[fzarrillo]

I am new here so please bear with me.I'll give the short version of where i'm at now. This started in february when i woke up one day and my 4th and 5th fingers on my left hand became half way numb.About 2 weeks later i started having extreme pain from my neck all the way through my right arm,with tingling in my fingers. This mostly happens when i try to sleep,i only get about 1 1/2 hrs. sleep before the pain wakes me up.I've been to 2 surgeons (neuro and ortho), one said the surgery i need can't be done and the other said he doesn't thing surgery will help. The neurosurgeon is the chief of surgery for a very good hospital. I'm going for a 3rd opinion next week. Needless to say i'm getting alittle worried. i would appreciate any help or opinions that anybody can offer.I'm just very confused right now. By the way i'm 56yrs old and you can call me FAZ..here's my MRI..

FINDINGS: There is congenital spinal stenosis secondary to short pedicles. There is straightening of the cervical lordosis. There is minimal degenerative retrolisthesis of c3 on c4 and c4 on c5.
AT C3-C4...A focal posterior disc osteophte complex contributes to spinal stenosis and mild cord impingement. There is moderate severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing fromuncinate process and facet hypertrophy.

AT C4-C5..A broad based disk osteophyte complex and ligmentum flavum hypertrophy contribute to spinal stenosis and mild cord impingement. There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from short pedicles and incinate process hypertrophy.

AT C5-C6..A broad based disk osteophyte complex,partially efface the ventral thecal sac without cord compression, There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from short pedicles and uncinate process hypertrophy.

AT C6-C7..A right paracentral osteophyte complex efface the ventral thecal sac and results in mild spinal cord impingement on the right. There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from uncinate proces and facet hypertrophy.

AT C7-T1..There is right greater than left facet hypertrophy,with prominent osteophytes. A medially oriented right facet osteophyte minimally indents the right dorsal aspect of the spinal cord.There is severe bilateral foraminal narrowing from facet and uncinate process hypertrophy.

AT T1-T2...A left paracentral disk protrusion mildly indents the ventral thecal sac without cord compression. There is moderate left mild right foraminal narrowing from facet hypertrophy.

IMPRESSION: Congenital spinal stenosis with superimposed spondylotic changes. There is mild cord impingement at c3-c4,c4-c5,and c6-c7 without associated cord signal abnormality. There is multilevel foraminal narrowing essentially including all right sided neural foramina and the left c7-t1 neural foramen.

[Jomar]

Do the drs think your symptoms match up with the findings?

Have you had any PT to see if there is any improvement?
PTs can also do an assessment/evaluation if the drs haven't done any comprehensive 'hands on" assessment.

I'm asking because the symptoms sound so much like Thoracic outlet syndrome.. TOS for short.
Sometimes if you've had a whiplash type injury, long time desk or repetitive motion job, poor upper body posture with forward head/forward shoulders, TOS can occur. We've had weight lifters/other sports people with TOS also.

TOS is often due to the brachial plexus area being crowded and closed down, pinching on nerves and blood flow to the arms.
Here is our TOS forum if you want to read more about it -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

[Leesa]

Hi ~ I think if it were me, I'd want to try physical therapy before any surgery. I don't think surgery is imperative at this time - but I'm no doctor either. Just from what I'm seeing on your MRI, it just doesn't appear necessary at this time.

I vote for physical therapy. God bless and take care. hugs, Lee

[Dubious]

Originally Posted by fzarrillo

I am new here so please bear with me.I'll give the short version of where i'm at now. This started in february when i woke up one day and my 4th and 5th fingers on my left hand became half way numb.About 2 weeks later i started having extreme pain from my neck all the way through my right arm,with tingling in my fingers. This mostly happens when i try to sleep,i only get about 1 1/2 hrs. sleep before the pain wakes me up.I've been to 2 surgeons (neuro and ortho), one said the surgery i need can't be done and the other said he doesn't thing surgery will help. The neurosurgeon is the chief of surgery for a very good hospital. I'm going for a 3rd opinion next week. Needless to say i'm getting alittle worried. i would appreciate any help or opinions that anybody can offer.I'm just very confused right now. By the way i'm 56yrs old and you can call me FAZ..here's my MRI..

FINDINGS: There is congenital spinal stenosis secondary to short pedicles. There is straightening of the cervical lordosis. There is minimal degenerative retrolisthesis of c3 on c4 and c4 on c5.
AT C3-C4...A focal posterior disc osteophte complex contributes to spinal stenosis and mild cord impingement. There is moderate severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing fromuncinate process and facet hypertrophy.

AT C4-C5..A broad based disk osteophyte complex and ligmentum flavum hypertrophy contribute to spinal stenosis and mild cord impingement. There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from short pedicles and incinate process hypertrophy.

AT C5-C6..A broad based disk osteophyte complex,partially efface the ventral thecal sac without cord compression, There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from short pedicles and uncinate process hypertrophy.

AT C6-C7..A right paracentral osteophyte complex efface the ventral thecal sac and results in mild spinal cord impingement on the right. There is severe right and mild left foraminal narrowing from uncinate proces and facet hypertrophy.

AT C7-T1..There is right greater than left facet hypertrophy,with prominent osteophytes. A medially oriented right facet osteophyte minimally indents the right dorsal aspect of the spinal cord.There is severe bilateral foraminal narrowing from facet and uncinate process hypertrophy.

AT T1-T2...A left paracentral disk protrusion mildly indents the ventral thecal sac without cord compression. There is moderate left mild right foraminal narrowing from facet hypertrophy.

IMPRESSION: Congenital spinal stenosis with superimposed spondylotic changes. There is mild cord impingement at c3-c4,c4-c5,and c6-c7 without associated cord signal abnormality. There is multilevel foraminal narrowing essentially including all right sided neural foramina and the left c7-t1 neural foramen.

You need to be hooked up with electrodiagnostics to help weed it out. It might be that your 4th and 5th finger issues on the left could be handled by a foraminotomy but from what you say more information is needed. The right side? A mystery so far. I would think there is also a place for a trial of diagnostic/therapeutic interlaminar epidurals or even transforaminal epidural of C7-T1. Your clinician knows best! See a neurologist!