Unbearable pain from cervical foraminal stenosis or something more sinister?

Good morning everyone. I am writing this with bloodshot eyes from sobbing upon waking in this excurciating pain yet again and I'm looking for those with similar experiences and what worked for them to get to a cure so to speak.

I have severe cervical compression that is impinging nerve root 6 in my cspine. I also have two to three herniated discs in c5 c6 c7 c8. I have had alot of symptoms of MS. my last MRI in July of brain and cspine showed the severe compression and I believed I saw lesions in cspine. radiologist report said no remarkable lesions but the radiologists in the mountains where we live work at the lowest rated hospital in the entire state and my primary doctor even said they missed fractures before on mri so seeing as they are not MS specialists I do not believe they looked at my mris with a true expert eye in my opinion. I did see football shaped round things in my cspine on the scan.

Anyway I've had 3 doctors tell me they think I have MS but that it can take 10 years to show up on MRI. My primary Dr is convinced I have several autoimmune disorders but not sure which ones as blood work looks okay and they are elusive. I do have fibromyalgia and he said that is autoimmune as well.

I have patellar reflex 4+ marked limb spasticity in all 4 limbs. I saw an MS specialists in Atlanta who noted these findings. I have a hard time balancing and drop things alot more then I used too. I have chronic migraines with aura. Severe pain across my body....the MS HUG...hypothyroidism pcos spinal stenosis scoliosis and a history of radiculopathy.

I am normally used to being in alot of pain but about a week ago I suddenly woke up in the worst pain of my life. It is 100x worse then childbirth. I went to two different ERs which were both full of incompetent and uncaring staff. one of them gave me a shot of hydromorphone and a steroid the other one did an xray and CT scan as I called the ambulance but as you all know CT scan does not show nerves and lesions and so forth. The neurosurgeon office was telling me to see the ER and the ER was telling me to see neurosurgeon. I am a candidate for surgery to decompress my cspine and neurosurgeon made me get cervical epidural about a month ago which I believe made things worse and not better. Surgery was supposed to be scheduled but then when this happened now I had to go back to neurosurgeon who admitted during my exam a few days ago that I was remarkably different then in July and that I could not use my left arm at all and had extreme weakness in my right arm as well. I cannot sit up straight and my body sweats from the extreme pain when I'm just sitting or trying to stand or walk.It is so unbearable that I start sobbing or screaming from the pain and have hardly been able to eat when my husband brings me food and drink. I have to get in the shower and use one arm as I cannot wipe on toilet. I have not been able to dress myself brush my hair or do anything besides sit reclined in my massage chair or the recliner while on vicodin to make it to where I can atleast breathe and veg out to tv while trying to cope with this. this is not how I want to live my life and we have a toddler son and I am used to being able to play with him and interact with my family and I feel like a complete failure right now and have even told the Dr's that I would rather lose my left arm then be in this much pain.

so what happened a week ago I have this excruciating pain going from my neck on the left side down my shoulder and into my left arm. I have tried massage rest ice heat pt tape icy hot roll on and all kinds of painkillers and even muscle relaxers. the only thing that touches the pain is vicodin and it barely takes the edge off. remember I'm used to being in chronic pain daily but this is so unreal to me that I literally feel like I'm having a psychotic break. whenever I finally pass out and wake up again and realize this isn't a nightmare and is my new reality I immediately start sobbing and I'm having a really hard time coping with this.

I also have bad left chest pain and I feel that it is all stemming from my cspine. I think maybe the epidural caused increased pressure in my cspine and or that this is MS.

the only thing keeping me from ending it all is my beloved husband and son if it wasn't for them I literally would have ended my life and I told multiple Dr's this and they didn't care. I want to live but I don't want to live like this. I'm sure some of you can relate.

I am normally very optimistic and kind and loving to everyone I meet. I am known for being an artist and writing poetry and letting my son take horsey rides on my back and giggling all day while I play with him and now I can't do anything and I can't even pick him up and hold him properly. he can sit between my legs in the recliner but it is difficult just to reach out and play with his hair or give him a kiss. Do you understand how terrifying this is for a mother?

I have had pinched nerve pain before because of the pressure on nerve root 6 but this is like life bending pain that doesn't let up no matter what I do and it's constantly there. I also have really pronounced weakness in my arms and it's like my brain is having a really hard time coping and even knowing how to walk like yesterday I had to keep telling myself how to go up the steps after we went out for a drive to get groceries. I can barely move and when I do it makes my chest shoulder neck and arm hurt so badly and I've been getting clammy skin sweats and so forth. when I try to bend my neck forward or backwards it shoots and radiates waves of pain so I know it's stemming from my neck.

I know this was lengthy so I apologize in advance but I truly hope some of you read through it and are able to give me some of your stories with MS and or cervical stenosis and radiculopathy and how you are able to function with the pain and what worked for you to get relief and to get the help you needed. It is the only light I am clasping onto right now with the meager strength I have inside my mind.

I want to get better for my husband and son. I want to live again. I have new MRI of my brain and cspine being done hopefully next week. they had to wait for insurance to approve it even though I'm in this much pain and can't use my left arm at all and have pronounced weakness in my right arm they won't do mri without approval which I think is a crisis in our country when emergencies arise like this. Because of my new symptoms and pronounced weakness that has suddenly arisen since my last mri in July that's why the neurosurgeon ordered new ones. I hope to god they show what is going on especially if it is MS or if there is more pressure on my spinal cord. I would probably go insane if it didn't show any changes since July because something is seriously wrong that just suddenly got worse a week ago and I know it is from my spinal cord not functioning properly from the pressure or an autoimmune disease attacking me.

thank you so much in advance for all of your own stories and input that you will share with me below. I'd like to lastly add that I know in 5 percent of MS patients the MRI does not show lesions and I know it can be missed for a long time but with my symptoms surely they would show up right ? My best case scenario is that it is the pressure on my spinal cord from the stenosis getting worse as it was already severe and that this is something that can be fixed through an operation. That is what I am hoping for but with all of my other symptoms I'm just not sure...I am turning 34 in December so fairly young. Thank you everyone ****

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