Originally Posted by jkl626

Hello,
Its been awhile since I posted and I have seen more Doctors in L.A. so I thought I should write an Update. I have been off and on with flare-ups mostly in my neck Upper and lower traps. I also still have muscle pain in my underarm,scalpula my arm and pinky get numb especially while typing! I tried working for a week and was in bad pain for 3 out of the 5 days. My Oncologist who I trust recommended seeing a new Pain Dr and he recommended Dr. Rosner and Dr. Bajaj

I went back to PT with Dr. Ando and Heather but it wasnt helping with the neck pain which is the worst of it. I still do all my exercises which I think helps with the pec minor and armpit pain and arm numbness.

I went to 3 new pain doctors who all recommended getting an epidural since I have tried all the other injections and I DO have severe foraminal narrowing due to a C5-6 disc bulge and Bone Spurs. It will also be diagnostic since I have never been sure if the pain was coming from my neck or BP. Classic Double Crush Syndrome. Its time to try it.

2 of them recommended trying Lyrica so I switched from Neurontin. I take 100 mg at night and 50 2x a day. it doesnt make me as tired and the burning pain is better. For Muscle spasms I tried Skellaxin which worked but gives me a bad headache. I tried Vanaflex-but it makes me tired. Now I am just trying 2.5 mg of flexeril as needed. I have to cut the 5mg in half.

SOO- I am having an Epidural tomorrow at C6,7 and 8. for some reason I am more nervous about this than any other injection I have had. I am having it done at the Cedars Pain Clinic by the head of the Clinic-Dr. Howard Rosner. He spent alot of time with me and seems to have an understanding of TOS. I had my Lumpectomy at Cedars so I am comfortable there and they have all my records. They put you under so you dont feel it.

The other Dr. I saw was Dr. Bajaj who I liked but I didnt get the sense he understood TOS as well and doesnt have as much experience as Dr. Rosner. Also I saw his NP for most of the time and when I went back for a follow up I only saw the NP. He is close by though and they are managing my medications.

I also saw Dr. Fish at UCLA and that was a HUGE disapointment. He wrote several articles about TOS and Shoulder vs neck pain and I thought he would be able to help differentiate and see if he can test the long thoracic nerve but he said he doesnt do that. All he did was come in for 5 minutes and tell me to go see Dr. Ahn for TOS surgery and he looked at my mri and said he would recommend an epidural but I would have to be in pain when I got it but you have to schedule it in advance-so how do you know when you are going to have pain? Then he walked out of the room and that was it.

I also got a prescription for Cannabis oil from Dr.Frankel in Santa Monica. It is legal here in CA. I'm not sure about it-it makes me a bit fuzzy-but he has developed different strains without the THC. It also has anti-cancer properties so I figured- Kill 2 birds-HA