Cervical Osteochondrosis: Treatment, Symptoms, and Feelings in Women

In the comprehensive treatment of cartilage of the neck (osteochondrosis), injections, ointments, creams, tablets and dragees are used. These medications work well for treating pain, swelling, inflammation, loss of sensitivity, dizziness, and increased blood pressure.

Characteristics of the disease

The course of cervical osteochondrosis is accompanied by the slow, irreversible destruction of the intervertebral discs. The bony vertebrae also begin to deform as they lose their shock-absorbing cartilage padding.When visiting a chiropractor or neurologist, the patient complains of severe pain, stiffness, dizziness when standing suddenly, so the treatment options include drugs with different properties:

• External preparations with local anesthesia, regeneration, and warming effects;
• Drugs that provide adequate nutrients to the brain;
• Chondroprotective agents that trigger the disc repair process;
• Local and systemic analgesics.

The pathology cannot yet be completely cured. Doctors' efforts are aimed at eliminating painful symptoms and inhibiting the spread of the disease to other parts of the spine. For this purpose, complex treatment regimens are developed using different groups of drugs.

Symptoms of cervical rickets

In the initial stages of the disease, women and men have few symptoms. Sometimes, a person will feel mild discomfort at night. He attributed it to fatigue after a long day at work, so he didn't see a doctor. At the same time, his spinal discs were gradually destroyed. The vertebrae deform as bone growth develops, squeezing the vertebral artery.After about a year, the discomfort is replaced by pain that worsens when you turn or tilt your head.Chondrosis presents with the following symptoms:

• Clicking and crackling sounds in the neck;
• Limited range of motion;
• High blood pressure;
• Heartbeat;
• Migraine-like unilateral throbbing headache;
• visual and hearing impairment;
• Dizziness, unsteady gait, and the feeling of imaginary objects spinning;
• Nausea attacks, rarely ending in vomiting.

Due to lack of oxygen in the brain, sleep is disturbed and symptoms such as weakness, apathy, fatigue, and tinnitus appear. A person's psycho-emotional state will deteriorate - he will become nervous and worry about small things.

Principles of drug treatment

Chiropractors, professional massage therapists, physical therapists, and doctors of physical therapy are all involved in the treatment of cervical rickets. In the final stage, folk remedies are allowed. But the main role in complex treatment is the drug.All dosage forms require:

• Injections are used to relieve the progression of rickets and quickly eliminate their painful symptoms;
• Take tablets, capsules, or dragees during remission to prevent disc damage, relieve mild or moderate pain, and restore circulation;
• Ointments, gels, balms, creams are the safest and can quickly combat stiffness and unpleasant crunching.

It is nearly impossible to treat osteochondrosis with any kind of medication. Treatment regimens usually include at least 5 drugs with different pharmacological properties. They are compatible and convenient to use at home.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

NSAIDs are used more commonly than other drugs to treat cervical chondrosis. They are suitable for acute, stinging or distant, dull pain. The mechanism of action of NSAIDs is based on their ability to inhibit the enzymes responsible for the production of neurotransmitters.All NSAIDs have complex effects on the body:

• eliminate painful feelings;
• Eliminates crunching and clicking sounds when turning the neck;
• Prevents acute, subacute and chronic inflammatory processes affecting soft tissues;
• Stimulation reduces swelling affecting sensory nerve endings;
• Increase the range of motion of damaged cervical spine.

In the treatment of rickets, parenteral administration of the drug in solution and tablet form has proven to be effective.Long-term use of NSAIDs can cause damage to the gastric mucosa. Concurrent use of a proton pump inhibitor will help avoid this. These drugs reduce the production of aggressive gastric juices by parietal cells, which increase their production under the influence of NSAIDs.

synthetic hormones

Glucocorticoids are synthetic analogs of hormones produced by the adrenal cortex. This is the "heavy artillery" of drug treatment for cervical osteochondrosis. Like natural hormones, corticosteroids quickly reduce inflammation, swelling, and eliminate pain almost immediately. They are used in solution form for intramuscular administration. But if severe pain occurs, they can be inserted directly into the damaged disc area.Treatment of aggravated pathology with hormonal drugs.One injection can prevent pain for 3-5 days. Glucocorticoids can be used in patients with osteochondrosis when NSAIDs are ineffective. This all has to do with their extensive list of potential side effects. Too frequent use of hormones can cause damage to muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments.

The use of hormonal drugs is prohibited during pregnancy, lactation, adolescence and childhood.

All glucocorticoids have many contraindications. In clinical practice, cases of withdrawal include severe damage to the liver, kidneys, and stomach after long-term hormone therapy. They are not suitable for cirrhosis, peptic ulcers, renal failure or osteoporosis.

Medications with chondroprotective properties

All methods used for the complex treatment of rickets only eliminate its symptoms and temporarily improve a person's health. The only exception is chondroprotectants. These drugs contain ingredients that trigger the repair of damaged cartilage in the disc. Neck pain is no longer painful after use and disappears not in a few hours but forever.In pharmacies, there are many types of chondroprotectants. These are capsules, substances for the preparation of injectable solutions, powders in sachets.They must contain one of the following components:

1. Glucosamine. Stimulates the synthesis of bioactive substances required for tissue construction and improves the composition of synovial fluid. Increases the permeability of the joint capsule, restores enzymatic processes, and inhibits the destruction of the intervertebral disc.
2. Chondroitin. Participate in the construction of cartilage and bone tissue and accelerate the metabolic process. Inhibits the destruction of intervertebral discs and blocks enzymes that cause cartilage tissue damage.

Products to improve microcirculation

The substance needed to improve blood circulation in cervical osteochondrosis is niacin xanthinol. The drug is used to treat highly severe pathologies, when both the discs and vertebrae are deformed. Compression of the vertebral artery manifests as cervical and cranial pain. This is a general term for a series of symptoms of vertebral artery damage: headache, "floaters" in front of the eyes, temporary blurred vision, sweating, and rapid heartbeat.Lipoic acid helps improve microcirculation and eliminate "vertebral artery syndrome". The disadvantage of these drugs is that they work indiscriminately because they speed up the flow of blood throughout the body, which is not always desirable. Therefore, contraindications include epilepsy, hyperthyroidism, and peptic ulcers.

Preparations containing B vitamins

The treatment of acute cervical osteochondrosis cannot be without the use of drugs, the ingredients of which are composed of B vitamins. The fact is that acute bone growth in the vertebrae violates not only the vertebral arteries. They can also put pressure on sensitive nerve roots and disrupt innervation. There is a delay in the entry of nerve impulses into the central nervous system and its responses are inhibited.

Disruption of innervation can lead to paresthesia - a loss of sensitivity in certain parts of the body.

In the pharmacological treatment of cervical rickets, drugs whose activity is determined by pyridoxine, thiamine and vitamin B12 are well established.Many of these are available as intramuscular solutions. It contains B vitamins and anesthetics. Therefore, immediately after the injection, the pain disappears and the range of motion in the cervical spine area is restored.At the same time, the product improves blood flow, function of nerves, muscles, and cardiovascular systems, and relieves inflammation and neurodegeneration. There are contraindications to its use. These are for pregnancy and lactation, allergies to ingredients.

best muscle relaxant

Eliminating minor symptoms of cervical osteochondrosis and treating its exacerbations at home are often complicated by muscle spasms. Nerve roots are compressed by disc displacement and inflammatory edema. Severe pain syndrome occurs and the body attempts to eliminate the symptoms through muscle spasms. Due to this special protective response, a person's mobility is limited and discomfort disappears.But increased skeletal muscle tone often puts more pressure on nerve endings.Muscle relaxants are used in combination with all medications used to treat rickets, including corticosteroids. They are well tolerated by the body, but some may cause addiction and "withdrawal syndrome. "Therefore, they are not suitable for long-term treatment. The duration of the treatment course does not exceed one week.

Drugs that improve mental and emotional states

Of all rickets, cervical rickets in particular worsen a person's psychoemotional state. This is all because bone growth invades the vertebral artery, causing lack of oxygen to the brain.The patient presents with atypical musculoskeletal system pathological symptoms:

• Panic attacks;
• Depression, neurosis;
• visual and hearing impairment;
• dry cough;
• Shortness of breath;
• Anxiety, apathy, fatigue;
• Various sleep disorders.

What you don't need to do when they appear is use cough drops, eye drops, or ear drops. Symptoms can usually be eliminated with a course of mildly sedating medications: Tenoten, Novo-Passit, motherwort tincture, valerian, peony. Sedatives, antipsychotics and antidepressants are prescribed only for severe neurosis and depression.

vitamin balancing complex

Most vitamins, essential micronutrients and macronutrients enter the body with food. But foods do not always meet physiological needs, or they are absorbed and distributed incorrectly. For example, circulatory disorders characteristic of cervical osteochondrosis. The lack of bioactive substances negatively affects the functioning of all important systems.In order to quickly replenish the body's daily requirements for vitamins, micronutrients and macronutrients, their balanced complex must be included in the treatment regimen. Magnesium forms muscle and bone tissue, and iodine regulates metabolism. Manganese, molybdenum, chromium, potassium, chlorine, selenium, zinc stimulate the strengthening of tendons and ligaments, and copper prevents the inflammatory process. These minerals are present in all of the above-mentioned complexes.

The correct intake of the drug is 1 tablet per day - this amount is enough to improve the blood supply to the brain and provide useful substances.

After a week, the symptoms of anemia seen in the third stage of the development of cervical chondrosis disappeared. The person no longer feels drowsy or suffers from impaired motor coordination. Double vision in which objects are seen before the eye disappears.

Ointments, gels, balms

External treatments are always used when rickets worsen at home. They cannot cope with severe pain; they need injections or painkillers. Ointments, creams, gels, balms are used to eliminate pain that occurs with hypothermia and climatic changes.Which of these can help treat chronic conditions:

• Anti-inflammatory (medicine). The drug has a milder effect on the body than other NSAIDs.
• vasodilators. These drugs exhibit local stimulant activity and dilate blood vessels that supply blood to the brain.
• painkiller. These medications help relieve pain immediately after use. They are absorbed well and do not leave oily stains on clothes and bedding.
• warming. Products containing pepper extract should only be applied using an applicator. The medication will produce analgesic effects within a few minutes when applied to the back of the neck.

Topical products are effective and rarely cause local allergic reactions. However, caution is required during treatment. If the ointment comes into contact with mucous membranes, rinse quickly with water. Especially those containing essential oils, natural poisons and turpentine.

therapeutic plaster

Pepper Patch is a time-tested treatment for osteochondrosis exacerbations. Its ingredients are represented by plant extracts of red pepper, belladonna and dicarboximide. The patch's active ingredients gradually penetrate the damaged disc area, producing an analgesic effect that lasts for 3-5 hours. If you have neck pain, use the topical whole or cut into small pieces.Pepper patches are suitable for convenient treatment at home, work or while traveling. But it also has a contraindication - an individual intolerance to one of the ingredients. For women with sensitive skin, it may cause chemical burns.These patches have anti-inflammatory, decongestant, and chondroprotective activities. They are used to treat all pathologies of the cervical spine. Their use helps reduce the pharmacological load on the body by reducing the dose of systemic drugs.

How to correctly treat cervical spondylosis?

Only a comprehensive treatment approach can prevent disc destruction. It is customary for people to wear orthopedic devices (Schanz collars) to hold the vertebrae in an anatomical position. Applicators are needed to improve blood supply to damaged tissue and deliver nutrients and bioactive substances. There are daily physiotherapy sessions, yoga, swimming and walks in the fresh air.Most medications are recommended to relieve symptoms during an exacerbation. They have many side effects, including damage to liver tissue. Chondroprotectants, means to improve blood circulation and a balanced vitamin and mineral complex are suitable for regular use.