OA in Cervical Spine - Paralysis episodes | Arthritis Information
I apologize for this novel, but I'm just looking for someone who may have experienced the same things as some sort of validation of what the doc is saying.
Was diagnosed with RA in Aug 2006, and I am on all the nasty meds that go with it (Remicade, Methotrexate, Prednisone, Leucorin, Folic Acid).
In March of this year I was sitting at my kitchen counter and felt a strange sensation move from my finger tips, up through my arms, neck and back of my head. The next thing I knew by face was smashing into the counter and I could not move my arms, shoulders, and neck. This lasted all of 20-30 seconds, but I was very weak and shakey for a good 30 minutes afterward. My husband had to help me to the bed to rest. After 30 mintues it was if nothing happened. I was fine.
In April I was sitting in a convention hall listening to a speaker along with 2500 other people and I felt the sensation again. I just sat their and continued listening as I couldn't move. A minute or so later I started to regain movement. I had the shakes again, but again just sat their and let it run it's course. By the time the speaker session was over I was walking out of there like nothing had happened, and my boss who was sitting next to me the entire time did not have a clue.
This time, I went to the doc. The one thing I could determine was in common with the two incidents is they were both a day after I had traveled on an airplane. I didn't have a clue what that had to do with anything, but it was the only commonality between the two episodes.
The doc requested a brain and neck MRI. I believe her biggest fear was MS. MS was negative, but she did confirm Degenerative Disk disease (a.k.a. OA in my neck) with disk damage to all 7 cervical vertabrae. She did not know what link the air travel would have, but her diagnosis was inflammation around these vertabrae as a result of a RA flare resulting in a pinched nerve. Treatment was Physical Therapy which did wonders for my neck stiffness immediately. I incorporated them into my daily yoga routine, and noticed almost immediately that I was sleeping better as well.
Next airplaine flight was a vacation and nothing occurred, which I contribute to the fact that I had been diligent with my yoga and neck stretch before, during and after my vacation.
Next flight was this week. I returned home Friday night and had noticed in my flight home that all of my joints seemed to be aching more and more as the plane ascended. And no I have not been exercising the last several weeks. Once home I went out for a celebration Friday night. When I returned home I was undressing and just went limp from the neck down. I couldn't move anything. I admit, I had drank a little too much, which is not normal for me, but this was just like the previous episodes described above with exception that it was affecting my lower body too. It was as if I was paralyzed from the neck down. An hour or two of rest and I was moving again. Although this time I could feel all of my joints were in a full RA flare. The stiffness and pain was unmistakable. I just started treating it with a bump in my Prednisone dosage and lots of rest all day Saturday. By yesterday I was up and about again, although still slightly stiff. As of today I'm back to normal.
Again, sorry this was so long. The lesson learned I am going to take away is to ALWAYS DO MY YOGA AND NECK STRETCHES, but I am still interested in knowing if anyone has experienced anything like this?
Thanks ......... Diane
I am glad that you were negative for MS. Arthritic changes in your neck, unless you have part of the vertebrae or an osteophyte (bony growth) encroachment on your spinal cord then I don't think just the degenerative disk disease should be causing your symptoms. You said you had an MRI of the head, did this include an mra study where they look at the blood vessels in your brain? I'm not a doctor, nor a neurology nurse, just an ER nurse but none of this makes very much sense to me. I'm going to assume that you haven't felt ill ( I know RA makes us feel awful) but you haven't had high fever, rash, nausea, vomiting.... nothing to make us think you have an infection inside your head. As far as experiencing anything like this myself? Sometimes I get nervy stuff where I have arthritis in my neck but I can feel it come from my spine down to my hand and my hand feels like it's as big as a balloon. Good luck with this, please let us know what's going on. I hope you feel better and have no more of this scary stuff!
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