[Lee555]

I've been reading posts that have to do with incomplete injuries and trying to figure out the sort of pain that is being experienced. The more I read about what an incomplete will cause, it's looking more and more like my problems now. My injury was sustained by a whiplash in a rearend collision, hit by two trucks, where my head not only went through the whipping forward and back, but also my head got jerked to the right when I hit the headrest at an angle and my poor head rolled around the edge of it.

What I'm interested most in is finding out if the pain I experience is typical for an ISPI? If I try to move those parts (foot leg hand and arm) that are lacking power, I get a deep, aching pain in my spine (if doing the foot let's say) that ends in my neck and head, left side. Is this a muscle spasm? It feels like it's going straight up my spinal column to my head. When I first realized the leg and foot were having a problem, I made a serious mistake in trying too hard a few more times to move the damn thing. It sent a major shock of pain up the spine and within seconds the arm was going numb, the shoulder, and shooting pain in the ribcage on the left side. I expect the ribcage will be next. Hmmmm. And one more, is it normal for it to suddenly flare up when you do something to irritate those muscles/nerves?

Thank you for taking the time if you can enlighten me some on this.
Lee

[wheeliebear75]

For it to be a "Spinal Cord Injury" I'd think that the Dr. at the ER would have seen if there was something that wrong. Generally speaking you would have had to have broken some vertebra in that accident. People who are injured in accidents and get whiplash can have a lot of weakness and tingling but it has to do with muscles and nerves but not necessarily the nerves of the spinal cord. My guess is that if they took X-rays and still let you go I'm guessing that you have something less sever going on than a spinal cord injury. Good luck and I hope you feel better.

[darrel]

Hi Lee,
glad to see you started a thread..
the pain that I have is a deep pain that almost feel as if I slept wrong butat the base of my head and runs down my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades and then there is lower back pain that runs just below my ribs down to my tail bone, it feels like a sharp pain that is centralized. I try to lean back in my chair to stretch my back then move my head (ear to shoulder slowly) this way it pops. And then there is the spaticity that is a different pain all together that feeling is hard for me to explain. but stretching the tendens has a tendency to hurt and the joints are hard to bend. I also have sensetivity that drives me nuts, a cold drop of water almost feels like a cigarette burn(just for a breif instant till I know what it was). It has been to long sinse I had a hot shower, all I can tolerate now is warm water.
I hope this helps you understand the pain that I feel, I am sure that everyone else is different, and their intensity is greater or less. for all injuries are different. hopefully others can give you som insight.
talk with you later,
darrel
uhh, I didn't grasp the whole of the question , sorry

This post has been edited by darrel: 06 October 2007 - 11:51 PM

[Lee555]

darrel, on Oct 6 2007, 05:42 PM, said:

Hi Lee,
glad to see you started a thread..
the pain that I have is a deep pain that almost feel as if I slept wrong butat the base of my head and runs down my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades and then there is lower back pain that runs just below my ribs down to my tail bone, it feels like a sharp pain that is centralized. I try to lean back in my chair to stretch my back then move my head (ear to shoulder slowly) this way it pops. And then there is the spaticity that is a different pain all together that feeling is hard for me to explain. but stretching the tendens has a tendency to hurt and the joints are hard to bend. I also have sensetivity that drives me nuts, a cold drop of water almost feels like a cigarette burn(just for a breif instant till I know what it was). It has been to long sinse I had a hot shower, all I can tolerate now is warm water.
I hope this helps you understand the pain that I feel, I am sure that everyone else is different, and their intensity is greater or less. for all injuries are different. hopefully others can give you som insight.
talk with you later,
darrel
uhh, I didn't grasp the whole of the question , sorry

No Darrel, you got the question right, the description you give is damn close to what I have going on. Mine is felt only on the left side of the head, neck, shoulder, back, and now my sacrum and hip. (except when I get an episode coming on, then all the muscles get into the swing, but it's different) What it feels like in my head is all the muscles inside are in spasm. Do you know there are muscles that lift the soft palate? And a tiny one in the ear? I have some cranial nerve involvement as well, the CN Vll, which has gone spastic because the forehead and muscles over the top and back of my head and the right jaw muscle are tight. The dentist has likened the jaw problem to TMJ. It doesn't seem to hurt that much now, just a bit crackly.

I forgot about the allodynia. I get it with cold stuff. The PT had tried to use ice on the shoulder and neck and after 15 seconds it was like he had applied a fire pack on me. I can't even stand to pick up a chilled can of soda without something wrapped around it. Heat is not a problem, sorry to hear you can't enjoy a hot shower. Darrel, has any doctor ever described this pain you have by giving it a name?

Lee

[darrel]

Lee555, on Oct 7 2007, 01:05 AM, said:

darrel, on Oct 6 2007, 05:42 PM, said:

Hi Lee,
glad to see you started a thread..
the pain that I have is a deep pain that almost feel as if I slept wrong butat the base of my head and runs down my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades and then there is lower back pain that runs just below my ribs down to my tail bone, it feels like a sharp pain that is centralized. I try to lean back in my chair to stretch my back then move my head (ear to shoulder slowly) this way it pops. And then there is the spaticity that is a different pain all together that feeling is hard for me to explain. but stretching the tendens has a tendency to hurt and the joints are hard to bend. I also have sensetivity that drives me nuts, a cold drop of water almost feels like a cigarette burn(just for a breif instant till I know what it was). It has been to long sinse I had a hot shower, all I can tolerate now is warm water.
I hope this helps you understand the pain that I feel, I am sure that everyone else is different, and their intensity is greater or less. for all injuries are different. hopefully others can give you som insight.
talk with you later,
darrel
uhh, I didn't grasp the whole of the question , sorry

No Darrel, you got the question right, the description you give is damn close to what I have going on. Mine is felt only on the left side of the head, neck, shoulder, back, and now my sacrum and hip. (except when I get an episode coming on, then all the muscles get into the swing, but it's different) What it feels like in my head is all the muscles inside are in spasm. Do you know there are muscles that lift the soft palate? And a tiny one in the ear? I have some cranial nerve involvement as well, the CN Vll, which has gone spastic because the forehead and muscles over the top and back of my head and the right jaw muscle are tight. The dentist has likened the jaw problem to TMJ. It doesn't seem to hurt that much now, just a bit crackly.

I forgot about the allodynia. I get it with cold stuff. The PT had tried to use ice on the shoulder and neck and after 15 seconds it was like he had applied a fire pack on me. I can't even stand to pick up a chilled can of soda without something wrapped around it. Heat is not a problem, sorry to hear you can't enjoy a hot shower. Darrel, has any doctor ever described this pain you have by giving it a name?

Lee

no, I have explained it to my theropy Dr. and all I get in return is "ummm, UmmHUMM, Ummm" and she jots something down in my charts. If she were to tell me the medical name for it I would have to look at her and go "Dee,Dee,Dee" because I would not understand a thing she just said. and she knows that I wouldn't. My G/F and I joke about it and when her grand kids are around we try to avoid the water games most of the time. If I know it is coming I can clinch my teeth and grin&bare it. I have other conditions that trouble me more so I really don't let that get to me. hell I'm just glad to be alive.

[Lee555]

wheeliebear75, on Oct 6 2007, 05:08 PM, said:

For it to be a "Spinal Cord Injury" I'd think that the Dr. at the ER would have seen if there was something that wrong. Generally speaking you would have had to have broken some vertebra in that accident. People who are injured in accidents and get whiplash can have a lot of weakness and tingling but it has to do with muscles and nerves but not necessarily the nerves of the spinal cord. My guess is that if they took X-rays and still let you go I'm guessing that you have something less sever going on than a spinal cord injury. Good luck and I hope you feel better.

Yeah, you would think wouldn't you? I've had two doctors say what I am experiencing is just that, a spinal injury. And there are others who think its something less severe, maybe even just stress. Perhaps we'll be discussing this with the lawyers. And no, you don't have to break anything, as far as I know at this point, because you can't always see fractures right after it happens. Although the one doctor is recommending a bone scan to see what sort of tissue damage there would be I am guessing. Less severe is what, a sore neck and tingly fingers? This is what a camp of idiot doctors had on their minds after the accident. And why the ER let me out with a numb weak left hand and arm, the right uncoordinated and weak, the left shoulder hiked up about two inches closer to my ear and not being able to reach forward and up past my navel. Toss in the fact that I had blurred vision for a while, so no, I don't have a clue why they didn't think something more than a tweaked neck was going on. The cord can be pinched by the vertebra and when scanned, nothing shows up to say how bent your neck got. I've had probably 8-9 persons look at 3 sets of MRI's and there didn't seem to be a problem. Although the symptoms point in that direction. Now it could be a brain trauma, but the physiatrist specifically said to look for a 'central cord problem'. This is a man I would trust with my life.

Before I got my hands on the Tizanidine the episodes I had were endless. Vicadin would suppress the muscle pain, but did nothing to release them. I have thought long and hard about what happens, (and done a ton of reading about hypertonicity) and the best way I can describe it is this.
Imagine all your muscles tightening as if they are all getting ready to do something, but they never get the message to relax. Of course all of them are doing their stretch out of turn and are uncoordinated, and the nerves inside and running alongside these muscles are getting stretched as well. Kinda feels like being crushed.
Lee

This post has been edited by Lee555: 07 October 2007 - 01:45 AM

[LuckyinKentucky]

Other periphial nerve damage could be possible... may be totally wrong here but often head to toe pain that is bilateral like like is involving the sciatic nerve (probably misspelled)

[Susi]

I have read a lot of posts that deal with latent pain after injury. Yet I cannot relate to any one of them, as I do not have pain as such. I sometimes have muscle pain in shoulders and neck area, but put this down to sitting in one position too long. I was on strong painkillers after accident and right throughout rehab, but on coming home, have had no pain as such. Before accident I used to get teased a lot about my pain intolerance, so I don't really know if I do have pain, but can't feel it due to nature of injury.

The onlky latent result of accident, is spasms in legs occasionally, at odd times left shoulder/arm as well, and the temperature is screwed. Like the previous post suggested, if something cold was felt, it's like coals from a fire. I get that with rain on my upper legs, midrif and middle of back section.

I dont know if any of these sensations are normal for my type of injury, so I feel relieved when I read of so many of you that have quite bad latent pain, when I do not.

I really consider myself blessed and when I do have pain, celebrate it, as to me this is an indication of some sort of nerve sensation being restored? Or not? i feel for you guys with pain and can imagine the fear and agony.

You're all strong and great the way you handle it and live on.

Fond regards

Susi