This may seem a bit off topic but bear with me.
We all have gotten dumb looks and vague answers from doctors. Many of you are here trying to figure out what your doctor can't or can't be bothered to figure out.
I hate MD with a passion so I will not deny any bias on my part so take what ever I say with as many grains of salt as you like. I have had MDs look at my MRI and tell me that I should not have pain where I was indicating. I am sure some of you have had the same thing pulled on you. I have been accused of drug seeking. I bet you have been through that too. I have been given medications that had horrible side effect ie skelaxin and neurontin.
There is a reason why you are in pain and it is really not up to you to figure it out. It's up to the overpaid charlatan with a scalpel and too much money to figure it out.
I suspect that there is nerve irritation for some of you. Consider this. There are people with some seriously messes up spines who are asymptomatic.
There is a theory that the damaged disk release inflamtory chemicals. Actually, I think it is more than a theory. Sadly NSADS are not very good. They work for some people but it is a fact that 1 in 1200 people who are on NSAIDS for more than 60 days die. Dr Greed won't tell you that but it's the truth. The GOOD news is that there are safe anti inflamatories. Here are a few. Willow Bark, Cat's Claw, Tumeric (that's the spice they use in pickles) Papain (that's in papaya) Bromelain (That's in fresh pineaple) Chondroitin and glucosomine, (pharmacies sell that) Devils claw, Stinging nettle, flax seed oil, ginger, black pepper extract, Boswellia serratta, Hylurronic acid.
There are also natural muscle relaxers like magnesium, valarian root, lavander, horse radish, marijauna, Catnip, Chamomile, Hops, Red Clover, Spearmint
Another thing G.O.D. (greedy obsolete doctors) don't understand is muscle tone. I am not talking gym stuff. I am talking about how some muscles get in the habit of being tense even though there is no identified neurological cause.
G.O.D. is to busy to actually examine your muscles let alone touch some one as lowly as us. Accupuncture and trigger point injections can get your muscle tone back to normal. If you bring this up to G.O.D. he will tell you that there are things we lowly humans cannot know.
You have had surgery and they beat the crap out of your neck. You have had trauma to the muscles, ligaments, tendons and bones. Cutting a slot in a vertebral body is not gentle procedure. Your spine as much as G.O.D. won't admit it COULD be dare I say subluxated
that means dislocated slightly. That is blasphemy in G.O.D.s realm.
There are things you can do to correct these subluxations that only evil chiropractor can see on x rays. Yoga can help. So can the Dorn Method but sometimes we have offend god and see a DC. DC stands for devil chiropractor and MD stands for Me Deity. When I had my near death experience and was in heaven waiting to see the other god this guy with a stethoscope slung arrogantly over his shoulder walk right into God's office ahead of me and I had been waiting for hours. I complained to St Peter and I asked who that guy was who went into God's office ahead of me an St Peter informed me that is was God and sometimes he like to play doctor.
The three things I told you all about may or may not help but they won't hurt you and they will not put any money into the coffers of big medicine.
I have read some of your problems with great interest and I suspect I have given them more thought than your doctor. I'm no saint and I probably don't have an altruistic bone in my body but I'm better than most and that is not saying much.
There are things that can help you. I have seen surgeries and I think a monkey could do must of them and rich Machevellian monkeys did your surgeries. The monkey probably did your surgery right as far as monkey surgery goes but the monkey only knows what it is taught. Monkeys are not critical thinkers. Their handlers don't want them to think.
There are a lot of really bad surgeons and orthopedic surgery is still in the dark ages but there are some advances coming down the pike.
This little rant has point. Monkeys are sneaky greedy dangerous animals.