Could severe headache and neck pain be due to spondylotic spur disc change?
Patient: I have had a severe head ach since last sunday with neck pain and fever of 1100 to 100.7 and I start taken it down ice and cold drinks. Was told I have anterior spondylotic spur plus disc change, mild intervertabral disc space loss in height at C4-C5 and C5-C6 levels.. Straightening of lordosis, degenitive disc disease, And also had an interbody fusin on L4-L5 and S1 5 years ago. should I go to hospital ? Doctor: Hello ! Thank you for the question ! I understand your concern. The symptoms you have may be related to meningitis . I would like to know if you have nausea, vomiting or any other symptoms . The cervical spine degenerations do not cause fever. Another possible diagnosis would be a discitis in the cervical spine ( and infection of the disc), but headache is not typical in this situation . You need more than cold drinks to pass through this situation. I would recommend you to go to the hospital and have a full blood work and  a neurological examination. You may need also a brain CT scan and a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis. Hope to have been helpful. Thank you for using HCM!Best wishes , Dr. Abaz Quka