Wish me luck

[cozmik_cowboy]

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

[David Houck]

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.

[edwardofhuncote]

Let me be the first, Coz. In fact, just let me have it... I'm practically a magnet for spinal bad luck, Brother. 


~Gregory (who just passed 50)

[elwoodblue]

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.

[rv_bass]

Yes, good luck, hope it’s minor!

[the_home]

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).

[cozmik_cowboy]

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

[pauldo]

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)

[hankster]

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.

[gtrguy]

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.

[lbpesq]

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

[peoplechipper]

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.

[gearhed289]

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!

[edwardofhuncote]

...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.

[cozmik_cowboy]

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