Want to see a spinal surgeon today who my doc referred me to. A resident came in and did the strength tests and asked a bunch of questions. Finallly the doc came in and while I was talking to him I said something about my fibro in relation to some of the meds I am taking. He looked at me and said whatever that is. I looked at him kinda funny and he said he didn’t believe in fibro. I was pissed. I said we’ll I have it and I do. He went on to say that they do not do surgery there, which i expected, my bad disc is in the t11-12 space which is really a really bad spot. He then looked at me and said what were you expecting? Why did you come? I said my doc referred me after my MRI. I was pissed I hadn’t seeked him out I was sent. He preceded to tell me that it wasn’t bad it was just regular aging of the discs and I could expect more later in life. Regular aging? I’m only 28. He was rather rude in the way he went about talking to me. He told me he would recommend pt, even though I’ve done that twice with not help and he also didn’t believe in pain meds for benign pain, as he called it. Is it wrong to wish that he would get fibro? I really can’t believe some people. Thanks for letting me rant.
Becca
Ps we need a category for ranting.
What shocks me is that they still say it doesn’t exist but there was a box on one of the forms I filled out.
Honestly I don’t even think it would take that long.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeey there, girlfriend! Yes, we DO need a separate category for ranting, and a separate ranting category just for bad/idiot doctors! What a great idea. Maybe we could get donkey tails and pin them to the bad doctor of the day or else get a target with their face on it and throw a few pain-med-filled-darts at them! I'm definitely "in" on this plan!
I do believe that one of my pain med doctors said to me that she's never yet met a specialist who has a good bedside manner. Or maybe one of the people here said it? I don't remember, lol!
You're right, 28 seems pretty young for wear and tear aging of discs and bones. But I will tell you that plenty of us have the same issue and the pain is THROUGH THE ROOF thanks to the fibro. That's not to say that you couldn't also have pain from the disc itself. But fibro makes something relatively "minor" (according to these doctors) hurt like you'd never believe. I couldn't BELIEVE the first time my back specialist said that the narrowing of my spinal canal was minimal from the disc rupture and needed no surgery. I wanted to scream at him, "OF COURSE IT NEEDS SURGERY RIGHT THIS MINUTE IT HURTS LIKE H***!" I thought he was an idiot and got more opinions. They all said the same thing. I didn't understand how something "minimal" could be wrecking my life like this. WHY was I in non-stop agonizing pain? WHAT was the cause?
It wasn't until this year that I was diagnosed with fibro. I disagreed with the diagnosis at first because I didn't have the tender points in my neck and shoulders. But after a while I realized that it all fit. It's hard to accept a diagnosis of an illness that no one can see and there are no tests for.
PT never has helped me either, in fact it gave me even more fibro pains to deal with. Why should we be pushing muscles around that have nothing wrong with them? It's the central nervous system that's funky, the muscles are fine. I just don't "get" this PT jag that so many docs get on. It's like it's the only thing they can think of, and it's BS for me, anyway.
Just continue to believe in yourself and close up your ears and sing, "la la laaaaa" to yourself when an idiot doctor says that fibro doesn't exist, blah bleh. He needs to go back to med school to bone up on current medical illnesses and treatment.
Hugs,
Petunia
Yeah, it doesn't exist but apparently you can't buy long-term nursing home care policies from insurance companies if you have fibro, the illness that "doesn't exist." I wonder why they block us from buying nursing home insurance if we have nothing wrong with us? You'd think they'd welcome us with open arms? Oh, yeah, that's right, they're afraid that our phantom illness will cost them bookoo dollars to treat. Guess that says something right there about its existence.