The Neck Disaster

As many of you already know, I've been having issues with pain, tingling, and numbness in my left arm, hand, and shoulder for the last few months (actually the last 6 months.) A little over a month ago, it turned into very, very, very severe pain in my left arm and the back of my neck, which prompted my pain doctor to script me enough pain meds to knock out a small elephant for hours at a time, and to order an MRI of my neck (cervical spine.) Sadly, the meds didn't knock me out quite as much as I had hoped and only put a small dent in the pain. They do, however, have the same effect as a few drinks do. I'm definitely in a fog when I take them both and apparently quite a bit more chatty that usual. (Don't worry, I don't drive like that!) Anywho, not to any one's surprise, including my own, they found a pretty significant problem. A badly bulged disc. Before I show you the problem in the first picture, I'll see if you can find the problem first.
Okay. The bulged disc is between vertebrae C5 and C6. So 5 down from the top. It's circled on the next photo to show you where and what the problem is.
Now let me explain. Now that it's been pointed out, you can see that there is definitely a difference in appearance between that disc and the others. Instead of the space being lighter colored between the vertebrae, it's darker that the others. That means that there's something wrong and that the disc isn't in the correct position. Also, it protrudes outside of it's normal space. It has the ligament that holds the spinal column in place slightly displaced. (I can't really see that.) Next, the white colored space that is between the vertebrae and the spinal cord itself is spinal fluid. There is no white between the disc and the spinal cord, meaning that the spinal fluid has been pushed aside. The spinal cord is less protected from the spine itself. Lastly, the disc is actually compressing the spinal cord, which is the darker line running between both sides of the white spinal fluid. It's definitely not good that it's compressing the spinal cord. My chance of paralysis and developing other neurological signs is increased should that continue.

Below is a picture of one of my healthy discs, looking from the top of my head, down. Notice that there is a layer of white spinal fluid that's sort of the shape of a kidney bean surrounding the spinal cord.
Now let's take a look at the bad disc, which, again is between C5 and C6.
As you can see, there is hardly any white spinal fluid surrounding the left side of the disc (which is actually the right side of the picture as you see it here.) All of the nerves that are if the left shoulder and left arm bundle into what is called a nerve root that branches off of the spinal cord between C5 and C6. Without the spinal fluid to protect and cushion that nerve root from the vertebrae, the nerve is being pinched. Where the nerve is being pinched, false signals of pain are being generated. The nerves are being falsely stimulated in my spine, and signals are being sent to my brain as if the nerves in my arms are sensing pain, even though they're not. It's kind of a confusing concept if you haven't studied nerves before. The weird sensations of tinging and numbness are occurring because nerve information from my lower arm and fingers is being blocked from reaching my brain. Since my brain isn't receiving any signals from my fingers, all I feel is numbness.

For now, I'm supposed to continue getting epidurals in my neck, to decrease the swelling and pain so that I'm in good enough condition to try some physical therapy. If it's not better and is still getting worse in 3 months, I may be looking at surgery to fuse the 2 vertebrae in my spine. That's pretty much it for now. I'll keep you posted...