Hello everyone, I just had a huge opening post typed out but I hit the back button and everything was erased. Since I am in a lot of pain I will make this short.
For 18 months now I have been in severe pain. The pain is in my head /neck, left upper back, left chest, left arm. Any exertion makes it worse. I hurts to just stand up. Also my legs buckle sometimes when I am starting to walk. I never fall, they just buckle and feel like they are giving out.
Aslo when I turn my head or look down I get a sensation in my left foot. It is not painful, just uncomfortable. My neck pops and cracks all day long by just turning it. When I do crack it myself I sometimes get a shock down my arm.
Basically if you have ever been to physical therapy and had one of those electrical stimulators on, that is what all of the areas I mentioned above feel like 24/7. People ask me about quality of life and I stopped thinking about that a long time ago. The pain is so bad that I can't think about surviving the day, I think about surviving minute to minute.
I have been to countless cardiologists, neurologists, nuerosurgeons, and even the Mayo Clinic. They have all dismissed my symptoms as anxiety and depression (I'm sure plenty of you here have had that run around).
I have also had surgery for Chiari 1 malformation which I had hoped was the cause of this but I am sure now that it isn't.
I have had numerous MRI's and they all show the same thing. C5-6 herniation (extrusion) with mild or moderate (depending on which MRI report) central stenosis and bilateral foraminal stenosis.
Here is a pic of one of the older MRI's from last year, let me know what you think.
