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C8 Nerve root

MacWanted

Member
Hi all,

my health issue as nothing to do with hormone therapy but I know that you guys might have some experience and adivce to give regarding pinched nerve.

I have an issue with the C8 nerve root due to arthritis, the consequence is that I have pain in my left little finger and when I sleep I am getting numbess in my arms so it is hard to find a good position to sleep.

I am already taking joints supplements like glucosamine, chondroitin, etc...

do you have similar issue and which advice can you provide me?
 
I did some reading on this as my ulnar nerve was getting squashed at my elbow, which now has a 3" scar on it...

There was some anecdotal evidence that high-dose vitamin B12 might help. Sorry I don't have the source to hand but I think it is used in nerve regeneration.
 
I am getting carpal tunnel again 10 years after beating it. This is everything but the pinky. So I keep reading about your problem while trying to read about my own. I have c-2 c-5 facet degeneration so I started hgh, apparently 2 I.U. per day and no stretching was a bit much, out of balance. I am going to try and beat it again but may just go ahead and have the hand surgery now that it is better, could use some more room in there.

You should look heavily at the elbow for massage and realignment and if that fails have surgery to open up the nerve outlets around C-8.

Phil collins says he cannot play the drums after his surgery so there is some risk.
 
My mom had a nerve root block on her lumbar region. Has had issues with it for over 2 years and is not happy about it.
 
Avoid surgery at all costs. Cervical decompression from a PT that is well trained can and does work wonders.
 
MacWanted said:
Hi all,

my health issue as nothing to do with hormone therapy but I know that you guys might have some experience and adivce to give regarding pinched nerve.

I have an issue with the C8 nerve root due to arthritis, the consequence is that I have pain in my left little finger and when I sleep I am getting numbess in my arms so it is hard to find a good position to sleep.

I am already taking joints supplements like glucosamine, chondroitin, etc...

do you have similar issue and which advice can you provide me?
Click to expand...

That's your ulnar nerve talking. The nerve root could be impinged at C6-8, or you could have knocked it out of the cubital tunnel at the elbow, which would require surgery. I suffered the latter, and had a major surgery, which sucked. Try the gliding exercises (scroll down):Invalid Link Removed

You can google for more: ulnar glide exercises.

That should help some regardless. They may hurt like hell. I still need to do them. The one I learned, mimics shooting a bow and arrow. It kills, but helps.

Hope that helps. It cost me a lot to learn, so I hope you can benefit from my experience!
 
IF you have an MR which shows stenosis at C7-T1 with C8 impingement, you have 3 options.

1. Live with it... options of PT, stretching etc, but no medical intervention.
2. Selective Nerve root blockade. (I do this daily as part of my profession.) This is a fluoroscopically guided needle injection of both Marcaine and a corticosteroid (betameth) directly into the affected nerve. It does NOT make the stenosis less, however, it certainly does diminish the inflammation caused by chronic impingement of the nerve. You might get complete relief... partial relief... or no relief. You might get relief for good, a few months, or couple days. There is no way to ensure how well a patient does. However, typically I am 'happy' with 4-6 months of relief in my patient's. This is a quick and relatively straightforward procedure. It is safe in good hands. But you want to make sure the person doing it is skilled. They are putting a needle through 'high priced realestate' as we say. It is not a big deal, but they should be adept at doing it.
3. Surgical decompression. Usually works very well, once again, depending upon the basic issue and surgeon abilities.

I would recommend conservative treatment until it fails then move up. Surgery LAST.

Don't be afraid of injections though. Almost invariably, my patient's come in worried because they 'heard about someone who...' and they almost always say "That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought, I would have come in alot sooner had I known."
 
I've read that surgery is sometimes not a permanent solution, as scar tissue can build up in the area of the laminectomy and become a new source of compression on the nerve. Also, that there is a risk that removing the lamina can destabilize the spine.

I'm hoping that surgical techniques and/or implantable devices can evolve to minimize scarring and help to stabilize the spine.
 
Scar tissue is usually NOT an issue in the cervical spine, however it certainly is in the lumbar spine. The reasons for this are speculative and relatively unknown. However, I would not worry about scar in your decision. The question you will need to address is whether you have a simple foraminotomy, versus laminectomy, versus fusion. Each of these are for specific and different problems. So don't worry if your neighbor had a fusion and now hurts... it might not be that you need the same thing simply because you might have a different CAUSE for a similar symptom.

Removing the lamina, if the facets are intact and facetectomy is not extensive, will NOT destabilize the spine. This is a non-issue.
 
Fascinating. I had never heard of the term "foraminotomy". I wonder what factors determine the best way to resolve stenosis, whether foraminotomy or laminectomy. For me, if all things are fairly equal, I'd choose the former.
 
Philec48 said:
Fascinating. I had never heard of the term "foraminotomy". I wonder what factors determine the best way to resolve stenosis, whether foraminotomy or laminectomy. For me, if all things are fairly equal, I'd choose the former.
Click to expand...

OP, do the glide exercises, regardless. No matter what you do, you need to do them to help resolve the nerve issues.
 
I have started methyl-b12 few weeks ago with some improvement but last weekend the numbness in in little fingers went back while I was sleeping :-(

What do you think about benfotiamine? would it help?
 
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