Went to the dr today about m chronic pain. Not sure ive updated the misc (most of you know abotu my low back issues) but I have stenosis at C6 in my neck. STenosis has several meanings, medially, but in this case it means that the hole int he vertebra when the spinal cord comes out of the side is getting smaller because of arthritis


Typically, it doesnt bother until i lay down, am dehydrated, or keep my elbows bent when sitting, but lately its gotten worse. The past few days, ive developed this nerve/muscle pain in my right middle trap. Its notterriblewhen i'm standing/walking, but if i have to hold my head up like when i'm seated and leaning forward, that makes it fuuuuucking hurt. Also, lowback has been getting worse.

So today, i went to a new Nurse practitioner. All my other docs just seem like they dont care that much about my complaints. She sent me for cervical and lumbar xrays in hopes that i can get MRIs for both to REALLY see whats going on (because most insurances, especially mine) will make you jump through hoops like PT before they will clear you to get certain imagine done.

Turns out, bulging disc at L3/L4. I ruptured my L5/S1 in 2012 and that fukked my chit up good and i'm STILL paying for it (physically, emotionally, financially etc). I was so....stupified that i forgot to ask about my neck (i have arthritis there too aside from the stenosis. O h yeah, I have both osteoarthritisANDRheumatoid Arthritis. Just not sure where the RA is. Probably my hands because i KNOW i have arthritis there). Good (?) news is that the NP i saw today is sending me to an apparently good neurosurgeon in Memphis so any memphis bros wanna hang out? Also referring me to a new pain clinic. Maybe they'll actually care.

Anyway, i'm at the end of my psychological rope here with all this pain. I'm not going to off myself but this chit is really getting to me because the pain meds i'm on either arent working or arent enough. I even take kratom to supplement and take that 3 sometimes 4 times a day. It DEFINITELY helps but maybe my body has habituated to it or the pain is just too much. I dunno. I do know that apparently i take a chit ton. Your supposed to take like .5 teaspoons but i take a tablespoon 3 times a day. (and there is a movement to ban the stuff nationwide too. Probably because it cuts into big pharma's opioid profits).

I dont know what to do guys. I'm staying active, Pleading with my doctors to TRY ANYTHING but it seems liek they just dont care. Like they only want to provide the minimal care, get you gone so they can get that insurance money. I always get "you're too young to be hurting like this." I'm 37 but look late 20s apparently (lol...dumb bastards) but i cant help but feel in some part of me they are saying "You are LITERALLY too young to be hurting this much therefore you arent." I'm also a biiiiig guy. Obviously a BB'er so maybe that factors in too? "If he can stay THIS active then maybe he is just pil;l seeking or something..." I get that there are legal shackles they cant get around and only certain docs can prescribe certain things but fuk man.....its like the docs ive seen share the exact same brain......I'm SO CLOSE to buy some stuff on the dark web (but i have no idea how to go about it).

I just needed to vent. If you have solutions or whatever, i'm open to it but i'm gonna try and head to bed soon. Its fukking hard to sleep with this nerve/muscle pain my my neck and trap now

I feel for you brah. That is terrible to go through that pain.

I'd be very careful and would advise against black market pills. There is a high chance of them being bootleg pills laced with ********. Please be careful.

Chronic pain sucks.

Since you have struggled with this for a long time chances are you have tried a lot of things. I doubt my nagging issues compare, but FWIW I alternate between safety coated aspirin [strangely hard to find] for days that feel more like arthritis and the aleve liquigels for days with nagging tight muscle pain.

I've personally found that I can sometimes reduce pain and tightness that seems more muscular with mindful relaxation. First you have to realize that you are tensing up the muscle and then you have to actively focus on releasing the tension. It might creep back though.

I hope you find physicians that are empathetic and can help you find relief.

yeah thats what is scary. I remember a few years ago people were talking about how this guy bought a pill press off ebay or some site. I can imagine how hard it would be to acquire one liek it.


The thing is, heroin addicts. At least some off them. I get it now. I'm damn. near. desperate. for relief. Not enough to do heroin but fuk man. This chit is terrible. Its constant. Nothing i do helps. MAYBE there is a medicie that will help but cant get a doc who cares apparently.

Damn brah I feel for you. I have scoliosis and have had some back issues recently that are nerve related. A mixture of thoracic outlet syndrome and something in my upper thoracic that might be causing further symptoms. It will be fine a lot of times, but when it first happened I had very scary feeling of cold. Like water down my arms, cold that felt like it went through my arteries through my chin, and chest. I felt like sub zero. Even down to my feet too. The reason I bring this up is that I spent a few months on and off with that and going to a chiropractor to help and I thought about living with this for the rest of my life. I seemingly felt normal otherwise besides being a bit tight in my back. Physically though it wasn't painful. It really mentally fukked with me for a bit thinking about it, but I'm pretty good now and have been doing some postural stuff and exercises that have helped a ton.

I felt bad for myself but tbh I feel lucky. I couldn't imagine having chit as you have it. I feel maybe in the future I will, but all I can do is say I'm sorry you have to deal with that ****. Back/neck pain is brutal and it really is mentally hard to deal with.

So exercise, diet, chiropractor care, etc hasn't had any relief or help? I know you have had these issues for a long time so this kind of blows my mind doctors are so indifferent about this situation for you. I would have figured you'd have surgery by now or something. Crazy

Man I'm sorry you're going through all that pain, my suggestion would be to find another practician for care. Some of these doctors see so much chit, that they become desensitized to people's needs and almost look like they're dead inside. I mean I guess it comes with the territory of the field, but I'd pursue a specialist or anyone else in the medical field that can help you.

Can you boil this down into something other than a massive rant?

Like what’s the issue, exactly? I’m having trouble gleaning info from your 7 paragraph diatribe.

Was it related to injury?

How much pain are you in?

How does it limit your function?

Does it impact sensation?

Does it impact muscle strength?

Can you sleep?

Does it affect swallowing?

Are you able to perform activities of daily living, like dressing, bathing?

Has any imaging been done, and if so is there a follow up?

Have you pursued PT?

Is your orthopedist following you? Do they recommend surgery?

Do you require an orthotic device? Like how bad is this?

I have a million questions.

I see an inversion table in your future

Sorry to hear this for you. Fwiw my mother has spinal stenosis and has a lot of the same exact complaints about doctors as you. She’s gone to numerous ones and all told her that for her situation surgery would not be a good option and she tried PT with no relief so now she’s basically into just pain management. It’s a terrible situation.

Read the whole thing(whew lads)


You're not going to like the outcome; pain management isn't the solution, surgery is(granted I haven't seen your scans)

And you want to hold out on back/spine surgery as long as you can for many reasons

Unfortunately I don’t have any good suggestions for you but I’m sorry to hear you’re going through that man. I hope you can get some relief

I'm so sorry Tank. That really sounds awful. I've said this before to several people but have you tried accupuncture? I had a coworker/friend that had bad TMJ from a car crash. She had had multiple surgeries and was always on pain meds. Nothing helped. She finally tried accupuncture and it basically cured her. I think she went back occasionally like once a year maybe? But it worked for her when nothing else did. Might be worth a try if you're at the end of your rope.

Spinal surgery usually turns out bad. Just gonna put that there. We don’t have it down to a science yet, exactly. You’re equally likely to be worse off following surgery permanently, than to be better in 6 months.

If anyone else can chime in and corroborate that I’d appreciate it.

Sorry to hear that brah.

You still lifting? If so, could taking a break help and instead focusing on diet, light cardio?

I told you rows and hanging solved my back pain

if you can’t do rows I’d recommend rackpulls

good luck man

I have herniated discs at L4-L5-S1, and some stenosis (actual narrowing) but don't remember how much of my back that is supposed to effect.

I just know that an inversion table and flexible ice packs help me more than about anything else I've tried. Had to give up deadifts, squats, and bench press, too.

You have an M.S. in Physiology or something like that? You probably know possible options and treatments better than I do, but I'm just saying don't be afraid to give up some lifts and use some old fashioned ice in addition to medicine if needed.

I feel for you bro. Glad you shared this with us. Sorry you're going through this.

deadlifts not even once

I feel you OP. I have terrible chronic pains in both shoulders. Soon as I use them at all within seconds I lose feeling in my hands and am down to 35-40% strength in them. Using them for any longer results in near zero control and strength. In Canada I can't even see a dr. Yo uhave to wake up when every clinic opens and spam them all with multipil phones and you still get told "were full sorry"

You're not aloud to make appointments either. The system is broken. Someone died in the ER 2 days ago waiting to be seen.

Patient dies while waiting hours to be seen in New Brunswick emergency department

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/patien...ment-1.5987414

Not true. My father had the C6/C7 stenosis and had the fusion done after decades of pain and years of doing all the stretches and decompression stuff. He is in a far better place afterwards although the cold bothers him a little more than it used to. The numbness in his fingers went away. No more pins and needles. Unfortunately for OP idk if that is an option because fusion always places greater stress on the surrounding disks so likelihood of having to get further procedures done is substantially higher than someone who is 60+. Idk if OP has disk issues but perhaps he is a candidate for a disc replacement?

Lumber disc herniation is usually alleviated by lumber extension, which would be standing up or laying flat on your belly.

Lumbar stenosis is usually alleviated by the opposite, which is lumbar flexion or sitting down in a chair.

So obviously, if you have a herniation, flexion hurts. But if you have stenosis, standing up hurts, to put it simply.

You’re in a unique position to have acquired both, apparently. Usually this occurs in older patients, how old are you?

Do you get any pain, tingling, or numbness down one or both legs? Do you have any difficulty with controlling urination? Any knee-buckling?

The great thing is, if the pain is centralized to the area in the spine where the derangement or injury has occurred, that’s a positive sign.

What you want to look out for is if you start experiencing pain that goes down your legs, or into your toes, or groin area, or if you start losing function from a mobility standpoint.

He’s lucky and I’m happy to hear that, truly. He must have had a good one taking care of him that day. Glad he’s better now but in my experience it’s a huge risk and needs to be considered very seriously. Again happy to hear your father is doing better bro.

Thanks homie. Obviously what you say is real because that is why he waited legit 2 decades to finally get it done when he was starting to lose feeling in his fingers. Still has bulging disks in lower back that will likely need to be addressed at some point.

How’s his back doing?

My chiro is almost 40 min away (thank you chitty obama care, my ins wont cover ANY SINGLE Chiro in my town plus gas is 4.21 now ). But, even though i love my chiro, he can only do so much for my stenosis. Thats literally a hole for the nerves getting smaller because of arthritis/bone spur growth.

My reccomendation to you, learn all you can about your doncition, and do what you can do slow its progression (if its GOING to get worse ) or even reduce it it if possible.

I'm gonna keep trying new docs. Hopefully this new pain clinic and the neurosurgeon will be the key
1. C6 stenosis. Nerve pain refers to both hands, thumbs and 1st 2 digits mainly when i lay down but has been doing it standing lately. Also have developed nerve/muscle pain constantly in middle fibers of right trap (consistent with c6 stenosis i believe)
2. Had l5/S1 lamenectomy and micrdiscecetomy nov 14, 2012. Arthritis in low back hit 5th gear right after that.
3. Had cervical and lumbar x ray today (so maybe i can can mri's for both easier) and found out my l3/l4 is bulging. Not a huge deal, just more issues to deal with. Didnt thinkt o ask about the findings in my neck
4. Doesnt really impact my faily life that much. Just makes me slower (back pain), gotta shake the feeling back into my hands sometimes.
5. Pain ranges from 1 to a 8ish. Mostof the time im at a 5, even with yoga stretches, opioids OTC meds etc
7. sensation is impacted. I have reduced feeling on my glutes and various areas down my left leg (sciatica). This is all that I am aware of in lower body. i think i have reduced sensationin my hands and forearms though
8. Sleep sucks. I wake up 7 to 10 times a night becaus emy hands are at a pain level of 8 or 9 (nerve pain) but I can stand up and the pain goes away within seconds.
9. doesnt affect swallowing that i'm aware off.
10. Muscle strength seems pretty good. Leg left is the nerve damaged leg so its smaller and a bit weaker. Les sensationt here too.
11. ADOL are normal but it just makes me hurt
12. Had a cervical MRI last year to confirm stenosis. Havent had any mri/cts done otherwise in a decade I believe because pain levels werenormaland despite recent complants (like 1.5 years) of pain getting worse, docs didnt seem liek it was prudent to get any imaging done until today
13. Last neurosurgeon i saw said he'd do an l5/s1 fusion for the arthritis (which is 100% gonna happen in my future unless we learn to regrow cartilage/discs or something) but I am ABSOLUTELY not doing that unil it is 100% necessary. But i'm more open to surgery on my neck because that seems likes it s gonna NEED to happen
14. I require no devices but i do have this air bladder thing that is liek one of those things EMTs use to stabilize the neck. But you pump air into it and its meant to decompress the cervical spine and it seems to help my trap pain issue so maybe i'm dealing with a compressed disc?
15. The whole point: I have osteoarthrtis, rheumatoid arthritis, bone spurs, sciatica, migraines, scoliosis (its actually a compensation curve caused by a .5" hip imbalance). I Am only 27 and I. Hurt. Constantly. All docs tellme the exact same chit., "Sorry champ. nothing i can do but prescribe this me thatmightwork. There is no contengency plan. Good luck." I'm just psychologically wasted. I'm desperate for relief.

Had none but i have a hip imbalanace that makes it seem like one leg is longer (which gives me a scoliosis like curve in my spine) so most my weight hangs from one leg and just hurts so i got rid of my tableI havent seen a surgical consult yet but i'm gonna tell them, unless its required, it aint happening
Oh surgey is gonnabe THE. Last. Choice. for me. because the low back surgery is gonna be a fusion and those fukking suck. I'll be damn near crippled after that. I dont want to rely on pain management. I want the issues fukking FIXED. bUt my low back....not gonna getfixed. Neck, had potential to be fixed and if surgery is the way, then i'll do it. But i have no idea how i'll pay for it though. My low back surgey was like, $58k (that was in 2012)

Glad to hear from you brother
Thanks for trying though.I havent but i am more than willing. I dont think there is a acupuncturist in town anymore. I'd need it to be affordable too though but yeah, i'd try it.
Oh i'm aware. my discectomy fixed the disc issue but left scar tissue the size of my thumb and is the reason i have sciatica now. But its not NEARLY as bad since i lost 60 lbs
Still lifting but i am constantly modifying my routine to remove the aggravating stuff so its an ongoing process.i I do 100% need to add some cardio in though. I'll probably do HIIT though. Thanks for the rec

I didn't read all the responses but based on what you've wrote...I'd look into acupuncture srs.

Wishing you healing and feeling better soon.

All I get out of this thread is be thankful boyos, the next time you feel like complaining about the myriad of mindless crap people complain about on the misc all day everyday think of this man. Sorry to hear OP, I’ve just had back surgery myself so I can somewhat relate but damn dude I feel for you, this has to be maddening.

I'm not 100% sure if my stenosis is severe enough to be a huge contributing factor for my pain -- I just know it was on the diagnostic report over 12 years ago. I was fairly young so they said the stenosis was probably genetic.

I had calf pain/numbness, pain & tingling down the leg, drop foot, and some knee buckling. Most of that resolved over time after I quit the aforementioned lifts and got an inversion table. Yeah, most of my pain is localized now, but I will occasionally kind of throw my back out and have a hard time walking for a couple days. My doc did tell me to go to the ER if I start pissing myself.

Sorry to hear this OP. Pain management is a serious issue in healthcare, with the pain pill crackdown a lot of prescrobers are hesitant to medicate with the good stuff. I don't know if you have a pain clinic in the area, but if you do your PCP should be able to refer you to one.

Whatever you do, don't take black market pills. Everything is getting laced with ********. It's crazy hete in the ICU. People snorting a little coke ending up brain dead because it was laced.