Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone can help me. I'm a ball of nerves and don't know what to think right now.
Severe neck pain, tingling, and muscle spasms
To start, I'm 40, female, and I have a cervical spine degenerative disc disease. I usually have issues with my neck like stiffness or a little bit of pain but it never really lasts for a week or two. Last week I had a neck MRI done because I've been having severe neck pain, tingling, muscle spasms and weakness and whatnot for the past month. The doctor said it was a pinched nerve but wanted me to go for an MRI just to see what was going on.
Brain MRI ASAP
I finished the MRI and as soon as I got home, which took about 40 minutes from the time I left the MRI place, the doctor's office called me and said the doctor wanted me to do a brain MRI with and without contrast, and it needed to be done ASAP. This MRI is scheduled for Tuesday.
What's troubling me is, if it's just a pinched nerve, why does the doctor need me to do a brain MRI as soon as possible? What could he even be looking for? If he is looking for something going on in my brain, why not schedule it when I had the neck MRI done, why ASAP afterwards?
So nervous and scared
I looked up brain MRI w/wo contrast and the majority of the articles are about MS among other things. Has anyone had anything like this done and if so, what happened? I know I have no choice but to wait until the MRI is done on Tuesday and the followup appt Wednesday for any info. I just wanted to know of anyone could possibly know why he would do this or what he's looking for.
The dr office and a few people said he is trying to get a broader picture and rule anything else out because the neck MRI was possibly normal, but why look at the brain then? If the neck MRI was normal, why not go with the issue being a pinched nerve like he stated before and leave the brain alone? I'm not a doctor, so I can't really question why, but I'm still nervous about all of this. My intuition says MS, but again, I'm not a doctor so I can't say for sure. Sorry if I'm rambling. I'm just so nervous and scared. Anyone have any experience with this?