I promise I will try to make this as short as possible. On 1/26/10 I hurt my back at work. (I'm a CNA in hospital) Some stuff here in the middle.......chiropractor, massage, 1 day of PT then I got a new symptom, pain in leg and numb toes. Chiro said I needed to see MD. Off I went. He looked at me. That's all. Just looked. Gave me a handful of scripts. I saw him every two weeks. On my 3rd visit with no improvement, he sent me to a spine specialist who ordered (finally) an MRI. Showed 3 bulging discs. He said I could not go back to my normal job any time soon. Said it may take months for this to heal up. L&I doc at next visit said I could go back on light duty. (No such thing at a hospital) I go to PT 2X week and swear they are making me worse. My back still hurts horribly, on a 1-10 scale I'm holding at 7 with spikes to 10. I still need pain meds to sleep and every now and again during the day, my ROM is only slightly improved, I can't sit or stand for more than 15 minutes before the burning in my back is so bad I have to get up. I am afraid the L&I doctor is going to say I can go back to work. I WANT to get better and go back to work, I need the money and I'm going crazy stuck at home, but I'm terrified of doing really permanent damage to my back if I go back to work too soon, but if he says I have to, I don't know what my options are. Has anyone been where I am? I think the L&I doctor doesn't care or even worse, thinks I'm faking, which I don't understand since he has the MRI and the proof. Sorry, badly told story but I don't know what to do. Any suggestions are really welcome.
Thanks so much