I think my MD just 'washed his hands' of me------WTH?

 

Do you get any relief if you reach behind your head/neck with the hand opposite of your painful side....same movement with same side hand as souce of pain? I only ask because once I was finally diagnosed correctly my wonderful neurosugeon laughed when I described that as the only way to get a moment of relief from the pain in my neck, back, legs, chest and arms....he had me look out into his waiting room where several patients would eventually resort to the same movement. Turns out I had a pretty severe case of stenosis throughout my c-spine amongst other spine problems. Once he gave the spinal chord and nerve roots some breathing room it was as if he performed a miracle...wish I could say the same for subsequent surgeries. I just wanted to encourage you to keep asking your doctor the specific questions and seek other medical providers if they don't take your case seriously and treat it with a sense of urgency. I've been posting here for a couple days and although I'm not very good at it one thing I can share with certainty is my advice not to be a timid or passive patient. I went through 45 years of unspeakable misery and a pretty crappy quality of life because I didn't realize that my doctors may not be taking my problem seriously. After a week in the ICU being treated as a heart attack victim because my body was shutting down, a doctor making the rounds one night asked a rhetorical question..."what seems to be the problem"....I told him I couldn't say but I could show him what I'd been dealing with since the age of 4 or 5.....I struggled to my feet and moved my head to one side and tilted it back......I let out an awful gutteral involutary groan and fell to the floor limp. Once he composed himself and got me back on the table he said don't do that again.... He said he'd seen that before and he thought he might know what was causing it. After a few films from the view through my open mouth he confirmed his suspicions and started a battery of tests.....My spinal chord was being severly smashed by narrowing of the column and nerve root openings...I have this and other back problems from brain stem to tail bone but the closer to the brain the more urgent. Until being hit from behind in a car wreck i was actually doing very well based on the surgery. I share this not only to serve as a mental release for me but as a genuine suggestion to you. Don't suffer silently. Don't make the same 45 year mistake i did and accept doctors telling you there is nothing wrong with you just because they don't see blood gushing out of you. Many sources of extreem pain are never going to show up on a MRI, Ct Scan, etc.....Be assertive and find a doctor that will commit to helping you find the cause of your pain and get you the best treatment possible....I was the worst informed, ignorant, overtrusting patient in the world and i got help after almost 50 years of "it's all in your head"...dag gone right it was... my brain stem that is. Best of luck to you.