Laura
Thank you for your suggestions. Although I didn't have time to find an acupuncturist (I live in a small town of 4000), I was able to convince my dr. of the very real pain I was in. He called in a sedative and told me to take it with the pain meds I was already taking, about 1 hr. before my MRI and it should help. He said if I still couldn't tolerate lying down, that he would set up an appt. in the hospital where they could administer stronger pain meds. I made it through rather uncomfortably. Both arms were completely numb by the time it was all over. I have since been seen by the neurosurgeon that I was referred to, only to find out that I have a congenital birth defect of the spinal canal. It is much narrower than the average person's is, resulting in direct pressure on the spinal cord from the herniated disks in all 7 cervical vertebrae. I was told that with the birth defect, there is no other fix besides surgery to widen the spinal canal and then repair the disks with pinning and fusion from the front and back. I asked how much mobility I would lose and he said I would lose some of my range of motion and flexibility, but to what extent depended on each individual also. He also said that it was more complicated than any surgery he has performed so he won't attempt it himself. He is referring me to the nearest university hospital that has one of the top neurosurgeons in our area. Now I have almost a 2 month wait to see this "top doc". In the meantime, I have been told to limit the movement of my head as much as possible. So, I will keep on checking in with HealthlinkUSA for the advice and sharing of knowledge and experience I have found here. Thank you. P.S. Is there anyone else out there who has or has heard of this type of birth defect?