Mid/Upper back pain, from spine to shoulder, chronic for ~2 years

[linuxpenguin]

I have been in the navy for a while now, and for the past 2 years, I have had back pain in my upper back.  Heres the progression

I intially complained about it, and was pretty much blown off for 6 months. Changed commands, and saw doctor there. she IMMEDIATELY put me on physical therapy... completed 6 weeks  of PT, but unable to complete the 24 prescribed due to scheduling conflicts (nuclear prototype school, consists of ~90 hour work weeks of rotating shift work). Changed commands again, went to carrier, they re initiate my physical therapy, complete ~6 weeks, again. I stop going because its not getting better, so I complain further up, have an MRI scheduled for next saturday.

found out I have been incorrectly taking flexeril for over a year and a half! (only supposed to take for 2-3 weeks because long term usage is unknown, I have been using for 75 weeks... can I sue ? lol -.-)

Ok, symptoms

Usually, a stubborn, dull pain radiating from mid back, primarily right side, but not focused. seems to start mildly at my spine, and gets worse proceding to shoulder. Pain varies from as mild as a 2/10 to 4-5/10 some days. Seldomly however, extreme spasms occur, debilitating 8/10 to 10/10 sometimes. again, rare, but often enough to bug the **** out of me.

What relieves it? Motrin/Naprosyn provide mild relief, but not total relief. Flexeril just knocks me out, so Im not sure how it affects my pain.  Never taken opiates, but im sure it'd help haha. Stretching my neck down, i.e. chin to chest, seems to slightly alleviate the pain, but not completely. soon as stretching stops, pain returns immediately.

Treatment ->
- stretch therapy, un productive.
- strength training, unproductive.
- ultrasound/heat therapy, stops spasms, but not chronic pain (seems to anyway)
- 2 x-rays, unconclusive
- MRI next saturday (hopefully provides answers!)
- medicine, temporary pain relief

What I want -> I want the pain gone! its annoying/ridiculous to go through my life like this. Im 21, i should have this problem :(

thank you very much in advance!
-Jordan

[summer39]

Hey... I'm only 20 yrs old & have had back pain for 5 yrs. I had spinal fusion surgery last year. So I know how frustrating it is to have this pain when you're so young. You just want to be able to do everything you can & live, but sometimes the pain is too much.

I know it's tough to wait but it's a long process to get everything figured out. After you get your MRI done, I'd recommend going to an orthopaedic doctor to go over the results. He might be able to offer a different treatment based on the results.

And don't worry about the Flexiril. I was on it for years when I was younger for juvenile arthritis and had no idea you're not supposed to be haha. Never had a problem with it though

Good luck! Hope you feel better:)

[linuxpenguin]

bump i guess. no one has anything at all to add?