anyone ever had a pinched nerve?

rhales199 · Sat Jul 28, 2007 6:22 am

Anyone ever have a pinched nerve?

What did you do that worked/ didn't work for it?

How long did you have it?

My Dh has had one since early may in his right shoulder. I will say now that the fact that he has a physcal disability (Spastic Cerebral Palsy) possibly contributes to it.
At first, his Dr. had him try Physical Therapy, but that didn't work. Pain meds didn't really help all that much, either. Now he's in the process of getting a MRI scheduled, so they can see exactly where this pinched nerve is, and possibly do sirgery to fix it.

I was just wondering if anyone else here had had a pinched nerve, and what kinds of things they had to do to treat it.

toese · Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:13 pm

I used to get them every now and then. They would last for a month or so but getting massages really helped professional massages that is. They would know where to push down. You may want to try that.

rhales199 · Tue Aug 14, 2007 5:56 am

Thanks, Toese.

We just found out today that his pinched nerve is due to a herniated disc (vertebrae) in his neck. That's probably why the PT, ice, and massages would work for him. He will have to have surgery sometime next week. They will take out the bad vertebrae and put a steel rod in it's place.
The neurosurgeon said the relief will be immediate. He will have a stiff neck for maybe a few weeks, and have to be in the hospital for a few days after the surgery, but the relief from the pain will be immediate.

DH has had this for 3 months, and this whole time he hasn't been able to lay or sleep on his back at all (thank heavens for the lift chair we got from Knights of Columbus right before this, cause that's what he's slept in every night this whoel time!

Finally, we're beginning to see the light at the end of this long tunnel!!

mom2three · Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:43 pm

Hope your husband is doing well! I had a similar situation except mine was in my lower back. Have 2 rods and 4 screws. The pain from the nerve was better instantly, although it was a few months before it was completely gone but that was because the nerve had been compressed for about 6 months prior to surgery. Good luck!

rhales199 · Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:07 pm

Thanks!
He's doing alright. His surgery isn't until next week sometime.

How long were you in the hospital after the surgery? Were you able to do much the first couple of days you were home?

My MIL had pretty much the same thing as you done (except she didn't have any metal put in) in June. She says she still can't do things around the house, and her Dr is upset that she's thinking of traveling (to come up here to be with us during the surgery and stuff. (she actually came up here in early July- just a few weeks after her surgery-- for a family reunion, because she thought the Dr said it would be okay!).

I will let ya know how things turn out!

DebbyC · Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:20 pm

rhales - even if they do an anterior approach, he should be out of the hospital in 2-4 days. Some people go home the next day.

Some of the problems with recovery is the length of time the damage existed, the degree of the damage, personality, and in the case of my work - whether or not there is a big payout at the end

rhales199 · Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:10 pm

Thanks, DebbyC. His is actually at the base of his neck/ shoulders (above or close to the top of his ribacge), so if I remember right, the Dr. said he will do a posteroir approach.
We're anticipating that it will be about 3-4 days.
Yes, I think it depends on how well things are going for him. He has a pre-existing disability, but also has a high pain tolerance.
Were you able to do much when you first got back home?

I forgot to add in my last post that she said today that she still can't do much around the house.

mom2three · Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:49 pm

I was in 5 days but that was because my potassium level dropped very dangerously low and they had to continue to monitor my heart. I should have gone home on day 4. And I honestly couldn't imagine going home any sooner then that. I was only able to sit for 15 minutes, 2 x a day (remember mine was lower back, so very different then the neck). No bending, lifting, twisting, etc. He will have a lot of restrictions as you need to hold the area 'still' while the new bone growth is beginning. IMO having it done posterior is a major advantage. What day next week? I'll keep him in my prayers!

rhales199 · Thu Aug 16, 2007 4:39 am

We don't know yet what day (have to wait for darb Medicaid approval before they can schedule the surgery.) I could be any day Monday thru thursday. we should know by this friday, so i'll let you all know when we find out ourselves!

Did you have family that stay with you most of the time?

mom2three · Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:04 pm

Oh that is SO frustrating - I had to jump through so many hoops with my insurance before they would cover the surgery - and it just ended up costing them more in the end :?

My best advice would be to try to go out and do something fun this weekend - take your mind off of it (as much as possible). Do you have children? (now I'm just being nosy - :lol: ) I ask because the hardest part for me was not being able to lift or carry my son for a very long time.

DebbyC · Thu Aug 16, 2007 3:00 pm

rhales - I have not had the surgery - I am a legal nurse consultant and 1 of 3 cases I review seems to be for spinal surgery these days...

rhales199 · Sat Aug 18, 2007 12:23 am

Thanks, Ladies!

Sorry it took me so long to reply. As you can imagine, we've had a lot going on here! Went and got the hospital bed yesterday, then tried to deal with Medicaid all day today (will talk about that later).

No, we don't have children. Much as we want kids, in regards to this one thing, I'm grateful we don't have kids at the moment.

As far as going out and doing something else, we went bowling with friends yesterday. We're also going to go rent movies tonight, and possibly do some shopping. Nothing else really sounded interesting this weekend.

You were soooo right about how frustrating insurance can be. We were originally told by the Dr that we should basically hear back from Medicaid by today. Well, that didn't happen. DH spent the whole morning (I was helping some friends, or else I would have been there doing this with him!) calling the Dr's office or Medicaid. The Dr's office says 'your approval is still pending', so it's not approved yet! So DH calls Medicaid--- it took him clear until noon, when I got home, to finally get through to a live person. That persondidn't act like he knew what was going on or what he was doing. He kept telling DH that for them to be able to tell him anything, he needed to give them dates and the procedure codes. DH kept asking, 'what dates do you mean? the surgery dates? (or the dates he saw the Dr, or the date the request was submitted, or what?). DH had the surgery dates, and kept telling this guy that, and he never seemed to listen to him. The guy would never tell him, plus the guy was talking to DH like he was stupid or something.
Well, we finally figured they wanted the surgery dates and the proceedure codes. So, I called the Dr's office about 1 pm. and left a message for the nurse asking for them to call us back with those codes. Well, no call back. By that time, we were both frustrated and angry, and tired of being run around in circles and treated like trash. So, when DH's homehleath aide came about 3, we asked him to make the phone calls. He called the Dr's office, told the secretary what he needed,who connected him with the nurse, who was able to give him the info. She told him she'd call medicaid and find out what was going on, and then call us back (Remember, I had called HER at 1pm, and she hadn't bother to call us back by 3 when we called again!)So, then he calls MEdicaid, gets the very same guy DH talked to this morning, and the guy was nice to him. Still couldn't find anything out.
The nurse did call us back this time. She told us that there is a Medicaid Dr looking at his case-- he has ALL the info (The MRI, the Dr's notes).That means, no determination was made today. Which means, we have to wait the whole weekend until Monday to find out if or when DH is going to have the surgery. IT would have been really nice to have beena ble to have known that TODAY!!
By the time Monday comes, Medicaid will have had nearly 1 WEEK to look at the info... ONE week, during wich my DH has had to sit here in pain!!!
I know these Dr's are really busy, but how long can it really take to look at a MRI and some Dr's notes!?!?!

Its experiences like this that tell me that this country isn't as great as it could be--- I mean, it doesn't even seem to bother to take care of it's own people very well!!

Well, anywho, take care, Ladies!!

DebbyC · Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:13 pm

I share your frustration, having worked a couple of those jobs [trying to get authorization and giving authorization] it is very complicated sometimes - specially for spinal surgery, as it is a HUGE expense with a myriad of complications and associated pre and post surgical expenses and they want to make sure it's not just being done without having attempted any of the normal conservative measures - i.e. episural steroid injections, physical therapy, pain management. They get hundreds of authorization requests daily, everything from a tonsillectomy to transplant [imaging how frustrating THAT one can be!] The way it works is - at each level, there is a person who can or cannot approve a surgery based on criteria - say a tonsillectomy can be approved by a nonmedical person if 'xyz' criteria is there but spinal surgery can not, still that person has to gather all the materials before they pass it to the next level and there can be 4-5 or more levels before it gets to the person who can actually MAKE a decision.

Dr. offices try - but they run up against the same irritation that you do, in that the person requesting the info may tell them they need 'abc' and they send it, then find out they also need 'mno'.... not trying to make excuses for either one, but it has become a very complicated process when they try to merge cost efficiency plus legal whatifs plus the patients need and frequently the patient's need comes out as the lesser of the determinates!

Try to be calm - it's not personal, tho I'm sure it feels like it is - I had similar issues after my emergency surgery last summer - my insurance carrier changed at midnight of the day I had the surgery at 10 p.m so I had 2 companies trying to sort out who did what on what day....and of course I was unconscious for about 4 days so I couldn't say, oh by the way, my insurance carrier changed on June 1....

rhales199 · Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:33 pm

Thanks for explaining that!
That helped me to understand things better!

I'll keep you all updated when we find stuff out!!

rhales199 · Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:20 am

we finally heard from Medicaide regarding Tygh's surgery. They approved the surgery for the herniated disc, which was the major thing he needs done, but they did not approve for work to be done on other discs that were showing some wear and tear.

we're just happy to hear that the major thing was approved!

So, we were able to schedule his surgery. It will be Tuesday morning (yes, that means TUESDAY of NEXT WEEK!!). THe nurse said they think he'll be in the hospital just overnihgt, but I think they're being REALL optomistic, and he most likely will be there at least one day longer, in my thinking.
YEs, he is very strong and has a high pain tolerance, but he is a person with a disability!!

Well, anywho, I'll let you know how the surgery goes (probably won't be until at least Wednesday til i get home and get on the 'puter, as I'll be in the hospital pretty much all day Tuesday).


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