URGENT! trapped nerves can you help?

ksh123

:'( hi i am ksh123's daughter i am in need of some help desparately. mum has trapped nerves in her neck and is in terrible pain. she can barely move. she has spent near enough the past week sat in the same place on the sofa. she has been to see her gp and has been given some heavy duty pain killers (that are doing absolutly nothing) she has pain all over her neck, down her spine over her right shoulder blade and feels as if an eliphant is standing on her arm. we are both at our wits end. she is unable to move or do anything other than sit in the same position day in day out, she has been refered for emergency physio thearapy by gp but it will be a three week wait, has been to a chiropractor but that seemed to make it worse and the emergency doc will not come to visit her. she is not able to lie down or even go to sleep. has any one got any sugestions on how she might be able to help her self?  ??? many thanks.

me2

I would suggest you ask your GP or friends for the name and number of a local Osteopath or Chiropractor

They can usually help with this sort of problem

Try and do it sooner rather than later

MimiJane

I'd get your doctor round to see your mum as soon as possible ...  he/she needs to know how much pain she's in.  

They may recommend/arrange physiotherpay and/or for your mum to be seen by a specialist.  I do think your mum needs to be seen by the doctor first to determine what's best for her.

Your mum could of course go straight to a chiropractor or osteopath, but I'd be wary of this.  A chiropractor manipulates the joints to "straighten" everything out.  Your doctor knows her medical history and this sort of treatment could be too drastic for her.

Good luck and let us know how you and your mum get on.  Do hope she's out of pain soon.

:-*

ksh123

thank you for you advice on my mums problem, mum has already seen her gp and has been refered for emergency physio thearapy but it will be a three week wait. and has already seen i chiropracter which seemed to make it worse. and the emergency doctor refuses to come and see her. we were just wondering if there is anything else she can do to help her self. again thanks for the reply any other suggestions would be greatly apreciated. :'(

COS

When you say heavy duty pain killers ,which ones ?

MimiJane

OK ... your mum should NOT have to go through this.

Two suggestions :-

Ring the NHS help line on : 0845-4647 and they'll give you very useful advice. (I've rung them on a few occasions in a panic and they've always been great). Not sure if it's a 24 hour service, but please do try them.

Ring your local hospital and ask to speak to a nurse who can advise you. They may suggest getting your mum to the hospital so they can have a look at her.

I do hope this helps.

Let us know how you get on.

Mimi :-*

ksh123

thank you very much for your advice, i will suggest them to my mum and hope the help thank you. as for which pain killers she is taking they are tramadole 50mg and diazipam which are to relieve the spazams.

robnye

how long ago did your mum see the chiropractor?

I had a similar problem 3 months ago, long story, but basically i had a type of whiplash injury, this has eased with seeing an osteopath.

it flared up again 3 weeks ago, i couldnt move my neck, to the extent that i couldnt sleep comfortably at all, saw my gp and was given pan killers and diazepan.

I also went to my osteopath, came away from treatment still in pain and discomfort, but he had frre'd up my neck, so i had some movement. over the next 2 days after treatment it didnt seem to improve at all, but by the 4th day, I had full (almost) painfree movement

today, i still get twinges, where the muscle down one side of my neck goes into spasm and caused shoulder to rise, but with a gentle massage and stretch, it relieves it self.

I have a heat pad (from boots/healthcare shop), heat up in microwve for 3 minutes. ice pack (kept in freezer). it will depend on what your mum can tolerate, try each for a few minutes

sorry my info isnt much help, but thought as I had been thru similar pain recently, some suggestions that helped me might help.

COS

Tramadole is an effective pain killer for moderate pain and from what you say is obvious they are not strong enough. I would do as Mimijane suggested and call the NHS helpline etc.

My other thought is a external Pain killing spray, but check with the chemist that there will be no interaction or reaction with any other drugs your Mum may be taking.

Regards

Chris

sevlow

I had a similar problem several years ago. Just woke up one morning in terrible pain. The combination of the pian and lack of sleep really got to me.

the positrion of the damage on your spine affects the nature and location of the pain. Of course there is actually nothing the matter with your arm or leg it's just the effect produced by the damaged nerve.

My Gp supplied me with pain killers which did not really help and refered me to a physio. In the meantime I went to a chiropractor which did help. However when I did finally see the Physio she did not want to teat me as I was seing the chiropractor . Had a real battle, however my physio also did acupuncture and she tried that which did help with the pain.

I also tried stronger painkillers but these just spaced me out and made me feel sick.

Good luck

ksh123

Thanks to everyone who tried to help out with this problem.
I eventually ended up in an ambulance owing to the fact that there were bombs going off in all my joints (well, that's how it felt!) and I was literally bouncing off the walls with the pain. Never called an ambulance before, and felt very embarrassed at doing so - still they were great and entimox (spelling?, gas and air anyway) really helped.
In A+E I was given a pain killing  injection and sent home with some very "spacey" stuff but it did help and brought the physio appt. forward.
So now I can sleep for up to 4 hours a day - big whoop - and even sit here for an hour or so before siezing up again. I am now a left handed pc user!
Physio says it could take months - has done no intervention so far because neck so unstable - but at least I feel almost human!
The shame is that, after years of successfully seeing chiropractors I am now completely put off. I had gone for some preventative help a day or two before having felt a slight twinge - within 48 hours could not move at all and it went worse and worse from there on in. Seems this time I had an "extreme reaction" so I will never be confident enough to risk it again.
Once again, thanks for your help and advice - for me the support of other MSE'rs is as important as the tips we give and receive :-*