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@jetsetter

Hi, yes, I did have an MRI a few weeks ago. The last one I had was about 2 years ago when I had neck pain on the right side. It showed some further degeneration, but not much different. The interesting thing I found was the doctor writing the MRI report this time around was more thorough in his descriptions.

I had to beg my PCP to order the MRI. She wanted to send me to pain management first, then I would need a current MRI ordered from them before they could safely do any injections (I’m not sure about that), then wait for another appt, then wait for a procedure, lots of waiting, but that’s OK, I would love to not have any invasive procedures and get better with exercise! I finally convinced her to order an MRI when I said “wouldn’t it be better to know what is going on in my neck before we decide which specialist I should go to?”.

The pain on the right side of my neck (2 years ago) finally went away (thank you, God!) after a year of PT and doing the exercises faithfully. I continue to do the PT exercises and have gone again to PT this year for my left sided neck pain. Worse thing is I can’t drive very far because the seatbelt causes a big pain flare after about 20 minutes of driving.

The MRI of my cervical spine took 20 minutes. They only put my head/ upper chest inside the machine and I did visualization and counting backwards by 3’s to keep my mind off where I was.

I hope you can get some relief! Vertigo is hell, I had it for 1 day when I transitioned off Gabapentin and I hope I never feel that way again! Now I’m getting headaches that radiate up from my neck into the back of my head that get worse when I bend over. Strange. I also have Sjogrens auto-immune disease. Hard to know sometimes what’s causing what.

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Replies to "Hi, yes, I did have an MRI a few weeks ago. The last one I had..."

I have been under ENT care since vertigo. I went back to my orthopedic doctor when my neck started hurting really bad. I to get the head discomfort going up the back of my head to the top. I made an appt with neurologist in 2 weeks. Can I ask what doctors you went to for your diagnosis?

The problem with MRIs is that they usually are not diagnostic. Many people, 30 years of age and up, have findings on MRI which are normal signs of aging. More severe problems in the cervical spine would cause different symptoms. That's why docs don't rush to do them.

Many types of headaches respond to movement therapy of the upper back and shoulders where the muscles that support the neck are. Neck exercises and stretching can make neck pain and headaches worse.