I live in a small town and I've been bounced from Dr. to Dr. since I was 12 years old and diagnosed w/ scoliosis. I spent years in traction to correct it as a young teen, but my symptoms got worse as I got older. I have been in physical therapy on and off, which seemed only to make the pain and weakness worse. Years later I've just finished college and I'm unable to work because I can barely grip anything w/ my right hand (I have a sharp pain in my neck which radiates down my arm and makes me weak and nauseous when I try to put my thumb and other fingers together - sometimes it switches to the left side, but it is more often on the right). I also have a sharp, throbbing pain in my tailbone which radiates down my legs, sometimes the left and sometimes the right. I had a work injury 6 years ago which was diagnosed as a cervical sprain, and I was never given an MRI even though I had severe, radiating pain which did not respond to any of the treatments I was given (chiropractic, ultrasound, laser, phys therapy, massage, Flexeril ibuprofen). Eventually I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that my doctors had no idea what was wrong w/ me and didn't seem to want to find out (after all, I had no insurance). Now my condition has degenerated so much that I've had trouble doing simple things like pulling a t-shirt over my head, reaching above the point of my shoulder, turning my head to either side, walking up and down stairs, holding a pencil, and opening doors. I've also lost some of my fine motor skills, esp. on the right side. I sometimes have spasms where I drop things, and my hands twitch at rest. I've experienced increasing problems w/ shortness of breath over the past year (things that I do every day like walk to school get harder and harder even though my habits are the same, and I haven't put on any weight). And for the last 6 years whenever I've put my purse on my shoulder or tried to wear a backpack, I get a stabbing pain between 2 of the vertebrae between my shoulder blades, like they're being pressed together. It is always in the same spot. One doctor said I probably have nerve damage, but how does one measure this? I was given a test for carpal tunnel but it seems so obvious that that isn't the problem. Another doctor said I may have Marfan's syndrome because I'm tall and thin and my mother has back pain too (she has limped for years). I have no idea what's wrong w/ me but now that I'm out of school and unable to work, I'm determined to find out. And now suddenly I'm pregnant (was using condoms w/ my partner but one broke -- I took 4 old birth control pills as a morning-after remedy but obviously that didn't work). My questions are: what the h*** is wrong w/ me, why has it been getting worse since I was 12, and can pregnancy compress a person's spine more, or cause even more nerve damage? And is it possible that I have an inheritable disorder, considering the fact that my mother has some of the same problems? It takes all my efforts just to get out of bed each day, and I'm exhausted just from putting on clothing - how am I going to make it through 9 months of pregnancy? Can I get an MRI while pregnant? Can I get spinal fusion surgery? I feel like I've exhausted all my options and I'm running out of time.