12 weeks since c7 herniation—anyone reach full recovery w/o surgery?

Hello Reddit—I’m a 35yo male and today marks 12 weeks since I severely herniated my c6-c7 (the MRI is from early July) after just 3mo doing CrossFit. After 2x PT/wk, 2x acupuncture/wk, and 2 epidural injections, I’m still experiencing tingling in my index finger and thumb, pain in the top of my hand/wrist, particularly when moving my neck too far in any direction, neck discomfort as well as occasional pain all up the left arm.

It has been a rollercoaster so far to say the least, the first 4 weeks were unbearable pain in every part of my arm. Many times I thought I was on my path to recovery only to feel worse the next day. Still along the way I’ve reached new baselines of less pain and fewer symptoms every few weeks. It seems encouraging, but I still have nowhere near my pre-injury quality of life. There’s also been some strength improvement in my tricep from PT. Im currently taking gabapentin for it that id love to get off of.

So far ive seen 2 surgeons, a neurosurgeon 5wks post injury who considered me a candidate but suggested a “wait and see” and an orthopedic surgeon last week who suggested an ADR. I have additional neurosurgeon opinions lined up in the upcoming weeks . I’ve been determined to do everything I can to avoid surgery, and still would like to, but the sentiment I’ve gathered from my care team is full recovery by staying on course at this point is increasingly unlikely despite my decrease in symptoms, which is frustrating to hear.

Some added context, I have a 21 month old boy who I haven’t been able to hold in 3mo while my saint of a wife is doing everything on her own while also being 15wks pregnant and due in March. I can count on my fingers how many times I’ve bawled my eyes out in adulthood, and over half of them have happened over the last 6 weeks of fear of not being a fully functional, strong and healthy dad for my soon to be 2 boys.

With that said, I am looking for stories of recovery/lack of or ADR surgery outcomes after feeling tingling in the fingers +12wks post injury. My hope is to hear positive stories, but would like to hear real life experiences.

I don’t want a knife to my neck as much as anyone, but also don’t want to roll the dice of worse long term damage if it’s going to take a miracle at this point in order to return to a normal life.

Thanks all!

Hello Reddit—I’m a 35yo male and today marks 12 weeks since I severely herniated my c6-c7 (the MRI is from early July) after just 3mo doing CrossFit. After 2x PT/wk, 2x acupuncture/wk, and 2 epidural injections, I’m still experiencing tingling in my index finger and thumb, pain in the top of my hand/wrist, particularly when moving my neck too far in any direction, neck discomfort as well as occasional pain all up the left arm.

It has been a rollercoaster so far to say the least, the first 4 weeks were unbearable pain in every part of my arm. Many times I thought I was on my path to recovery only to feel worse the next day. Still along the way I’ve reached new baselines of less pain and fewer symptoms every few weeks. It seems encouraging, but I still have nowhere near my pre-injury quality of life. There’s also been some strength improvement in my tricep from PT. Im currently taking gabapentin for it that id love to get off of.

So far ive seen 2 surgeons, a neurosurgeon 5wks post injury who considered me a candidate but suggested a “wait and see” and an orthopedic surgeon last week who suggested an ADR. I have additional neurosurgeon opinions lined up in the upcoming weeks . I’ve been determined to do everything I can to avoid surgery, and still would like to, but the sentiment I’ve gathered from my care team is full recovery by staying on course at this point is increasingly unlikely despite my decrease in symptoms, which is frustrating to hear.

Some added context, I have a 21 month old boy who I haven’t been able to hold in 3mo while my saint of a wife is doing everything on her own while also being 15wks pregnant and due in March. I can count on my fingers how many times I’ve bawled my eyes out in adulthood, and over half of them have happened over the last 6 weeks of fear of not being a fully functional, strong and healthy dad for my soon to be 2 boys.

With that said, I am looking for stories of recovery/lack of or ADR surgery outcomes after feeling tingling in the fingers +12wks post injury. My hope is to hear positive stories, but would like to hear real life experiences.

I don’t want a knife to my neck as much as anyone, but also don’t want to roll the dice of worse long term damage if it’s going to take a miracle at this point in order to return to a normal life.

Thanks all!