Why no answers or I am brused aside

I have suffered chonic pain for several years-after being missed dignosed for several of them, I know now what is going on-however in the last 6 mo I have had sever numbness staring from my toes in both feet, has prgressed and moved up all the way to my knee caps and is painful, no one seems to think it is important enough to discuss-(doctors) I finally went to a nurologist who was very unaproachable yes for a doctor this is crazy- he seemed aggitaed but I was at his mercy as I need a referal for everything,I am getting atest he seem relutat to tell me about and I have insurence so I am not sure what the problem was, I am having some electronic stuff done to see if I have some dead nerves- Is this repairable, will it spread upward, can blood test tell about nerve problems and what has to be done to help this? What kind of treatments? It is an aweful feeling, and painful, I have been feeling very defeated with my back issues and now this, I wish doctors were not so jaded and hohum no real effort on treating something like this why?

[ggreg]

The test the neurologist is going to do is probably an EMG, which checks if nerve impulses are working properly.  Since you mentioned you have back issues, could be some nerves are jammed up in there, causing your numbness.  Hopefully you have already had a scan done, or he might order one, so the neuro can see the pictures and report and determine if your spine is out-of-whack, and he can come up with a treament approach.  Treatment can range from physical therapy all the way up to surgery, and may or may not include drugs.  If the neurologist comes up blank, then I suggest you visit an internal medicine doctor to get you checked for diabetes since it can cause numbness in the lower extremities, and the internist can also make sure you don't have some problem with your circulatory system, and in general take charge of your overall health.  If you have a general doc right now that doesn't care about you, find another one.

As for your pain and numbness being ignored and physicians' poor bedside manners, I know exactly how you feel.  Doctors are rushed by our thus-far broken health care system, they hear pain and other complaints all the time, and since there are few clues to objectively measure pain and since they are on guard for drug-seekers and since they rate whining folk as a waste of time when compared to someone who has no legs, the patient who might as well have no legs suffers in silence.  Me, I always ask my doctors to explain WHY this is happening, and even just a few sentences from them can mean the world to me.  Also, if my pain levels get unbearable, I generally will cry openly and explain a few things I cannot do anymore because of my discomfort.  I just try not to take outside attitudes personally, but to balance that out, I keep a sympathetic doc in my corner, doesn't matter what specialty, becuz THEY will respond more liberally to health problems.  I hope this helps you a little bit.