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Spondylosis symptoms can anyone help?

Posted , 4 users are following.

Guest
Guest

My mother in law has had spondylosis for many many years and had managed her symptoms quite well, and is very active. A year ago she has what she can only describe as a 'jarring' one evening and since then she has been to and fro the docs with intense pain. It numbs her hands, tingling and intense stabbing, jarring pains, but what she can't understand is it goes into her jaw, head, ears and is so intense at times it makes her feel sick. The pain is always there but very often it will suddenly attack and she is left white as a sheet.

No painkillers she has been given from the doc have touched the sides and the really strong ones just make her dozy and 'off' which she doesn't want to be. They have given her antidepressats which she wouldn't take, she is not depressed about it, just furious no-one seems to be taking her pain seriously. She has had acupuncture but in all honesty has no faith left in the docs.

She has just recently had an MRI which the neurosurgeon took one look at and saw spondylosis and gave her medication she has already had before. She admits she was expecting something better from a specialist, and was hoping for some relief/other cause, she feels he didn't look past the spondylosis. She is not one for sitting around and still gets her jobs done in the morning but is in extreme pain at all times except in sleep, which is one relief, she can sleep for england!

What I am writing to ask is where can she go from here, I have suggested she ask for a second opinion, or possibly go private but she would like to know if the jaw pain is something else linked to Spondylosis and she has to deal with it or could it be something they are missing, what can I suggest to her? I have no experience of the problem so any suggestions from anyone would be great. She has suffered like this for a year now and I don't what I can do to help!

Sally

0 likes, 4 replies

4 Replies

  • chris215a
    chris215a

    Posted

    hello there i am sorry to hear what your mother-in-law is going through. the pain in the jaw and surrounding area's are part and parcel of the nasty illness that is cs. my pain generally takes my breath away so i know how she feels. as for the medications 1, the anti- depressants sometimes have pain relief qualities, such as amytryptiline.2, the strong pain relief is helpful when her body gets used to it, it may make her dopey but as and when her body gets used to them the tiredness gets less i hope it helps you in some way, and in turn your mother-in-law.please send her our best wishes and keep us up to date on how she is doing, bye for now chris xx
  • Guest
    Guest

    Posted

    Thanks for that Chris

    I have seen somewhere about injections - I'm not sure if that has been offered to her or not but if not can you tell me any more on that?

    Thanks

  • chris215a
    chris215a

    Posted

    hi sally again. yes i do know about the injections, i have had a few myself. some are epidural, some are steroid, and some are a mixture as with all things , as you get used to them you need them more often. suggest to your mother-in-law to ask her gp to be refferred to the pain clinic, they do wonders and have more to offer than just tablets and injections, there are laseres and acupuncture and meditation. so i hope this is enough to go on,i'm sure other members off here will be able to give you more info, my memory is really bad so i can only tell you what i remember. bye for now ,,,,,chris xxx
  • oaponice
    oaponice

    Posted

    I to was recently diagnosed with having Cervical Spondylosis and have the same problems BUT having tried to work out the cause and effect have found some ways to alleviate the pain. I have had osteoarthritus in my spine for 20 years, I am now 67 and the pains from my neck have been a problem for some years but only in the past 6/7 months following a jar are now shooting upwards and I can confirm are agony.

    as they never stop.

    I was using a shaped Memory foam pillow for about 7 years very good at the start, took all the pain out of my shoulders (but no good now) I also added a memory foam topper which is still good.

    [u:1001f6c423]Medication[/u:1001f6c423]. I do now take amitriptaline when the pain is bad just at night. Yes in larger doses it is antidepressant but it relaxes the tendons down the sides of the neck which carry the weight of ones head. Pain killers need to be taken in advance of the pain getting bad, whenever possible.

    Problem-Solution 1) Unable to sleep at night. Tried various pillows and found that hard is best, there are two on the market calling themselves \"Neck Support Cervical Pillows\" go to back2comfort (not the memory foam one) or Extra touch extra comfort They have a triangular stitched area in the middle, are curved round your shoulders at the bottom and for me are giving me a good nights rest. Yes I still have to get up 2/3 times in the night but most mornings wake up able to cope. Do not expect instant results, but 8 weeks on I can on a good day take less than the maximum dose of pain killers.

    Problem-Solution 2) Watching the TV. I used not to be able to look up, now I also can not look down. Have had to raise the TV and my monitor up to just below eye level, you have to experiment with this to get the maximum result. For reading I also have a lightweight folding Laptop Notebook Stand, great for use in bed. bought via ebay.

    Problem-Solution 3) Loss of ballance. I bought a stick some years back to cope with walking in the snow but never got on with it. Now use a [b:1001f6c423]sprung[/b:1001f6c423] Nordic walking pole , enables me to get up steps especially where there are no rails or over rough ground.

    Hope these ideas prove of some help. With time the pain does get less acute.

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