I had ACDF surgey in September, and at that time was having severe hand and arm problems. After the surgery, that seemed to immediately disappear, althought recovery has been extremely painful thus far. Anyway, after seeing my pain mgmt doc, and him manipulating my neck further than it had ever been manipulated, the arm pain was severe for about 2 weeks. It felt like I had a tourniquet around my upper arms and that my arms were filling up with blood. Extreme pressure. Tehn I started PT, and they put me on an arm excersise bike, and the arm pain returned with a vengeance! After the PT turned up the tension, I was up til 5 am crying in pain. I told him not to do it again, and he - very unslyly - tried to trick me and turned up the tension anyway, causing my arms to have so much pain and pressure, that I finally refused to use them at all during PT. It's been two weeks and counting and my shoulders - trapezius muscles - and upper back, and arms, especially foreams are throbbing and I can't sleep, pain meds only take the edge off. Nothing helps! My pain mgmt doc is obsessed with imagined sleep apnea and sent me for a sleep study, which I didn't show any signs of, and is sending me back for another, using a CPAP mask during the study. He won't seem to do anything except be obsessed with a problem I don't even have and won't give me any sleep meds, until these sleep studies are done. I amin some serious pain and think I may need nerve blocks, but can't seem to get gim interested in my problems at hand. I should also add, that when I first realized I was badly injured, I thought I'd torn my shoulder out of socket, and now I'm getting that same feeling. Mine is a work comp case, so changing doctors is going to take an act of congress - as I fought so hard to see this one since he came highly recommended as an expert on nerve blocks, which he's never suggested, as he seems only to care about this sleep issue that's already been proven not to exist. I'm SO miserable, I don't know what to do and want some answers! I've seen other people on this forum with the same problems and was wondering if arm pain might resolve itself?! Like I said, this last bout has lasted two weeks and isn't letting up! any advise would be appreciated! Thanks!

What kind of work did you do and how did you get the injury?

I ask because I wonder if you have a secondary injury happening..

[t felt like I had a tourniquet around my upper arms and that my arms were filling up with blood. Extreme pressure. Tehn I started PT, and they put me on an arm excersise bike, and the arm pain returned with a vengeance! After the PT turned up the tension, I was up til 5 am crying in pain. I told him not to do it again, and he - very unslyly - tried to trick me and turned up the tension anyway, causing my arms to have so much pain and pressure,It's been two weeks and counting and my shoulders - trapezius muscles - and upper back, and arms, especially foreams are throbbing and I can't sleep, pain meds only take the edge off.]

Parts of that sound very much like what happens to many with thoracic outlet syndrome {TOS}
TOS info:
http://www.medifocushealth.com/RT017/index.php
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/thoracic_outlet/
http://tos-syndrome.com/newpage12.htm
http://tos-syndrome.com
http://www.doctorellis.com
http://www.cwce.com/feinbergarticles/tos.htm
http://www.tellmeabouttos.com

You might want to read on our TOS forum too , if the symptoms fit-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

Leslie,

I had bad arm pain last summer and my fusions are at C3/C4 and C5/C6. But this was coming from my C6/C7. However, my MRI looks good for that level. The nerve roots can and do get aggravated and I also went into PT. The PT made it so much worse! But I was doing as the NS suggested since my arms were weak. I was chasing myself at that time because the pain was so bad. So, one weekend I called my PM and he gave me a Medrol Dosepak which kicked it out. I still had pain in my right shoulder though. I went into to see him; he manipulated the shoulder joint and recreated the pain I was having. Then he knew it was strictly from the joint and so did I! So, he proceeded with an injection that didn't hurt at all by the way; the thing was...I just had inflammation. That shot kicked that out too!

Anyway, I talked in depth with him about this the other day because my arms feel weak. But he has had two fusions himself and says he has the same thing. And said something about the brain perceiving pain as weakness or visa versa. BECAUSE...my arm strength is great! But he did say...it could also be permanent damage; he has it himself. And I know from time to time he will get injections in his own neck. He did say that when we carry something or lift something those good discs just kind of squish and press on the nerve roots. So, that is what I am feeling and that is what he feels.

It is all starting to calm down now and he told me the key is not to lift anything too heavy. I was telling him sometimes it hurts to just carry my purse and no, it is not heavy. And he says it kills him just to carry a gallon of milk. I don't know how he handles it all because he is not allowed to take any pain meds.

Anyway, you are just out of surgery basically. September was not that long ago. It can take up to a full year or more to recover. You could try asking him for some Valium because you would be surprised at how muscles spasms can trick you into thinking that all heck has busted out! I thought I had a torn rotator cuff too...just all kinds of things. But in actuality it is all muscle spasms from the nerves being ticked off. And if the doc won't give you meds or injections or something to help with the pain, I am sorry, but I would be finding a new one. I am just a little shocked that they would have you do PT right now anyway. The one thing my PM told me was NEVER to let a physical therapist start tugging and pulling on your arms WITHOUT FIRST knowing what is actually going on. Hang in there and I hope you can get some relief.

TOS! Yes, I actually though I had that in the beginning, but let me back up.

I injured myself grooming dogs. I was working about 12 hours a day and started having trouble with my right hand. Tests for carpel tunnel came back negative. (EMG) In the meantime I was given a 10 lb weight restriction, and went back to work and fought with my boss, him making me groom dogs of all weights. In additoin to my hand problems, I started to get weak in the right arm, then the left. After a few weeks of this, I "crashed" with my pinky and forfinger splayed out, unable to move them. I had been grooming 2 matted chows, as it was summertime at the time, with my left arm and woke up the morning after thinking I'd pulled my arm out of it's socket!

After two weeks of laying on the couch, I finally went to see an unknown doctor, who sent me for a C-Spine and T-Spine MRI. I had two herniated discs C-5-7 and one bulging at C-4 and when I went for ACDF surgery, my T-Spine was collapsed due to C-7 pushing it outwards.

I looked up a few of the pages mentioned by Jo55 (thank you!) and failed, or passed depending on the way you look at it, the tests mentioned on one of the pages. I was looking into TOS when my neck was diagnosed. I'm going to look into it some more right now, and mention this to my PM/neuro tomorrow.

Hopefully, he would recognize the symptoms of TOS and has methods of his own to rule it out or diagnose it.

As for Valium, I had a prescription of it once and found it to be VERY helpful, even taken in a very small amount. I wish they'd give me that now, but nothing doing until the sleep study comes back (scheduled 3/26). I've suffered this long, I guess I'll have to make it another few weeks.

Thanks so much to you guys for your responses and help!

Leslie

Thanks for the help to everyone.