Saturday, May 17, 2014

Pain in the neck: Cured!

For the last month I've been dealing with a herniated disc in my neck which presses on the nerves that run down my left arm.  Lots of physical therapy visits and 2 pain pills a day have been keeping me out of pain and hopefully helping to rehabilitate my disc, but I really wasn't sure.  I didn't know if the pain was absent because I'm getting better or because the pain pills were working.

So 2 days ago I stopped taking the pills, knowing I had my 1-month follow-up visit with the orthopedic doctor today.  I wanted to be able to tell the doctor how I was really feeling.

I was extremely happy to tell the doctor today that I had no pain, and that I hadn't taken the pain pills in 48 hours!

He did a couple of physical tests on me and we talked a bit.  He said that some people respond well to chiropractics, but I didn't.  Some people respond well to physical therapy like me.  Others have to have nerve injections and/or surgery.  Fortunately my situation improved dramatically from the PT.  

He also warned me that this recovery may not be permanent.  He said its possible the symptoms could return again, but at least we know what worked for me last time so if the symptoms come back, he will send me back to PT.  In the meantime I can do the stretching exercises at home, and even have an inflatable traction collar for at-home use if I need it.

I can't adequately express how happy I am that I do not need any invasive treatment or surgery!!  I feel like celebrating!!

2 comments:

anne marie in philly said...

YAYZ! but please keep up with the exercises; when I do mine, it DOES ease my arthritis pain.

celebrate with a cosmo (or 3)!

Anonymous said...

So glad you're doing better. When I had back issues, I learned just what it's like to be 90 years old. I learned what to do so that I never felt like that again.

It also gave me more understanding and compassion for the elderly.