have had bad neck & shoulder for weeks; now have pins & needles

[scampadoodle]

...in my hand. I've seen an oesteopath twice but I don't really have the time to see him again, & it's expensive. Should I go to my GP? The discomfort in my neck keeps me awake at night, but it's the pins & needles that's worrying me. Is my arm about to drop off?

Hmmmm GP will probably put you on waiting list for physio....sounds like a trapped something to me, but then I'm not a quack, look at it this way, quack is free, if he puts you on physio list, pay for oesteo again

Ooh,I am a fellow sufferer.
Do you have a small child to lug about?

A GP isn't going to do much but refer you to NHS physio (which will take months) or give you painkillers which don't solve the time.

I saw an osteopath which was great for short term relief but eventually went to a private physio for 10 sessions as I wanted specific guidance and info on the problem as well as exercises to do at home.
It was money well spent.
I was very depressed at one time as I thought I would have to live with this level of pain for the rest of my life.

Make time-your health is your absolute priority.

Hi scamp, I had a similar thing a few years ago. I went to a physio who said that there was compression on one of the discs in my cervical (neck) spine and that a known side effect was pins & needles. About 5 sessions later I was fine and she gave me neck exercises to do to keep it at bay. Arm hasn't dropped off yet!

I'm also a chronic lower-back pain sufferer so have been going to osteopaths on & off for years...it was just the pins & needles which freaked me out as that's always what doctors ask about when you go to see them!
Yes, moondog, I do have a small child to lug about, my 2nd, & he's a not-so-small chunky 2.6 yr old. How did you guess?

I have a 2.5 year old too!
Lugging him and his older sister about is what has done me in.

I fell off a horse about 10 years ago which I think triggered my back problems. I'm also fairly tall (5'8'') with a long back & a long neck so I'm just asking for trouble really. Like you, I find osteopathy okay for short term relief, but they're not really specific enough. I need someone to say, Okay, you've done this, this & this & here's what you can do about it. Osteopathy's a bit passive really.

Exactly Scamp.
That's why the physio was great.
I went in telling her 'I want to be told what to do and why'
It was great-lots of basic anatomy done with aid of life size skeleton.