Partner in Agony with Back/Neck pain. Friend mentioned a Nerve Scan! What is this?

lancslass2008

Hi all

Not asking for medical advice or treatment here, just need to clarify what step to take next.

My Partner is 40 years old. He is in good health except for a problem that started last year.

Basically, when he sits down he suffers the most agonising pain in his Neck and left arm. So, I got him to go to his Doctor who is a great Doctor but basically overworked. To be fair the Doctor tried his best but wasn't really much help. He just sent Partner for Physio. The pain was that bad that we paid for 6 treatment sessions at a Chiropracter @ £50 per session. The Chiropractor diagnosed his problem as (Forgive me if I put one or two words wrong or out of place):

"All up your back there are Vertebrae. Near the top, there is a nerve that runs through C2 & C3 and down your Arm. It appears that when you sit down the vertebrae are pressing down on each other, which is normal. However, in your case, the nerve that runs through C2 & C3 is being disturbed by the 2 Vertebrae crushing together"

I'm 75% sure this is what the Chiro said or something VERY similar.

So, a friend told me that she knew a guy who had the same problem. She went on... "Under NHS it was a Nightmare and he suffered terribly. He couldn't even get an initial consultation for 8 weeks, just to get the ball rolling. So, in the end he paid to go to Poland and had a scan done. It cost £200 for the scan. When he got the scan results he brought them back and gave them to the NHS Doctor. When the Doctors realised what the problem was and the pain he was in, he was operated on within 6 weeks"

So, can somebody tell me what this scan is (what is it called? Where can we get it done?) because we will pay private for it? I don't want Partner to endure this pain much longer.

Anybody help please?

Just to add before I post.....Just spoke to my friend again who told me "An XRAY will only show Bones etc, whereas this 'Specialist' Scan will show what the problem is".

melancholly

sounds like some kind of MRI.... i can't imagine what else it'll be.

personally, i'd suggest going back to the GP and asking for another referral before trying to go abroad and get sopme unknown scan. you could ask the GP if a MRI scan would help diagnose the problem. i'd imagine for spinal surgery they'd want to exhaust all other options first though.... it sounds like pretty major surgery!

Humphrey10

Be careful of chiropractors, they are an expensive waste of time imo. If you went to one saying your nose hurt, they would say its because of a spine problem that they can cure, for just a bit more money... They aren't medical professionals, even though I'm sure in many cases they do genuinely believe what they preach and think they are helping.

What did the physio he saw say?

Go back to the doctor, and ask him to refer you to someone who can help, you don't need to go overseas and pay hundreds of pounds for a scan.

JohnG

Yes, your Dr should be able to refer you privately for a consulation/scan if you felt the the wait would be too much on the NHS.
Certainly sounds like your partner needs to see a specialist Orthopadic Surgeon who can assess the problem and hopefully fast track him if he feels it's urgent enough - he will have an mri scan first so they can see exactly what the problem is.

oldandhappy

Took a year for me to have a CT scan on my spine way back in the late 80's because of my Doctors attitude. This cost me dearly healthwise. I endured strong pain relievers over this time that caused some liver damage and the almost constant pain scars you mentally too.

By the time I eventually had the scan within the week I was operated on in the late Atkinson Morley Hospital Wimbledon(scarey now if you view the old building on line that is still awaiting demolition).

If I had been treated as I should have.... soon wise of course.... say CT scan after 8 weeks of no improvement in pain/numbness etc.. then the whole horrendous episode could and should have been dealt with some kind of ease... You are going to have to be really firm and pushy even to find out the problem. Dianne