Subluxated costovertabral joint?

mmglobal · #1 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 06:08 PM

The last few weeks / months, I've been getting worse and worse. Last week was as bad as ever... couldn't even attend daughter's graduation and a sitting by the pool birthday party.

I should have been posting more... we have been on the trail of seemingly false positive facet injections... now moving on to costovertebral joint diagnostics. I've had one round of injections with the mildly positive result that seems to be more of a Rorschach test... could go either way.

Following my cervical ADR surgery, I had some 'intercostal neuralgia' that responded somewhat to chiropractic. At the time (last May) it was in my sternum. I went bad in September following some PT that was aimed at remobilizing each thoracic segment. While have had some good times since September... it's been 95% bad since then. Most of that time, I've been a shut-in.

Monday I went back to the chiropractor to look into addressing the pain that is in my mid back instead of my sternum as it was last spring. We localized the pain and he adjusted those few levels. There was only one pop heard and I could feel it on the left side where the pain was. The next few hours were amazing. This was as a more dramatic change than any diagnostic or therapeutic injection I've ever had.

After a few hours I started to become sore and the muscle spasms kicked in to return me to much the same pain pattern... just a bit less. Tuesday morning was bad and I had timing of good / bad hours that I'm used to. I'm taking Oxy 20mg 3x and about 60 to 90 minutes after taking one, I feel better for a few hours. As I approach the next dose time, it gets bad again.

Having said that... on Tuesday the good times were MUCH, MUCH better than I'm used to and the bad times were not as bad.

I'm very excited about having made some progress in diagnosing and treating this problem that has been disabling most of the last 9 months. Through the years, I've seen too many of these glimmers of hope... I have to translate the excitement into guarded optimism. It's just a couple of days into this, but this is real progress!

dshobbies · #2 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 07:30 PM

Mark,

Nothing to say - truly distressing that you find yourself still battling disabling pain. I do hope that hope and help are just on the horizon.

Dale

Maria · #3 (**permalink**) 06-09-2010, 09:49 PM

Mark,
Was just wondering about you yesterday.. you know the wonder if he's so much better.too busy and not posting or the other...quiet because feeling worse. I was surely hoping not the latter.

Thanks for the update and glad to hear there was something that helped and hope that it continues to help (or something does).

Jim M2 · #4 (**permalink**) 06-21-2010, 05:12 AM

Mark,

I'm amazed your daughter is already graduating. The years are zooming by and somehow we, all of us with pain, keep surviving. I hate to see what you are going through. It looks like you are gaining insight to the root problem. For several months after ADR I used to observe a popping in my lumbar that marked reduced pain. It could not be observed on x-ray so there was really no impressions the doctors would offer about my 'popping.' Dr. Z said it was just ligaments popping.

The next time the S.Cal spineys get together there's a good chance I can attend being that I'm now in San Diego.

As always I'm hoping the best for you,

sahuaro · #5 (**permalink**) 06-22-2010, 01:53 AM

Mark:
I am so sorry to hear of the debilitating pain you are still experiencing and hope that this new round of chiropractic continues to be helpful.
After my MVA, I had costovertebral bruising/strain which was so painful that I could not take a deep breath, so I have a slight idea of what you have been through.

Please update when you can.

Barbara

mmglobal · #6 (**permalink**) 06-22-2010, 11:26 PM

Thanks for all the kind words. I've got good news and a little bit of not so good news. It's two weeks since the chiropractic adjustment that made such a huge difference. I'm still doing so much better then I was prior to the adjustment. There's still no question in my mind about the value of this treatment; both diagnostic and therapeutic.

Lately, I've been much better about working less and varying my activities more. Today is the first day that I actually sat down at my desk and tried to do a few hours worth of work. I think I was about 2 1/2 hours in when the old pain started up again. I immediately is stopped and have been doing other things this afternoon. I know all be fine and continue with the benefit of the chiropractic treatment. However it's clear that I'll continue to have a problem sitting long periods of time.

All keep you posted. Good vibes going out in all directions. All the best,

Mark