I wrote this for my doctor to see if it would help him stop going hmm and looking disinterested. Anyone had a similar experience or advise? any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks



5 years ago - Had a car crash, landed sideways in a ditch at 45mph striking head violently on the right side. Shortly after neck pain started, sometime after that numbness and pain began to build in both hands.

4 years ago - Referred to a consultant about my neck pain, had an MRI scan of my neck, showed no problems, taken no further.

2 years ago - had to stop work due to pain in hands, saw doctor satan, diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome paid for bilateral carpal tunnel release.

1.5 years ago - Symptoms still very bad if not worse than before operation, return to doctor satan, diagnosed with cubital tunnel syndrome. Paid for bi lateral cubital tunnel release.

6 months ago - Referred to doctor golf anyone?, symptoms still getting worse, neither operation has made any difference to my condition. Given a nerve conductivity test in both arms, test shows very slight compression in one arm from the surgery. The doctor suggests that it takes a long time for nerves to heal and that I should wait 6 months to see if they improve.

now -No improvement to any symptoms despite 4 thousand pounds worth of surgery, still unable to work, still in constant pain.


Long Term Symptoms:

- numb and very painful hands, particularly the ring and pinky fingers, thumb and wrist, though also the entire hand.

- The above manifests as, pins and needles, cramp, sharp pain, dull pain, numbness.

- Near constant pain in neck. Often moves up the back of my head causing migraines.

- Since september i have been getting arthritic symptoms in my hands, painful clicking knuckles and wrists.

- I have very poor circulation in my hands, they get cold very easily and hurt a lot till run under the tap for 5 minutes.

- Unable to carry out basic tasks without aggravating my condition and causing weeks of pain.

I am sorry to hear of your accident and subsequent problems.....
.....Those doctor's names seem familiar

Here's another forum you might want to check out since you seem to have nerve pain issues......even if you don't have Peripheral Neuropathy per se,
I think you'll benefit greatly from the feedback and support here...
The direct link to click on:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/fo...aysprune=&f=20

You'll find many caring folks here
NT has so much to offer, it's hard to figure out where to start looking sometimes

Caring
Rae

Thanks Rae

I'll stick a post up in that section.

Names have been changed to protect the identities of the terminally disinterested

It all sounds very familiar.

Sounds like the car crash set it all in motion.
You might want to look into filing a claim, I don't know the statute of limitations for car accidents, but if you have the medical records showing the continued & increasing problems...

but back to your symptoms-

There are what is called double & triple crush syndromes- that is TOS or TOS like injury plus symptoms at the carpal tunnel or the cubital tunnel - some have one of those and some will have both.

So it sounds like since the surgery for those didn't fix anything, that the focus needs to be in the neck/collarbone/top rib areas, possibly the pec minor also.

I think you need to seek out a doc with much more knowledge of TOS and brachial plexus injuries.

Does your neck, shoulders and upper back seem to be sore, strained and tight feeling quite often?

The tightness can travel down the arms and cause pulling on the joints, I get a tight or jammed feeling in my wrist when I've done too much without resting/stretching. Feels like it needs to pop or be pulled to release it.

But if you think it is arthritis that can be checked by xray usually.
The joints would probably be swollen if arthritis also.

check out stickys up above the thread list -

it is really helpful to look thru our useful stickys -
post # 1 has many info sites and help sites listed - kind of a crash course in TOS.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

drs & PT listings is there.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread135.html

Thanks, I'll have a look through the links

Yeah my neck is constantly hurting has since the crash, this causes the muscles in and around my neck to be permanently tight.

I'm sure my arthritic symptoms are related to the injury as they come and go in sync with the nerve pain i feel in my hands and wrists, and the pain in my neck. Also they mimic osteo arthritis, theirs no swelling or apparent auto immune response as you'd expect with gout or any of the rheumatoid arthritis's.

I'd love to sew doctor satan as I've been living in constant pain and poverty for 2 years due to his misdiagnosis and paid 4000 pounds for the privilege.

Though to be honest I just want my life back, I'm a mechanic, musician and avid gamer so my hands are my life.

Ahhh, those hobbies and job are a set up for TOS also.
Could be a combo of the crash and the job/hobbies.

In the useful stickys read up on posture, fascia, trigger points, Sharon Butlers stretching program for RSI & TOS {her book is in libraries},
body work - most of that is all stuff you can work on yourself or have a friend help- you can Google videos of massage, chiropractic, triggerpoint- all of those will help - I think it helps to see how it is done .

Are you having constant high pain { above a 6/7} ?

Many of the symptoms that you mentioned an expert & advanced PT person {or expert chiro that does PT modalities also} can get you going in the right direction - this is not a time for mediocre PT or rookies to be working on you...

Oh and read the chiro info about the upper cervical adjustments {also called atlas axis/c1/c2 etc} - it can get out of alignment quite easily.

Are you shoulders even & level or one higher than the other.?

Oh and the search tool is a great help for finding specific info in posts or threads.

Thanks jo*mar

Just got back from seeing a decent doctor at last, I think he thinks I've got tos. Getting a MRI, some blood work and a physio. So hopefully will soon know whats wrong and get some help.

I best go read all the sticky's