Undiagnosed Chronic back pain

Hello, I am posting on here because, with an undiagnosed illness it very hard to find people who I can talk to that may understand what I've been going through for the past 2 years...

I am a 21 year old university student studying criminology and previously played basketball and swam competitively. After a month into my second year of study I started to get horrendous pain in my back, mainly stemming from my lower back, there was no triggers, it was just there one day. After less than a month from when it started the pain would get so bad, I would faint. I had never fainted unconscious before and I have quite a high tolerance to pain so it was very scary.

Nearly 2 years later and I am still fainting nearly on a daily basis from the sheer amount of pain I am in. I have had every test imaginable, doctors were worried about epilepsy but I have had 2 EEGs which shows I am not epileptic and a tilt table test that proves I am only fainting because my body can't take the pin I am in. I have had multiple MRIs, X-rays, ECGs and a 24hour ECG. I have a neurologist who doesn't know what to do, I have been to chiropractors who will refuse to touch my back in case I faint, I saw an osteopath who did say I have one leg longer than the other and my pelvis is slightly wonky but I shouldn't be in this amount of pain from that alone. I have also been on very strong medication, mainly tramadol for the majority of two years. 3 months ago a decided to come off tramadol because I got an absest in my come and after taking antibiotics I had a huge seizure which neurologists put down to a mix of medication. I switched to taking a high dose of gabapentin but in the last month had to be put back on tramadol as I was fainting everyday and couldn't go anywhere whiteout the risk of fainting. I was refereed to the pain clinic and they've said I need to very slowly get my muscles moving again but they don't know what to do and now I'm being referred to a pain management course.

This unknown reason for my back pain has changed my life, I am having to do another year at university because I wasn't able to go to my lectures in my second year under advisement from my neurologist and sport was a massive part of my life from a very young age. A lot of people don't take it seriously because i don't have a name for what's wrong with me, they can't see my pain and I am not someone to complain when I am unwell or in pain.

I just don't know what to do, if you've read this far, thank you!!

Carla x

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