Hello Everybody,
I am 51 years old. Seven weeks ago I fall asleep watching TV, in bed, with my head supported by a very small pillow, in a really bad posture. Next day, Sunday morning when I woke up, couldn't move my head in any direction. Later in the afternoon, started a sharp pain in my left back shoulder. I thought it was a muscle spasm, so I bought a few hot patches, applied them, however as the time was passing the pain was growing and coudln't sleep at all. Early in the morning went to emergency clinic, they only gave me a prescription for muscle relaxant, pain killers and rest for a couple of days, also cold therapy that week and hot therapy the following. The pain didn't go away, it got worst and down to my left arm. By Thursday at 2 AM, went to another emergency room at a nearby Hospital, gave me a shot for the pain, took X-Ray and Doctor suggested a visit to an Orthopedic(Neurosurgeon) doctor, because he believed the problem was in my neck. Still unable to sleep or lay down I only could sit. The appointment was set for the following Monday afternoon. Couldn't wait till then, so Saturday morning visit a chiropractor. They thought based on the X RAY that my vertebra was misaligned, and they did help me with the pain and also after that was able to lay down in bed. My mistake was to cancel the visit to the neurosurgeon thinking my problem was about to be solved. By Tuesday afternoon couldn't stand the pain went back to Hospital, again got a referral to another neurosurgeon for Thursday. That day in the morning couldn't stand the pain and decided to TRY acupuncture to reduce SOME of the pain. Went to see the Neurosurgeon that afternoon, suggested an MRI, seems like a cervical herniated disc but had to wait for approval from my Insurance company. Knowing it could be a Herniated disc started to search in the Internet for all my options and find out that it is best to start with a conservative treatment or physical therapy prior to any surgery, so I did started with spinal decompression. After 3 sessions, didn't feel any relieve, always unable to sleep and with a constant sharp pain in my arm, elbow, and numbness left index finger, the decompression doctor who actually is in my insurance network, decided to have an MRI done on Oct 15th. WE found out I had a large ruptured herniated disc C5-C6, on a scale of 1 to 10 an 8 on difficulty for spinal decompression treatment, 20-30% chances of surgery, possible epidural inyections depending upon my response to the decompression treatment. Still unable to sleep and with a permanent sharp pain, even though I was taking a lot of anti-inflamatory pills. On Monday morning Oct 17th, with the MRI in my hands, called the Acupuncture Doctor that previously treated my pain, and made him aware of my condition. After my 5th decompression session at 25 lbs, went to his office, he checked the MRI and told me to come back the following morning. Went home that afternoon, and the pain came back stronger than ever, after many pills was able to sleep at 5 am for a couple of hours. Early in the morning went to the acupuncture doctor and he did some work in the back of my neck with needles and some little bottles with a vaccum effect, after the first session was done, went to the decompression treatment and then home. Checked my clock every hour and noticed the pain was down from a 10 to 3, even at 11 pm, for the first time in 23 days of agonic pain was able to sleep at least 8 hours. Since then, I continued with both conservative treatments at the same time and as aggresive as possible, almost every day, till present. Since then my condition has improved considerably, after 26 sessions, going down to only three sessions per week for the decompression, 2 visits per week with the Acupuncture as from the beginning. I was very lucky to find two great doctors in the area with a lot of experience, and I believe I'm getting cured. I don't know how long is going to take to get back to work, but as of now, I have still numbness in my left index finger, and a pain of 1-2 in my arm only when I move, sometimes also a sharp pain in my neck, the pain is continously reducing and becoming less frequent. The acupuncture treatment, is very powerful, is based upon increasing the blood circulation near the area of the neck, where the good side of disc is located, diminishing the pressure on the good side of the disc, and balancing the pressure of the ruptured disc. I haven't found any information about this treatment in the internet so far. I hope the information given here, could be useful to anybody who is suffering this terrible condition and that is reluctant to the use of epidural inyections and/or surgery. By the way, in reality I believe the herniated disc started when I was 15 years old due to a car accident, just didn't know that the pain in my elbow and neck were due to a herniated disc.