Brief Medical History Overview
Cervical spine bulging discs
Hello,
I had an MRI scan in 2007, which showed I had some wear and tear in my cervical spine, and last January (2010) woke up one morning with severe pain in my left shoulder, I initially thought I had slept awkwardly on it, so didn't rush to see a Doctor. After a few weeks, with no improvement on the pain, I saw my GP (one of many visits last year) I was given codeine phosphate, a few months later, after no improvement was given amytriptulin (spelt wrong!) eventually I was referred for Physiotherapy, and was told it was frozen shoulder, after 3 sessions and some accupuncture, the physiotherapist reffered me back to my GP, (as there had been no improvement). By this time, I was having quite severe dizzy spells, which she was concerned by, I was then referred to an Orthapedic surgeon, who relunctantly sent me for another MRI scan, this showed bulging discs in my cervical spine with impingement on the nerve exit route at c6/c7 level, on the left side. I have suffered with neck pain all the while I have had the shoulder pain, but the shoulder pain, has been more severe than the neck pain over this last 12 months - with my neck it is mostly a dull ache (constantly) and some days my head feels too heavy for my neck, and I feel like I need my neck to be supported if that makes sense. I was referred to a spinal specialist, and I feel really confused now after seeing him,(which was 2 weeks ago) with regards to my neck, he said that my guess would be as good as his, as to whether it is likely to get any worse, he has suggested no treatment, saying it would be easier to treat my shoulder, he confirmed there is bulging discs, and said there is some narrowing (don't know where the narrowing is, as he would elaborate) he seemed convinced the problem was more on the right side, and as I was only complaining of pain on the left side, didn't feel he needed to do anything with my neck. He told me he was unable to read an MRI scan on the shoulder as he was a spinal surgeon, and no report had been produced for the shoulder MRI. (even though the images were on the screen in front of him!!) so he has requested the report and said he will see me in 6 weeks, he gave me a cortisone injection in my shoulder, which left me climbing the walls in agony for around 2 hours afterwards, and has given me no other relief since. My problem now is, the pain appears to be getting worse in my neck area, and my husband has noticed a swelling around the left shoulder blade and at the base of my skull, I have been experiencing headaches, starting at the base of my skull, blurred vision and tightness around my neck, I also have pain and a feeling of pressure in my bicep and forearm on the left side, and yesterday pain started in my right shoulder/bicep area, which hasn't left me since... I feel like a hypocondriac, keep moaning of being in pain, and don't want to bother my GP, so just wondered if anyone out there had any advice. (sorry for the long post, I just wanted to give you the whole story).
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