Why is it so hard to get an MRI?

If your doctor is not responsive, get a referral to PT and have them "suggest" it to your doc

Because an MRI is thousand dollar picture, it takes half an hour to an hour to take one, and your hospital only has one machine. The waiting list for most hospitals is about a month for an MRI. You won't receive one at the ER because they aren't going to cancel someone else's appointment who waited a month unless your condition is life threatening. You have a chronic pain issue meaning it would follow a chronic pain protocol. Just like you don't administer antibiotics and IVs for every illness, you don't start off with the most expensive or invasive treatments for chronic pain either.

Sounding like a sis doc attack. If you had an MRI, it will likely reveal that you have a herniation or a bulge, or even some level of arthritis. This pinched off the nerve and causes that horrible pain. Steroid is what they would recommend. You can ask about a combination of FA spent in and a muscle relaxer and PT. You should have an MRI, just ask for it and wait, as it may take a while.