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View Full Version : Anyone else suffered neck disc degeneration?



rosemary
26-06-2011, 16:20
My daughter has been suffering in agony since end of Feb with the pain from this condition. No amount of physio or acupuncture or drugs is helping the root nerve compression pain. Steroid injections may be the next step. The docs say it should have cleared by 6-8 weeks. How much longer?

Suej
26-06-2011, 16:26
My daughter has been suffering in agony since end of Feb with the pain from this condition. No amount of physio or acupuncture or drugs is helping the root nerve compression pain. Steroid injections may be the next step. The docs say it should have cleared by 6-8 weeks. How much longer?

If your daughter is suffering this much I would be inclined to get her the Steroid injections, they worked a treat on my shoulder, unfortunately though the injections wonīt cure her condition, but will help her to do all her exercises virtually pain free which could help her condition tremendously. Good luck!

Harmonicaman
26-06-2011, 16:29
My brother had this (mid-40s) and in the end had to get an op to replace the discs with plastic ones. He went though all the drugs, physio and steroid injections as well.

rosemary
26-06-2011, 17:04
I am beginning to understand that the pain must be eliminated first, then she can help to heal herself. I sincerely hope surgery is not the way to go.

with cheese
26-06-2011, 17:09
My wife has had it for years and has c5/6 c 7/8 discs surpressed.
She may need an MRI scan to get to the bottom of it.
You can try an Osteopath as they are very good for this, as is black stone massage.
Regular accupressure is very good and someone close can apply this.
Does she have pins and needles in the arms and hand?

rosemary
26-06-2011, 17:37
The pain radiates down her arm into her hand and she says the spasms of pain are breathtaking and as bad as childbirth. Yes she has had an xray and it is a compressed nerve due to disc degenration. She is 49. But it seems degeneration can occur at 30! Her GP has been very loathe to give her a scan it seems. Too expensive for NHS or what?! itīll cost around 650 to go private. Sterling.

Bazz
26-06-2011, 19:54
That's right, that is the price of a MRI. I was in BUPA for a long time and have a bad disc problem (back). They refused to pay for a MRI scan so I stopped paying in, waste of time when you needed them, although they did pay for physio. Nothing took my pain away and it was excrutiating, I crawled on my hands and knees to go to the toilet and didn't sleep for weeks. I tried everything including a Tens machine, anti-depressants (from the doc, they work on the nerve), etc. etc. but nothing would take the pain away. It went away eventually of its own accord but does come back from time to time. I can't lift anything heavy.

Loaded
28-06-2011, 19:35
I've got a similar problem, c5 is herniated. I get physio regularly from Dorothy Colinson and chiropractic from her brother luke Ramsay.

In between I Ice my neck with a cold compress and I'm amazed how much this helps.

Hope she gets through , I was offered an operation but decided I'd rather live with this pain than go through the op and recovery - also no guarantees it'll work

with cheese
28-06-2011, 19:48
Ok, find the very top of the large vertibrae. Move out towards the shoulder until you find a dipped area. Apply pressure here using two fingers or a thumb. This is best if you apply heat previous. Keep applying pressure until your fingers or thumb start to get really warm.
When you release do it slowly and gently massage the area.
There is some brilliant chinese liquid you can get in the UK shopping malls from the chinese health places or online.
It is called woodstock and is around 20 quid for a small bottle but you need to apply a few drops to all nerve and pressure points around the disc area.
Make sure person applying washes their hands and doesn't scratch their nuts, if not you will get a rendition of the river dance.
Hope this helps.

rosemary
28-06-2011, 21:06
thankyou all so much for the suggestions and advice. I have surfed and read so much on the net I am now beginning to see that both heat (I have ordered an electric heating pad for her) and ice treatment are two of the most popular ideas which seem to give relief. She has finally got a referral to a consultant for an MRI but we def donīt want an op. From what I understand one has to rebuild the support system of the neck before the nerve can be healed. Makes sense.


Ok, find the very top of the large vertibrae. Move out towards the shoulder until you find a dipped area. Apply pressure here using two fingers or a thumb. This is best if you apply heat previous. Keep applying pressure until your fingers or thumb start to get really warm.
When you release do it slowly and gently massage the area.
There is some brilliant chinese liquid you can get in the UK shopping malls from the chinese health places or online.
It is called woodstock and is around 20 quid for a small bottle but you need to apply a few drops to all nerve and pressure points around the disc area.
Make sure person applying washes their hands and doesn't scratch their nuts, if not you will get a rendition of the river dance.
Hope this helps.

I have written this out and will email it to her. Thankyou so much.

with cheese
28-06-2011, 21:09
Try and find some advice on manual traction.

Loaded
28-06-2011, 22:32
For me traction didn't help, the principle is that they put a brace on your head attached to a rope above with weights on it thus pulling your head up and relieving pressure on the nerves that are impinged. A better way was having a chiropractor (Luke) using a towel technique to do likewise. It's a short term fix though.

Remember with heat not to apply it when you're in pain. The pain exists because of INFLAMMATION putting heat on inflamed areas will only add to the inflammation , instead use Ice when in pain to reduce inflammation - only for 10 mins at a time every few hours.

with cheese
28-06-2011, 23:16
For me traction didn't help, the principle is that they put a brace on your head attached to a rope above with weights on it thus pulling your head up and relieving pressure on the nerves that are impinged. A better way was having a chiropractor (Luke) using a towel technique to do likewise. It's a short term fix though.

Remember with heat not to apply it when you're in pain. The pain exists because of INFLAMMATION putting heat on inflamed areas will only add to the inflammation , instead use Ice when in pain to reduce inflammation - only for 10 mins at a time every few hours.
That is Traction, manual traction is different. If using ice it is good to stroke upwards with the ice pack or a single cube.

warmwind
28-06-2011, 23:23
I have had chronic neck problem for 25 years I was told I had nerve damage . I have tried osteopaths, chropractars and acupuncture known of which helped and infact the osetopathy made the condition worse as I went into a complete spasm after the treatment and couldn't move my neck for a week and was in worse pain than before.

I am not against alternative practices though it just didn't work for me when trying to treat my neck. Also I think a osteopath etc should probably not touch your daughters neck if she has disc degeneration.

What I do to help the pain is cold compresses followed by hot have massages but not anything to forceful on the neck.

I do Yoga but not any postures that may aggravate the neck pain. I recently brought a air mattress which I sleep on occassionally when the pain is acute as its softer than my normal mattress.

Goodluck :)