Last month, former Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans underwent diagnostic testing after she suffered from a neck popping issue.
Jenelle told fans through social media that she had an ‘invasive spinal cord procedure’ that was done to try and determine the cause of her problem.
The procedure was called a CT myelogram.
Jenelle described the procedure to fans and said, “I know a lot of you are probably wondering, ‘Well a CT scan isn’t that bad with contrast. You just get it done. You walk out. You’re done.’ Yeah, that’s a normal CT scan. What I had done was a CT myelogram. So what they do is basically you get a spinal tap. You get an epidural. And they put the dye into your spinal cord.”
The procedure left Jenelle bedridden for two days. She needed to refrain from doing any extraneous activity for 24 hours and had to remain in bed laying completely flat.
She told fans, “Yeah that’s so there’s no spinal fluid leaking out of the incision site. So yeah, this is pretty invasive and now I’m bedridden for two days.”
Now, a month after the procedure, Jenelle finally received a diagnosis.
Jenelle is diagnosed with a rare spinal disorder
Jenelle shared on her Instagram stories that she was diagnosed with a rare spinal disorder called syringomyelia.
She reached out to fans and asked if anyone else had syringomyelia.
When a fan asked how she was doing, she said that she was “Good, just a little bit in shock.”
She went into more detail about the disorder on her YouTube series.
She described the condition as a cyst on the spinal cord that causes pain and weakness. In some instances, the condition can cause a person to become paralyzed.
Those who suffer from the rare condition can experience pain in the neck, arms, and back. Patients can also experience muscle weakness, headaches, and loss of reflexes.
Jenelle suffered for five months with no answers
Jenelle shared that she suffered with symptoms for five months and dealt with a headache and cracking neck almost daily.
She said she had multiple tests done but doctor’s weren’t able to determine the cause of her issues.
She said, “I have head shaking too, it’s kind of embarrassing, it feels like a tremor. My hands are not that steady and my fingertips are numb most of the time…It’s kind of scary. I feel like slowly I’m losing my ability in my hands and I really need that. I really need my hands!”
Jenelle said she had many thoughts running through her mind and wasn’t sure what the next steps would be.
Jenelle will be speaking to her doctors in the coming days to determine what, if anything, she can do to help alleviate her symptoms.
Teen Mom 2 is currently on hiatus.