im glad your getting that done are you having any numbness symptoms or mainly pain?

Usually for MRIs they will sometimes order full spine - or cervical spine only, or lumbar only, or thoracic spine only, or a combo etc - depending on location of pain & symptoms.

Do you know which areas your MRI is going to cover, C, T or L spine or all?



It might help for readers here if you list out all your symptoms here.
Then that list might be helpful to take to the drs also, sometimes they focus in on one thing and a clear list will make sure they are aware of everything.


If it was mainly neck/arm pain , I would suggest you read about thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) but you have other lower body issues mentioned as well. Can you hold your arms up overhead for any length of time like 2-3 minutes? Or do they get very tired, painful, heavy, turn white?
Or you can't even lift/hold them up at all?


There are many other things it could be and those all need to be ruled in/out for best diagnoses.

Glad you are getting that MRI. We all care about you. ginnie

yes lissa is 100 percent correct regarding chiro on neck. but theres even scarier stuff to worry about. the nerves and the blood vessels travel close together in the neck. some studies show chiro adjustments in neck can actually cause strokes.
regarding whether a ct scan be wrong. i doubt a ct of the bones and calcium deposits would ever be wrong. where there is always a question is the discs. they are tough to diagnose even with an mri. sometimes even the mri isnt that accurate. studies have shown the ct myelogram to be the most accurate but its not the safest or most comfortable procedure.
ten years ago i had the best neurosureon in town do a 4 level fusion on my neck. he told me he wanted the best pictures he could get before the surgery. so he did mri, ct, and even the myelogram. he said each test give him more valuable info....i am pretty much pain free now in arms , neck and shoulders.
its always good to get a few opinions regarding surgery.....pete

I will for sure share my MRI results asap!

I am taking Dilaudid for pain but either I'm building a tolerance or the pain is getting worse (im sure both) but i'm up to 6mg every 4-6 hours and it only takes the edge off! I've tried a million others, anti-inflammatories do nothing for some reason...?? figure that one out? and Gabapentin, I'm sure works good, but I can't get to the right dose amount without becoming comatosed, and that's doesn't work with three young boys running round the house!

The way it works here in BC Canada is that first you see your GP, so when my neck first got bad he suggested pt and chiro, so I did what he said. Then he ordered x-rays, they showed stage 2 ddd, so he then ordered a CT, after he saw the CT results he then referred me to a neuro. He was a complete a-hole and said "your ct looks perfect and there's nothing wrong with your neck and that the radiologist that did the report "well that's just one persons opinion, I'm the specialist". So after bursting into tears he finally said "well fine, we'll do and MRI"....so frustrating

awwww....xo

Thanks Pete! I am hoping a praying that my MRI shows something more (or whatever it is that my neurosurgeon is looking for to warrant and "not" normal test...lol) I also will be asking my Dr today for another referral for a neuro so I can get a second opinion. I am so glad to hear that you have reached success with treatment!

My mri is only C spine. This is my CT report:

C4-C5:small posterior disc protrusion w/o central canal stenosis
C5-C6:mild right posterior lateral disc osteophyte complex formation and a small posterior disc herniation, resulting in minimal central canal stenosis and effacement of the right lateral recess.
C6-C7:tiny posterior central disc protrusion and minimal posterior disc osteophyte complex formation with minimal central canal stenosis.
C7-T1:minimal posterior disc osteophyte complex formation without significant central canal stenosis.

So I know it's not horrible, but it's got to be the cause of my pain. I don't know what else could be. I am an athletic 37 yr old mother of 3 boys, with no other health problems. I used to be and avid snowboarder and raced border-cross for years and have had several severe whiplash accidents and two bad car accidents with whiplash.

I have the sharp pain in the center of my neck around C5-T1 mostly radiates into my left shoulder, bicep, elbow and wrist and three outside fingers also with very bed headaches that can come on in an instant and also be gone in an instant. My pain progresses through the day depending on my level of activity. I am taking 6 mg of dilaudid every 4-6 hours, I've tried naproxin, toradol, tramadol, cyclobenzaprine, gabapentin(can't get to the right dose as I end up drooling on the couch and the children fending for themselves), t3's and probably more but can't remember right now.

I can hold my right arm above my head for some time without any problem, but my left gets shooting pain in my shoulder and I can't lift it, without bad pain, higher that shoulder height. I get pretty bad lower back pain but I think it's from the other problems and poor posture due to me favoring my upper back, also my T5-6 has a compressed disk but to what extent I'm not sure, all the focus has been on my neck as that's the worst area for pain, everything else has been put on the back burner.

Mostly pain, but if I get myself into certain positions, like sitting at the computer or on the couch, my arm will go numb also, standing I will get horrible burning sensation over my left shoulder blade...like, very bad, feels like someone's holding a hot iron on me!

hmmm, previous whiplash can be a factor for TOS( Adhesions and fascia scarring internally) , could you be hyper mobile too? another factor..
If drs still say mri looks ok, then maybe look into our tos forum here.

much of your descriptions sound very much like tos, but any c spine issues need to ruled in or out.