Nerve Pain in Neck
 

After 2 months of no flare-ups I had a nasty one that is lasting 3 weeks. It happened to correspond with trying to go back to work. This is the worst of my symptoms. I get nerve/burning pain in the back of my neck that gets worse as the day goes on.Sometimes around my armpits and down my arm and in my upper back.I have started taking neurontin and celebrex during the day. Only 300 mg, so I dont get too tired but I dont think it is helping. The numbness in my pinky is mostly gone. My Trapezius muscles get really tight. No one ever seems to talk about the back of the neck or the traps and I continually wonder if it comes from my C-5 6 disc bulge and bone spurs.

Do other TOS sufferers get nerve pain in the back of the neck and top of shoulder? How many of you have c-5/6 disc bulges? I am doing what I did the first time I got it to calm down,(microcurrent and ozone injections) but its all very expensive and I dont know which worked.

I am contemplating getting the disc taken care of now to eliminate it as a suspect-i.e.facet block injections, epidural,disc surgery etc. Will give it a couple more months and going to try a new pain doc to help manage drugs, injections etc.

When i was working I would get a very strong burning pain in my upper back/neck muscles and the C-T junction of the neck.
For awhile I could recover over the weekends but as soon as I was back at work for a few hrs it would start to burn & ache again escalating each day.. until finally it was a constant pain..
then they put me on modified work prepping parts , but it was still repetitive and forward postures..so still went downhill.. til I got put off work totally.

That was when the PT was able to start to be effective, while working it could not offset the 10 hr days of work.

It was a work comp claim so had to play it their way...kind of wasted some time & healing but I didn't find out about TOS until later in the injury.

I don't recall what kind of work you do , but if you can modify it or change to something less likely to aggravate TOS , I suggest thinking about that..

What kind of info do you have on your c spine disk/spurs? MRI report and how recent?
I have some anterior spurs but as of 2005 MRI they didn't pose any issue.

Hello jkl626.Your not alone,before my cervical fusion 2012 i also tried going back to work on light duty.Wich was just going around with a light push broom,it was hell the same symptoms you are having.After my c6/7 fusion continue deep stabbing pain at base of skull/bi-lateral carpal tunnel conclusion failed surgery.Just some advice if you do go through the surgery and the fusion is solid but your still in same or different pain do not hesitate to let the surgeon know.Mine would say you have a solid fusion and i would ask why am i worse, of course no response,So good luck!By the way you might know all those inj. if they do work are only temp!

jkl26,

I have burning in the back of my neck and pain on the sides of my neck into my traps. This is probably my most constant pain. I don't have bulging disks though I do have some irregularities in my cervical spine -- nothing that requires surgery.

I had rib resection and scalenectomy in 2005 but I only got worse.

Good luck,
Kelly

I have mri's and Emg's which show disc bulge, moderate to severe foraminal narrowing and bone spurs. I left that behind because my pinky was getting numb instead of my thumb and Dr. Jordan and others felt that it was the TOS causing everything, but that I may have both.

In terms of work, I do work with my arm and lean forward drawing over a drafting table and I have not worked in almost 3 years. I went to work for 5 days to try it out. It actually wasnt the work that brought it on this time as I had the flare up before I started the job. It was miserable to work but it wasnt making it worse. I had 2 good days where I had no flare up. I feel like I overstreched it with a karate strap or showing my husband some yoga moves on our vacation. I also feel like I strained my upper back in the scalpula area again which I believe is the source. I am wondering if it is the long thoracic nerve that gets flared-(Something Dr. Filler suggested long ago but Dr. Jordan dissed. Ugh. I need to research that. So complicated!

jkl626,

When this all started for me 12 years ago, the doctors originally thought the cause was my neck. After ordering a second MRI, they said the damage wasn't what was causing the symptoms. Soon everyone was pointing to TOS as the culprit. I think it's some combination of neck and TOS. I don't think bodies line up perfectly with diagnoses.

The back of my neck used to burn like crazy when I was working (as a lawyer reviewing documents all day). The burning at the back of my neck seems connected to tilting my head and holding my hands forward (reading also causes this problem).

Good luck sorting it out. It's good that work didn't make you feel worse.

Take care,
Kelly

There are few things that I have done to relax the traps. Deep tissue massage, specifically deep tissue. There is a massage school in my city that charges thirty five dollars, they know me well.

Dry needling. My pt has done this, you will be sore, but if works well, until it comes back.

Warm bath with lots of Epsom salts. Rub in some icy hot to the traps. Do fist rib mobilization with a tennis ball laying down, however, put heating pad on high and over tennis ball, it is a redneck shiatsu massage!

Drink lots of water before and after, lots and lots of water to flush out the lactic acid.

That's my two cents anyway. Oh. And muscle relaxants...

I would suspect the bulging disc. I am dealing with the same thing: 2 bulges in arthritic discs, bone spurs, DDD. The neck refers the pain out to the head, causing the traps and scalenes to brace/spasm... mine has been made worse from too much use of arms.

The spine doc wants to do nerve oblation, but Im not ready (mentally) for that yet. Right now, he says my lumbar is much worse than my neck, so I may have to deal with that first.

Hang in there jkl, you are not alone.
A.

How about looking at it from the other way round? How do you know it's compression at the brachial plexus when the imaging shows abnormalities at the nerve root?

I'm in a similar situation with a C7 disc bulge with corresponding reduced nerve conductivity. I think it is this that is causing most of the pain and the TOS is a by product of very tight scalenes trying to support the irritated joint.

TOS disgnoses are in many cases the result of what's left after having investigated all other possible causes.

Thanks Eight! I find that massage generally flares me up worse, we dont have dry needling in CA but I do acupunture regularly, it seems to be the same thing pretty much as long as they put needles in the trigger points. It doesnt really help me longer than a couple of days. I will try your tennis ball method, usualy ice works better for my nerve pain(numbs it, but am trying heat again for tight muscles.

What kind of muscle relaxants can you take in the day that dont make you tired? I take a flexeril once in awhile at night but I am doughy all the next day.

I had TRP injections yesterday , PT today and acupuncture with Frequency Specific Microcurrent tomorrow-I hope things calm down soon!!