I don't know if this is the correct forum area to post this or even if what I have is considered a spinal cord injury. I sincerely apologise if I'm wrong. While its true that I'm counting my blessings after surgery...I know the outcome could have been worse and though technically it was successful, I'm very disappointed to be experiencing problems with my hands that are the results of nerve damage.
About three months ago I started feeling tingling and numbness in my hands and fingers. I didn't think about it at first but I did have cervical vertebra fusion, c6-7, due to a ruptured disc in the early 1990s. I finally made the connection and started a process of figuring out what was going on and what I needed to do about it. The process took way too long at three months.
I was finally able to get approved for an MRI scan and it showed significant pressure in three areas of my spinal cord above the area where I'd had the fusion. The surgeon that did the evaluation said she could see signs of some nerve damage. I suppose the earlier fusion is what allowed this issue to occur. The surgeon said I needed surgery and what she would do would be remove bone to open up space to give the spinal cord more room. She may have done a few other things while in there. It was an apparent dangerous situation with that much pressure on the cord...a fall or an accident supposedly could have possibly made me paralyzed.
Now the surgery is a week behind me and I have still a great deal of numbness in my hands...mostly the left. At first, immediately after waking from the surgery i had pins and needles nerve pain but that has mostly gone away. My left hand just feels dead. I can still move all my fingers and thumb but the thumb and index figure are 80% dumb. It feels like my overall hand function is about 35-45% less than normal. I have pronounced difficulty grasping/picking things up. The palm of my left hand actually looks different from my much more normal right hand. Kind of hard to explain.
The doctor said there might be some improvement over time but also possibly no improvement. I'm feeling pretty depressed about it while at the same time understanding it could have been much worse and that so many folks have so much more difficult situations than what I have, I'm grateful I still have the uses of my hands.
I'm curious to know if anyone has had a similar experience and if any one thinks there is a chance my hand function could improve over time. Are there therapies for damaged nerves or supplements, vitamins or drugs that could help repair the damage?
This is my first post and I apologize to anyone who has a problem worse than mine who I might have offended here. I've never experienced anything like this before and I'm feeling a bit emotional by the loss of function. If you think there is a better area of the forum to place this or if you know someone who has had a similar experience please let me know.
I thank you so very much for your thoughts and experiences.
Mark M.
Partial hand paralysis
About three months ago I started feeling tingling and numbness in my hands and fingers. I didn't think about it at first but I did have cervical vertebra fusion, c6-7, due to a ruptured disc in the early 1990s. I finally made the connection and started a process of figuring out what was going on and what I needed to do about it. The process took way too long at three months.
I was finally able to get approved for an MRI scan and it showed significant pressure in three areas of my spinal cord above the area where I'd had the fusion. The surgeon that did the evaluation said she could see signs of some nerve damage. I suppose the earlier fusion is what allowed this issue to occur. The surgeon said I needed surgery and what she would do would be remove bone to open up space to give the spinal cord more room. She may have done a few other things while in there. It was an apparent dangerous situation with that much pressure on the cord...a fall or an accident supposedly could have possibly made me paralyzed.
Now the surgery is a week behind me and I have still a great deal of numbness in my hands...mostly the left. At first, immediately after waking from the surgery i had pins and needles nerve pain but that has mostly gone away. My left hand just feels dead. I can still move all my fingers and thumb but the thumb and index figure are 80% dumb. It feels like my overall hand function is about 35-45% less than normal. I have pronounced difficulty grasping/picking things up. The palm of my left hand actually looks different from my much more normal right hand. Kind of hard to explain.
The doctor said there might be some improvement over time but also possibly no improvement. I'm feeling pretty depressed about it while at the same time understanding it could have been much worse and that so many folks have so much more difficult situations than what I have, I'm grateful I still have the uses of my hands.
I'm curious to know if anyone has had a similar experience and if any one thinks there is a chance my hand function could improve over time. Are there therapies for damaged nerves or supplements, vitamins or drugs that could help repair the damage?
This is my first post and I apologize to anyone who has a problem worse than mine who I might have offended here. I've never experienced anything like this before and I'm feeling a bit emotional by the loss of function. If you think there is a better area of the forum to place this or if you know someone who has had a similar experience please let me know.
I thank you so very much for your thoughts and experiences.
Mark M.
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