I just LOVE it when a doctor tells you what kind of pain you don't have. Or what kind of pain you should be in.
That's what happened to me today. The Neuro looks at me and says, rather condescendingly, well, I don't know why you were on such strong pain meds (Norco 7.5) you shouldn't even be in that much pain it's just a disc protrusion at L4 and L5 (and Sciatic nerve compression causing pain in legs and loss of feeling) Wow. Don't even know what to feel right now. I'm sick of doctors and their arrogance. I didn't realize going to medical school gave one the ability or extra super human power to climb inside one's body and gauge their pain. Awesome. I should have went to med school so I could walk around in a cape and tights.
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JustBreathe
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Hi Justbreathe, my neurosurgeon was very similar in attitude. Although I am not on strong pain relief ( I am unable to tolerate it so am looking for alternatives at the moment), he said those "you only have...." words to me, making me feel like a complete waste of space who is whingeing and wasting his time. I too have sciatica, numbness, electric shocks, and urinary incontinence too, and he was looking at a scan that was 6 months old when he came to this conclusion. He seemed more concerned as to why the GP hadn't sent me to various clinics BEFORE sending me to him. And yet, as we speak, I am waiting for his conclusions on my latest scans so i can be sent to those clinics by my GP. i have been waiting 7 weeks. Seven, painful, miserable weeks, on top of a years worth of appointments with the GP trying to explain the pain and issues that i am suffering from because of my "insignificant" prolapsed disc.
He also told me that IF he were to operate, it would not be the end of my pain anyway, so what was the point. This shocked me. All i can think of is in his defence is that he must see a lot of very very poorly people and so my issues really don't figure on his scale of priorities. I felt a mixture of anger, guilt, paranoia, desperation, frustration, and deep sadness. Then i thought..."sod you". I am going to do my best to work this out for myself, and if my only option is to have surgery they will reach that conclusion when I have tried everything else, and i shall put this to them when and if that time comes.
Yesterday, I tried acupuncture. Marvelous! Have you tried it? I am amazed, and truly shocked that it has worked. You can read my experience in my latest post on here. Shrug off the Consultants opinion this time. He is a poor practitioner. If you feel that surgery is your only option then go back to your Doctor and have them refer you to someone different. A second opinion. YOU know what you are dealing with, we don't suffer this indignation, and time- consuming pursuit of answers because we are having fun! I am learning that the best thing to do is be assertive and help yourself, whilst keeping an open mind. Don't waste time worrying about a Dr who clearly isn't suited to help you. Good luck, and don't give up. Zoe x
So sorry that you have a crappy doctor. You should have told him you'd be happy to ruptured his disk and see how he felt. It makes me angry as well. Sweetheart, maybe you should change doctors. I know it makes a huge difference when they understand and don't judge you. I am blessed with a wonderful doctor. Maybe you could go to a pain clinic and get better results? Hoping you find some relief and an understanding doctor!!! xxxx Mitzi
A bit of empathetic understanding wouldn't come amiss would it? Medicine is not an exact science, even though docs act as though it were. This means whatever evidence is available to medicine, two and two still does not always make four.
Have just seen your second post re your neurosurgeon saying IF he operated ........If you should need an op please ask for a different man, you would not have confidence in a man with that attitude.
Ditch the drs if you don't like them. If they are not helping you, then you have nothing to loose. Not officially, just explore other options.
Read ZedT (Zoe's) account of going alternative. It's a harder, slow route but success is measured in your own happiness, abilities, sleeping at night, and less to no pain, with reduced meds. It gives you control. You can decide for yourself what you want to do and for how long.
Don't let them get you down. Pain is not found in a text book, like blood test results. It's your pain and it should be respected by everyone who meets you.
Generally they are right, the disc problerms don't cause much pain themselves, the resulting compensation pain does. That's basic physiology that he should know about.
I have L3/4/5 disc problems. They are not sore, sometimes numb, but my pain is in my buttocks. It's the result of my body trying to adjust to accommodate the damaged discs. They are in the deep layers of my buttocks. I have physio and massage to release it, but it's an ongoing process.
Pain can travel too, meaning that where you feel it is not where it originates. There's more going on in your body than you think.
Thanks everyone. Just needed to vent. This past month has been very hard. And a lot of that is due to a lack of good doctors.. (GP, Specialist or as some call them, Consultant) My GP is the one who has been providing pain medication for my conditions, and after 4 yrs, without warning, decides to not offer that "service" to his patients anymore. Everyone in his practice was cut from their meds.. no warning, no tapering down, just bam! Nothing. We were sent of with a piece of paper stating that "Through no fault of our own, I will no longer be prescribing your pain medication needs..." Then included a 2 page list of possible doctors whom we might be referred if we qualified, etc. He also included a script for Clonidine, which is supposed to help with withdrawal symptoms and we were informed to go to the emergency room at the hospital if our symptoms became too much to bear. I went to my back injection appt with the neurosurgeon week before last, and was in almost unbearable pain with no pain meds and in full withdrawal, I ended up at ER that night, where I was treated with suspicion and was told they would run "checks on me" I was finally given a small prescription to help with recovery... There's so much more to all of this, but bottom line, this has been one of the hardest 3 weeks of my life. I was finally able to secure a spot at a pain clinic, I'm now awaiting the referral from my GP. Zoe, where can I find your "alternative" post like Zanna mentioned? Thanks again all who responded. You guys are always helpful and very kind. God bless!
I'd see a new one! I was always told minimum damage may cause lots of pain and maximum damage may cause none. There's no rhyme nor reason to it and pain affects people differently and he should know that
I totally agree. I've heard the same. Someone's MRI could show all kinds of things, but they may not feel much discomfort at all, then another MRI may show results like mine, and the person may suffer a lot of pain. I don't think I will be seeing this doctor much longer. But I would like to tell him how I feel about what he said to me.. something I couldn't find
the words for last time, I guess because I was too busy reeling from what he had said
mentally. Of course, I always find the perfect words AFTERwards... *sigh*
Hi justbreath, I know exactly how you feel I've been going thru the same thing for 7 years now. And my pain has only gotten worse ive been to doctor after doctor and they all tell me the same thing. Your too young to feel the pain your in. And give me ibuprofen. That does NOT help. They just don't listen and I feel like they just don't care . I've Givin up on doctors and just try to deal with all of this on my own which sucks because id like to know what is wrong with me. I feel like one day im going to wake up and my legs are just not gonna work anymore. :(. I hope you find a doctor or someone that will actually help you and take you seriously. Good luck
I'm so sorry to hear that! Don't give up either. Keep looking for treatment and answers. There are good doctors out there (I think?) somewhere... Best wishes, Cat
Hi I have similar experience, I feel that I am in a revolving door with Doctors, hospital consultants, physiotherapists, and so is the variety of treatments received.The list is endless, I wish Doctors would take a minuet to ask questions, AND LISTEN, not make assumptions. I have received acupuncture , it numbed the pain, after six weeks it was decided that I should be put on a waiting list for trigger point injections, this was organised by my "was local " pain clinic. I informed staff that I am serious needle phobic, although I am no chicken , but willing to give it a try I also reported of having some new pain. I was advised to go to my GP about this. My GP referred me to physio, the physio said I was in too much pain to be examined, meanwhile I was to go back to my GP and see what the pain people say. Went to hospital for pre assessment, informed nurse that I am needle phobic, by this time of my story ( with a bit of luck ) some of you may have gone to sleep. I am not being funny as there is nothing funny about pain. Back to my experience, I have all night , I was informed by nurse to be sure to let the doctor know of being needle phobic. To cut a long story , informing another nurse consultant. Was taken to theatre and guess what? I took ill needed to be put on a drip in recovery, when the Doctor said, "with you being needle phobic I do not think you are the right candidate for this treatment". Are you asleep yet? I am wide awake. That is not the end to my experience, I have been discharged from the pain clinic. And guess what ? visit to my GP yesterday and he offered me injections, and he said with all that pain it could be fibromyalgia I felt like screaming , but said I was diagnosed with that some time ago. didn't get the chance to remind him that I also have polyarthritis. I digress, on a brighter note he is weaning off sum meds and is the only person to go through all of the side affects, I am also having my meds changed. I would suggest change doctor, I have changed consultant (similar experience to you ) with the help of pals. I wish you lots of luck. hope all goes well for you
Perhaps the neuro is right. Have you thought of that. It is well known in certain circles that we can inflict a lot of pain by what we do with our muscles and how we mentally approach the issue.
So it is possible that the disc protrusion at L4 and L5 is not causing the pain. The tight muscles that you may have is. So the tight muscles need to be treated by a specialist other than the neuro. Most neuros know nothing about the pain caused by tight muscles.
Tight muscles do not show up on x-rays or MRI scans. Massage therapists have been treating the pain caused by tight muscles for centuries. Similarly Alexander Teachers and Yoga teachers have been treating tight muscles for a long time.
You need to find out more about the disc protrusion and how bad it is. Many people can have disc protrusions and have no symptoms. So the Neuro could be quite right in bringing the issue to your attention indicating that something may not be right with your medication.
Interesting reply John..or like Zanna said, compensation pain.. who knows for sure? Regardless of what is causing the pain, THERE IS PAIN. And I really don't like being treated like the pain is a figment of my imagination. I guess that's really at the heart of what upset me so.My GP has made similar comments, accompanied with a flippancy and arrogance that is getting under my skin. They can be more compassionate and professional about their assessments, at the very least.. I'm trying to get my MRI results, because there is a little more going on there.. but out of all the medical jargon the PA was rattling off, that's the part I understood.. and I would like to discuss it further with HER rather than the neuro. But anyway, I appreciate your input, thank u and God bless
GPs are not trained in chronic pain. They do not understand it is a neurological illness, and you can't "see" nerves. Usually the brain's neurotransmitters have become muddled up and send a feedback loop of pain signals to the body. Other injuries may or may not be present, but usually don't account for the amount of pain. This neurological pain IS REAL, just not visible to MRIs and the human eye.
The same happened to me when I came around after surgery too soon. ( the op had taken longer than anticipated) When I cried out in pain the nurse said ' you shouldn't be in so much pain, whats wrong with you!' Needless to say I use language I wouldn't normally use!
Grrrrr! I feel for you, I've been there! My trick now is to leave any doctor who has given a less than satisfactory answer and go and make an appointment with another. So when consultants have dismissed me I have gone to one of the GPs I trust.
I am now prepared for a battle of wills with any doctor. Stand your ground and be polite but assertive, write stuff down before you go to the appointment about what you want to say and what you want from the appointment, because it's hard to remember when someone is belittling your problems. use the phrase, "this is MY pain and it is causing ME a lot of problems."
It is always a surprise when a doctor agrees with your own assessment of your pain.
Ive seen 6 gps all they want to do is pumped my body full of drugs lost faith in them
Neurosurgeons are not trained in chronic pain, even though it is a neurological illness. Go see a Pain Consultant (anaesthetist). The following is helpful: google Institute for chronic pain. It will explain why you had this horrible experience. Wishing you success next time.
Another thing medical personnel do not take into consideration, is that we all have different pain thresholds! And its just a guess, but I bet this super hero has never experienced back trauma and the pain that follows...
Waiting 5 years for total knee replacement in agony cannot even stand up now ! Advised by gp to take paracetamol and told I have to learn to live with it. I have no faith in doctors now especially gps
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need some advice (sciatic pain)
Doctors want me to come off codeine!
Is this chronic tendonitis or chronic repetitive strain injury in wrists or is it My CRPS/RSD?
MY PAIN IS SO OUT OF CONTROL, I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE I CAN TAKE OF IT..... 
Why am I constantly in pain but no diagnosis?
