Upper back Pain, 7 years going strong what to do next?

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I am a 27 yr old male. When i was 20 i was working at a pizza place and asked someone to help me pick up one of those huge hobart mixing bowls as i didn't want to hurt myself picking it up by myself. It had a total of about 120 lbs of dough in it, and when we went to put it on the table, the other guy let go before it was on . I had my right arm holding one of the handles at about shoulder height in a v shape and it pulled me to the ground with such an extreme force, the shockwave from it felt similar to the sensation of when you jump and land on your feet from 20+ feet high. (something i have done in my younger years, i used to skateboard and free run) I was unable to drive home for about a week as i could not check my blind spot, i ended up staying with a friend for that week. I could not stand up straight. I could not walk. I could only crawl which brought streams of tears to my eyes due to the horrific pain (not a boo-hoo sob, a quiet, tears going down each side of my face like pouring sweat as i grit my teeth) I did not go to the hospital immediately. I thought it wasn't that bad at the time. Looking back, I realize how wrong i was and was in denial that i had been permanently injured in such a sudden, unexpected way.

It took me about 1 1/2 to 2 years to actually seek help. I kept telling myself just 2 more months and i'll see a doctor.. just 2 more months... it's gotta go away soon.. just 2 more months.. yeah, I was in SERIOUS denial.

Since then, I have had an MRI and it was "inconclusive" about what causes my pain , which started as purely middle/upper-thoracic/lower cervical, but after some car accidents (2 roll overs, one was my fault, the other was not. I'm lucky to even be alive after either of those experiences.) it has begun radiating to both of my shoulders, there has always been bilateral tingling/shooting pains in forearms to hands on the lateral side, increased pain when i eat a large meal, especially as the food travels down my esophagus, sharp digging pains close to the spine on BOTH sides of the thoracic area - though thankfully not usually at the same time, and now most recently i have noticed i have uneven pupil size, which i am not sure if is related or not. But they did tell me I had 3 bulging discs - 1 cervical, and 2 thoracic.

i have at least once been horribly misdiagnosed by a doctor. When i first started seeking help due to bilateral tingling/shooting pains in my hands and forearms they told me i had carpal tunnel in BOTH hands! Obviously i knew this was not right based on the location of my injury, so I ignored his opinion and sought a second one.

So recently I have been doing more research as this problem has made it impossible for me to sleep more than 2 hours at a time or work and has actually been getting worse in the last few months, and I'm starting to think i have Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, irritated to a point of impossibly bad pain due to my bulging discs. Would it be a good idea to mention TOS to my doctor and see if he will run a test for it?? I've been through physical therapy 3 times now which has helped minimally (help by giving me some stretches and exercises that will not throw my back out further). I still have the pain, it has never gone away, only just slightly band-aided by the stretches and exercises in PT. I take tramadol just to be able to function and soma to relax my muscles when it feels like the blood supply is being cut off to my head which happens ALOT, which reminds me on top of that, my sinuses (on one side, it switches between the 2, just like my back inflammation) feel very stuffy most of the time. I have found that stretching my back in a certain way and having it completely relaxed will give a sensation of my sinuses 'opening up' or 'draining' and when that happens it feels like i breathe better as well, even though there is no visible blockage such as mucus. Hence why i am worried the blood supply to my brain is being cut off when my inflammation gets really bad. I get lightheaded as well at these times. It has me worried that i'm going to have a stroke one day when my inflammation flares up just TOO much and completely impinges the vessels in my neck.

Just wanted to share my condition and ask for anyone's input on it and what they think it could be, how urgent my symptoms sound to anyone else, if anyone else has had a similar experience.. Anything. I feel so alone with this problem, noone else my age knows the pain i go through on a daily basis and the anxiety that accompanies it not knowing if i am going to be bound to the bed each day as it gets worse and better at times when i have flare ups of inflammation (which are visible to the naked eye, though conveniently is not there whenever my doctor looks at it). I'm going to make another appt with my doctor and look for a referral to a back specialist OR just go to someone else as this is destroying my life and my doctor doesn't seem to think this is permanent. In my last visit he said "Hopefully this problem just resolves itself!" I'm sorry, but that is an unacceptable answer for me. It's been 7 years. Time that should have been some of the most active of my life I have had to spend in bed, nursing an injury. I know i'm very young so it's hard for doctors to believe I have such intense pain, but it's been going on for 7 years now and i'm absolutely sick of it. Noone deserves this quality of life.

Thanks everyone for any input you may have, I am at the end of my rope and just about ready to call it quits and resign myself to a life of drug dependency so that my time on earth here will at least be tolerable.

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  • Posted

    I just remembered i also have a few other symptoms i forgot to mention that i will add for posterity:

    Pain radiating along the rib cage from the chest to the back (imagine worrying your liver and pancreas are failing all of the time) that gets worse if improper pressure is applied (too close to disc or pushing the muscle into the spine)

    I USED to get severe stomach cramping if i tried to stand or sit up straight. During this time i was convinced i was going to be a hunchback. Luckily that only lasted about 3 months, and doesn't come back to bother me very often anymore.

    Sharp chest pains that make me feel like i'm having a heart attack.

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