Hi, has anyone else experienced this? I found a thread from 7 years ago, but nothing recent. Long story short, for two years now I've had a cervical disc herniation C5/C6 with pinched nerve, pins and needles in right hand, pulsatile tinnitus, headaches at the base of my skull, neck pain, ear fullness, feeling off balance, and probably a few more I'm leaving out. Initially I tried to manage it with Motrin, but it sometimes didn't even lessen the pain a little. Went to PT which helped slightly, but nothing noticeable. Have been with my chiro for 6 months (specializes in Active Release Technique) which really helped, but isn't doing much as of late.

I hate this! I'm almost 33 years old, have a young daughter to look after. I'm so irritable over it all. The headaches alone on top of taking care of a 3 year old is terrible. I feel like I can't function as a mother.

Has anyone had success with surgery? At first I was against surgery and tried to treat it in various ways (listed above), but I'm seriously considering surgery. Thinking maybe a disc replacement. I just really think being as young as I am, I shouldn't have to live my life in this much pain for hopefully the next 40+ years.

Welcome Kvans81.

Someone will be along to help.

You might post again in the Spinal Disorders & Back Pain forum.

A lot of people (so the therapists tell me) do the PT exercises during the 8 week (or whatever) course, and then stop, especially if the results are not what they expect/hope. Thing is, results sometimes don't kick in until after the session is over, and then you have to stick with it forever, or the symptoms will return.

I still do PT exercises from 10 years ago, and they help keep my headaches away. They also keep my range of motion better than some folks without cervical problems, which has recently amazed a few medicos.

Doc

Hi
You might want to see if you can join the discussion on FaceBook for cervical stenosis. I imagine you have this with herniation. There are loads of people on this site that have had surgery and lots of help there.

You know I saw on FB that a dr said if cervical stenosis is caught in your 30/40's they can help with it .. I sure would like to know what they do to stop this from progressing and becoming a problem.