I did a lot of research and have been trying to convince all my doctors that my hip pain is not bursitis, but a torn labrum. Gotta go to PT, gotta go to PT, so off I go like a good little soldier. PT made it worse. It can't be a torn labrum they all said, as it is extrememly rare. Well after a year and a half of this back and forth bs, I finally got to see my ortho. doc. He took one look and my x-rays and MRIs and tweaked me in diff. positions and said I had torn the labrum. He asked what it was i wanted to do that I cannot do and I told him "walk!" The only way is to remove the labrum surgically. He said there is a new procedure being done that allows it to be removed arthroscopically, but there are only two people who are doing it, and luckily one is in WA. He wants current MRI first then we have to get it approved... If they send me back to PT again, heads are gonna roll.
Here's my Rant...
Why wont they (doctors, PTs, insurance, etc) listen??? We know our bodies better than anyone. When I partially tore a ligament in my thumb, Doc insisted I just needed PT. PT caused a complete tear which involved surgery with pins installed. Same thing happened with my wrist. Gotta have PT first... ended up with a more complicated surgery. Now my HIP. If any of these had been treated properly from the beginning, meaning stay off completely or cast, they could have healed, but no, gotta have PT
Just had to get that off my chest... Thanks for listening.
Deb
IT IS TOTALLY FRUSTRATING AND ANNOYING to have to jump through hoops like a trained dog, just to satisfy the insurance. I could get on a real rant about how Blue Cross has been giving me trouble since my foot surgery last month. I have spent months going to PT, wearing expensive orthotics, going to a rehab doc (she is very nice) knowing that none of it will work. I am to a point that there are times that a class action law suit looks like fun. Where do they get off telling my doctors and me, who know the situation best, what we had to do!
If you don't do all the preliminary steps, insurance with never approve the correct treatment.
My sympathy- I have not been damaged by the treatment, but have had to endure more pain longer than I should. I cannot imagine how much suffering that it has caused you.
Rant and hug,
Lynne
Deb when you know you are a weird person who tears ligaments you have to tell your docs flat out -' It is another torn ligament. You do not send people to PT for this as it causes more damage'. Make them prove to you that it is not a torn ligament.
I am weird too. But I look unusual as far as my skelaton goes so they listen pretty well.
I had a go around with my doc about Fossamax because my bone density is low according to dexa scan. I gave in and took fossamax for 2 years and bone density remained the same. He didn't learn a lesson though because he was harping on it last year when my bone density came back low - unchanged from 2 years ago after fossamax, unchanged from 2 years before that, prior to fossamax.
My bone density is low. I don't have osteopororosis, I'm not losing boney mass. Fossamax doesn't fix low bone density, it fixes the loss of boney mass, which results in dangerously low bone density eventually.
I was surprised and mad he didn't learn.
See that is why I do not like PT. It has always been more pain than good for me.
PT= Pain & Torture!
Sorry to hear about your hip, hopefully no more PT. And that the surgery fixes ya up just fine.
Hi Deb,
I've jumped the hoops for the insurance co. They do all of this in order to save money. In my case, I had to hire a lawyer to get the proper treatment. Just wish that the insurance co would realize that in the long run they are paying out more money!!
I hope that your hip surgery goes well.
Oh Deb I'm sorry! What a crappy experience. I know how frustrating it is to have doctors not listen to you. :( It forces you to be all pushy and mean and they don't like that either. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, ya know?
Hopefully this will be the surgery that gets you back on your feet. And from now on, don't take "oh its not torn" as an answer until you have them prove it, just like marian said!!!!
Thats more than frustrating!!! This is a question I have asked for several years, why don't they (the docs) listen???? I am not usually a sue happy sort of girl but in this case, you just might want to consult a lawyer, I think dr's listen to them much ore than they do us!I am glad you finally have a confirmed diagnosis and a plan for treatment. I'm sorry you will have to go through surgery - that just stinks. I hope approval for everything comes through quickly, so you can put this behind you and get on with your life!
I am so glad that you are getting it fixed...it stinks(the process), and I understand process too. I think we all do, and I hate them. I am going through the process...with my back. I hate it.
I'm sure for many people, conservative treatment works better - lower cost, none of the risks of surgery... I understand that. But the doctors and the patients know best; if the doctor thinks surgery is the best option, and the patient thinks surgery is the best option, then I don't want some half-wit pencil pusher who doesn't know a band-aid from Kool-aid deciding my medical care.Deb, am so sorry to hear that you have to have hip surgery. We all jump the through the hoops with our insurance to some extent. I had PT twice only. It was after back surgery. I could walk into the PT office but I couldn't walk out and it took me days to recover. I felt that there had to be a better way and I found it. I put myself on a regimented exercise program that a personal trainer put together for me, that helped me more than PT.
I don't have the horror stories with my insurance that I read about on the forum. If I did I'd be crazy. I can't imagine being dictated to about medical treatment by Dr. Kool Aid, or Nurse Band Aid, or even the receptionist in insurance authorization. It's so wrong on so many levels and makes me crazy to read that proper and correct medical treatment is being withheld because of cost. Lindy
Deb - you have really been put through the wringer! If I were you, I would never want to see or hear of PT again. That being said, since the insurance companies call the shots these days, and since they always want to try PT before surgery, is it possible for you to find a sympathetic, understanding PT place or therapist, perhaps one who has seen PT fail you? Then you both play the game, knowing that it is the therapist who prescribes the plan of treatment. Perhaps 20 or so sessions of warm water therapy, some ultrasound to the area, whatever else they may have that is not likely to hurt you. Then after all this, oh shucks, the therapy has failed. On to surgery! Pat
Even my physical therapist didnt think it could possibly be a torn labrum. In all his years (16, I think) He said he had never seen one. My Ortho, who is the best in the county has only seen like 3-4 in his practice....
I really appreciate all your input. You guys are awesome!