Degenerative Disc Disease

Hi. I have a slew of health issues for 30+ years now, including Crohn’s, epilepsy, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, migraines, history of TIA strokes, history of reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, POTS, along with a new, undiagnosed auto immune disease that they cannot figure out yet.

Recently, I have had a series of bulging discs occur in my spine (currently at 6 with 4 compressed nerves) that they have marked as degenerative disc disease. Upon my neurosurgeon inspecting the MRIs of my spine, he said that it is autoimmune related, degenerative in nature, but that he has no idea what it is, cannot fix or help it, cannot operate on it, and cannot stop the pain.

At this point, the pain is so intense that even with an opioid patch, Norco, and a muscle relaxer, I am still shaking in pain. Does anyone else have anything of this nature? Does anyone have any idea what this might be? I know that my doctor is currently toying with the idea of Stills Disease One of my unknown diseases could be as well as the possibility of mast cell activation syndrome, being present.

Any help is much appreciated! Thank you so much.

Hi All!
I'm pumped! 😎👍👏💙
Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am so looking forward to the eclipse! Got glasses, food, family will be with me (Hubby and grown daughters, and a couple friends) I know it's only gonna be a little while, but we need this joy after all the sorrows we have endured lately.
Hoping All of You find some Joy, too!
Gentle Hugs. 💖 #Depression #Fibromyalgia #HashimotosThyroiditis #DegenerativeDiscDisease

#Fibromyalgia I have never been more tempted to scream “I AM NOT A DRUG SEEKER!!” than I was yesterday. My fibro has progressed in the past couple of years and I feel like I don’t have triggers or flare-ups just constant pain. And my PCP says that we’ve tried everything there is to try and he isn’t allowed to give me any other meds for the pain. I have so many more symptoms (as we all do) and I had a CT scan to make sure my pancreatic cancer didn’t come back. It hasn’t (yay!) but my results said that I had severe degenerative changes in my spine. Wouldn’t anyone want to check that out? Of course a couple days before I saw a dr to ask about it, I fell down a small slope and injured the tendons in my rotator cuff, I’ve been falling a lot lately. So when I went to the doctor she totally invalidated my symptoms and questions.

According to her everyone’s spine does this when they get older. Fine, but could you at least listen to me? Do all my symptoms added together show that I have something else? After telling me my concerns did not warrant concern, we went over my symptoms, and she invalidated each one. After asking about them one at a time, and me saying yes and describing it, she would say they would look for something else. She did end up saying, “I would characterize it as degenerative disc disease”, but she later said there was nothing new to add to my list and didn’t put it in my file.

Me- Look I am an informed patient and always look for options to take away my pain that has stolen so much of my life. Now that I hurt my shoulder, the pain on top of my fibro is really bad but I still need to work and take care of my daughter. Can you help me?
Her- I can’t give you anything, and even though I’ll talk to your PCP, I doubt he can either.
Me- (in my head) I AM NOT A DRUGE SEEKER! I AM IN PAIN!!