Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: cozmik_cowboy on July 16, 2019, 12:48:30 PM
-
So, lately when I pick up a guitar, within a song or 3 my left hand is numb & tingling, and the shoulder & bicep ache (actually, happens anytime I'm using that hand elevated, but the guitar's what's really freaking me). GP said carpal tunnel, but I've had that, and this feels different; she said to see an ortho, probably my shoulder. Shoulder doc says its not coming from his area, so Thursday I see the spine doc to check the neck; part of me wishes it was today instead (as it's getting worse pretty much daily now), and part doesn't want to go at all (because whatever it is, it ain't gonna be good).
It's hell to be old when the night is young........
Peter
-
It will be good to know one way or the other. Hoping for the best outcome. Depending on what the neurosurgeon says, you might want to search your area for someone who is very experienced at healing massage.
-
Let me be the first, Coz. In fact, just let me have it... I'm practically a magnet for spinal bad luck, Brother. ;D
~Gregory (who just passed 50)
-
It was a deep massage that fixed me after a month of numb fingers, I feel lucky.
Sending healing thoughts, keep us in the loop.
-
Yes, good luck, hope it’s minor! :)
-
Peter, we're wishing you the best of possible outcomes. Listen to your docs and don't let your imagination make things worse (tough, I know).
-
Thanks - and it doesn't help that, after my second back surgery, the surgeon assured I would have "no more trouble with those vertebrae".
"But what about all the others?"
Oh, count on it."
Peter
-
Second the massage/ assisted release therapy or even acupuncture. We have a guy who does the ART (assisted release therapy) at work every other week... he is a magician. There have been times when I have a pain/ discomfort and he finds and releases the source of it... often times a considerable distance away from where the discomfort is felt.
Best of luck with whatever comes down the pipe. It is humbling when the vehicle that carries us isn’t up to the tasks that we have taken for granted for so many years.
Paul (whose knees and other accoutrements and sending messages of concern)
-
I had that problem. Turned out to be protruding discs in neck impinging on my nerve. Exercises caused it to abate after a couple of months. Good luck.
-
Yes, best of luck with the health issues. I have reached the point of taking a couple ibuprofen 45 minutes before any gig I do, but i know it's not too good for the stomach.
-
Hope you get everything straightened out, Peter. Health comes first. And I, too, often eat some ibuprofen before gigs. Even then, I can still have problems with sciatica in my left leg (bad disk).
Bill, tgo
-
Yeah man, good luck. I don't have those types of problems YET, but considering all the stuff I've done to myself (13 broken bones and counting) I am gonna be one cranky and creaking old man...actually I already crack and creak! Tony.
-
Just this past weekend I did a gig with an amazing guitar player friend of mine who told me he's been experiencing numbness in his left arm. Also constant headaches, and pain when singing. Turns out (I don't know the technical terms) that the passageway through some of his vertebrae is much narrower than it's supposed to be and he likely needs to have surgery. I hope you are able to get your situation resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible!
-
...told me he's been experiencing numbness in his left arm. Also constant headaches, and pain when singing. Turns out (I don't know the technical terms) that the passageway through some of his vertebrae is much narrower than it's supposed to be and he likely needs to have surgery.
The condition is called "stenosis". My experience last year was similar, and ultimately required a diskectomy and cervical fusion of C5-C7. I chronicled the whole thing here, partly for the exercise and partly to keep myself from going nuts. http://club.alembic.com/index.php?topic=23586.0
I'd like to tell you it ended there, but that, -it turns out- was only the first chapter... just a short year later, I'm losing the other two fingers on my left hand, indicating another level is probably failing. So although I decided not to make another epic thread out of it, I'm back on the Neurology merry-go-round again this year. Next up for me is a nerve conduction test, first week of August, to rule out an injury before I head back to the Neurosurgeon. My doctor would rather not have me back there under the knife just yet, so he's looking at the alternatives. I'm good either way. The only good part; I'm not all freaked out about it this time... I already know what's coming.
I've been thinking lately, it's remarkable how many of us musicians end up faced with similar problems.
-
Just this past weekend I did a gig with an amazing guitar player friend of mine who told me he's been experiencing numbness in his left arm. Also constant headaches, and pain when singing. Turns out (I don't know the technical terms) that the passageway through some of his vertebrae is much narrower than it's supposed to be and he likely needs to have surgery. I hope you are able to get your situation resolved as quickly and painlessly as possible!
As Greg says, stenosis. A friend of mine also discovered it through guitar-playing problems, and had surgery. Seems to have done the trick.
Spine doc prescribed a massive steroid course (6 today, 5 tomorrow, etc.) & 6 weeks of PT, including massage & traction. Then, if it's not fixed, an MRI to rule surgery in or out.
Ain't we got fun?
Peter
-
Oh, Peter, hope you figure out what's going on quickly. Wishing you to solve it easily, pal. Hoping for the best.
-
Have you seen a chiropractor? Regular visits help with my back and extremity problems. But, good luck I hope non surgical solutions work for you.
-
Hoping you can get rid of the pain without having to go the surgery route. My brother has been dealing with stenosis in his lower back for a few years now. A combo of steroid injections, exercise and strength training has helped a lot. So far he has gotten better and avoided having any surgery. It takes a lot of work and diligence to deal with it but hopefully you will also end up pain free.
-
Have you seen a chiropractor? Regular visits help with my back and extremity problems. But, good luck I hope non surgical solutions work for you.
My one try at that* convinced me to never go near one again, and that was decades before I learned there is a condition called "chiropractic paralysis", wherein their habit of jerking you around severs nerves.
*Age 16, early in my life of back pain; 1-hour appointment, of which 45 minutes was explaining to me how the Aries patch on my jeans pocket was evil & sinful, and I needed to immediately accept JC as my personal so forth & so on. The other 15 minutes were just, agony that left me in far greater pain for a couple weeks after.
Peter
-
Thanks - and it doesn't help that, after my second back surgery, the surgeon assured I would have "no more trouble with those vertebrae".
"But what about all the others?"
Oh, count on it."
Like Gregory, I've also had the C5 - C7 fusion. A few years later I told my doc I was have trouble with my lower back. He said, "Yes, you had degenerative disk disease in your upper spine, now you have degenerative disk disease in your lower spine. That's not surprising". Never thought of myself as the yoga type before then. Nearly every day now.
-
So, lately when I pick up a guitar, within a song or 3 my left hand is numb & tingling, and the shoulder & bicep ache (actually, happens anytime I'm using that hand elevated, but the guitar's what's really freaking me). GP said carpal tunnel, but I've had that, and this feels different; she said to see an ortho, probably my shoulder. Shoulder doc says its not coming from his area, so Thursday I see the spine doc to check the neck; part of me wishes it was today instead (as it's getting worse pretty much daily now), and part doesn't want to go at all (because whatever it is, it ain't gonna be good).
It's hell to be old when the night is young........
Peter
I get issues like that from time to time, shoulder pain, left arm numb and tingling. Hope you get it sorted out without surgery.
Just curious...Do you exercise? Regular exercise including resistance training and lots of stretching helps keep that issue in check for me..I do lots of shoulder work that doesn't include weights also, different types of pushups, stretching, etc...also, "the farmer carry" is good for shoulder health also. FWIW some of these exercises I learned from a rehab place when I originally went to an ortho doc for my shoulder issue
Naturally don't do anything without checking with a Dr. first.
-
Have you seen a chiropractor? Regular visits help with my back and extremity problems. But, good luck I hope non surgical solutions work for you.
My one try at that* convinced me to never go near one again, and that was decades before I learned there is a condition called "chiropractic paralysis", wherein their habit of jerking you around severs nerves.
*Age 16, early in my life of back pain; 1-hour appointment, of which 45 minutes was explaining to me how the Aries patch on my jeans pocket was evil & sinful, and I needed to immediately accept JC as my personal so forth & so on. The other 15 minutes were just, agony that left me in far greater pain for a couple weeks after.
Peter
That's a shame that happened. Like any doctor it has to be someone you trust. I guess with chiropractic paralysis, I'm surprised I have any nerves left after 30+ years of seeing one. -__-; But, I suffer a lot more with the degenerated discs in my lower back when I don't get jerked around regularly ;)
-
OK, it's been a long time - exacerbated by insurance hassles & miscommunications & such like - but I just got back from the EMG to diagnose this for sure (and if you haven't had the pleasure of an EMG, well....I think I'd rather have a colonoscopy sans anesthesia.....).
"Moderate carpal tunnel syndrome". I go Weds AM to see if I'm in for PT, injections, or what.
This is, overall, a good thing, as my family has a habit of developing Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which is a hereditary form of neuropathy, and that was what I feared; it hit my grandmother, mother, aunt, brother, sister, and I in the feet, and with Mom & bro it's spread to the hands - and there ain't no coming back from that one. This is at least treatable.
Peter
-
Well that sounds encouraging, Coz. :)
I didn't hate the EMG test nearly as much as I dreaded it. It wasn't fun, by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn't like grabbing a coil-wire either. I had mine done one morning in August, and loaded up and went to a Fiddlers Convention that afternoon.
The doctor who did mine, a Dr. Elechi, had this absolutely delightful accent, and it finally got the best of me... so I asked where he was from. Nigeria, he said. So I says (you know I couldn't help it)... you're not a wealthy Prince by some chance are you? He gave me an extra ZAP for that one. ;D
Glad you're going to get some treatment. It ain't no fun not being able to play. How well I know.
*I'm on a pretty good run myself... the injections I got in early-January are still holding. I'm playing a little bit every day. The weight loss finally leveled off at 150. They're still trying to figure out the anti-inflammatory meds. I have good days and bad. I feel good enough about things that I have accepted a couple gigs with Harwell-Grice Band this year. There will be another fusion surgery eventually, but we all hope I can wait until at least next Fall. The longer, the better. This next one is going to be t-u-f-f.
-
Let us know what you find out on Wednesday.
-
So, when I got home yesterday (before I posted), I made the follow-up appt for tomorrow with the "sports medicine"* guy who sent me; this AM he had pis people call to cancel it & set me up with a surgical consult.
*That is apparently the current preferred nomenclature for a non-surgical ortho.
Peter
-
I'm guessing that the results of the EMG suggested the change.
-
I'm guessing that the results of the EMG suggested the change.
That is, in fact, the case.
Suboptimal? Yep. Better than the C-M-T leaving m hand permanently numb, tingly, and even less dexterous than I am to start with? You know it! I've had CT release on the right hand long ago, and, while I am not looking forward to (nor to not being able to play for however the healing takes), I know it works, and that I can get through it.
Peter
-
Please keep us apprised.
Oh, and you mentioned in another thread that you will be moving to Denver. When will that be happening?
-
Please keep us apprised.
Oh, and you mentioned in another thread that you will be moving to Denver. When will that be happening?
We weren't crazy about DeKalb when we moved here, and it has[/size] decidedly not gone uphill in the 14 years since (incompetent & corrupt city govt., university - the main employer - is dying, shots-fired incidents on about a weekly basis, 3 murders in 2 months - in a town of ~43K; that kind of thing). She hates IL winters, & I hate IL summers. And we're not not near any grandkids; 3 of them are in Sacramento, which is too hot for me, and too expensive. 1 is in Skagway, AK, which is too cold for Her, and too expensive. And 2 are in Denver, which is just too expensive - so......
Also, that son is having some health issues, and they could use us, and the CA kids would then be a 2- instead of a 4-day drive.
We have our house up for rent (we're underwater & can't sell it). Once that happens, the movers will come get our stuff (they offer 30 days free storage) & we'll stay with the kids while we try to find a place to live (which is scaring the crap out of me, as we're retired and living on the proverbial fixed income - though it feels more like it's broken fixed most days - and the cheapest places for rent there are about double our mortgage here).
If all goes according to Her plan, we'll be in CO before the end of April - but none of it is written in stone yet.
Peter
-
Peter, I send forth soothing healing energy to you and yours. Do your best to keep looking on the bright side.
-
My guess is that you will like that area.
-
My guess is that you will like that area.
Yeah - we do. But - even though we're renting, for now at least - I searched for a house like ours (4 br, 2 bth, 2-story, 100 years old) for sale to see what things are like. Average price for that is ~$1.1M; it's looking like I'll be stuck in a tacky <10-y-o cookie-cutter subdivision house for the rest of my life - which She is fine with, but just makes me itch (the pix you've posted of your place make me think you probably understand, Dave......).
Peter
-
(the pix you've posted of your place make me think you probably understand, Dave......).
Yes, I do.
-
When we lived in Colorado prices use to drop off quite a bit if you looked east of I-25. I worked in Boulder but we lived in between Berthoud and Loveland due to more reasonable prices at that time plus you could get 1/2 acre to 1 acre lots when at that time further south was dense subdivisions or minimum of 17.5 acres. I have family in Denver and while it wasn't a 5 minute drive it didn't take that long to get down there. Also with the tollway I could be to the airport in the same amount of time with a lot less traffic. We liked the area. Just keep in mind it is very dry so drink plenty of water. Also take time to get use to the altitude as it can sneak up on you pretty fast.
-
Hey Peter..Good luck! Once you are in CO you will love it. The hands too, i don't envy that at all.
-
Well, back from the seeing the lovely young surgeon, and it's official; she's going to schedule me for carpal tunnel release on my left hand (and hope she can do it; it's minute-by-minute on elective surgery, and she's not even sure she'll be allowed to do the ones scheduled for tomorrow).
Downside (besides the actual pain from getting sliced & diced): No playing for about 6-8 weeks, and maybe a year for full recovery.
Upside: If it works as well as the release on my right hand in '96, I'll be good for the duration.
Peter
-
Rootin' for ya' Coz... the softest of places for guitar-playin' sound-guys. They're the ones who know what we need, versus what we want. 8)
~Gregory (who can still grab an E7 chord when he needs too...)
-
Peter, wishing you the best for a 110% successful procedure followed by a swift, easy, and full recovery. And it's your golden opportunity to ask your surgeon the classic vaudevillian question: "Will I be able to play the violin when it's all done!" hehehehe
Bill, tgo
-
Watched an interview with Eric Johnson today; we was saying how a layoff can bring a fresh perspective to ones playing, which is something I can attest to. So, possibly another upside in addition to pain relief.
-
Good luck, Peter, hope all goes well and a speedy recovery!
-
Positive thoughts!
-
During our appointment, the lovely young surgeon told me that the World Health Organization had been quarantining people's pets, but discovered that, while felines can catch & carry COVID-19, canines cannot, and so are no longer being quarantined.
Yes, that's right - WHO let the dogs out..............................
Peter
-
Yes, that's right - WHO let the dogs out..............................
Peter
Well played Sir,
Elwood (who has never had any joy from that song...until now :D )
-
During our appointment, the lovely young surgeon told me that the World Health Organization had been quarantining people's pets, but discovered that, while felines can catch & carry COVID-19, canines cannot, and so are no longer being quarantined.
Yes, that's right - WHO let the dogs out..............................
Peter
GROAN!!!!!!
Bill, tgo
-
Sidenote update: Today we finally figured out that there is actually no way in hell we can afford to move to Denver in the foreseeable future.
Peter