Hey everyone. I really need some advice or direction. About 2-3 months ago I strained me right trap. It was pretty soar. Along with that I was getting neuropathy in my right arm and neck. I went to the doctor and he ordered physical therapy. Never did an MRI. I went to physical therapy and he said if seemed like pinched a nerve in my cervical spine. After a couple of therapy sessions I was feeling pretty good. One night I was on the tread mill doing cardio. I started getting bad weakness in my arm and leg. I was feeling dizzy, too. I went to the ER thinking I was having a stroke. They did a CT scan and said I was fine. They said if sounded like I had a pinched nerve somewhere and to follow up with my doctor.

I followed up with my doctor and he said I was fine and told me to continue therapy. I went to two more therapy sessions and felt great. She told me to focus on back as I had front muscle mass than back. I started lifting weights again and felt ok. Just light workouts. After a couple weeks I bumped the weight up. The tingling and weakness was dimenishing. I saw a my chiro a couple of times to help with my neck. I went to his office one day and his filler was in for him. She told me..honestly..I think you need trigger point/deep tissue work done. I think that's your problem. She pushed on my muscles in my back and I was in some PAIN. She gave me a number for a very good massage therapist. I set up an appointment with him. He found knots all over the place. Knots sitting ontop of nerves, ect. He told me I needed more work.

On mothers day I bent down to tie my shoe at the gym. I felt a weird sensation in my back and felt pain go down my right leg. I didn't think anything of it. I continued to lift weights that day. That night I started getting weird sensations along my spine in my neck. I started getting dizzy. I didn't really think anything of it. The next day I went to the gym. I nearly fell over I was so dizzu. My head felt heavy with weird neck sensations. The next couple of days rolled by and I was feeling worse. My neck would swell up andcI couldn't move it, I was dizzy, hands were clumsey, had a hard time walking on my right leg. I was a wreck.I went to an orthopedic doctor that week. He said I may have re irritated a nerve or I herniated a disk in my neck. He ordered an MRI of my neck. He also did xrays with different neck angles. When he told me everything was normal I almost fell to the floor in disbelief. He referred me to a neurologist.

I went to the neurologist Tuesday. He said I was fine..just basic nerve irritation. I almost fell to the floor in disbelief again. He said he would order an MRI of my brain to rule out MS..which is what I was a little scared of. The past week my dizziness has been pretty bad. My range of motion in my neck has improved..but not normal. Two nights ago I saw the massage therapist. He fixed some stuff in my neck and left trap that may have been causing issues..but said my back was a mess and needed more work. My range of motion in my neck has improved a bit. The last few days I've been getting silent migraines. No pain..pressure on the back of my head/neck..dizziness..and tunnel vision. I could barely keep my eyes open. Today I'm weak and incredibly dizzy. I'm trying to figure out what's going on with me...I'm really scared. Does it sound like I have a neurological problem like MS or do I possibly have nerve irritation or a muscoleskelatol issue? Thank you for your time.

Today also I'm getting weakness and tingling in my right..possibly nerve pinched in my l or t spine?

Welcome VHDude,

Sounds like you have been through the ringer. I am sorry you had to come and find us and that you are having so much trouble right now. I am in no position to comment on whether this might be MS or not but I do feel qualified to say you have gotten a lot of musculoskeletal intervention if you will and sometimes that is not a good thing for calming things down.

As a person with some cervical compression and who tends have things sublux easily every few months because I lifted wrong, moved wrong, slept wrong etc. I can say that having skeletal maladjustment can cause a world of discomfort and nerve irritation. Too much, too aggressive soft tissue work can cause a world of hurt or make things worse. Lifting all day after a weird pain can make things worse.

Your body is asking you to be careful and be gentle with it. regardless of what is going on with you there is no harm in taking it easy for two weeks, laying off your workout and doing some gentle range of motion in the pool. Work on gentle stretches and relaxing those muscles. Some light massage might be helpful but stay away from deep tissue work and let your pain subside. It just might clarify some of your symptoms or at least get you in a place where the interventions can help without flaring you up so much.

I hope you find relief soon, Littlepaw

Hello VHDude,
Welcome to NeuroTalk.

I just wanted to extend a welcome and also let you know that there is a
Spinal Disorders & Back Pain Forum here as well.

You've mentioned Silent Migraines.
Headache Forum

There is a Forum Search Feature that may be helpful to you in bringing up past threads/posts.

I hope you find some answers.
Take care.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/search.php

hello and welcome to NT

i'm glad at least that the neuro ordered an MRI. that should give you more information. be sure to get a copy of the disc and a copy of the report. you might need it if you see other drs.

diagnosing MS is more of exclusion. the dr should rule out other illnesses that might present like MS. there is also something called the McDonald Criteria that drs use when they're dx'ing MS.

i also have a lot of muscle pain and have had many deep tissue massages. a tight muscle can entrap a nerve leading to pain. i highly recommend massages. they've helped me a lot. i also use heat to help relax my muscles. i also have a Homedics chair massager with heat that i use when i'm really tight.

but, getting to the root of the problem is more important. try to take one day and one thing at a time. if you think you have a good pcp maybe he can look at the big picture and try to be the team leader of your care.

good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks for your warm welcome everyone. It's scary dealing with this when doctors are saying, "Oh you're fine...nothing wrong..maybe we can try this just to see." Then you have the "witch doctors" (Chiro and massage therapist) giving me more help/ideas/advice than any doctor I've seen. My big question is..can you trigger nerve pain yourself when you have MS? For example- When I bent down at the gym to tie my show and felt the sensations in my lower back and right leg..could've been a disc issue because I've been having problems since..but then again..I'm wondering if I could've irritated the nerve due to MS. I've learned quite a bit about the disease..but I still have some questions. Tonight I have numbness in my right leg and a little in my right arm. I'm on edge. MRI is Tuesday. I also took a gaba supplement for a few months prior to my symptoms. I took 500 mg at night just to help me get a deep sleep. I did a little research and 500mg seemed safe. It was well under the recommended dosage. As soon as I had the trap strain/tingling/weakness I stopped taking it. I told me neurologist I was taking it. I told him how long I was taking it and how much. He asked me how long I've been off. I told him a couple months. He didn't seem concerned. I'm so anxious. I've had some minor health concerns in the past that didn't scare me..but this does. I eat healthy..weight lift..and don't drink often..when I know I have a problem..I know..and it kills me when doctors say.."there's nothing wrong." Cross your fingers for me. Any advice is welcome. Again..thank you for the welcome.

Hello VHDude78 and welcome to NeuroTalk.

Sometimes those with MS can have an increase of pain due to heat, being sick, or over doing it. Those things don't trigger the pain, per se, but can increase what we already deal with.

Neuropathic pain (nerve pain) is treated differently than other types of pain. Over the counter pain medication will not help neuropathic pain (per my neuro and my own experience).

If I have pain and I take an over the counter pain reliever it does not touch my Neuropathic pain (MS pain) but it does help when the pain is not related to neuropathic pain/MS.

What come to mind by your description is what is referred to as Lhermittes sign. This is when you bend your head down (not your body), chin to chest. You can have abnormal sensations such as buzzing/vibrations, electrical shocks and tingling from the spine down, although some feel it from the waist down. These sensations will only last seconds but can be repeated each time you bend your head down.

If what I described does not fit what you experienced then you are not experiencing lhermittes. If you are experiencing lhermittes there are different causes for this to happen. In Multiple Sclerosis lhermittes is caused by damage (lesions) on the cervical spine.

Although MS can affect the spinal cord the fact that you do work out quite extensively makes me wonder more about a spine injury rather than MS. Although MS could certainly be a possibility. Many other conditions would also need to be ruled out as there is no symptom which is unique to Multiple Sclerosis.

fyi...over yrs i had 2 bad discs. one cervical, one lumbar, both of which needed surgery. if i had con't with my chiro it wouldn't have been a good thing. and, as good as my massages were i eventually stopped them because while i felt better in the short term, i didn't in the long.

now i'm an RN so i'm predisposed to lean on conventional medical care. others i know are not. and, alternative medicine does have a lot to offer.

once you find a good neuro and pcp i'd stick with them to see if you all can get to the cause of your problems. keep a sx (symptom) journal with dates and sx's. that may help your reporting skills to your drs.

don't let drs brush over as "that's normal" when you know it's not for you.
you are your own best advicate.

oh, i forgot to tell you that having tests gives you more information.
it may take some investigating but hopefully some tests will yield answers.
don't be afraid of the answers. information gives you control.

if you do find something out, even tho it's scary, you'll be able to deal with it.
it's the not knowing that's scary.

It is very scary Nancy. I'm anxious for the MRI tomorrow. I want to get this over. Nancy from a nurses perspective..does it disk spinal related? Some people tell me a lower back herniation couldn't cause neck issues...some people tell me it can and will.