I am a RN working in ICU, lots of heavy pt, lifting, turning, etc. I had a discectomy c6,c7 in june 2012. seems like i aggravate my neck area doing type of work i do cuz i have to walk around with ice packs on my neck and lower back to relieve the symptoms. my biggest concern is the numbness and tingling i get in my fingers. if i don t take the naprosyn 500mg po (plus before sleeping i take flexeril), and ice, the pain and tingling is as bad as before the surgery. I can t quit my job and i can t ask for light duty. i need to pay my bills. why does the ice relief the symptoms so well and am i in danger of anything by continuing working in this way? thank you.
Ice packs are temporary relief for the pathology in there. After the discectomy, there still appears to be residual primary disease of nerve root compression. Yes it can get aggravated by your daily schedule. You need to continue to wear the cervical collar and need to do the neck muscles physiotherapy exercises regularly. That alone will help you...in the future a repeat MRI scanning and may a redo surgery if it demands it!