Back pain for over 2 years, no diagnosis

Kind of a long story, and starting to feel a bit out of options, so figured writing it all down and getting some opinions from people who have suffered similar could be of.   Not expecting anyong to read this whole thing, but it has helped to write  it down,as there are lots of things i forget.

I am 24.

About 26 months ago (December 2013), i bent over to pick up a shovel, stood up and took a couple of steps when my back gave me a massive jolt of pain,  just to the right of spine below shoulder blade. Was incredibly painfull with the slightest of movements, but the pain died down over the next day or so.

   For the next 12-13 months, i had constant dull aching pain around that spot, and my lower back was very stiff when sitting/bending over. I tend to just ignore things and hope they get better, so i only seen a doctor twice in this period, a couple of months apart.  Both times receiving painkillers and a self refferal form for physiotherapy, and told that i am too young for problems like this. 

I was foolish, and never went to physio.

  About 12-13 months (January 2015) after the initial pain, my pain had started affecting the same area on the left of my spine.  I also one day, for no reason started to get incredible pain in my right knee when walking,to the stage i was unable to put weight on it.

   This went away again overnight, but kept coming back anytime i tried to walk longer distances ( 5+ miles). Starts off as a dull ache but if i ignored it, it again becomes too painfull too take my weight. I stopped walking longer distances, and it never really came back,untill later on.

  I never seen a doctor about this, as  i was working away from home, and i also did not think it was related to my back, never even occured to me that it might be.

For the next several months, my back pain seemed to gradually get worse,some days being worse than others,and the pain becoming more widespread over my back.

    Around July 2015, i awoke one morning and went to move my neck, which gave me an extremly painfull shooting pain down my neck/spine into my back. I managed to slide out of bed and get stood up without too much movement of my neck, and the pain was not as bad when standing.

  I noticed this day however, that my right knee was painfull again, and also my left knee was starting to give the same pain.  This was when i realised that the pains seemed to be connected. 

    The neck pain lasted for a week or so before settling down, although since then my neck has always been sore when looking down. It gets very stiff and pain goes down my spine  to about the shoulders.

    I made a doctors appointment at this stage, although it took 2-3 weeks to get one.    Again i was given pills,self refferal form, told im too young and asked if perhaps it was just the way i slept on my neck. She did decide to do blood tests however. 

    So another couple of weeks to get bloods taken and then the results. One level was low,although i forget the name. (Pottasium? Began with  a P)  2nd set of bloods were taken to see if they were the same, but i never heard back so i assume that everything was ok 2nd time around.

   I was told Physio was pretty much the only option now, so try that and we'll see.I handed in the self refferal form at this point, (about August/september by now)

My pains were steadily becoming worse. Back pain was more painfull, and my knees were just aching most days, without having walked any distance at all.

About October, i again awoke in the night,with incredible pain on my left, sort of just below the shoulder behind the ribcage. I really struggled to move at all, and just lying on my back it felt harder to breathe, and it was also painfull to take a breath in. 

    The slightest movement/twist/cough/sneeze gave me extreme jolts of pain. It lasted like this for 2 days, and was sore enough that i was off work for 5 days total, which is not like me. Just over a week before it was back to normal again. For several weeks following, i noticed a large increase in nerve twitches in my arms/back/legs.

  I did consider going to hospital, but the first day that would of been too painfull anyway short of an ambulance, and i also thought i would be seen as a timewaster in hospital with a sore back. (My own worst enemy)

I still hadnt heard from physiotherapy at this point, after about 7 or 8 weeks, so i phoned up, but it seemed that my form was never passed on or was lost, as there was no record of it.

   I decided to visit a private Osteopath near where i work.  He performed Joint Mobilisation on me ( a bit like wrestling but i wasnt allowed to fight back apparently ) , said my muscles were all very tight and one shoulder looked lower than the other.   This done nothing for me, other than increase all my back/neck and knee pains for a week or so.

  I seen my doctor again at the start of November, and asked for a scan of some sort, as i felt that physiotherapy would simply make me more painfull also. She sort of agreed that an Mri might be of use, and said she would make an appointment for me to see someone  "Like physiotherapy, but not physiotherapy". I wasnt too sure what this meant, but thought it was a specialist of some sort.   Not once did this doctor actually look at my back.

About 4-5 weeks later in december i hadnt heard anything, so i phoned up and got told i  was on a 13 week waiting list in the physiotherapy department.

 So instead of wait this long, i decided to visit a private physiotherapist.

I paid £45  to be examined, told theres nothing physically wrong with me and there cant be anything wrong with me as after 2 years it would be better by now.   Reckoned its all in my head, might be sore, but its my brain interpreting stress signals wrong and maybe i got bullied at school.   

  So i left about 50 minutes later, a bit bewildered, £45 pound lighter and a new fear of physiotherapists.

  I was going to see another one, but id given up by this point. I researched stretches on the internet, and set about a routine of them for 2 or 3 weeks. I cant say they made a diffrence other than increase my pain and make my whole back ache.  I continued anyway,hoping it was healing pains.

   One day, i was doing the routine as usuall, when during a specific stretch, the Sphinx stretch, i noticed an unusual pain. I stopped and went and sat on a  chair for 5 minutes. When i  stood up and took a step, i almost fell over as i got a very painfull sharp pain shoot from my hip down my leg, past my knee to just above the ankle.

   Again, this pain lasted for about 3 weeks before it went away completly,and my entire spine has been sore since.

   I seen my doctor in january (diffrent one, last one seems to have disappeared) to again ask if physiotherapy is really the right thing, due to the stretches causing my new pains, and also ask if the last doctor booked me for the right thing. 

She said its confusing in the way they classify things and it might be physiotherapy department but its not physiotherapy.  Cue my bewildered look again.

She did examine my back however, and said that the muscles either side of my spine were solid,which they shouldnt be. Also ordered more blood tests, still waiting on results.

But she believes its the right people to see, but 13 weeks seemed to be a bit long of a waiting list, so she would try and hurry it up.

  About a week later (only 1-2 weeks ago now) i received a letter from hospital giving me a code to make a physiotherapy appointment.

I phoned up, and got given an apptment for 4 weeks later (2nd march)

   I have received a letter which says my appointment is with Physiotherapist __________. So everything points toward me seeing a physiotherapist, despite being told its not what im seeing.

   Decided to go and see anyway.

   Unfortuantly i have been off work for the past week. On monday i was at work when i felt my back start to change, and within an hour i again was left crippled and in extreme pain just to move.  Tensing my back hurt,twisting, lifting my arm or moving my arm forward all cause spikes of pain.   It is the same pain i experienced in October, except its on my right side.  Same pains to breathe/move etc,although not quite as bad.

    From what ive read, it seems it is the Lattisimus Dorsi muscle.

It is still painfull as i type, 6 days after the initial pain, although not as bad.  Back to work tommorow and hope i dont cause it to get worse again.

I have the physio apptment in about 3 weeks time (2 march). So ill see what they say.

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If you read through all that, you deserve a medal, but i thank you.

So, my questions..

Can, or do, the physio people send you for an MRI first if they believe the stretches will cause you more pain, or will they just continue regardless?

It seems rather foolish  to me to not have some sort of scan done to potentially see what the problem is, as then they can tailor their physio routine to suit?

And does anyone have an opinion on what could be the cause? It all seems linked to that initial hurt when i bent over and stood up. I would never have believed something so simple could cause so much misery.

 And i realise it would be just an opinion, not a diagnosis.

The most annoying thing about this,despite it pretty much ruining my life, is the fact no one has even even hinted at a diagnosis.  Never been told sciatica, slipped disc, nerve damage, anything.   Only thing ive been consistently told is that im too young to have the pains.

Anyway, thanks for reading.  If you did read it all, go take a break and walk around a bit, you dont want back problems  from sitting too long

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