Hi Babs,

I, like you are in the early stages of diagnosis but unlike you, they have found nothing concrete yet!

Interesting about your 'cervical' spinal stenosis, which is quite high up the spine. I know I definitely need to brush up on my spinal nerves and the regions that they influence, but interesting that you have facial symptoms. From the small amount of researching I've done it seems that different nerves affect the face, like the Trigeminal nerve and it doesn't have to be agonising pain like I always imagine Trigeminal pain to be. However I really do not know.

Was your spinal stenosis relatively 'silent' before you had PN symptoms? Did you have any clue that you had a potential spinal cord compression problem? Accident, previous surgery, trauma, scoliosis???

My predominant symptoms are not numbness and pins and needles as yours are. I think numbness and pins and needles would 'fit' with SS very well (although I do have these at times). My main symptoms are burning, buzzing and weird temperature disturbances like icy. So I do not think I have SS but I'm looking at all possibilities.

Is a spinal MRI or CAT scan the only way that spinal stenosis can be diagnosed?