Fuck! My neck and arm are killing me!!!

[Solon]

OK, I just came back from an EMG, for those who don't know, I have a pinched nerve somewhere between my neck and my left hand, shoulder hurts, my pinky and ring finger tingles, may lose the use of the arm entirely, yadda yadda yadda. So, to isolate where the nerve is pinched, and which one is pinched, I got an EMG done, think EKG but more painful. OK, the first part wasn't bad, first, the Doctor was a very pretty Chinese woman, very easy on the eyes, that I didn't mind. ;) OK, so first thing she did was put two sticky sensors at various places on my arm, using a measuring tape and a pen to mark my arm in various locations. So she had a laptop hooked to the two sticky sensors, then she had what looked like a stun gun on a wire, and she then proceeded to shock my arm. This was no big deal, most of the time I barely registered it, other times my hand or entire arm would jump, not to mention that every time she did it, the readout on the laptop would go haywire, at least to me.

OK, that wasn't so bad, but that wasn't all, next was what she called a "needle" test, where she too a LONG needle and penetrated it into my muscles along my hand and arm. It was hooked up to a wire and a speaker, this was the bad part of the test. The first two places she pricked were the back of my hand, where I barely felt it, and then the base of my thumb, where it hurt like hell. Bear in mind that she has to MOVE the needle while it is in the muscle to register the electrical/muscular activity. She told me to press against her hand with my index finger or thumb and a burst of static would come out the speaker. So then she moved up the arm, first the forearm, near my funny bone, that didn't hurt too bad, then my bicep, that didn't hurt either. Then she told me to go into a fetal position with my back facing her so that she can do the same to my neck. THIS is where it didn't hurt initially, but hurts like hell now. She told me to relax the muscles, and she did it about 4 times into the neck at various locations on the left side of the spinal cord. This is a very small location, and she told me to relax so many times it was ridiculous, she didn't want to hear anything coming out of the speaker, and I had to concentrate REALLY hard just to relax. After many minutes she was done, told me that she'd love for me to come back, and told me where it was most likely pinched, near where the base of the neck and the shoulder meets.

About five minutes after the fact, as I was going home, this thing hit like a ton of bricks, my neck feels like someone wrenched it to one side, and my arm feels like it lost a fight all by itself. Ugh, wish I had some morphine.

[XemaSab]

1. Like, OW!

x(

[AlienGirl]

2. EMGs are awful!

I sat with my ex through a couple. :scared:

Tucker

[radwriter0555]

3. A chiropractor that employs the Activator Method of practice would be

very beneficial.

I've ridden that horse you're on and it sucks. US docs have NO clue what to do about nerve impingement. All they do is treat the pain, not the actual pinching causing it, which is your neck and back vertabrae out of alignment.

Good luck. I hope you have something to ease your pain!!!!!

[Solon]

4. My nerve is apparently...

pinched by a torn and swollen ligament somewhere behind the shoulder blade, at least that was what they were able to tell me from the X-Ray I had. My backbone is perfect, from base of skull to my tailbone. They told me I need surgery to fix it, but damned if I can afford that. It sucks, I was changing jobs at the time, and didn't qualify for the health insurance yet when I woke up with this pain in my shoulder one morning and had to go to the doctor. It sucks. :(

[radwriter0555]

5. Yes, I've heard of this thing... I had a friend who actually had a rib

removed over the exact same thing. It solved nothing, but the surgery was awful.

A RIB removed.

How did you tear a ligament behind your shoulder blade?

Thing is, when you get the insurance, don't mention this injury or it may well be excluded from your coverage.

Has a chiropractor told you your spine is perfect? Or did the ortho docs tell you this?

This whole pinching of the nerve thing by a ligament is ambiguous at best. The effectiveness of such surgery is terribly low. When your insurance does kick in, get another opinion.

Find out the actual name for the condition you have, and find the best doctor in your area to treat this type of thing, usually the best PROFESSIONAL sports medicine doctor, then backtrack your health care plan to try and get in to that doctor. The idea is, you find out what HC plans that doc takes that your coverage allows you to get to see them.

I'm really sorry for your pain and discomfort. I truly understand where you're at in terms far to laborious to go into here.

Try to get with an anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. A steroid may also be effective. Morphine merely makes you think the pain isn't as bad as it is. You need to treat the source of the pain and reduce its impact on the nerve.

Good luck and big gentle hugs.

[Solon]

8. Removed a RIB?!?!?!

Holy Shit, by the way, I have no clue as to how mine happened, I literally woke up one morning with a burning pain that was all over my shoulder blade. Unfortunately, I went to the doctor straight away, not an emergency room, and any insurance I get right now, they would ask for those medical records and I wouldn't get covered for this. I went to like 3 doctors, two general practitioners and a orthopedic surgeon. The initial x-ray I got plus a few others were only able to tell that my bones are in the proper alignment, that's about it as far as X-Rays. However, one of the things I CANNOT do with my shoulder is, ok, let's see if I can describe it. Hold you forearm straight ahead, with your elbow at a 90 degree angle, as if resting your arms on an armrest on a deskchair. Then swing you forearm out so that your hands are facing completely away from the body on your side, keeping the angle of 90 degrees on the elbow. OK, I can do that with my right arm, no problem, but not the left, the doctor told me I possibly had a torn rotator cuff, he thinks that's the most likely culprit.

Right now I'm taking an anti-inflammatory drug, Piroxicam, and it helps, a little bit, though I have a great deal of discomfort and the arm can't handle any significant weight without pain. Plus if I use it too much I get what I call hot and cold flashes confined to my shoulder blade with a great deal of tingling mixed in. It feels weird, to say the least, also, just as a side note, my remark about Morphine was a joke.

[radwriter0555]

10. Wow, what a total drag. Well, since they can't pinpoint the actual problem

It sure sounds like their diagnosis are all over the map, or at least your upper torso.

Which means, they have NO clue... which, unless they see blood and broken bones sticking out, is the norm for US doctors. They do not know how to deal with actual pain and it's soooo frustrating.

If you tore your rotator cuff, you'd know it. They'd know it too.

If you tore a muscle under your shoulder blade, you'd know it too, and so would they.

Which leads me back again to your spine.

Somewhere, a nerve is being compressed. Rarely is a nerve compressed too far away from the spine. Docs tend to look at the location of the pain, rather than the origin of the nerve from whence the pain is originating. But the thing is, the pain in your hand CAN come from a pinched nerve in your back. All it takes is a millimeter of off-alignment to send things whacky.

I wish I could impress upon you more to visit a good chiropractor who employs the activator method, in addition to massage therapy AND steroids.

Yes, steroids. It sounds like the nerves are all inflamed. At this stage, an anti-inflam isn't enough on its own, and about 6 to 8 weeks on a low steroid would de-sensitize the nerve and bring you a lot of relief. I say this because of the hot and cold flashes you're having.

I really feel for you, I do. I've been battling the same types of problems since a series of accidents and injuries in recent years.

I am SO lucky I found a doc who put me onto steroids pronto after all the dicking around the US docs did with me, affording me no relief at all, and making my conditions worse. I was on the steroids for 3 months with a total reversal of the nerve problems in my hands, arms and legs and feet. The chiro is helping too, but I've been set back with problems with my MATTRESS! So now I have learned that I definitely need a new mattress and am off to get a nice, soft latex one, after a few hours of research.

Here's the thing with your new insurance.

Don't tell them you have had these problems. They may not actually go looking for disclosures, since they won't know where to look, necessarily.

Please, please, try a chiropractor. http://www.activator.com/qualified_doctors_2.asp?st=MO&cntry=USA

Big hugs.

[NMDemDist2]

6. check your PM n/t

[crispini]

7. Please, please, look in to acupuncture.

It did me a world of good-- although I did not have a pinched nerve and it may not be able to help you. I did however have chronic tendonitis and what they thought was carpal tunnel --- tingling, pain, etc. Good luck. :hug:

[flamingyouth]

9. God, I feel for you

I've been there a couple of times. Not fun, not at all. Believe me, you have my sympathy! :hug:

(I'm still in PT from a car accident in August that herniated three discs in my neck, one of which really caused a lot problems in my left arm, but at last it it's finally getting better.)