Question for ya'll on docs and pain management | Arthritis Information
... This is something that's eating at me. I'm new to this whole RA thing, but I have had back trouble since I was a child. I have scoliosis, and a crooked leg, and when the doctors realize that, they basically pat me on the head and tell me I have to live with it, that the back pain is because my back, hips, etc. are all out of whack permanently, and there's not a thing I they can do.
I have literally had back spasms so severe I pee'd on the doc's floor and then collapsed to the ground into the puddle.
The doc -- an orthopede -- after yelling at me for making the mess -- sent me away with a script for ibuprofen. That was it. And I had already been prescribed ibuprofen by another doc three days before for the same thing and it wasn't touching the pain. He wouldn't even fill out the paperwork for FMLA, he said I wasn't bad enough. So I took a big hit on work attendance. I wasn't about to pee on the floor at work from the spasms ...
When I went to urgent care the next day for the same thing, they called the doc, and the doc said I was drug seeking, and I got no treatment or diagnostic tests from urgent care either -- just a big copay, a pat on the head, and a reminder I have scoliosis. (I had NO narcotics in my system -- in fact, I think maybe I've taken half a tab of hydrocodone and one tab of tylenol 3 in my entire life, one for a dental issue, and one for a broken hand. They make me puke and I'd rather not take them, kthxbai.)
I think, once, I've been prescribed a very short course of muscle relaxers. Other than that, it's been NSAIDs. Mostly they work, but sometimes, I literally can't even get out of bed. I've never had an x-ray, never had any sort of workup at all. I just get told I have to live with it.
(And I know muscle relaxers work, but they won't prescribe them to me -- I've been told they're "too addictive" and "you're not bad enough." Meanwhile, my boyfriend goes to the ER with a pulled hamstring and they send him away with a whole bag full of samples plus a script with refills. But I digress.)
Fortunately, the back pain is intermittent, and usually associated with overdoing something. Mostly, I CAN live with it. Sometimes I can't, and when it's bad, it's really bad.
However ... how common is this attitude of you, "Just have to deal with it!"
Because the pain I've been in the last few weeks with the joints ... I won't be able to deal with. It was a ten on scale of one to ten until I coincidentally got put on a prednisone burst for an asthma flare. I couldn't even raise my hands high enough to feed myself, I was so stiff and sore. I was lying in bed crying. I went to urgent care and they gave me toradol and it really didn't make a difference. (Took the edge off, maybe.)
I guess I'm just scared I'll run into more of the same sort of attitude from docs with this as I have with my back ... And it really terrifies me. Because this is soooo much worse than the back has ever been.
(And I went to multiple docs, probably abotu a dozen, with the back trouble, several years ago. Finally just gave up because NONE of them would do anything. Last time my back flared so bad, which was about eighteen months ago, I just crawled into bed for two weeks and then hurt really bad whenever I bent over for the next six months.)
Cygnet2008-05-23 15:23:22Cygnet- Can you have an operation for your scoliosis?hi cygnet what is scoliosis....
Boney
It's not severe enough, supposedly. *shrug*
Scoliosis is a crooked spine, basically. In my case, the cause is probably a combination of a crooked leg and extremely loose joints. (As a kid, I could put my ankle behind my neck and then stand on that foot. Uhhh ... not going to be doing that again, any time soon. Stupid kid tricks done for attention, y'know.)
Cygnet- my daughter had the surgey 9 years ago but hers was severe enough that they said if she didn't she would continue to curve 1 degree per year for the rest of her life. I think she was 45 on top 65 on bottom. Hers was called idiopathic.
Hope you don't run into more of the non understanding type people...
ok thanks for the explain ..
Cygnet. Your doctor is very insensitive. I would never go to him again, ever. Find a doctor that will listen to you. Ask around. Ask a nurse. He had no right to tell urgent care that you were drug seeking. Ask for a referral to a palliative care specialist. It sounds like you need some sort of intervention. [QUOTE=lorster]Cygnet. Your doctor is very insensitive. I would never go to him again, ever. Find a doctor that will listen to you. Ask around. Ask a nurse. He had no right to tell urgent care that you were drug seeking. Ask for a referral to a palliative care specialist. It sounds like you need some sort of intervention. [/QUOTE]
He's not my doctor anymore. :-) Went through a bunch of doctors in a short period of time, though, and none of them seemed to want to help.
At the moment, the back is pretty good -- it IS under control with 800mg of ibuprofen every morning.
I'm just curious how common the "tough it out" attitude is with docs in relation to the RA, howeve,r because the kind of pain I was in a few days ago ... well, it terrifies me. It was the worst pain of my life. I can't imagine living with that regularly, with doctors telling me that it's part of the disease and I just have to put up with it.
(I've even gotten the "tough it out" reaction for my ASTHMA a few times. Fortunately, I have a very good allergy/asthma clinic now that, but I once had a GP tell me I couldn't have medrol because MEDROL was "like crack" and "addictive" and I'd "become reliant" on it. I had the flu and a long history of asthma flares, 100% of the time, when sick ... because I wasn't wheezing much at that moment, he refused to prescribe it because he thought it was addictive! I ended up in urgent care a day later turning blue.)
-- Leva
True drug seekers have made it very difficult for those people who really do have legit pain and need to be medicated. This is sad.
Sounds like doctor visits of this type are becoming the norm, very sad. I had to fight very hard to get strong enough pain meds too- don't give up. FIND A NEW DOCTOR!!! Either that doctor has never been in pain or he is an ignorant idiot. My rd does not give me pain meds either, I have to get the from my regular doc. My rd gives me an nsaid also, which make me sick, and do not get rid of your pain within the week. Don't give up, get a new Doc!!Cygnet,
I too have experienced this mentality too many times to count. I am 21 years old and a lot of people don't believe a 21 year old could have arthritis or could not walk very well, etc. I am so sorry you are in so much pain and discomfort as well as having to deal with the ignorance and rudeness of others. While I don't know a lot about Scoliosis, but for my joint pain I am prescribed Humira injections. It sounds like you definitely need to seek better health care seeing as the rights you are entitled to as a HUMAN are being ignored. I will keep you in my thoughts. Keep me posted.
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