I can so relate to your pain. I too have neck and thoracic vertebrae that are bone on bone. I also have the lower back issue too with sciatica. I am 60 years old, unlike you being young, but I know how the pain keeps you from wanting to do exercise, dance, or whatever. I too have to take pain pills just to keep myself up and out of the bed. But all I really do is a little walking and I sit a lot. I maybe do lght weight lifting as well.
I feel bad for you that you are so young and have this kind of pain to deal with everyday. I don't like it when I hear you being kept from your dreams of being a dancer. I think the really hard part of learning to accept your limitations and being able to work within them in hopes of decreasing the pain and not making the injuries worse can be very difficult to do. BUT, as humans we all end up doing what we must in order to live a comfortable life, and we also have to keep redoing our goals and dreams so they are within our capabilities and don't cause pain or worse yet, more injury. I have had to learn to give up certain activities 'gracefully' as I age (speed skating is one I had to give up) and to do so without remorse is an emotional thing, and can be, and is for me, a painful giving in to advancing age. Age we cannot stop. Just like we cannot work through all pain or injuries, and if we attempt to do that, we can easily become injured worse and end up with even less mobility and maybe even more pain.
So, think about what you are doing to yourself. Is what you are doing, making the injuries worse since the pain doesn't go away? Discs that are damaged beyond repair? (FYI, in Singapore the surgeons are replacing vertebrae discs with those from cadavers, I will go there if I win the lottery) Some dancers have to stop dancing entirely, but then become dance teachers or choreographers, etc. Just a couple ways dancers have changed their goals to fit their change in physical abilities. Shirley MacLaine stated that she cannot dance anymore like she did when she was younger, and that began to change when she was in her thirties. Early thirties if I remember correctly. She had dance understudies, or stand in's to do on film what she couldn't do herself.
I wish I could have just said, give it a rest, that and maybe go to a PTherapist to see if there are exercises that can help reverse the disc problems? Usually not.
There is also a spinal injury spark team, look for it on my teams on my sparkpage if you like. It is a good place to vent about this kind of problem. It is good just to talk about it and that helps you work through your feelings about having to change your lifestyle and changing abilities due to pain and immobility. It is a good spark team.
Phyllis
Everyday is a new day and new beginnings are possible. Unknown
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