Cervical Pain--Seizures ?

[Litwriter21]

Hello, I posted one other post but I am not sure if it got read due to where I placed it in the forum.

I have had cervical neck problems since 1998. C3-4-5 spondylosis, nerve pain, each of the discs in the cervical are all bulging--inverted curve, and mild stenosis at C3-C4 and at C5.

Had a lot of vision problems recently, pressure behind eyes, hard to stay focused, lot of head pain, mostly in the base of head where neck hurts.

RFA was done less than 3 weeks ago at C3-C4 and C5,

A week ago had a pretty intense seizure--speech problems and the CT scan showed a cyst 1cm on the pineal gland with a little swelling on the right side. It warranted further study for MRI of the head.

My question is this: Can long term neck pain and problems cause vision problems, seizures, bumping into things, dropping things and loosing the feeling when lying down.

I cannot lay flat on my back with a pillow; I get a shock like sensation all the way down my body and gasp for air. It is relieved as soon as I sit up in bed, so I just lay on my right or left side.

Also have muscle jerking, twitching every once and a while, in my head--jerks, not violently but noticeable.

I am concerned that since my neck injury seems to be getting worst that other areas of my body are being affected in a negative way.

How bad does a spine injury have to be before a surgeon decides they can fix it? I am so frustrated, and tired of treatments that do not work.

I have probably asked too many questions, but I would like to ask a doctor, and when I go to ask my pain specialist, they simply give me more information on new procedures, such as that RFA I had done and the pain remains.

Does a person's insurance type make a difference in the type of care? ((This is simply a rhetorical question, and I don't expect you to answer this, unless you want to)) I have student health insurance, and they do really well with everything I have had done so far. I know that surgery would be very expensive, but do surgeons take the patients insurance into account before a surgical option is warrented?

I have heard of new disc being inserted into the spine, fusion and other things that could relieve the pressure on the nerves. I am afraid of surgery to an extent, but I'd go tomorrow if they told me that it would help, even if it was a little bit of pain relief. I want my life back, and all I can think about is pain.


Any advice is welcomed.

Thank you.
Sincerely,

Katina
Litwriter21

[painful1]

i'm not a doctor but i can tell you they use surgery as a last resort-but geez you had this pain for 9 years....plz keep posted. hope u feel better

[Dr. Joshua]

Hi Katina, thanks for your question.

With cervical spine disease, the preferred treatment depends on the exact diagnosis. The diagnosis is based on history, physical examination, cervical MRI, and sometimes ENMG.

If there is radiculopathy (radiating pain) and the corresponding nerve root is compressed as seen in the MRI, and conservative treatment fails, then surgery may be a good option. The procedure of choice is anterior decompression with spondylodesis. In young people, sometimes an artificial disk is used instead of spondylodesis.

If there is compression of the spinal cord, a rare, seizure-like symptom is possible - it's not really a seizure, but an electric shock -like feeling or buzzing down the body and limbs. This is called L'Hermitte's sign and often occurs during flexion of the neck (bending the head forward). Very rarely, even drop attacks are possible, where the patient falls down due to losing control of her limbs temporarily.

If there is spinal cord compression evident in the MRI, and corresponding symptoms and signs are seen, then a decompressive surgery is indicated.

For local neck pain, surgery is not beneficial, except in some very rare, special cases.

As for your other symptoms, they should really be evaluated by a neurologist, because I cannot say what's causing which symptoms without physically examining you and seeing your MRIs.

Pineal cysts and tumors can cause headaches in some cases. Any mass in the pineal region can cause vision disturbances.

I'm happy that you're getting the brain MRI done and seeing the proper specialists about this.

As for your question about the health insurance affecting treatment choices, I would like to answer that but I'm not familiar with those issues so I'm afraid I just don't know the answer. Please ask your doctor - he should know.

There's a lot of useful information that's relevant to your question in our archives. Please see e.g. the following article:
http://askdoctorjoshua.com/2006/12/16/cervical-spine-surgery-cervical-stenosis/

Also, please brose the spine category for answers to related questions:
http://askdoctorjoshua.com/category/neurosurgery/spine/

Finally, please see this answer re the pineal cyst:
http://askdoctorjoshua.com/2006/06/16/pineal-cyst-and-visual-disturbance/

[Litwriter21]

Thank you very much for your detailed response. The information you have given me, I will take with me to my specialist on Friday. Sometimes when I talk to my doctor, it is hard to explain what is going on. I often feel that I am complaining too much and forget to mention things that should be discussed. Writing is so much easier, I think I will type out a list of questions for him and take your letter with me as well.

I was not aware of the L'Hermitte’s thing, well, at least now I know the symptom has a name. I was worried about waking up with the loss of feeling. It is an extremely scary sensation, one that does not last long, thankfully. But, it is something hard to explain to a physician.

I hope my post did not come across negatively about health insurance. I have just heard so many people say that it does affect care. Although, maybe the surgeon has just tried to spare me the surgery in fear that it would create new problems. I think, that they may have to do something more aggressive as, I am not going to have the injections anymore. I am done with them, it has just became too much. And quite painful, for the lack of results.

I will send you some of my book, it is unpublished at the current time. When it is published, I will mail you a copy. Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response.

It means a lot.
Sincerely,
Katina

[Litwriter21]

Hello, thank you for your reply. Yes, 9 years. The first two and a half years, I was prescribed an abundance of anti-inflammatory, narcotics, and anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, you name it, and I was prescribed it.

Unfortunately, these medications left me numb, and this did take care of most of the pain. It also contributed to the loss of my children and almost my life toward the end of my "addiction." I have been sober from prescription narcotics since December 9 of 2000.

Since that time I have had physical therapy, daily traction, injections, anti-inflammatory, chiropractic, RFA, and many more types of therapy. Traction helps the most--but only for 15 min if I remain lying down after wards.

I have also invented my own traction device and method, that is in comparison to the over the door traction--and works much better.

Tried everything so far, and I am very tired, and so is my body of the pain.

I continue to work at finishing college. I enrolled at the age of 29, 5 years ago, and I refuse to allow this pain to keep me from obtaining my degree. If I must sit now for the remaining part of my life, I am going to accomplish something out of the deal. It is hard, but we need to take our pain into the boxing arena and fight it.

I hope the future holds less pain, but if not, I will at least have more money in the bank after selling my books. Maybe then I can buy a hot tube, which always helps a little.

Thanks again,

Good luck to you also.
Katina:)