Spine pain - nerve or muscle?

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hey all.

Been having some upper spine pain (like the base of the neck and down some) and some lower spine pain like tailbone area.

It seems to happen after I wake up and I put a heating pad on it and it goes away. But sometimes the pain lingers and it hurts throughout the day and I have to keep a pad on it all day. It is tender to the touch and my upper back burns some, as well.

I've recently been under a lot of stress as I suffer from chronic vertigo and have been going through testing for it. I have also recently been diagnosed with small fiber neuropathy via nerve conduction test.

I notice when I stress, my muscles contract almost automatically. I actually have to make myself chill out and relax or I'm tense 24/7. I have horrible anxiety and when I get worked up, I've noticed that I tense my back a lot. I'm also pretty overweight as exercising with vertigo gets hard.

Does this sound like muscular issues? I'm only worried because of the neurological issues I had going on (mild bilateral numbness in forearms, shins, and one side of face) but that comes and goes, along with spasticity in my legs (thighs mainly).

I've had CT/MRI of brain that was clear and my neurologist has tested me for RA, lupus, & etc. Haven't got the blood work results yet but he said he'd call if something was wrong (this was like a month ago).

Any advice on whether y'all think its muscle related?

2

Have doctor due mri of your entire back I had this and after a year found I had herniated disc trust mr have back checked asap

3

Hayhue,

I would definitely call back the dr to find out your results I couldn't imagine not knowing what is going on and sometimes they forget to call and tell you what's up, but I would rather know that they found nothing just to ease my mind.

Good luck and hope they can find out what's going on.

Best wishes

Cynthia (Cindy)

4

Your situation sounds a bit similar to mine. I'm also suffering from a lot of stress and have strange neurological symptoms on arms/legs/feet and hands and sensations of internal vibration that prompted me to ask my GP for a referal to a neurologist. He sent me for an MRI of the spine and brain along with blood tests for autoimmune disorders and evoked potential tests. All came back negative. I was told by a neurophysiotherapist that tense muscles resulting from stress can affect the nerves and cause off sensations and numbness, so that may be the case with you. It sounds like you should have an MRI of your full spine as well as brain just to rule other things out.  I hope you get some answers.

5

I had brain already. I'm going to go to chiropractor and see if he'll order spine.

Thank you!