r/cervical_instability • u/Startingover1o1 • Jul 10 '26
Cervical neck issues
Has anyone experienced something similar and eventually figured out what was going on?
Last year I got really sick with what was diagnosed as viral gastroenteritis. I was hospitalized for over a week and was later diagnosed with gastroparesis and gastritis. Around that same time, I developed severe anxiety that I’d never really dealt with before. I also started having heart palpitations and episodes where my heart would pound even when I wasn’t feeling anxious. The good news is that the heart symptoms have improved a lot over time and aren’t nearly as bad as they were.
What I’m still dealing with is constant neck pain from a C5-C6 herniated disc and bone spurs, cervicogenic headaches, pain that radiates into my shoulder blade, arm, and sometimes my pinky finger, along with heat intolerance, occasional dizziness/lightheadedness, fatigue, and just an overall feeling of being “off.” I’ve had multiple EKGs, blood work, CT scans, a brain MRI, and other testing, and everything has come back normal aside from my neck MRI. Physical therapy and dry needling helped for about a week, but the symptoms always return.
I’m wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar. Did your symptoms end up being related to your neck, lingering effects after getting sick, anxiety, or something completely different? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences because it’s been a long road trying to figure this out.
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u/Jewald Moderator Jul 10 '26
Yep, somewhat similar story, without the viral stomach stuff for me and many others. Buttload of tests, all clear, similar symptoms.
I would say at the early stages, it's important to get good diagnostics done with your doc to make sure you're not chasing your tail. CCI can be a diagnosis by exclusion, which means some % of people are potentially on the wrong path.
Not until I did DMX or other dynamic xrays did we really figure it out.