Brief Answer:
Am in India, trained at Monomouth, then in Denver
Detailed Answer:
Hey, so I went through your scans, img 0001 through 0009. My God man your neck! You need decompression and stabilization! Your cord is lighting up on T2 imaging on MRI. That means that the
spinal cord in your neck is inflamed. And the bones at C2 and C3 are unstable. That means that every time you move your neck, it's irritating your cord. I think you might have had some sort of trauma there in the past. Very lightly in highliter, someone has marked Whiplash. Have you been in an accident like that? When did it happen?
Now, have I ever seen itching and pruritis come from a cord compression?? NO. But I do believe that the irritation of the spinal cord is exacerbating a probably very low level
chickenpox outbreak.
Let me explain, getting
chicken pox is pretty common in childhood (if you never got it, set me straight). We tend to think that after we suffer from it that one time (or maybe those two times), the virus is gone and never going to bother us again. That's not exactly true. Your immune system, beats it back into the one system that it can't eliminate it from.. the nervous system. Think of the virus as being caged inside the nervous system from the time you get over the Pox.
The reason I telling you all this is that, i think the irritation of your spinal cord from the instability of the C2 and C3 regions is uncaging the nerves and basically giving the virus free reign to irritate you. Hence the itching and the
dermatitis. We call this the 'Shingles' and it happens rarely. But I think this might be the issue for you here. you are describing to me what would be a very diffuse outbreak of it.
There are ways of treating it, the topical
hydrocortisone will help with the symptoms and steroid pills would help over all. But you need to address the cause! The neck!
Find a good
spine surgeon who you are comfy with, audition a few and when you find the guy you like, get your
cervical spine stabilized.
I so wish I could help. I do this kind of thing. But I moved back to India two years ago. So I'm not much good to you. I'm so sorry about that.
If you want me to find you a few names of good people in and around Long Branch and Eatontown, I can. I still know a few people back there from my Residency.
Also, there is a third drug that you may consider discussing with your doctor. In the bad old days before Lyrica, they used to put people on a med called 'Carbamezipine' for patients who didn't respond well to Gabby. I've never used it on a patient myself, cause Lyrica or surgery usually works well enough. But you may consider calling your doctor and seeing if a short trial of the drug helps control your symptoms until you get you spine dealt with through surgery.
I used to live at Eatoncrest apartments off of Pinebrook Ave. There was a delhi behind that place that rocked! Plus I loved Long branch and we used to run out of Mounmouth across the road and jump into the water for a swim right after office hours. It was wild. I miss that place. I hope Pier village is still a nice place to hang out. My chief resident used to live there.
Anyways. Lemme know what you think. I may not be able to operate on you, but I can act as a soundingboard when you see your doctors.
Vin
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