I AM SCREWED (HELP, PLEASE)

**Arctos1964** · Posted On: 6/08/2008 10:44pm

Originally Posted by Jon H

Get an MRI done as soon as possible...

I had similar symptoms, shoulder pain, numbness tingling, and loss of strength in left arm, after a major car accident about 8 years ago. After the accident I went to the emergency room where the x-rays and basic exams showed no signs of spinal trauma. I went through months of chiropractic and neurological treatments including massage, manipulations, hot and cold therapy, electro nerve stimulation, injections, medications, etc, etc, etc…

Could I ask you how long it was after your accident that the symptoms started? In my case, I broke my clavicle, cracked my scapula and humerous and separated the socket, about 10 years ago. Aside from some crepetis <sp> and the fact that left shoulder droops lower than the right, it hasn't caused any trouble. (possibly now being the exception).

I have asked for an MRI but up here in Canada, we wait.

**Arctos1964** · Posted On: 6/08/2008 10:58pm

Originally Posted by bornsceptic

Listen to this man.

Trust me, I'm listening.
Intently.

**Jon H** · Posted On: 6/08/2008 11:01pm

I was pretty banged up and bruised from the accident so I didn't really notice that my arm and shoulder were getting any worse for a few weeks. After that I went back to my primary care doctor who prescribed muscle relaxers and pain relievers. When that didn’t help he referred me to the neurologist/chiropractor where I went through the months of different therapy.

All during this time I noticed the loss of arm strength more and my shoulder was starting to droop. He eventually did an electromyography on my arm in his office which showed there was some sort of nerve damage. Finally I was referred to the neurosurgeon where I got it fixed. In all, I think it was about 11 months from the day of the accident until I made it into surgery for it.

**Arctos1964** · Posted On: 6/08/2008 11:10pm

Originally Posted by Jon H

I was pretty banged up and bruised from the accident so I didn't really notice that my arm and shoulder were getting any worse for a few weeks.

In all, I think it was about 11 months from the day of the accident until I made it into surgery for it.

Madre de Dios, it must have been one mother of an accident. I hope you've recovered well.

**Jon H** · Posted On: 6/08/2008 11:42pm

The car ended up looking like a stomped on beer can. The guy ran a stop sign and t-boned my car, the front of my car spun around and hit a guardrail making the airbag go off, his car spun around and hit the back end of my car a second time. Twisted and threw me around like a rag doll even with the seatbelt on. It was like getting hit 4 times at once.

The neck injury healed well enough and I didn't have too many more problems with it other than normal aches and pains I just chalk up to getting older. After the accident I also complained about middle back problems but my car insurance didn't want to cover it after so long.

A few weeks ago I think I re-injured my thoracic spine when trying to escape from a high guard. My opponent had his legs up close to my armpits with his ankles locked and was trying to roll to his left while I was twisting to my left. I heard something pop near my back and ended up with a bruise across my ribs on the left side.

The next morning I couldn’t even roll out of bed and went to the emergency room again. X-rays showed nothing and the doctor figured it was just a pulled muscle. Almost 3 weeks later and I’m still in pain and haven’t been able to train. I have my next appointment with the doctor at 9:30 this morning for this injury. Hopefully he goes for the MRI earlier this time so I won’t have to go through all the therapy if it’s not going to help.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's just something that can be fixed with something other than surgery though...

**Arctos1964** · Posted On: 6/09/2008 8:06am

Originally Posted by Jon H

I'll keep my fingers crossed that it's just something that can be fixed with something other than surgery though...

I'll add my crossed fingers for you. People plain don't understand how these kinds of injuries affect life until they experience them. Good luck.

**socratic** · Posted On: 6/09/2008 7:41pm

For the love of God, man, get yourself to another doctor, get him to refer you to a serious fucking pro. No more chiro, no more physio, I mean serious medical specialist. This is your central nervous system we're talking about, bro, and if you **** it up, it could have serious lasting effects. You might even need surgery, so for the love of God don't do anything to exasserbate the problem until you know what the proper cure is.

**Arctos1964** · Posted On: 6/09/2008 8:02pm

Originally Posted by socratic

For the love of God, man, get yourself to another doctor, get him to refer you to a serious fucking pro.

I'm working on it. Sadly, I'm deadly serious when I say that here in Canada, you wait. And yes, I'm taking it very seriously.

**socratic** · Posted On: 6/09/2008 8:10pm

Originally Posted by Arctos1964

I'm working on it. Sadly, I'm deadly serious when I say that here in Canada, you wait. And yes, I'm taking it very seriously.

You have to wait for a specialist everywhere, dude. Just be very careful. In fact, you should probably suspend training until you've been properly diagnosed and have been given the OK to continue.

**Jon H** · Posted On: 6/09/2008 8:36pm

Originally Posted by Arctos1964

In my case, I broke my clavicle, cracked my scapula and humerous and separated the socket, about 10 years ago...

Your injury from 10 years ago may still be the cause of you problem. The MRI, when you do get it, should show if you have, what they call, Degenerative Disc Disease. That was part of my diaganosis back when I had the surgery for the accident. I spent years riding in patrol boats which causes a lot of spinal compression type injuries and that was also a contributing factor. The following is from http://www.spine-health.com/ and might answer a few questions.

In the 1970’s, Kirkaldy-Willis first described the "degenerative cascade" of degenerative disc disease. He postulated that after an individual suffers a torsional (twisting) injury to the disc, the disc would degenerate in three general stages.

First, there is significant dysfunction caused by the acute back pain of the injury.
Next, there is a long phase of relative instability at that particular vertebral segment and the patient will be prone to intermittent bouts of back pain.
Finally, the body re-stabilizes the segment and the patient experiences fewer episodes of back pain.

Based on the observation that demographic studies show less back pain from degenerative disc disease in elderly adults (over 60 years) than in younger adults (30 to 50 year-olds), he also concluded that this process happened over a period of 20 to 30 years.