In this episode, University of Alberta Neurosurgeon, Dr. Andrew Nataraj, will review the clinical presentation and approach to management of acute disc herniations in the spine.
After listening to this podcast you will be able to:
- Know the importance of managing an acute disc prolapse
- Discuss the basic approach to acute disc prolapse, including imaging and referral to surgery
- Explain the differential diagnosis of the abrupt onset of a Neurological Deficit
- Describe what Cauda equina syndrome is and how common it occurs
- Understand management of Cauda equina syndrome
- Describe differential diagnosis for acute neurological syndromes
- Review lateral disc herniations
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Hi
I have cervical disc displacement: C5 & C6.I am in pain every day. Haven’t found pain medications to be of much help – If I use my hands for more than an 20 minutes I get horrific shoulder (mostly) and neck pain – it’s every day. I stretch it out but it takes hours for the pain to go away. The other rubbish part of this is that I’ve become incredibly forgetful. Should I be worried that as I haven’t had treatment in over 2.5 years (COVID and I didn’t go and get help for about a year, then the NHS took a while to get an MRI). It’s exhausting but over the past year the pain has got more frequent. My anaesthetic is going to begin with steroid injections when he can get me in but he did also say I may have to learn to live with a disability. I have lots of pain medications but I don’t take them anymore (tried for 6 months and no good for me); tramadol, gabapentin, naproxen, noratriptaline etc. I now only take 1 tramadol a day and a lose dose of the TCA at night. I can take them as prescribed but I need to work and they have horrible side effects too. Should I take them and not be in pain every day or not take them and possibly make my body more reactive to pain? It’s incredibly debilitating. I do work 2 days (it takes me at least 1 day to recover) and keep studying for my masters to keep my brain occupied etc. I also have kids so thankfully I don’t ever sit down for too long. My diet is also very good as is my BMI, bloods etc.