Hi everyone, well, unfortunately the MRI of my spine did not show a compressed nerve as I had so hoped (but really knew it wouldn’t). There was nothing to be seen wrong with mu spinal cord and apart from a little harmless dehydration of my discs, nothing at all in my spine to see.
So the next step is now a neuro referral! Goodness only knows how long that will take. I think the waiting list is quite long here, although I think this will still fall under the NHS 18 week wait rule. From receiving the referral to being seen must be within 18 weeks (4 months). That’s a very long time to wait given how quickly I seem to be deteriorating! In the last 2 months I’ve gone from a tiny bit of tingling in my little and ring finger of my left hand to having a numb, heavy, rubbery arm that is very weak. Two nights ago, I struggled to even cut up my food because I kept losing my grip on my fork!
I dread to think where I’ll be in 4 months time!!
Fingers crossed I get seen fairly quickly and get an answer soon. I’ve waited this long though (13 months since symptoms began - although only 6 months since I first spoke to my GP about it.)
Natalie
not sure if it helps, my symptoms with the left arm started last September, it gradully deteriated over the following few months to be the same as yours, but now its slightly feeling better and more user friendly and only the odd teabag ending up on the floor lol x
Hi Medion, thank you for your reply. Do you take any medications or do any exercises/ physio to help the improvement? I’ve been wondering whether I should go back and be re-referred to the physios to help me as diagnosis is probably a long way off yet!!
I have tried physio in the past and it did not help me, keeping my brain active and keeping stress at bay, helps me more. But I do have a small dog which I take out for walks round the block when I feel I can. infact I am just going to surprise my daughter and 3 of my grandchildren and meet them outside school. Stress seems to aggrevate my symptoms. I take Vit D3 and Omega 3 which seems to keep me calm inside, if that makes sense. I do have spondilytis in my neck and base of my spine so take co-codomol with paracetamol when this is bad and the Warfarin and Sotolal for a heart condition and suspected small strokes which they think caused my hearing loss in my right ear, but take nothing for nuerological problems, these I am just bearing with. Hope this helps.