Hi Everyone.

I'm hoping to receive some guidance as to what I should do, who I should see and perhaps "Maybe" even receive some possible suggestions as to what is going on with me..

I'm 39 and tall (which I guess isn't a plus when it comes to the spine) and in 06-07 I started noticing pain in just my neck. ( I never see a doc unless I'm in a fetal position and dying)... I let it go for about a year and finally went to my primary. Ordered a CT of cervical which I believe showed slight lordosis? He said it's normal and I left and went on with life..

Here we are 7yrs later. Around sept-oct. of 2013, I noticed pain radiating down both of my upper arms and felt claustrophobic driving with a jacket and seat belt, as I began to notice that taking off the jacket while seated was hard. Just pain in my upper arms with slight weakness... I began to think I was getting 'Sick'. I felt run down.. I had a crazy schedule and was ALWAYS driving... Than I started noticing pain that is now showing up in my bottom.. Sacral? Great I think...Now I have to drive on my sides... What next....

I also always had lower back pain, but thought, "Hey.. doesn't everyone" and didn't want to go to the doc because I knew he's say, "Oh it's nothing"...

October I was great. I walked for miles (Exercise)..Played a little volley ball... hiked trails, ran around with my 3yr old... did home projects, etc, etc. I started noticing first the arms... than in the beginning of Nov. I would wake in the middle of the night with what I thought was SEVERE hip pain (Burning kinda), so I would roll onto the other... Would wake with same pain... I thought it was my HIP, but it's the top of both Iliacs?

THAN... I noticed when I would step and put both feet on ground they would hurt and tingle... Like neuroapthy... Again... I knew something was off, but hoped it would go away :-(

BOOM... Late Nov I get a sick. I chalked it up to my DD bringing me home everything from school. (I never get sick) and it was pretty bad I would say.. Not a sick I had felt since a kid... had a fever for a day..stayed in bed and just felt weak and drained with complete body aches.. I guess this lasted a few days and I remember thinking I needed to finish my DD's Christmas project....

So while I was "OK" to get up and do things, I was still dragging with me the remnants of just being sick.. I was tired and felt weak. However, I went to spray paint this project which required me to squat.. I would say I did this for about 40min and said to myself, "OK... I need to get back in bed".. I remember standing back up and thinking, "Oh god". My legs hurt soooooooooo bad and it felt like I just did a full workout on my death bed..

I chalked this up to still being sick and went back home to bed...

Well.... It went away, but I never regained that "Normal" feeling in my legs. That pain of "You have the flu" was there, but I was not sick.

I thought it would just go away with time, but it never did.

I keep telling my doctor that something is WRONG! I can't stand longer than 5min. My lower back hurts..my legs are frozen...my feet ach and my dam arms are sore along with cold fingers and sore thumb tip.

Blood was fine (He thinks it's LD).. yada, yada, yada... I went to an endo after I left him and he said, "It sounds like neuropopathy, but of what..well...that's difficult"... Wonderful

So I skipped all the docs and went right to the neurologist.

I explained all the above and I was extremely hysterical I remember and I just kept saying, "But I was FINE...and now I can barely do anything"! "What is wrong with me"!

He ordered an MRI of my brain, with and without contrast.. Cervical W/O and Lumbar W/O.

When I get back to his office, he seems more focused on a diagnosis of LD and really says nothing about my MRI's... He shows me them, but chalks it up to nothing... So I get the reports myself and well, while I'm not a doctor, it certainly doesn't look like nothing to me.. In fact, it reads like something in my spine could in fact be causing all of my symptoms... But hey...I'm trying to trust the doctor...

My brain-

white matter hyperintensities on FLAIR images, which are non specific findings
mild fluid in right mastoid. status post left matoidectomy


C-Spine-
Alignments- straitening the cervical lordosis with reversal centered at C4-5
Disc height- mildly diminished at C5-6
Osteophytes- minimal marginal osteophytes ventrally at C4-5 and C5-6

Impression -

1. Disc pathology at c4-5 through c6-7 as described (left and right are moderately stenotic)

2. mild cord deformity at c4-5, c5-6 and c6-7

3- Foraminal stenosis appears to be significant on the left at c4-5 and on the right at c5-6

4- disc pathology has progressed with the prior study referenced. The reversal of the cervical lordosis seen currently was not evident previously.


LUMBAR-
Disc bulging at L1-L2, L4-L5 and L5-S1


As it stands, I feel like no one is taking me serious and I'm scared. I know this is long and do apologize, but I'm pulling straws and I'm spent. The only way to describe how I feel is that of someone dying a slow painful death.. and all I want to do is go walking and play with my daughter...

So what I think I have going on is one doctor thinking it's viral and another thinking it's fibro and me thinking you're ALL WRONG....

The only relief I get is by climbing into a hot tub waking my family every 10min because the pain is KILLING me.

Can anyone help with where or who I should see next for a second opinion?

I'm so grateful for whatever anyone could offer.

Kindest-
Jenn