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What Causes Numbness And Radiation Of Pain Down Neck To Hands?

Posted on Mon, 28 Jul 2014

Question: hello I am 49 female i fell and injured my occipital down to t 9 sept 8 2011 pain includes wicked headaches,extreme muscle tension and at times either arm will just become completely numb if I were to draw a picture it would start with headaches down my neck to both shoulders traveling to elbows and into my hands I have gained over 40pds because any movement or jolt to my neck triggers more pain now my body is swelling my lg intestine is solid like steel have taken stool softener abut I am still retaining so much fluid i drink approx 1gallon of water a day it feels like I am about to split out of my skin if I press near my lower leg it stays indented any suggestions

Answered by Dr. Saurabh Gupta (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Get MRI of cervical spine done.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for your query.

According to your symptoms it looks like there is compression of nerve in cervical [neck area] spine. This leads to numbness and radiation of pain down your neck to hands.

Swelling all over your body and weight gain could be due to hypothyroidism or protein (albumin) deficiency.

I suggest you to get MRI of cervical spine done , get your thyroid and albumin level checked after consulting your doctor.

I do hope that you have found something helpful and I will be glad to answer any further query.

Take care

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Saurabh Gupta (27 minutes later)

Headaches most powerful medicine to get a headache to stop have tried aspirin with coffee gone to er 3mg of demoral and phynergan sat at er for two hours nothing happened I left with the same headache I went in for

Answered by Dr. Saurabh Gupta (24 hours later)

Brief Answer:
You need to take prophylactic medicines.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

For chronic (daily) headaches you need to take prophylactic medicines, which are used to prevent headaches.

These medicines include gabapentin (Neurontin), tizanidine (Zanaflex), fluoxetine (Prozac), amitriptyline (Elavil), and topiramate (Topamax).

I suggest you to get it evaluated by your treating doctor, so that appropriate medicine can be given.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar