My GSD has been having 'episodes' the last few weeks, she will be walking along and then almost loses control of a back leg and doesnt know where to place it, it can be placed anywhere and then causes her to lose balance. She regains her balance straight away and then is absolutely fine.
This has happened several times now, she has also been stiffer when rising in the monring.

After a physical exam where the vet decided she was in pain (I thought she screamed because thats what she 'does') she had xrays yesterday and the orthapedic vet said her hips look "excellent" so that rules them out.

Vet has prescribed anti-inflammatories and strict cage rest for a week to rule out a soft tissue injury (they dont believe it is this but want to cover all avenues).

Since I first took her into the vets with these symptoms I have been fearing degeneritive myelopathy, and if there is no improvement next week then she will have this test, and also possibly be referred to a neurologist and possibly for an MRI.

The vets really dont know what is wrong with her and there is a concern that there are two things going on...one causing the hind leg misplacement and another causing the stiffness rising.

I am really worried about her, she is only 5 years old.

CDRM would be my worry.  Hope it isn't.  Good luck with the tests.

Isn't CDRM painless ?. But it would be my main concern too.

Hope it's fixable and good luck with the test results.

Sacroiliac joint?

I know that someone with more info than me will answer you soon.
I have had 3 GSD's with CDRM OR DM as it is now called
First one started with bad arthritis at about 9 years old on Trocoxil ,then started CDRM after that we lost her last year at 12 1/2.
Second one started when he was about 10 years old slowly got worse was pts a week short of his 13 th birthday
Third one is still ongoing ,male 10 in January,very bad arthritis in both hips (can hear & feel grinding as he walks ,has anal fununculitas (spelling)
& CDRM) ,all have had the wavy back legs ,one turning inwards ,weakness on turning ect.
I myself have not heard of a young dog like yours having it ,but as already said am no expert ,I do hope that its not & is just a blip that can be sorted.
Hope that she is ok soon .
Sorry other people answered you whilst I was typing (so slow)

>Sacroiliac joint

Thats the pelvic area I believe? If so...she had xrays of her pelvis too..

CDRM is painless, thats why the vets think there may be two things going on...as she does not seem in any pain when she loses balance, she just seems uncoordinated.

> she does not seem in any pain when she loses balance, she just seems uncoordinated

Sounds exactly like my old borzoi boy, he has just been diagnosed with CDRM. It doesn't bother him at all but he does fall down quite often, usually if he tries to turn to quickly because his back legs are so uncoordinated.

He too screamed when the vet was examining him, this has now been put down to arthritis in his spine so perhaps they need to look further than the hips?

I have a friend who is a canine physiotherapist and she said that she puts all her CDRM clients on vitamin b complex and it does seem to help, may be worth asking the vet if she can go on it anyway?

Chaumsong, that is really interesting.  Vitamin b12 deficency is now being highlighted as possibly a reason for neurilogical issues in humans like nerve damage in limbs with losing feeling being the main symptom.  Also, can lead to dementia and other horrible things too.
My dog had CDRM from about 7/8 years.  He was never in any pain but would scuff his feet and trip/fall too.  He never had arthritis or anything else but unfortunately had a sort of rage episode which was when we decided to PTS.  This was when he was almost 11 yrs.