Hi there
 

Hello, I introduced myself in another part of the forum, somehow.

I am from Canada and I came here to ask for help.
I was involved in a car accident, 2 and a half years ago.. as a result I had a neck injury (whiplash) with disc herniation, nerve damage, thoracic outlet syndrome, horrible burning sensations leaking from my neck down my shoulders, more right than left, my right arm and hand are always numb and painful to pressure, I feel that the quality of my life has decreased consistently and now I am dealing with a lot of pain (very low dose of meds) and I am feeling so sad and depressed lately.

I cannot shake the pain away, is always there, sometimes my neck is so stiff I can barely move, I had 150 physiotherapies in 2 years, I do believe that although I have not improved, also not gotten worse just maintaining my ability to work and perform basic activities.

I am also taking the pain steroid injections in my back, and neck.
they help tremendously however last about 6 weeks and also cause the pain to move to the other untreated areas..

I am in so much pain that I have been entertaining thoughts of dying or not wanting to live like this..
I need help
I am taking very low dose of meds
I stretch exercise daily,
I eat healthy

I have chronic insomnia since the accident
I also have chronic exhaustion, dysphagia, and breathing problems with a weezing coming out of my neck.

specialists have brushed me off
everybody seems to think that because it was a car accident, I have ulterior motives, my doctors are supportive only a couple of the specialists have been mean.

because soft tissue injuries are hard to detect, I have been given a myriad of tests to rule out everything else.

Some of the tests are brutal (like the barium swallow) and although the test showe a problem with the mobility of the esophagus and a the swallow being stuck in the neck without coming down from the neck, they told me that it was acid reflux, and brushed me off.

I am sad and depressed, my doctor sent me to do another test (soft tissue neck ultrasound) but

Greetings!!
 

:hug: Nothing worse than not having immediate answers, and feeling dismissed. Combine the pain and insomnia and you have the key ingredient to why you are feeling sad and depressed. You need sleep to give your body and mind time to heal. What do your doctors say about the chronic insomnia? The pain, is obviously real, it's just the less you sleep, the worse the cycle of pain becomes.

Hope this next round of testing isn't too brutal for you. Hang in there, knowing we are here for moral support. :hug:

MH,
I know how you feel about your quality of life. Without sleep and in constant pain, how could you not feel down
I have had terrible neuropathy and nobody can tell. My husband doesn't get it, he just expects me to wake up and be the wife I was before the four chemotherapies.
I am emotionally drained from the pain. To add insult to injury, I am an artist who has little feeling left in my hands. Well, I got to suck it up. So, I take a half of an ambian every single night and get as much exercise as possible. It is the fountain of youth.
I hope that you can feel that I am very concerned about
you. It is terrible that people were mean to you.
It is just awful. You did not ask to be in the accident
I remember something slightly similar happening to me when a huge box fell on me in my own driveway! It was off if a UPS truck. My kind boss insisted on filing a claim to my company and getting me some help. First and last time I had Workman's compensation. Not for salary but for medical attention in the way of therapy. The place treated me as if I was faking it! My shoulder tendons were torn and yet the docs talked to me with smug looks. I was shocked.
I hope you have a pain free day. Aromatherapy might help with pain. Peppermint tea and Valerian root are calming.
Until next time,
TM

MH - I too understand how you feel. Dealing with the constant chronic pain can be draining, add to that the insomnia and you just want to give up...i get it. I also have a 6mm syrinx from c6-t1 caused entirely from a brutal car accident. I have many of the same symptoms as you the only thing I can add is the horrible "pressure" migraines. I used to get the occipital nerve blocks every 6 weeks and because they helped the headaches/neck nerve pain I was referred to a ns for an operation to remove the nerves. So if they are working for you definitely keep doing it. Sometimes it feels as though noone (friends, family, doctors, etc) believe us but we just have to keep pushing through. I too have seen many doctors since 2003 most of them thought I was crazy and imagining it. Much like the dr the state of Ok provided for me now does. Didn't mean to ramble on about my issues guess sometimes you just need to vent lol. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone and that there is someone else out there who knows how you feel.

Hope to talk to you again soon.....sending gentle :hug:

MH,
Have you been able to get some relief.? Hope so.
Please don't give up trying.
TM:hug:

Have they sent you to a Neurosurgeon? If not, ask them to. And are you on anything for Neuropathy? Ask your doctor for something, such as Topamax. I didn't like Neurontin(Gabapentin) as I gained alot of water weight and felt loopy all the time.

It sounds like there is nerve impingement to me. Otherwise why would your right arm and hand be numb all the time? How can you "dream" that up? Are they all NUTS or something? :eek: Have you had an MRI with and without contrast material? That's what you need so they can SEE the soft tissue.

I hope you get some PROPER treatment soon! You sure need it. God bless and please take care. Hugs, Lee :)

Thank you very much for your kind words, I do believe that I was nose diving down last week when I wrote my post.. I ended up with a massive breakdown.. went to my doc, my physio and counseling and cried my eyes out.. ended up dehydrated to the point of going to the ER ... they put 2 bags of that liquid to rehydrate me.. I slept two hours at the er, gave me some anti-vomiting med and sent me home.. I feel better now, my doctor rx antidepressants for two weeks I took one and got violently ill from my stomach so I stopped and decided that my stomach is worth the pain in the rest of my body so I will not take more meds my stomach is ruined completely after 2 years.

not really
 

I am taking one Tylenol 3
nabilone
flexerel
pain clinic shots
and was taking lyrica, arhtrotec, topical antiinflamatory,

most of the pain I am feeling is postwithdrawals from the meds I quit and oversensitive nerves... I thought it was going to be easier but I am not willing to go back I will quit all meds and go back to a natural way of dealing with pain

I do believe that meds are ruining my life my stomach hurts so much, I cannot swallow or eat well so it makes the problem worse... meds with no food in the stomach are evil.. no relief yet

I want to be referred to a neurosurgeon but I forgot to ask the doctor last time I saw him.. no more meds for me, I cannot tolerate them my stomach, constipation etc I hate them with passion


I had the mri, cat scan, xrays and everyother test under the sun and was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and neuropathy and cervicalia due to disk bulge herniated c5 and nerve damage in the same area.