Undiagnosable

I had the Botox injections in my neck and chest about a month ago. They didn't help at all. I thought they even made it worse for about a week, but it might've just been the way I was sitting. I called the doctor, and he said give it a few more days, so I did and called again. He was supposed to call back, but he didn't. I didn't follow up because it didn't seem like he had any other suggestions. The Botox was super expensive, and I wasn't planning to do that again.

Instead, I started going to a chiropractor. He said that he could definitely help me, and my spine was out of alignment and pushing on nerves that were affecting my arm. He said my neck didn't have enough backwards curve, so my head is too far forward, and that's throwing the curve in the small of my back out of alignment, too. He wanted me to do two visits a week for four weeks, then one visit a week for two weeks, and then see where we go from there.

I've had five adjustments now, and it hasn't made a bit of difference. The chiro says he's not seeing any problems in the area that would usually affect that part of my arm. He's confident I'm going to see results if I keep going. I'm not so sure, but I might as well go through the entire course of treatment. This chiropractor won't be in network for my insurance next year, and my last appointment falls in January, so I probably won't go to that one if I'm not feeling any better.

I stopped doing the exercises from physical therapy. I did them for three months without any improvement, so I think that's a good enough try. I'm doing a few now that the chiro suggested. I'm also using a Denneroll pillow/pad/thing under my neck to try to restore the proper curvature.

I'm about at my wits' end with this thing. It's driving me crazy. It's not just that it hurts when I write; I can't write properly. My hand doesn't do what I tell it to, and it affects my product. I monitor my accuracy, and it's still above 99%, but it's so maddening having something like this keep me from doing my best work. The pain makes me dread having to start every class, and it feels like it's ruining my whole life and it's never going to go away.

The worst part is I don't know what the problem is or how to fix it. I bought a heating pad and tried that, but it doesn't help, either. There's a nerve or something on the inside of my upper arm and when I touch it, pain shoots all the way down my arm. That's got to be the problem. I don't understand why no one can figure out how to fix it.

I wound up calling the rehabilitation specialist a couple weeks after he never returned my call. He said maybe it's a muscle problem, or maybe an MRI would help. He wants me to come in so he can do another exam and see if he missed anything, since we've pretty much ruled out thoracic outlet causing the problem. He has such limited appointments that I can't get in to see him until a week from now, and even that one I might have to reschedule. He's not in network on my new insurance, either, so I'll probably have to find someone else to look at the MRI after I get it done.

I'm starting to have a new pain in the small of my back. I'm not sure what's causing it. I thought it might be because I tried out writing with my steno machine in a lower position for a few days, but it didn't make my arm feel any better, so I stopped doing that a while ago, and my back pain hasn't gotten any better. I got a memory foam mattress topper, so that could be it. I'll be sad if I have to lose the topper, though; my mattress is way too firm without it.