but I'll certainly tell you my suspicions.

      To me, it sound like a pretty classic case of neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). That is to say, it sounds like there is damage to the nerves. I think it's interesting that it only happened at first when you turned, because that shows that it may not have been nerve "damage" so to speak, but rather temporary nerve compression from the shifting of muscle, bone, or other tissues injured during the fall. An MRI is much less likely to show any kind of compression than actual permanent damage, so it is possible that it could have been missed, and that it still might not show up even if you went in for another MRI.

      However, 5% of cases of TOS come from the compression of veins and 1% from the compression of arteries, which cuts off blood supply and could cause similar symptoms, though I think your case sounds more like it has to do with nerves. You don't happen to have an extra cervical rib do you? It only occurs in 0.5% of the population, but can definitely contribute to the compression of arteries in particular. Also, how long after your injury did you start having pain and pins and needles? Was it immediatley or did it take a while to develop?

      It seems like you are quite distressed by these symptoms. I would run the idea of nerve compression by your doctor and see if they think it is possible in your case. If it is compression, they might be able to surgically relieve most or all of the pressure on your nerves. If it is a blood vessel injury, it will not heal on its own but medication or surgery  should be able to manage that as well.

    • Posted

      Hi omnomnom

      Thanks again for your reply

      Well the pain increased more as the soft tissue healed I believe then came the pins and needles and numbness short time after

      I will look in to what you have said

      Thanks again

    • Posted

      I should also mention that nerves in around my right eye gave a weird feeling

      And yes it has gave me heaps of stress and depression to the stage That over last 6 mounths all I do is sleep on and off 12/7

      Lucky I have daughter to do my washing /cooking ect

      Think it's because I don't know what is causing my symptoms and specialist can't give answers

      A pain specialist looked at all scans and reports then came up with neuropathic pain in central nervous system

      Cheers PHIL

    • Posted

      Thank you for the information about the eye. If you want, there are a few tests you could do at home to help rule out what might be wrong, or give extra clues. Did you get a full neurological exam ever, or just the MRI? Let me know if they already tested you on any of this before!

      Can you check your right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg, right side of lower face, left side of lower face, right side of forehead, and left side of forehead, to see if each of those areas still feels temperature? Maybe hold an ice cube on each of those areas.

      As for the eyes, without doing anything, do the pupils look the same size or different? Look in a bathroom mirror and shine a light in each eye or just turn the lights on and off. Pay careful attention to the dilation and constriction of your pupils to make sure they both dilate in the dark and constrict in the light. Do you have the full range of motion in both eyes? Can you move your eyes to look up, down, left, and right normally? You may want your daughter to help you test this one since it would be difficult to see yourself do this in a mirror.

      Do you have any other sypmptoms that started occuring with your pain, like loss of balance when you stand up and close your eyes, more difficulty remembering things than usual, hoarse voice with difficulty swallowing, ect.

      Like I said, I'm no professional so don't take my suggestions as truth, but it can never hurt to have more information!

    • Posted

      No never had full neurological test

      Eye has stopped playing games

      But I do suffer with memory loss and concentration but it's only something that I was going to do or say within a few minutes

      And concentration can be very hard

      And it's only from accident

      See I held my head up from hitting tiled floor and I guess it got chronic compression and that what started everything

      Things were a lot worse fore first couple years and now seem to have settled to about 40 %

      Seems like now stress brings on the pain more with tingling in right arm by double

      PHIL

    • Posted

      I was actually on 80 mg OxyContin x3 per day but dropped back over 12 months to 3 x40 and hoping to get right off them within 4weeks and I was always only on 1 x60 mg cymbalta but was increased two 2 x60 mg per day and it did make me feel a lot better

      They both work good together for nerve pain by looking into specialist reports

      Phil

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