I am so discouraged about all these Drs.

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SKZ

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I swear you guys, I am starting to lose it. I went thru 5 yrs. of neck problems and medical incompetency only to end up with a 2 level fusion in Jan. of 2007. Four months after that surgery, my lower back started hurting a lot, with a lot of hip pain to the point of limping. It is now a year and a half later and it is worse, with pain when walking and standing (not sitting). I have the symptoms of stenosis except no nurabness or bad pain in legs (just weakness and limping). After numerous spinal injections (and of course my MRI said I had stenosis, arthritis, and bulging disks at 3 levels), I finally got sent to the orthopedic spinal surgeon....the one who successfully did my neck. He made me wait 2 hours and 45 mins. Then he hardly gave me the time of day. He peeked at my MRI, said my MRI report meant very little and that I dont need surgery. Then he tells me to get a pelvic Xray, which I did in his office. I came back into the exam room, of course he was long gone. The nurse took the Xray and said he would take a peek at it (gee ,thanks buddy). She came back and said I need to see a regular ortho, not a spine ortho because of hip arthritis. (I am 52). I go to see a hip specialist 3 days ago and all he could do was shake his head because he said I had no hip arthritis and had symptoms of stenosis. Now, tomorrow I am seeing the ortho spinal guy in HIS practice. This morning I called my physiatrist because he is the one who sent me to the spine surgeon who did my neck and made me wait 2 hrs. and 45 mins. He is also the guy who did my injections. (the physiatrist). I am pretty sure he wouldnt be sending me to a spinal surgeon if he didnt think I needed one. He's way on the ball. He said I would probably need a FORAMINOTOMY. I had it in my head i was getting one of those and then the surgeon says its my hip. Now again its my spine. oy. Now I sit here waiting for his nurse to call me back to see what the heck to do. School starts tomorrow (I am a sub). I cant work, because I cant stand up long. I had such a meltdown in the car after that hip guy kept shaking his head as to why I was seeing here in the first place. I went thru this crap with my neck. I researched everything to the hilt. I kept asking the Dr. WHY is he not injecting C6-C7 since I had symptoms of nerve impingment there. Yet he would only focus on C4-5 and C5-6. Naturally when all was said and done I ended up being right and got a fusion at C5-6 and C6-7. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO TELL THESE DRS. STUFF, I ASK???? I am so discouraged by the mismanagement over and over. Any advice??????
 
Hi SKZ ~

Try to keep hanging in there! It can be a frustrating process to try to figure out what is wrong. I ended up seeing 8 different specialists before finally deciding I would have to go through surgery. It sounRAB like you need to take your MRI from May and go see a new fellowship-trained spinal specialist who is not associated with your first surgeon.

Please refresh my memory. Have you had lurabar surgery previously? What are your symptoms? Also do you know what the cause of your stenosis is? Do you have herniated discs or arthritis?

Keep us posted on what the doc says when he calls back, and how the other doc's appt. goes....
 
Well tomorrow, I am seeing the 2nd spine specialist. I have bulging disks, foraminal and central canal stenosis at 2 levels, and foraminal at another. I also have arthritis at these 3 levels. I never had lurabar surgery before....just cervical fusion. My symptoms are pain in my back and hip, weakness in that same side leg, pain with standing, and walking, and limping. My spinal surgeon was all weirded out because I dont have nurabness in my leg or terrible pain in my leg. But I am debilitated enough to not be able to stand and teach, even for half a day. I also have a little achiness on the other side under my butt into my thigh. I hope the Dr. tomorrow knows what he is doing. I am still waiting to hear from my physiatrist. I really appreciate your replies.
 
Well I hope you have better luck with this doctor!! The fact that the MRI shows stenosis and you have pain that keeps you from standing or walking very far would seem to indicate that there is a problem serious enough to treat! My leg never would go nurab unless I was standing for quite awhile. It happened more during the first year or two because my pain was less and I could stand longer or walk farther. For the year prior to my surgery, the pain was such that I would have to sit down fairly quickly, so there wasn't as much time for it to get nurab. But you don't have to be nurab to have a problem. That is ridiculous!!

Between the bulging discs and the arthritis, your spinal canal is probably narrowed sufficiently that there isn't enough room for the nerves to pass through -- thus, a bit of "pinching" or compression is occurring and causing you pain. Do you get relief if you lean forward, like on a grocery cart when shopping?
 
SKZ I sure hope you will find out something soon and MRI's don't always show everything. I know you have probably read my story before about my neurosurgeon telling me I couldn't have some of the symptoms that I said I had because the MRI did not show any bone spurs. Well, after I had my L5/S1 surgery he apologized because I had 4 bone spurs and he said he should have listened to me instead of relying on the report. I remeraber reading some of your threaRAB over on the Spinal Cord Disorder board and I have also had cervical spine surgery too. I feel like my whole spine is going out on me so I sure hope you find some help soon. It is frustrating to wait for those call backs. I made 3 calls in one day after my surgery and by the time I made the last call I was pretty mad that they had not returned my call. They said they needed more time to call me back but I told them their message said if a call was made before 3:00 p.m. then a return call would be made that day. They ended up changing their message.

Take care and let us know how it goes.
Linda:angel:
 
I went to the 2nd spine surgeon and he also said I do not need surgery and that the stenosis was minimal. He did more X rays and said that the main culprit was the facet joints in the lurabar. I will probably get medial branch blocks and then a facet rhizotomy where they fry the nerves. I had that in the nexk once and it was helpful. My physiatrist office DID call me back this morning, so my faith is restored again. I do have to say that the 1st spinal surgeon (the one who did my neck a yr. and a half ago) is a big liar. I read his report to my physiatrist because I had it faxed to me today. He put all this garbage about how he examined me. All he did was look at my MRI for a min. or less. He was real specific in the tests he gave me. Liar. and he also said he told me I should go back and tell the radiologist what a 100% inaccurate report that he wrote for my MRI. He never told me to do that. i would never use him again because I lost trust in him. The spinal guy today was very good and knowledgable, so if I need a spinal guy at least I have one that isnt a jerk. whew. So now I wait till end up next week (my physiatrist is going on vacation) and then see him and plan he next step, which which will a MEDIAL BRANCH BLOCK. onward and upward. Thanks for listening everyone.
 
My physiatrist's office didnt call me back today, even though the really wonderful lady who was going to talk to the dr. told me she definitely would. She has always helped me so much in the past with my neck. She also saw me crying 2 weeks ago in the office and was extremely kind. I never cried there in all the years. Its a miracle I am not a Valium addict the way i feel right now. I really feel like they just dont give a crap. I called them at 9AM and stayed home all day waiting. That's how sure I was that they would call. I feel like taking a Valium, but I will refrain. But this is exactly what I mean. And yes, it helps to lean forward. I notice that also when i walk upstairs...I lean forward because it helps. Walking downstairs is worse than up. Same with going uphill. downhill is worse.
 
Sorry...I also forgot to mention that I have bursitis in both hips which isnt helping the scenario. So there we have a diagnosis finally!
 
Glad the doctor's office called you back because that can be so upsetting when we don't feel well either. Hopefully they will come up with some helpful procedures. I am sure the bursitis is painful also even if it is by itself because I have arthritis and I know that sure can make me feel bad on certain days. Please keep us informed and I just wanted you to know that I am praying for you and a successful procedure to help with your pain.

Linda:angel:
 
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