Connect
← Return to Radiologist Second Opinion for MRI
Discussion
Radiologist Second Opinion for MRI
Spine Health | Last Active: Mar 1 1:20pm | Replies (7)Comment receiving replies
@gjkuzmin21 Welcome to Connect. I saw your other discussion about chest pain and the full workup you had with cardiology, and of course as a young person, no one is expecting to find a lot of medical issues. Can you share what was reported on your spine imaging?
May I also ask what kinds of physical things do you do a lot that could bring on chest pain? Is there any movement that makes it worse? Do you have a physical job or a desk job?
Chasing the source of nerve pain can be a tricky business. Did you get a report of "unremarkable" descriptions in the spine MRI?
One condition that you may want to learn about is thoracic outlet syndrome which can cause chest pain. I have TOS and I am a spine cervical surgery patient and I have experienced some sharp chest pains when muscles between my head, neck and chest are tight and spasming. TOS is often missed because it is misunderstood by most doctors. Thoracic or vascular surgeons may be specialists for TOS at medical centers that list TOS as a condition that they treat. Usually the best way to treat it is what I do with my physical therapist to stretch overly tight muscles and fascia called Myofascial Release. This is something you can try even without having a diagnosis of where the pain is coming from. I have befitted a lot from MFR and I do as much as I can on my own to maintain proper movement.
Here is our MFR discussion:
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Here is a technical article about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
https://mskneurology.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
Have any of your specialists considered thoracic outlet syndrome in your workup?
Jennifer
Replies to "@gjkuzmin21 Welcome to Connect. I saw your other discussion about chest pain and the full workup..."
Connect
Hello!
Thank you for the welcome!
I’ve had a lot of symptom changes since I last posted and have been rendered basically unable to do much.
My chest pain is still predominant and is now a constant squeeze/ache that comes and goes throughout my entire chest with occasional sharp episodes on my left side. I’ve also started to have extreme unexplained tightness in my upper middle back and neck with new random onset migraines that have left me unable to eat or walk. All of this along with new onset pins and needles throughout my upper back and upper/lower extremities with muscle weakness throughout my body - to the point where I can’t hold my phone to my ear without having to rest my arm on something. The most recent neuro visit showed I had a positive hoffmans test and new hyperflexia in almost all reflex tests done but was brushed aside by the doctor and never explained to me.
With the episodic chest pain, after 5 months we have not been able to observe anything that typically triggers it - it seems to be very random.
I have a physical job and work in healthcare so I sit and move around a lot.
My husband is a PA - and we obtained a disc of my MRIS prior to the imaging - on our end he was able to see multiple discs in my lower lumbar that were of concern as well as places with what could be lesions and some disruption in the shape of my spinal cord near the lower Cspine. The results from the radiologist who interpreted my scans were “unremarkable with no findings” which we just cannot wrap our heads around.
I have more recently been looking into TOS and things along those lines.
Just very much struggling to find a specialist who will take me seriously and work with me and take the time to figure out what is going on. Feeling very given up on by almost every doctor I have seen since this has started.