Disc c6 & c7, effective pain relief.

[ade73]

In April 2021 I was diagnosed with spinal arthritis, degenerative disc disease, discs c6 & c7 failing and getting bone spurs.

This is after a long long road that started in 2018 with shoulder pain that then extended to my neck and headaches in 2019 but was put on hold through the 2020 pandemic as the hospital wouldn't take it any further and then there was a backlog to go through before I had an MRI to confirm what it was.

I was told I had 3 options.

1. Pain medication and physio.
2. Injections in the spine (possible complications sounded a bit iffy)
3. Replace the discs (more risk of the complications from option 2)

I went with option 1 through 2021 with over the counter pain meds and in September physio said that they had done all they could and to think on the next 2 options. (this is after stating they thought I was a bit young for option 3)

Now the pain has been getting worse and is effecting my sleep more and more.

I'm waiting on seeing my GP to ask for stronger pain relief and have looked in to seeing a chiropractor.

Has anybody got any experience of these 2 options?

Or any other effective pain relief for this?

[TTmonkey]

My brother had those disks replaced some years ago. Never looked back, very effective treatment for him. He was almost crippled before that.

[Douglas Quaid]

Do you/can you do any exercises to build up the muscles that support the spine such as deadlifting etc? Obviously not talking Eddie hall levels but something that will help to strengthen the back and hold you up better?

[ade73]

Douglas Quaid said:

Do you/can you do any exercises to build up the muscles that support the spine such as deadlifting etc? Obviously not talking Eddie hall levels but something that will help to strengthen the back and hold you up better?

That's what the physio was for, strengthening the area around the effected areas and improving the range of movements.

[dsl2]

Oramorph if your doc's will prescribe it, serious stuff though but will more or less guarantee a decent nights sleep.

After a week on it though your bottom won't thank you as you try to birth a solid log, convinced you'll end up doing an Elvis...

[markcoznottz]

Is your right subclavias muscle tight? Also the scalenes on the right side of your neck?

[quinny100]

The injections worked extremely well for my Dad, and the relief has lasted well over 2 years now.

He had a 4 and 5 discectomy about 25 years ago, but started to get a lot of pain in his sciatic nerves again. He saw a Spinal Surgery specialist who recommended the injections. He was highly sceptical but went with it as it was being done by spinal specialist at a specialist neurosurgery unit. His previous surgery was initially carried out by an Orthopaedic Surgeon at a local hospital and required corrective work by a specialist at the time.

[twohoursfromlondon]

OP, where do you live? If you’re near Hampshire I can personally recommend a former spinal surgeon, now a private chiropractor who has his own clinic.

I’m 48 and have a multitude of back issues. He was the first person in a very long line of specialists I’ve seen over the past 30 plus years that gave me the answers I needed to improve my own condition.

[Piginapoke]

I’ll follow with interest as I sadly have the same issue. Had MRI before Christmas and get the results and presumably agree a treatment plan on 4 Jan. Good luck OP.

[dsl2]

I had spinal injections, didn't do diddly squat for me.....

Best thing for me has been core strengthening & Oramorph when it flares up really badly!

[markcoznottz]

We really need some more specialists in this country to perform assessments of individuals. Most yt vids are from USA, not surprising the way thier health care is funded, but our one size fits all means you end up seeing a gp who probably won’t know enough( massive generalisation there). The specialists we do have in the U.K. are reliant on nhs work so are also one size fits all. My mates a gp, I’ve got him watching pri videos he’s really getting into it, particularly the tests to measure shoulder internal rotation. Scapula position can determine a lot about postural health, breathing, and cervical and lumbar lordosis.

[sutoka]

dsl2 said:

I had spinal injections, didn't do diddly squat for me.....

Best thing for me has been core strengthening & Oramorph when it flares up really badly!

I had epidural spinal injections after several months of painful physio and hydrotherapy for L5S1 disc, black disc and degenerative disc. Went to my GP after being rammed at speed in Dec 2018. What followed was months of dodgy medication and being misdiagnosed 6 times by 3 different specialists, one nearly killed me with so much medication but that's another story.

Basically had a private MRI and the consultant said the injections would help 6 weeks after I had to pay £248 to tell him that the £1200 I'd spent on the MRI and injections hadn't helped at all and I felt the same as when I walked in. Next he said he'd try this which would have been about £12k for private surgery followed by another £10k on another fusion procedure if that didn't work.

So three years on I'm still on the NHS waiting list and in the same amount of pain and discomfort, medically and legally I'm no further on.

My local MP had the same surgery on the NHS after waiting a grand total of two days. They won't explain why I believe they didn't want a member of Parliament rotting away on the waiting list as it wouldn't reflect well on the NHS.

Edited by sutoka on Thursday 30th December 05:36

[ade73]

markcoznottz said:

Is your right subclavias muscle tight? Also the scalenes on the right side of your neck?

Right shoulder and right side of neck are stiff/sore, the more i use them the more the pain, stiffness and headaches that come with it.

twohoursfromlondon said:

OP, where do you live? If you’re near Hampshire I can personally recommend a former spinal surgeon, now a private chiropractor who has his own clinic.

I’m 48 and have a multitude of back issues. He was the first person in a very long line of specialists I’ve seen over the past 30 plus years that gave me the answers I needed to improve my own condition.

Live in Durham, so a bit far.

One chiropractor has got back to me, but just to say he is fully booked up for the next couple of months, but I can be put on his waiting list if i cant find anywhere else.

Got prescribed Naproxen and Lansoprazole yesterday, so lets see how that goes.

[Panamax]

I'm not aware of a viable replacement procedure. What exactly is it?