may not be fishing this year....

[Bruce Yeaton]

I woke up last Tuesday morning to get ready for work as usual and felt a little pain in my neck which is pretty normal for me after working 3rd shift hours the week before.

I'm driving to work, having my coffee and notice that my fingertips are starting to get numb. So I think maybe I'm just holding on to the steering wheel too tight, no big deal. I get to work, same feeling except my arm is now getting numb... so about 10a.m. I call my wife for the doctors office to make an appointment. She thinks I'm having a stroke because my fingers are numb and my left arm is starting to get numb as well.

I left work and went to the doctor, seems it's just a pinched nerve, or so they thought. Gave me a perscription for an anti-inflamatory drug and went home. Went to work Wednsday, same thing. Wed night came the pain, shoulder, neck, arm, etc. Called the doctor and told him the meds weren't working, went to see him and he told me to double the dose, it's suppose to be good stuff. Couldn't sleep Thursday night, called him Friday morning for something stronger, he calls in some Vicadin. That doesn't work.

At this point it's 9pm Friday night, had the wife drive me to the hospital. Keep in mind, this whole time I can not sit or lay down, best I can do is keep moving/walking to keep the pain to a minimum.

Got to see the ER doctor about 12:30 ish a.m., told her my symptoms. They gave me a shot in the arse for some pain killers and sent me to get some Xrays. Apparantly something was wrong....she told me to cancel my physical therapy appointment and said first thing Monday morning call the doctor and schedule an MRI. She says it is not a pinched nerve, it is most likely a disk problem causing this pain.

At this point I told her the shot of pain killer did not work (after an hours time), I need something so I can sleep. She writes me 2 perscriptions and says I'm all set and to come back immediately if I'm still in pain.



This is all I know so far, the MRI is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonite and I'll find out Wednesday if I need to see a Neurologist or not. They are talking possible surgery if it is a disk issue.



And here I am, 3 nice days in a row to be out on the boat fishing and I can barely leave the house! I'd trade my motor for a good shoulder/neck right now!!!



Wish me luck guys! I'll keep you posted

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

Good luck....may be a simple fix, keep your fingers crossed!!



TOXIC

 

[Rob LaMoy]

I feel your pain....literally. I pop 4-5 Tramadols a day just to function. Keep your head up, modern medicine has come leaps and bounds. If they can keep people like Denny Brauer and Larry Nixon on the water, then you and I should be no problem.

 

[gone bye bye]

Good luck! I havent had any serious disc trauma, but teh aches and pains of the tools of ignorance are wreaking havoc on this old body of mine.



I git the shooters and numbness too, but it goes away. The pain is dealt with....cant be as bad as yours though.



Mini

 

[Donnie Matney]

Bruce I do neurologic testing now. If you MRI comes back negative alot of times a NCV test,(Nerve Conduction Velocity Test) which we perform, will show something. Heck these test will even show things an EMG will not. Also our interperting DR will give your DR ideas of how to treat the condiction. Alot of times it can be a disc but sometimes the blood flow to the nerve can be impeaded causing the tingling sensation and numbness in your arm to fingers. Almost everyone I have tested has had your symptoms. If you want I could give you a list of Dr.s we test with in case you MRI comes back negative. If you have insurance they will almost alyways pay for these tests, they just need to be orderd from a DR. Let me know, I hope you find out whats going on.



Donnie

 

[fatrap]

Bruce



My principal of my school had the exact same thing you describe. The repaired a disc in his neck. The went in the front of the neck and did the work. It was fantastic. No pain now and is 100 %. The recovery wasn't that bad for him either.

Good Luck

fatrap

 

[Ken Neeley]

Bruce,

Good luck to ya.



Donnie,

WOW, what a post....Saturday night you couldn't even read the name on the green beer bottles!!!

 

[Donnie Matney]

Man I couldn't quit...Jed told me I kept saying "I need another beer" and I was gone upstairs almost every 15 minutes!! I paid for that one...but it was a good time with good company. I enjoyed myself, since my 1st time flying was Thursday I needed to unwind a little.

 

[William H. (Bill) Barham]

Good luck Bruce! I burst two disks and have had serious problems since last August. I don't wish that on anyone and let's all hope that this isn't what has happened to you.

I'm still deciding on surgery or not though the Doctor told me it "probably" won't help that much. So, I have been getting spinal epidural shots and they have helped a lot.

No long distance driving or even trabeling however and that's why I couldn't get to the rally.

I'm sending good thoughts and wishes and hoping for the best for you.



Bill

 

[Bruce Yeaton]

Thanks guys....



The MRI went well last night. 25 minutes of sitting still and not moving was the hardest part. The doctor should have the results on Wed and we go from there. I'm going to push for a specialist since my regular doctor doesn't seem too concerned. It took the ER doctor to make the call and pushed for the MRI yesterday..



Don - I may have to take you up on that Can I get the report from my doctor to have for myself?

 

[Bob G.]

Donnie,



I didn't even know you could read on Saturday night, let alone a beer bottle!! LOL!!!



Bob G.

 

[Donnie Matney]

They tought me alot of stuff in a few weeks time Bob!! I hope i didn't embarass myself to much!! All I remember is my hand still hurts trying to open that beer bottle for Rochelle.(anything for the chicks is what i always say)





Bruce most Dr's we test with are chriropracters, but some are MDs. Iam new to the game but I belive most chiropractors have some sort of diagnostic testing that uses NCV. We do a couple different test: one that tests the nerves local (ex in your hands) then another that test the same nerve to the cortex of the brain. So if there is something going on anywhere in between we can usally find it. I know for a fact that we test vertabre c5 and t12/L1, so there would be a pretty go chance of finding the problem. Also our interperting DR is a Physiologist (sp) the same type of doctors who work on athletes for various problems. Let me know if you need more....



Donnie

 

[Rich D]

I had one of those nerve conductivity tests. It is...interesting. If it is the same thing I had, they use probes to send current through your nerves. Good luck!



Rich D

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

They probed my brain once......they couldn't find it......when they did, they said it was like lookin for a bb on a 4 lane highway.....



TOXIC

 

[Donnie Matney]

Yup Rich same thing...."mild electric stimulation"...



Donnie

 

[Rich D]

I was surprised I had hair left on my leg when the guy was done...