Yet ANUTHER medical question! :)

[Topless In Texas]

hey ya'll...
thanks again for the input....BUT...Im still a numbskull...lol! how wierd. My lower back has been hurting,although I dont know if theres any relation there. Its just the damndest thing. seems like my head is more sore now, still numb, but sore. BUT I think I'll live. I dont feel QUITE as numb at this moment, but I'm sure that the margaritas tonight might have had something to do w/ it! ....but its still numb. Im hoping the next few days will be to my benefit.
As far as the small of my back... it was nice enough outside today to sport shorts and a cut off shirt....I'm sure it did my back well! I think I actually got some sun! Spent 4 GREAT hours detailing my car for Dixies tonight....I'll post some pics on a new thread...None of my car, but of one BADAS$ Stang there!. Felt good to be out. Weather was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks again...and I'll let ya know when Im no longer numb!
starting to wonder now...its been 5 days....
TNT

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by Topless In Texas
I dont feel QUITE as numb at this moment, but I'm sure that the margaritas tonight might have had something to do w/ it!

Ahhhh so thats it ... so many margaritas you've pickled your head

[Topless In Texas]

Originally posted by HotRoddin
Ahhhh so thats it ... so many margaritas you've pickled your head

no, not so many.....just made w/ a little TLC...makes everything better!

[silver_pilate]

Here's a guess, and a likely answer. I just finished up my orthopaedics classes in my masters work, and we spent a good deal of time talking about such things.

It could well be an upper cervical hypomobility (limited motion).

Do you have a history of headaches? Perhaps starting at the base of the skull and spreading up? Maybe chronic upper traps problems/soreness (although less often seen) If so, this may be a flair-up of a chronic problem.

If not, then it may just be the position you slept in causing a limit, like getting a crick in your neck.

You'd be surprised at how many people suffer with some sort of chronic neck/headache problems simply caused by lack of motion. I have myself and I know of at least two others who have.

As for the numbness. Is it true numbess where you can't feel anything at all? Is it a feeling of numbness where you can still feel touch? Or is it tingling (parasthesias...like when your foot falls asleep)?

The nerves exiting your spine refer pain/sensation to various areas of your skin called dermatomes. The area you describe is referred to from the cervical nerves 2 and 3. It is possible for hypomobilities to cause referred numbness and or tingling in the dermatomes.

Try this: Fully sidebend your head so that you're trying to touch your ear to your shoulder moving only your neck and head (don't shrug the shoulder). Next, hold this side-bent position and try to rotate in the opposite direction. (i.e., if you bend your head left, try and rotate to the right while keeping the head bent over). You should have about 20-30 degress of motion, give or take. If your stuck (as I am most of the time) and can't rotate or can rotate on a little bit, you've got an upper cervical hypomobility, likely of the uncovertebral joint and/or possibly the zygopophoseal joint.

Don't go to a chiropracter. They're all quacks . Of course, I may be biassed because of our longstanding dispute with chiros. A good chiro could help you, but if all he does is pop your neck (a proven DANGEROUS technique in the cervical spine which we (physical therapists) don't use), he's most likely not helping you. If you want and explanation, I can write one up as for why this is, but I'll leave that to you. I think a good physical therapist with training in manual therapy could help you the best. If I was in your area, I would do an eval and treat you if that above turned out to be the problem.

Anyway, just a suggestion. A bit easier and more likely than shingles or something exotic. Remember Ocham's razor. The simplist answer is usually the best answer.

--nathan, SPT

[Topless In Texas]

Hey Nathan!
Thanks for your response, and YES its STILL NUMB! 2 answer a couple of your questions:

Its not a tingly kind, like when things fall asleep. I have VERY LITTLE feeling when I pull or brush my hair, or touch my head. I am not one to suffer from headaches on a regular basis. Although, this week, I"ve had a few minor ones creep up.

I can rotate my head, like you suggested. There is NO PAIN except for the soreness on the back of my head on the bones.
Ive gotten 'cricks' to where it hurts and I cant move my head, but other than the soreness I described, there is not other pain, and I have full motion of my head. Its just the FREAKIEST thing Ive ever felt! Ive been a little more fatigued and tired this week. Actually FELL ASLEEP for a little when I got home today from Traders Villiage..Im NOT a napper. Of corse staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning does not help, but I do that all the time, w/out feeling the need to lay down during the day.

So, I dont know if that narrows anything down or not. I wish we had a 'sensor' to hook up to that would throw a code, and diagnose!!! LOL! Sounds like a good invention!

Thanks again everyone for your input.....

Ive been taking my Christmas tree apart for the past 3+ hours, and felt the need to take a break! WHAT A MESS!!!!!! Guess I better get back to it!

TNT

[lx mike]

I wish we had a 'sensor' to hook up to that would throw a code, and diagnose!!! LOL! Sounds like a good invention

Good one Christine!! maybe a "Needs Service" light in your forehead!!

you've got an upper cervical hypomobility, likely of the uncovertebral joint and/or possibly the zygopophoseal joint

those words would win any scrabble game!!

[silver_pilate]

Hmmm...ok. That little quick test doesn't completely rule out hypomobility, but short of segmental testing, I couldn't tell you more on that.

Here comes another guess and a very simplified, if not a bit of a tedious explanation....

When I went back and looked at your previous posts, I noticed you said that you had a problem with your hand going numb and white when working for a while or driving. Does this still bother you? Sounds alot like thoracic outlet syndrome. Pretty common as well. Don't know that I've seen or heard of any cases that cause referal of numbness to the skull, but anything can happen in the human body it seems.

You see, as you move from far away from your body, let's say at your fingertips, you have many many nerve endings that send signals to your brain. These are very organized and specific, and thus you have really good sensation at the periphery like your hands and feet. So if I touched your hand, you would be able to tell me exactly where I touched it. In the same token, if you had a fracture in your wrist, you would be able to pinch the area with your fingers and say, "it hurts right here" and that would be where the problem is. However, as you move closer and closer to the body, the number of nerve endings decreases dramatically. The accuity of sense deminishes and you get all kinds of funny referal patterns. For instance, pain in your mid thoracic area may be a result of problems in your liver. You get my drift. So it's hard to say, without special testing, what is causing problems close in to the trunk.

Back to thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). In this phenomenon, the brachial plexus (a very large grouping of nerves which goes to and innervates the arm and shouler) gets pinched somewhere along the line. It can occur between the clavical and the first rib, or between the scalene muscles, or under the acromion of the shoulder, and several other places not worth mentioning here. Since this occurs in close proximity to the trunk, we see strange referal patterns as well. In the case of true vascular TOS, the blood vessels running with the nerve bundle is also compressed, cutting of supply to the arm. This results in symptoms like you describe. The old test for this is to check the pulse at your wrist with your arm in a resting position, and then straighten your arm out and have it pulled out horizontally and behind your back and see if the pulse is deminished. This is pretty rare, and that test is no longer the clinical choice. Anyway, other forms of TOS can also mimick your symptoms. TOS isn't anything all that serious, but it can be annoying over time. Many people experience what is known as a release phenomenon where they awoken several hours after having gone to sleep by tingling and numbness in their hands. The loss of sleep can cause increased stress and mood changes over a long course of time. Some people never actually wake up, but their sleep is still disturbed.

As a hairdresser, you are prone to thoracic outlet syndrome because of the constant use of your arms and possible affected posture from working all day in various extended and overhead positions.

Once again, this is another guess. Without evaling you, it's like trying to diagnose a tick in someone elses engine over the phone.

As for compressed discs, there's always the possibility of that happening, but the referal patterns don't match up that well and there would likely be pain with certain movement patterns. Once again, I'd have to see you to tell. The area you describe is innervated mainly by C1 and C2 while the neck is more C3. These upper cervical segmants of C0-C2 don't have discs, and therefore can't be compressed.

Sorry if this is boring or long, but I've always lived under the philosophy that if you understand what the problem is, it's easier for you to work on fixing it. Good luck and keep me posted. I'll help if I can.

--nathan, SPT

[HotRoddin]

Originally posted by silver_pilate


As for compressed discs, there's always the possibility of that happening, but the referal patterns don't match up that well and there would likely be pain with certain movement patterns. Once again, I'd have to see you to tell. The area you describe is innervated mainly by C1 and C2 while the neck is more C3. These upper cervical segmants of C0-C2 don't have discs, and therefore can't be compressed.


--nathan, SPT

Whew !! After reading that, my heads going numb ! lol
Way out beyond what my feble mind can process

[silver_pilate]

Hehe...welcome to my life, HotRoddin. That's why it has taken four years to get a biology degree and three years to specialize with a masters in physical therapy. You should see the notebooks I have for some of my classes.

Diagnosing the human body is just like diagnosing anything else...an engine, lets say. You see the pattern, you make the diagnosis. It just takes lots of training and some experience to be able to correctly identify the patterns with ease. A hickup in your engine is caused by something, it's just a matter of finding out what it is by understanding what's happening in the engine. The same for the body. Gotta understand how it's put together and how it works to figure out what's wrong and how to fix it (if you can).



--nathan

[bigred90gt]

Hey Christine, just out of curiosity, hows the head? I haven't seen anything else lately and was just wondering about ya.

Caymon

[Topless In Texas]

Hi Caymon!
Well, believe it or not...Its still numb! Not COMPLETELY like it was, but its still there. Gonna give it awhile and see if it dont completely go away. It is better though than it was. Thanks for asking!
Ive been laying around all day today. Just been so damn tired for the past week or so! Bout to get in the shower, we have our Car Club Christmas Party 2nite!
I'll try to get pics...thanks again for askin!
TNT