Former Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans revealed to fans this week that she has a cyst in her spinal cord, which has caused her severe neck and back pain for months.
In a video posted to her YouTube channel, the former reality TV star explained how doctors discovered the cyst and, after a Google deep-dive, Jenelle even self-diagnosed herself with a rare spinal disorder.
As you do…
Jenelle began her video telling viewers that she first visited a neurologist for her symptoms back in 2018 – while she was still a cast member on ‘Teen Mom 2’ – during a trip to New York City. After a series of tests, her results “came up abnormal, but not too abnormal to be concerning.”
“The doctors really couldn’t figure out my weird symptoms,” she said.
(This is not to be confused with the “weird symptoms” Jenelle says she experienced back in 2016, when claimed during an episode of ‘Teen Mom 2’ to have restless leg syndrome, itchy legs, joint pain, possible Muscular Sclerosis and other health issues. She also stated that she frequently “saw molecules.”)
Anyway, in her new video, Jenelle says she started having issues with her neck last fall. (Just to clarify, by “last fall” I mean the season…not the last time Jenelle tripped around a fire pit.)
“Fast forward to September 2020, I ended up starting [to have] this really bad neck problem … my neck kept cracking over and over again and it really sucked because it happened for months and months and months.”
Jenelle said the pain caused her to have headaches, which were even harder to handle while “trying to be a mom” and “being busy all the time.”
After seeing her primary doctor, Jenelle had an MRI and was then referred to a local neurologist who has been doing a series of tests on her “for the past four or five months.” Following a nerve study, Jenelle’s neurologist suspected there was an issue in the former ‘Teen Mom 2’ star’s spine, so she decided to do a CT myelogram – a diagnostic imaging test that uses contrast dye to detect issues in the spinal canal.
While she was told the procedure would be painless, Jenelle said she experienced “excruciating pain” through her shoulder blades, started crying immediately and “ended up having to get emergency medicine.”
Afterwards, Jenelle was OK and the test resumed. (According to The Sun, Jenelle previously shared on social media that her CT myelogram experience had been quite painful and that she was bed-bound for a long time after the procedure.)
Jenelle said the results of her test “didn’t really leave any answers for why my neck was cracking and it was frustrating.” During a follow-up appointment, Jenelle’s neurologist decided to send her in for another MRI – this time of the area between her shoulder blades, as the doctor “didn’t test that area” previously. In her video, Jenelle goes on to log into her medical chart to show viewers the results of her MRI, which revealed a fluid-filled cyst inside her spinal cord.
“This basically happens when you have different disorders – nervous disorders – and it is a syrinx … a fluid-filled cavity within the spinal cord or brain stem,” she said, while reading information about her diagnosis straight from the Internet.
Jenelle – who admitted she had not yet seen her doctor to discuss the results of her MRI or receive her official diagnosis – went on to talk about the symptoms of her condition, which she ultimately told viewers was called Syringomyelia. She then ran through the list of causes, ruling out a spinal cord injury, spinal cord tumor and meningitis, before taking a moment to address something called chiari malformation.
“This is the one that I think relates to the condition a lot, unfortunately,” she said. “It’s chiari malformation – a condition in which the brain tissues protrudes into your spinal canal … I’m having a lot of neck pain and I’m having the neck cracking all the way right here where the base of my skull is and a little bit above my collarbone, so I don’t know what’s wrong with my neck, but whatever’s wrong with my neck obviously caused me to get a cyst and that’s not good. None of this is good. I can’t jump into conclusions right now because I haven’t spoken to my doctor yet and it is a weekend so hopefully we can figure this out.”
Jenelle continued reading medical information from Google and even explained possible treatment options.
She also explained the pain she’s been experiencing and how it has impacted her hectic work TikTok-content-producing schedule.
“I know it seems like I do a lot of TikToks and a lot of filming for you guys or I do what I can,” she said. “By this time, five o’clock, I usually have to like tap out and like, lay down because my neck hurts so bad. Like right now, it feels like it’s being pulled and my spinal cord hurts at the same time. My back hurts. I don’t know, I try to get up and be happy and just act like I don’t have this problem.
“Oh yeah, I have head shaking, too, so I like shake my head sometimes,” she continued. “And it’s kind of embarrassing because it feels like it’s a tremor and if you see my hands shaking a lot or shaky videos, that’s because my hands aren’t that steady anymore … my fingertips, they’re numb most of the time and yeah, it’s kind of scary because I feel like slowly I’m losing my abilities in my hands, my motor skills in my hands, and I really need that. I really need my hands to film and do everything that I do.”
Jenelle talked about “whatever procedure” she’ll have to undergo and the time it will take her to heal.
“I have projects I’m working on that I can’t be laying in bed,” she said. “So it’s like, fix the problem or just let the problem get worse. It really sucks, it had to be like the worst thing ever when I got my results.”
Jenelle then hopped back onto Google and even encouraged her viewers to do the same if they want to “look up better images” to know “what disorder I think I have, if I had to guess.”
After self-diagnosing a bit more, Jenelle said she will see what her doctor has to say (thank goodness!), but in the meantime, is concerned about how she will manage everything now that these medical issues have thrown her “life off course.”
“ … I have kids here and Kaiser’s online for Zoom and I work from home as well,” she said. “So I have to make sure my bills get paid while I work and I’m gonna have to take time off from that. I don’t know, a lot of things are going through my mind right now and I just hope hopefully you know, one day I won’t be in pain anymore and it’ll be great … .”
While promoting her “My Neck, My Back” video Monday on Instagram, Jenelle asked if any of her followers also suffered from the rare disorder she diagnosed herself with has and told another follower she was doing “good, just a little bit in shock.”
RELATED STORY: Kieffer Delp– Former Boyfriend of ‘Teen Mom 2’ Star Jenelle Evans– Has Been Released From Prison: Get An Update On Where He Is Now
(Photos: YouTube; Instagram)
65 Responses
You people are as bad as she is. You Googled something once and now you are an expert. I actually live with a chiari and a genetic disorder that was diagnosed later in life. I don’t think that it is likely, but it’s possible that she is telling the truth.
First off, I’m sorry you live with this.
I’m not claiming to be an expert, all I am saying is that as someone who was also born with the defects that cause that I MAY get diagnosed with this at some point. Just because I dont have it currently doesn’t mean ANYTHING.
But she’s PSYCHOTIC, she’ll do/say anything for a little bit of attention.
Her brain is a fluid filled cyst.
I dont get it MTV, you fire Jenelle for abuse reasons and replace her with Jade, then Chelsea decides she’s wants to part ways after being with the franchise for over a decade (BEST DECISION EVER ON HER PART) and she gets replaced with Ashley Jones (the biggest bitch since Jenelle). Leah is the only one left with even MINUMAL sense, guess she’ll be the next to go, I wonder who they’ll replace her with???!!! Guess time will tell.
Are you trying to turn it into Jerry Springer??
Come on MTV, grow a pair and get some sense!!!!
Jenelle is just as trashy as the rest of them. Let’s not act like she’s this good person. She deserved to get the boot.
I didn’t say she wasn’t trash or that she was a good person, I just dont understand why they fired her and replaced her with someone equally as annoying and trashy.
Jenelle was fired because she refused to film without her psychotic husband. Her husband who was threatening the film crew, all while wearing a gun at his hip. He then went on to shoot the family dog with said gun. The film crew felt unsafe. Jenelle would of kept her job if she filmed without David. You can’t threaten a film crew and expect to have a job still..
Exactly, but to me Jade is just as unhinged (none of them have threatened the film crew YET, but you got drugs, yelling and cussing IN FRONT OF KLOIE), why was she she the replacement? And then they turn around and replace Chelsea with this Ashley chick from TM Y&P (who’s crazy too).
So now they have 3 wack jobs and Leah whom is awkward but not really CRAZY and has minimal sense.
I just don’t understand MTVs thinking.
At least Farrah’s replacement is semi decent.
She is the most ridiculous person. The dye hurt her? Sure. Anything for pain meds.
Chiari malformation is something you’re born with. Nimrod! You don’t have it.
It’s possible to aquire a chiari malformation. You don’t have to be born with it.
It’s possible to aquire a chiari malformation. You don’t have to be born with it.
https://academic.oup.com/neurosurgery/article/34/3/429/3771259
No Bella you aren’t born with the disease, but you are born with the gene(s) that form this disease later on in life.
Much like cancer, diabetes, and countless numbers of other diseases, you aren’t born with them but a person has to he born with those particular gene(s)
So for a person to contract this disease later on in life they would have to be born with those particular birth defects to have that gene(s) in them.
Actually I just googled it and while I dont have it, it does initially start at birth and is a malformation in people with myelomeningocele-a type of Spina Bifida/Hydrocephalus-fluid buildup on the brain (which i do have that form of Spina Bifida but the hydrocephalus was fixed by the placement of a shunt in my head to draw the fluid off and keep it off).
So, she DOESN’T have it because she doesn’t have these birth defects.
Thanks, Dr Google. You’re as bad as Jenelle
You don’t have it so why are you contradicting someone who does?
I’m not contradicting anyone but Jenelle and you. She doesn’t have the conditions that cause it so she obviously cant have it.
You cant just acquire it out of thin air like you are implying.
No, you aren’t born with it but a person who can have it has to be born with the defected genes that cause it.
So, while I dont currently have it I was born the birth defects that cause it so I could contract later.
You googled it and now you know more than me, someone living with it. You should be ashamed of how ignorant you are acting.
First off, I’m sorry you live with this.
I’m not claiming to be an expert, all I am saying is that as someone who was also born with the defects that cause that I MAY get diagnosed with this at some point. Just because I dont have it currently doesn’t mean ANYTHING.
But she’s PSYCHOTIC, she’ll do/say anything for a little bit of attention.
Bella, I may be ignorant in ways but take a look in the mirror. It’s kind of the pot calling the kettle black considering you’re attitude towards others my dear. In other words, that’s ignorance also.
Yes having it does give you first hand knowledge/experience but it doesn’t make you any more of an expert than anyone else.
@ASHER, Hiya Bella
Her diagnosis is Munchausens…
So you see, doctor, all I need is a lifelong prescription to strong pain meds and I’ll be fine!
Why the fuck would she make this video?
Wonder if that time David broke her collarbone (sorry, when she “fell” into the campfire), caused some of these lingering issues, if indeed, she even has them.
I have Chiari, and it sucks donkey balls. However it does help my raging sarcasm on this site.
A lot of people discover it quite accidentally on an MRI while looking for something else, or because they start experiencing symptoms after having an accident that has to do with the head or spine. My symptoms got CRAZY after a cortisone shot to my back for a skiing injury went wrong. I got the worst headache of my life that night, and it never went away.
I’d write the rest of the story, but I think we’d all rather talk about Rhine and all the secrets he hides in his hair.
But I had the decompression surgery for it a few years ago. That alone comes with a list of new painful problems.
I’m definitely not doing any tiktok dances lol.
Yea sure Jenelle!!! We all know that you want to score pills!!! Quit the girl who cried wolf act bc it wouldn’t take a doctor to prescribe you anything!!! If you want to hear me I have a friend who was physically assaulted at 25 years old at her job (I’m just going to say it’s a MAJOR RETAIL COMPANY) where my friend was just doing her job where the associates wanted her not only to finish her shift that evening they didn’t take pictures of her injuries, bring her to the hospital to be checked out, follow her to her car (the girl who did the assault is involved in a gang where gang members were told by her to finish the job by hurting much more than she was hurting), and the associates didn’t follow her home to make sure she got home safe!!! Then when she was still 25 she had a MRI done where it was discovered that she has ruptured discs in her neck hitting her spinal cord (C-3 through C-7) and this retail company wanted to fire her from her and refused to pay for her surgery bc it was affecting her arm’s ability to move so fast forward she had the procedure done right before Hurricane Rita hit causing more damage by picking up her belongings in preparation for the hurricane. So back in 2013, my friend was able to leave the major retail store and find work elsewhere so one day she was holding a tray of jewelry and all of sudden her arm (that same arm that gave her trouble before the surgery) gave out causing the tray of jewelry to go everywhere and had to pick it up on her own!!! So she went to the doctor and she was told that the problem was her injuries were once again hitting her spine and the first surgery temporarily was fixed but her injuries were more serious than original thought so they scheduled her for a second surgery and it was done but the company where was working with at this time knew about her injuries before and while she was on medical leave they not only eliminated her position for a robot but they made her go back to work a few months later but they made her stepped down to a position where she first started working at that involved heavy lifting (which she was FORBIDDEN TO DO) for two years!!! So in 2015 the company cut all ties with her at the age of 34!!! So she applied for disability and she got it thankfully but it’s sad that my friend is now 41 years old and is disabled and can’t work (where she does want to work but knows that she can’t bc of her medical condition) so when I see all of these people who are like Jenelle and Lyrch are constantly self diagnose themselves makes me think that they are just junkies who put themselves first instead of their own children last to score some prescriptions of pain meds and refuse to work and take advantage of the system!!
I wonder if she’s still seeing molecules
No no, the pain is from Lurchs upperrcuts Jenelle ..
Everyone knows when you put your symptoms into google it’s usually cancer. Not a cyst. Psh..
My mother in law has Arnold chiari and Jenelle does not have this!! It’s extremely debilitating, and my MIL is in excruciating pain constantly. She can’t move her head to look beside her, so ? no tick tick dances! Also, the CT would NOT have hurt. Contrast is painless. Aarrggghhh she makes me MAD
And her quest to get on disability has begun..
My friends’ son had a syrinx removed from his neck when he was 5. They found it due to him complaining of chronic neck pain and holding his head at a funny angle. He had it drained, wasn’t allowed to play contact sports for 5 years, and had follow ups every 6 months to make sure that he didn’t have another one appear. He’s 19 now, got a college scholarship to play basketball and has had zero problems after the initial surgery. He never received any pain meds that were stronger than Tylenol. This isn’t the “devastating, life changing” diagnosis Jenelle is making it out to be. Scary to have a pocket of fluid on your spinal cord, yes, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not a huge deal.
For reference.
“ Through sobs, Evans states her name for the 911 operator and says, “My name is Jenelle Eason-Evans…and my husband assaulted me. He pinned me down on the ground…and there’s blood.”
After the operator asks her to state her name again, the reality star alleges that Eason pinned her down so violently she felt her collarbone crack.
The 911 operator then asks Evans for the whereabouts of her husband to which she says, “He is in the house and he’s been drinking and I think that he got violent because he’s been drinking.”The 26-year-old continues to break down and goes on to explain that she can’t feel her arm because of the injury she suffered during the alleged attack.“
Wait a minute!!!! Does this possibly have anything to do with the “I think he broke my collar bone – I heard something crack” when David attacked her on the land some time ago!
My thoughts exactly! Along with all the other times he has surely assaulted her.
Can’t wait for her next video about how she may or may not have Ebola, sleeping sickness, brain prions, sick sinus syndrome, cru de cat, and chronic med seeking disorder ?
Wow! She has packed on the pounds!!
Body shaming is gross
Truth hurts.
Go to hell
RIGHT BACK AT YA ASHER/BELLA
That’s rude
For someone who’s been suffering with “constant severe neck and back pain for months”, she sure makes a lot of TikTok dance videos.
Oh my god, where do you start? Protruding brain tissue (don’t you need a brain first?)and gotta stop working from home (what work??!!). Does she want to self diagnose the cure too? I think she’d say she needs more opioids, STAT!
I don’t know the American welfare system, maybe she’s trying to get onto disability (or lay the ground work) and have UBT as her carer. See….that’s why he can’t work! He’s looking after that a*s day in, day out, carting her out to the pool via wheelbarrow for her weekly bath and what not…..
Chiari malformation is a real condition
Ain’t nobody saying it ain’t real Bella, its just that NOBODY (but u of course) believes that Jenelle has it.
The only disability Jenelle has is stupidity. And I’m sure most people know what Ron White says about stupid!!
“You can’t fix stupid”
This is an opioid grab by the pillbillies.
Pillbillies!!!!That is priceless.
I know exactly what she has it’s called LLBD: Lying Lazy Bish Disorder. This idiot literally never leaves The Land and acts like she’s so busy she doesn’t know how she’s going to get everything done after she has her imaginary procedure. She is seriously awash with delusion that quite frankly is seriously approaching Farrah levels. The fact that she can make this video, feigning that she’s in excrutiating pain and that she’s the busiest person, with a straight face shows that she is so out of touch with reality, she’ll probably never come back down to Earth. My guess is this phantom diagnosis she’s given herself is an excuse to get those pain pills she and Lurch are surely indulging in and then it’s going to be an excuse later when it comes up in a custody case or something else she has to go to court for and it’s revealed that she is abusing pills. She’s so pathetic it’s almost sad, but the real question is is she still seeing amoebas?
She picked the wrong one which makes it even funnier. If you need surgery for Chiari you get the “zipper” where they cut up the back of your spine into the back of your head. Shaved head and brain surgery is no joke, and the chances of her getting that done just to get pain pills are zero if she’s full of shit.
There is unfortunately a super sketchy doctor who will do unnecessary “zipper” surgeries for patients willing to pay out of pocket. But he also has his patients sign an NDA, which we know Jenelle could never agree to.
My son has Chiari Malformation, and for most people it is an incidental finding on an MRI. So many people unknowingly have it because rarely do people experience symptoms, or if they do it’s very minor (light headaches, vertigo, coordination difficulties) and confused with other disorders. Some people do have horrible symptoms and need surgery to correct it, but….if she’s really trying to pill shop/get sympathy she picked the wrong disorder. Girls an idiot.
good summary of chairi-my mom has it also. If janelle had an mri of either brain or neck, they would have already been able to diagnose her with chiari
Not if they weren’t familiar with it. 4 doctors looked at my mri before a neurosurgeon diagnosed me.
Drs have been knowledgeable about CM since 1883.
But for one, you have no clue how many drs looked at her scans.
And secondly, if it had been significantly and unmistakably noticeable she wouldnt have “self-diagnosed” herself.
That girl is so full of shit.
Maybe her neck hurts and cracks so much from David abusing her
This dummy just trying to get pain pills
I was wondering when this hypochondriac was going to come up with a new disease to try and get attention…it’s been quite a while since she came up with a new WebMD diagnosis.
I have a feeling the root cause of this is in the same vein as the emergency sinus surgery, the jaw issues, the collar bone issue…maybe if David would keep his hands off of her, she wouldn’t have so many issues? Or she’s trying to get drugs. Either way, she’s full of shit.
Why not wait until she has an official diagnosis and a Dr follow up appointment to discuss the test results and any possible treatment options? That’s right, because it is Jenelle we are talking about here…
Self-diagnosis always goes so, so well.