All my life I've had small problems with my back that would come and go. Just about daily when I'm winding down, my back will feel like it's been in a tight pony tail all day and is finally relaxing. As well as occasional, horrible pinched nerves starting from a young age. But last year on November 12th I woke up with severe pain in my lower back, burning on the bottoms of my feet, crotch area numb, feeling like my guts were going to fall out of my ass and vagina anytime I went to the bathroom, burning on the bottoms of my feet, and one line behind my thighs that felt like a hot 2x4 had smacked me there. I messaged my OBGYN (only official doctor I had at the time) and asking her what I should do. She got back to be saying it sounded like a herniated disc or bilateral sciatica pain and gave me the phone number for a nurses hotline. The next day I called them and the pain was still persistent, getting worse at night. They told me to get to my nearest emergency room so by the end of the day my boyfriend took me to the hospital.

They did an MRI without contrast on my lower spine and found some bone spurs but nothing else. I was released with gabapentin, naproxen, and a referral to a neurologist. The pain eventually died down but I still have problems with my lower back, mid back, and the bottoms of my feet burning. As well as new symptoms such as electric pins in my arms, my legs randomly tingling and getting weak, neck hurting a lot when I try to turn it occasionally, popping and stiff joints, etc.

I wasn't able to see the neurologist until February but once I did he ordered 3 MRIs. Two with contrasts on mid and upper back and one without contrast on my mid back. They found cyst in my spinal cord all along my mid back and a herniated disc in my upper back. The condition for the cyst is called syringomyelia and I know that because it was on the test results that came back as a diagnosis. The doctor gets back to me and says "Must've been there since birth. I want you to come in my office so we can do a physical and I can go over some of this with you in person."

It took months for me to see him in person. All this time I've been dealing with chronic pain that is obviously explained by the herniated disc and syringomyelia. It's severely limited my life. There are many mornings where I wake up already in pain and stiff. But when I saw him he has nothing to say! He didn't go over the syringomyelia at all despite it being a chronic condition that I will have to have monitored for the rest of my life. He kept showing me the photos of the cyst and herniated disc and saying "we found this but I don't think it's a problem". Granted, the cyst in my spine are 3mm at the largest point but symptoms can start with cyst smaller than mine and I'm obviously symptomatic. I asked him what to do about the back pain and he said "I don't know, I can send you a referral to a back pain specialist 🤷" Yes, looking exactly like the emoji.

The real kicker was when he said at the end of the appointment "If things get worse let me know." EXCUSE ME!? I'm living in chronic pain every single day!!! I can't do half of the shit I used to be able to do because of the pain. It's a large reason as to why I can't work anymore, next to other medical issues I'm trying to take care of right now. I feel like he's completely ignoring my symptoms just because I'm young. I'm so tired of being over looked and stepped on when I'm just trying to get help and get back to normal.