IM BACK BUT WITH MORE DETAILS, HELP!

[toomuchpain408]

hi
im going to try and make this one of my better posts regarding my pain in detail, so please bare with me if it gets a little long.

in early august 08, i woke up one day with severe sharp pains in my lower back, i waited about a month before going to see my dr, over time, he gave me a list full of pain relief meds, none of which worked, and if they did it was for a very short period of time. I have to blame him for the fact that when i felt the pain was too much and wanted to find out what was wrong, i asked him maybe we should do an xray...he wanted to wait longer, smh.

so to speed it up a bit, within the last 2 months, i finally got my xray and numerous tests once he realized there was an issue. the xray showed narrowing of the vertebrae, i had a ct scan which showed compression fracture, mri and bone scans said the same thing.

i just saw him maybe 2 days ago and he said that theres nothing serious wrong with me, cancer or osteo, anything of that nature. i finally start to feel confident in this dr, before and for the longest since ive been seeing him, i havent had a good feeling about him, BUT...ive been asking around and i told my family what he told me, in regards of him saying i have no serious disease, i need to improve my diet,  and how he said that the compression fracture {if i forgot to mention nontraumatic compression fracture} will never completely heal, i have to do the prescribed excersises, and within time it will get better but never back to normal.

UNFORTUNANTLY, just today, i have a strong feeling that i MAY have caused another compression fracture, or just a fracture, what have you. I wasnt doing anything out of the norm, but immediately felt sharp pain in my lower cervical, upper thoracic. movement around my arms and neck is definatly hurting a lot more since this happened, im going to wait it out and see if the pain is consistant.

i got copies of all my test results, and i re read it today. I read that I have small posterior disc osteophyte complex at my c6-c7 with no significant associated spinal canal stenosis. This came from the results off of the MRI.
my doctor did not mention any of this to me, which now i find very odd, which leads me, depending if the pain consists, to go see a pain management doc for a 2nd opinion.

if anybody knows or has any ideas/opinions please let me know
thanks

[Tuckamore]

Welcome back,

Thank you for updating us. I have been wondering how you are doing. I'm glad you have more information on your condition. Osteophytes are usually, a new bone-like formation in response to chronic irritation is that usually associated with the aging of our spine. They may cause nerve impingement or stenosis and require surgery.

I am concerned that you may have a new compression fracture. Why at the young age of 27 are you experiencing compression fractures and osteophytes? This is something that in my opinion needs to be addressed by a good ortho physician. If you are already seeing a specialist I would highly recommend seeking a second opinion. You have many years ahead of you and require good bone and spine health.

I hope you will seek out a more thorough explanation of the spine issues you have been facing. Remember we hire these physicians to preform a service. They work for us. You should always be comfortable and confident in the answers you receive from your physican. If you are not obtaining that than it is time to look to another physican.

Please let us know how you are doing. Again I will look forward to your updates. Best of luck to you, Tuck

[Dylan465]

Sounds like your typical bad doctor. If someone is in pain, why wait for an x-ray? They do them in a flash these days. My first impression, he's lazy.
I don't know much about fractures. I have some stenosis, osteo and bulging disks and they say they can't do a thing. I have pain and have tried various things and now just want to get off these pain killers. That's all they give you, unless there is a reason for surgery.

If you could afford to, I would talk to another doctor. It is very frustrating. I haven't found any helpful ones, but I hear they are out there. I hope you find a more helpful doctor. He should have went over your results, but it's becoming more typical that many doctors do not seem like they are doing their jobs. I find that I'm the one doing the research and offering advise as they shrug their shoulders.

That's my opinion--consider another consultation.