HealthCareMagic is now Ask A Doctor - 24x7 | https://www.askadoctor24x7.com

Suggest Treatment For Severe Neck, Back And Shoulder Pain

Posted on Tue, 24 Jan 2017

Question: I am hurting 24/7 in my neck, upper back and shoulders. I was injured severely, barely surviving. But thank you God and all the wonderful Doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, (Especially Dr. XXXXXXX Obremskey in Orthopedic Trauma in Aprl 2006 while my home was being destroyed, and my husband, daughter and I were praying in the bathroom, when I saw the ceiling begin to move, I knew we were at the mercy of our wonderful God. Back to my ailments....I have had disc C2-C5 fused in about 2008 or 2009. Helped quite a bit until 2013 when i had a blowout on my front passenger side tire, was raining bad and I hydro planed off the road into a tree. My daughter, 18 and pregnant at the time was with me. She made it out fine, but it knocked me out and I was out of my mind. They did ! xray gave me a hydrocodone 5mg And I Reft there so dazed and out of my head. Within a day or so the paing in my neck was so bad that I went to another ER in XXXXXXX TN. All they did was an xray also. I can't have an MRI because I am pieced together with all kinds of hardware in my neck, face, and both arms and right wrist. I had 3 Pelvic fractures, in a wheel chair for months. I could go on and on. MAIN Problem on my listof complaints is arthritic pain, my NECK needs help, but I keep getting sent to pain clinics and I get NOTHING out of Nerve blocks...OF ANY KIND! They DO NOT work for me at all! Pain meds mask, I got to taking them so freely and regularly due to all my injuries. I have been off the narcotics for over a year. Pain clinic I was going to for years just kept saying, probably going to have pain for the rest of your life.But, after yrs of depending on them, I finally toughed it out and got such great results. I lost 40 lbs pretty quickly. and felt so much better. Didnt realize what a depressing fog I was living in. Very Dark timemg for me. I want relieft without taking a bunch of pain pills. When I stopped taking them, I was taking 4 (15mg) percosett sp? sorry I can't spell

Answered by Dr. Mahaveer Patil (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
use cervical collar

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for posting the question.

I have gone through your medical history in detail.

I feel that you may have a prolapse of intervertebral disc in lower cervical vertebra (C6-7). This may be causing spinal nerve compression leading to radiating neuropathic pain in back and shoulders.

As you mentioned,you have almost used all type of pain medicines till now.
As MRI cannot be done,i suggest you to consider that you have C6-7 disc prolapse and take treatment accordingly.

Take cervical traction,short wave and use a cervical collar as far as possible to provide support to the cervical spine.
Avoid taking pillow while sleeping and do not lift anything heavy.

Laser therapy is shown to have excellent results recently and it is a good option for you.
You should talk with your doctor about this.

Avoid taking painkillers to prevent harmful effects on your kidneys and liver.

Neck exercises,as and when tolerated should be done.

You should consult a neurosurgeon if the above measures do not help.

I hope the answer was useful.

Feel free to ask me any doubts that you may have.

Thank you.

Wish you a speedy recovery.

Kind regards.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Remy Koshy