Originally Posted by Hilary

ABout two months ago, I began having facial pains-stabbing (right cheek and behind the right eye). My face would turn red near my right cheekbone and my right ear would also become red. During this time, I also began having neck/back pain, numb arm and leg, and my middle and ring fingers do not separate unless I make an attempt to separate them-all pain is on the right side. I had an MRi and CT scan of the brain-all negative. I was diagnosed with a facial neuralgia and began taking indomethacin. This seemed to help with the facial pain and neck/back pain. I was also diagnosed with iritis(inflammation of the iris) which can be idiopathic or a sign of an autoimmune disease/arthritis. Since I had so many problems, I was tested for multiple automimmune diseases-all negative. Recently, I had an MRI of the cervical spine. It revealed that there was a mild disc bulge at C5-6 contributing to mild overall spinal canal stenosis and mild narrowing of the left lateral recess. Since my family doctor ordered this MRI, I have not learned much about what these results mean. Can someone help explain this to me? I was also wondering if these results could cause any of the pains that I have been experiencing? (I have also been tested for the genetic marker (HLA-B27)for ankylosing spondilitis, but I have not received the results yet.)