Cervical Kyphosis (Military Neck) turned to feelings of tipy/drunk/zoningout/tunnelvision

In September 2020 I started experiencing pain in my ride side SCM/Trapezius/Neck. Thinking that it might be due to stress and getting back into the workplace after losing my job twice to COVID restrictions on restaurants I thought that time and rest would be the golden ticket to relieving this pain. It was not until 10 weeks later of constant pain while performing menial tasks like standing, bending, twisting, tasks that any chef does constantly that I went and saw my gp. An x-ray was taken and I was diagnosed with cervical kyphosis, or military neck. I was given a muscle relaxant and was referred to chiropractic and physical therapy treatment. I began immediately by getting adjusted and stretching for neck and back muscles. I then started treatment via dry needling and massage to release the muscles that were creating such tension in those muscle groups. I was told that my upper spine had a slight bend to the left creating muscular compensation all up and down my back and shoulders. During this time and while I was in pain before seeking help I would get the feeling of slight vertigo, the feeling like I was about to fall but the moment I would touch a stable object the feeling would vanish, and I would say to myself "well thats weird." Those feelings would also be accompanied by feeling of being tipsy or high that also had slight tunnel vision, almost like that feeling when you have driven a lot at high speeds and then come to a stop, and realize your vision is trying to catch up to the fact that you have now stopped. As I kept doing physical therapy, chiropractic work, and dry needling/massaging the pain in those muscles has lessened significantly but the feelings have not, they have stayed the same. In a ditch effort to see if my body could handle the physical demands of my job as a chef by beginning to work again. I have made sure to take it slow and increase the amount of effort and hours doing my job and making sure to take breaks often to help build stamina vital to such a job. In doing so, these past three weeks have been good in incrementally increasing hours at work going from 4 hrs/ day for 5 days during the first week, 5 hrs/ day the second, and 6 hrs/day the third. While the stamina of my neck has increased the cognitive feelings I described before have become worse. With the looming feeling of knowing my hours need to increase to double here in a few weeks I went and saw a Orthopedic Cervical Doctor to take the next step in trying to figure out what the hell is going on. The doctor took an x-ray of my neck and found nothing unusual about my upper neck, stating that I have normal curvature and great disc spacing showing no compression or deterioration of the discs. Is this a direct reflection of my recovery for military neck, the cervical block, stretches, physical therapy, dry needling, and massaging? Possibly for the skeletal issue of what military neck is, but something is amiss that these previous feelings still exist. I was explaining to the doctor the feelings that I had been getting and he just blatantly asked me if I was just trying to get disability, pretty shocked that this was his reaction to these symptoms. He then went on to ask if I wanted to get an MRI. I have no idea if I need one, but he did not seem overly concerned about these issues, as he stated he is a surgeon and from what he sees it has nothing to do with the spine. I'm not sure where to go from here as these symptoms carry on each day and it has a huge impact on what I can do physically each day.

0 likes, 1 reply