Weird Symptoms Really Bothering Me - Anyone Ever Experienced Anything Like This?

[skmcpher]

Hi, I haven't posted on this forum for a while but I have weird symptoms that are really bothering me so I'm looking for advice. I have an annular tear at C4-5 (as well as C3-4) and am saving money for more than a year so I can have a 2-level ADR using the M6 with Dr. Clavel in Barcelona. Since my MVA in May 2009 I have experienced periodically a deep clenching pain in either one of my forearms (sometimes starting in the shoulder and traveling down to the forearm, sometimes starting in the forearm) which travels down into the pinky and ring finger of that hand. The pain causes my fingers to curl up into a fist (not clenched, but all fingers curled up to the palm) and I can't move any of them for a second or two. Then, when I really concentrate I find I can lift one finger or more but when I do that, the raised finger shakes and all the other fingers shake for a second or two, and then I find I am able to move my fingers again and the pain has gone. After this happens, my hand and sometimes the whole arm remains weak for a bit afterward, but grip strength seems to return to normal. This has been happening maybe once or twice a week since the MVA but my doctor has never really been concerned about it before, or even expressed enough interest in exactly what happens when one of these "episodes" occurs.

Anyway, several nights ago I started experiencing these "episodes" about maybe 20 minutes apart in my left arm and hand, and then I started having them in my right arm and hand, over and over for hours, and I found it impossible to sleep because the pain kept waking me. I woke up the next morning with a weak, kind of "dead arm" feeling in both arms and severe weakness in both hands, worse on the right (which is my dominant side). I called my doctor and he ordered a cervical CT and an EMG, which I am having on Tuesday before I see him on Wednesday AM. Since then, I have regained much of my strength but I am still weaker in my right hand than my left and I have had increased shoulder pain than usual. I'm quite worried about what could be causing this and why it would get much worse so suddenly.

Has anyone else out there ever experienced symptoms like this? I would really appreciate any advice or insight anyone could provide. Thanks!

[Justin]

Hi skmcpher,

I'm sorry that your symptoms have become progressively worse. Your CT and especially the EMG should spell out the underlying pathology that is creating your symptoms. I would only be speculating as to what is causing your spontaneous finger flexion and transient weakness. As per the distribution of your symptoms involving the ring and pinky finger possibly suggests ulnar nerve involvement. However, we will let the professionals "tease" this out via CT and EMG.

Please keep us posted on what the CT and EMG have to say. Good luck.

[KanRunMo]

I have the shoulder and arm pain. My PCP says it is tendonitis in the shoulder. It has gotten very bad at times. However, he is resisting doing an MRI or CT scan. I think at least part of it is due to upper back problems since I have a compressed disc in T10-11. As Justin said, get an MRI or CT to see if it is a spine problem or shoulder rotator cuff problem or some other nerve or spine related problem.

[Katie]

I had different symptoms, mainly tingling then numbness in my arms and hands. The good ol' boy specialists here decided it was carpal tunnel...both hands & arms, all of a sudden?....

I sent my images off to Dr. Fabien Bitan in NYC, but at the time I was more concerned with the enormous pain in my lumbar levels. Since I had much lesser pain and just some 'weird' symptoms that didn't hurt over the four years before I could get treatment, I wasn't worried about the cervical so much. The day that Dr. Bitan got my images, he called and wanted to see me the next day, saying my cervical was urgent. (I live eight hours away by car) We managed to get down about three days later, and he spent a great deal of time with me, explaining that any fall or fender bender in the car could put me in a wheel chair permanently. He was not fooling around or sugar coating the possibilities. It was actually nice to be taken seriously for once....

I am not trying to scare you at all, but giving you a heads up that you also should not take just one local doctor's opinion on this situation. Mine here at home had all the MRIs and EMGs as well, and all he came up with was the carpal tunnel diagnosis above. I had a significant compression of my spinal cord at C5/6 and some at C4/5 as well. I eventually went with the surgeon in Brazil for many reasons. His comment was that I never should have been left in this condition for any period of time, let alone four years.

You can send your images off to any number of international surgeons...some will charge a moderate fee (Dr. Bitan's was ~$350), while others, like the one I went to for surgery, do not charge for consults at all.