c4-c6 problems

[Guest guest]

I am having problems with pain between shoulder blade & spine on left

side, weakness, pain, tingling in left arm. Doc wants to do at least one

level fusion in march. I have several questions:

I have a discogram scheduled for early Feb. I have heard the test is

controversial. I am concerned about false positives from this test that

would result in removing discs that are not a problem. I have also

heard/read conflicting information on whether this test is painful.

Horror stories are out on the net, but I have a friend who says the

drugs worked like magic - friend was awake to talk but felt nothing.

DIdn't know what drug, but it was injected. (test in annapolis, md).

I still have not decided wether to go thru with surgery. Neck and arm

still hurt, but *probably* not enough to warrant surgery. I get by on

1-3 motrin a day and seems to be getting better although VERY slowly &

erraticly (this all started Nov 15). If I have surgery it will be to

avoid permanent lose of strength/use of left arm. Left arm has visible

atrophy, but nothing scary looking. Strength is probably about 70% - not

sure if improving. I think it might be (alhough that might only be to 3

steriod injections which helped noticeably) I would like to know if

others in this situation have recovered without surgery and wether you

regained full strength or at least improved. This is really critical to

my surgery decision.

MRI shows biggest problem with discs is at/around c4-c6. Kyphosis,

spinal stenosis, also foriminal narrowing. Doctors are confused why this

is causing tingling mainly in pinky and ring finger since this would be

a symptom of c8/t1. I have appointment for an EMG end of JAN, so hope to

talk to neurologist about this. However, in the mean time I'm

researching how the nerves exit the spine from c5 to t1 (Brachial

plexus) and combine and split in a network fashion between the spine and

shoulder. The pinky is the ulnar nerve, which is feed by all of the

nerves, c5 thru t1 (see

http://depts.washington.edu/anesth/regional/plexusdiagram.gif) . I have

no knowledge of his stuff, but based on this pic couldn't a c6 problem

cause symptoms in the pinky? Or doesn't it work that way? Anyone have

info on this? It seems critical to a sound diagnosis.

Doc thinks pain is from the disc itself - I didn't know this but doc

says there are nerves in the disc itself, and the disc can have tears or

rupture. I'm not sure I agree. My symptoms I think were caused by

jumping (basketball) but they came on somewhat slowly over 2-3 days. I

would think a torn/ruptured disc would be more sudden pain. In addition

I have had milder episodes of this pain lasting 3-5 days in the past.

This sounds more like pain from a nerve getting agitated. lastly I can

feel times when a nerver seems to " catch " on something, probably a bone

spur. All this is based on common sense, not any medical expertise, so I

welcome other opinions. This question may be irrelevant - even if I'm

correct, the solution may still be fusion. I haven't heard yet of docs

just going in and only cleaning up spurs.