Osteoarthritis in neck

DeborahR

Hi, I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis in my lower neck about 18 months ago. The doctor said there was nothing to be done so I've just been taking Ibuprofen when it's really bad. Looking online I notice that most osteoarthritis is in hands or knees so I'd be interested to know if anyone else has the condition in their neck and how they manage the pain?

Apologies if this isn't the right place but according to the NHS website I'm supposed to be in contact with a 'team' but I've never been referred to anyone and I'm not being monitored so I don't really know who to turn to for advice.

Any help or advice would be gratefully received.

Ellen

Hi @DeborahR welcome to the Online community.

I see you were diagnosed 18 months ago with Osteoarthritis of your neck and been offered no further treatment for this. You have been taking ibuprofen and are concerned as you have had no follow up at all. There are people using the forum who have Osteoarthritis sometimes called Cervical Spondylosis. Hopefully someone will be along soon to share their own experience, but in the meantime, here is some information.

I am going to attach a link to a thread from earlier this year which contains some other links you might find useful:

https://community.versusarthritis.org/discussion/56636/cervical-spondylosis

This link here is about neck pain:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/neck-pain/

Now that you have said hello, please do take a look around and join in the forum wherever you feel comfortable. Living with Arthritis tends to be the most popular.

Best wishes

Ellen.

frogmorton

Morning @DeborahR

Many years ago my neck 'went' (it had done so before, but never this bad). It was such agony l was vomiting with the pain which didn't help at all as you can imagine.

This time however I lost sensation in the skin on my chest and part of one arm's skin too so I went to see a Dr. I was given nothing as by then I was already on enough pain meds for my inflammatory arthritis. An X-ray confirmed cervical spond (OA) in two vertebrae in my neck C5 and 6 maybe I don't remember well.

My GP advised there was little to do until the risks of surgery, in his words paralysis, outweighed the benefits of less pain etc. In other words if my neck got so bad that it might paralyse me anyway. This has been confirmed by people I have 'met' on here. Very few maybe two or 3 here have ever had neck surgery it's such a risky procedure.

I have muddled along by being very sensible with my neck. If I feel it isn't right I take immediate steps to rest it - heads are quite heavy on thin spindly necks I think. When I say rest I mean it too avoiding the lap top and phone texting as much as possible. I take my painkillers and anti-inflams regularly and myself use a warm wheatbag (the kind you microwave) to ease the pain and I think get the blood flowing there.

I also ditched my two fluffy pillows and initially started with a rolled up hand towel in my neck in bed. Now I have a shaped memory foam pillow which does the same. Keeps my spine aligned.

I hope this has helped you, but in your shoes I don't think there would be any harm in asking to see someone possibly a physio or even an orthopaedic consultant for an opinion and advice. You'd lose nothing by doing this and who knows maybe things have moved on now?

Very best of luck and do let us know what happens.

Toni xx

DeborahR

Thank you @frogmorton I do have a heated wheatbag which I will try and I'm going to book an appointment with a physio to see if they can help. It's better to try than do nothing I think.

alexander1

The answer for many doctors is to just accept it. You have to push in the NHS. Ask to be referred to the MSK team and they will assess where to forward your case to. If you have £200 then you could contact a private specialist ( make sure they work in the NHS locally as well) once you had had an initial consult you can asked to be put back to NHS for further tests and treatment.