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Head and neck cancer Survivors with arm pain and numbness?
I am 2 years out from head and neck cancer treatment including a full course of external beam radiation. All my follow-ups are good, and I am pretty sure that I am in full remission, and will stay there. I am also very active, and participate in a lot of sports at present.
Over the last few months, I have been experiencing numbness in my finger tips and recently have started to get more pain in my shoulder and arm, and more numbness in my arm (no, it is not a heart attack). I am pretty sure I am getting some nerve impingement in the C6/C7 region of my spine, primarily on the same side as where the radiation was concentrated.
I am wondering if any any of you with similar treatment have experienced similar issues? Now, I also rock climb, mountain bike, play golf, and have had been in some car wrecks over the last 30 years, so there is a lot of potential for other injuries or accumulated trauma.
And yes, I am planning on seeing a specialist to get an MRI or other imaging test to see if there is a disc issue or something else (waiting on an appointment call back, it is not at the level where I need to go in for an ER visit). But until I get in to see the doc, I am looking for potential issue and answers.
It isn't bad circulation.
Yes, I did Google it, but there is not a lot of information. There is radiation fibrosis syndrome, but I am not sure if that hits the cervical spine in this way. Which is why I am asking the question.
April, I have neuropathy in my feet, and have had it since fairly early on. It is a side effect of one of my chemo drugs. The arm and hand issue is more recent, and it gets stronger based on how I tilt my neck, a classic sign of nerve impingement. I could take Gabapentin for the neuropathy (have you tried that?) but it is not so bad that I want to take another drug.
Oscar, I had pretty bad surficial burns, but those are all cleared up. Since I did not have a partial neck dissection, I did not get the loss of muscle mass that goes along with it.
9 Answers
- CraftylassLv 77 years agoFavorite Answer
It's possible you have some sort of sports injury. My finger tingling and arm pain was a result of the compressed C4. You could have a compression fracture or you could have bulging or herniated disks in the cervical area. Keep us informed on what your imaging scans reveal.
Good luck!
- aprilLv 77 years ago
Well Matt, I guess brain cancer counts as head cancer. I've had numbness in my fingers since the treatments. I have facial spasms but nothing too freaky looking. I had terrible shoulder pain that celebrex helped a little. I guess you could call it a rather common issue with us. We should be expecting thyroid cancer in our future too. I also don't have enough slobber to spit my toothpaste out lol
I have not heard of that. It sounds like a wonder drug! If I was a little worse off, I think I would try that. Truthfully, once you've had brain cancer, I don't think they expect you to live many years, as I can get pretty much any drug I want lol
My leg spasm is so bad I have 3 different drugs to pick and choose from; mirapex, tizanidine and orphenedrine. Spasms and spasticity.. need to discuss with dr the drug you mentioned...
- MaryLv 45 years ago
It sounds like the chemo may have damaged the nerves in your arm. The PT will probably help over time, but it will TAKE time. It's been six years for me and I still have problems. So don't look for a quick solution to this one. Just keep telling your doctor that the pain pills aren't working--and maybe not take them at all since they don't. Pain pills can't really do your body any good. Maybe see an orthopedist?
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- Anonymous5 years ago
If you intend to decrease the pain of neuropathy absolutely and forever, eliminate chronic nerve suffering and get your flexibility in those days that https://tr.im/OMaPf could be the guide for you.
The Neuropathy Solution is definitely an book where your find 6 methods for fighting neuropathy, 6 ‘home remedies ', each having a separate chapter and the particular treatment of neuropathy features a devote chapter of around 40 pages.
The entire guide could be read in an afternoon, which will be great so you may get down seriously to activity sooner and eventually you are able to take pleasure in the everyday activities.
- oscar mLv 57 years ago
I had rad and suffer from a sunburn like condition which causes muscles to spasm and tighten. All sorts of little problems from the nerves always firing that got irradiated. It took a long time to figure this out cause few docs know.
- 5 years ago
Cigarette smoking can affect circulation, increasing the risk of foot problems and other neuropathy complications.
- RosyLv 47 years ago
It sounds like bad circulation to me, I have arthritis of the neck and get similar to this.
- Anonymous6 years ago
yeah
