Pain in the Neck

A couple of weeks ago I was healthy and finally getting back into my regular workout routine. Then two Thursdays ago I woke up with a stiff neck...just as if I slept on it wrong. But it quickly transitioned from a stiff neck to a nerve-type pain in my upper back/neck and shoulder. The next day it was worse. No matter how I sat, laid down, or stood I couldn't get in any position to relieve the pain.

I took 800 mg Motrin (gasp-I never take anything unless I have to) and was getting zero relief. Because I couldn't get in to our doctor until Monday, I headed to the ER. The doctor was nice but I could tell he just thought I had really tight muscles in my neck and blaimed it on that. He had a PT paged who came and tried to stretch my neck out a bit and gave me some tips on stretching and getting up and down from a laying down position, then the doctor gave me some painkillers and sent me on my way.

The narcotic and muscle relaxer did not help at all and the pain in my arm was waking me up every three hours at night through the weekend. So I knew something more was wrong. I kept the Monday appointment with the Family Practice doctor and I am so glad I did! He listened to me explain my symptoms, he asked me a few questions and said "I think you have a herniated disk between C5 and C6 and you need an MRI." He wrote me a presciption for Tramadol (a stronger pain med) and I went home. A week later I had the MRI and the the doctor called me and said "Well, your doctor was right. You have a herniated disk between C5 and C6 and you need to go to a neurologist and have surgery." WHAT?! I was in total shock. I remember asking him "I have to have surgery?" And he said that I didn't have to, but then I would just continue to be in pain.

I found online that 90% of herniated disks can be resolved with physical therapy. And that only 10% of herniated disks happen in the cervical spine. So I wanted to talk to the doc in person to see why surgery was necessary and why didn't he refer me to a PT first. I had to see another doctor bc my doctor was out of the office for several days...and she read thought the MRI with me.

The specifics:

"C5-C6: 3.4 mm irregular diffuse posterior disk herniation at this level. There is a 4.5 mm right lateral extrusion. Moderate to severe impingement upon the right neural foramen." Apparently the "extrusion" part is bad. My friend Michelle (a PT) told me that an extrusion is level 3 out of 4 levels.

I was googling "extrusion" last night and reading about what I have was making me nauseous.

This shows what extrusion looks like:

Ewww. Too much information. Apparently the first two are an incomplete herniation and the last two are a complete herniation. I just don't understand how I can feel great one day and have a complete herniation the next.

In the meantime, I found that if I sleep in an upright position vs. laying down it relieves the pain tremendously and I don't wake up as much during the night.

Will post more when we get to the neurologist (could take days or weeks).