So I’ve been having back pain since last week- sciatica I think. I went to urgent care and they gave me injections which did nothing but it’s been a week so it is starting to heal on its own. Yesterday was my annual physical so I figured I would go ahead and ask about it. I asked what I am supposed to do next time this happens in terms of pain management since tylenol doesn’t do anything for me and the first day or two it’s pretty painful.

He started acting all weird immediately. Avoiding the Pain medicine part completely. He did an exam, wrote a script for lidocaine patches, a referral for physical therapy and an order for an X-ray. I said nothing gonna show up on an X-ray is it? He said no you probably need an MRI but we have to do this first cause of insurance. But The whole time he just kept saying okay okay okay with one foot already out the door and never would talk about pain rx. I said I understand there are risks of addiction and transfer addiction and all that but there has to be a responsible way to treat my pain, right? I wasn’t looking for anything then, just the reassurance that if I do need it that my doctor will help me. Again, he just avoided the issue entirely.

Frustrated, I took my stack of referrals to the front desk and she said he wanted to see me back. I asked if I could see a different doctor next time because I don’t feel like this doctor really listens to me. She said she would have to call me to set that up. When I got to the parking lot I called my surgeons office. I asked the nurse do I need to just see a pain management doctor or something? She said that the pain management doctor would probably ask for an MRI too and it wouldn’t hurt to find out if it’s something chronic since if it is pain medication long term can’t be the answer anyways. That made sense so I went and got the X ray.

When I called to ask about my appointment she said that the other doctor refuses to see me. I said I was confused and asked why she wouldn’t answer and gave me the number for the office manager. This morning I finally got through to him and he says he has to call the dr and see what’s going on.

in the meantime my X-ray results had come back and the nurse called me. Basically said one thing was from normal aging and another thing was cause my back was in spasm when they took the film. I said maybe cause I was in pain lying on that table she said most likely. Then I said well what is the next step. She was going back and forth with him and he said physical therapy. I said well yesterday you said I needed MRI and maybe surgery or ablation. He says no you don’t need that yet you need to do physical therapy. I said well the radiologist report says they recommend it too. He basically says well I’m the doctor. I just keep thinking that if I have a MRI in another week or two, this episode will be healed and nothing will show and I will just be wasting tons of money. Frustrated again I said okay thanks and got off the phone.

I’m guessing he is ticked off cause I want to see a different doctor and I have no clue what he told the other doctor to make them not want to see me but The only thing I can think of is that he got the impression I was just trying to abuse drugs?? Or am I crazy. That’s the only thing that makes sense right? I mean we also talked about my cholesterol and I asked about my hormones so he ordered a lab and referred me to an endocrinologist but that can’t be it. I thought they can check under your social and make sure you’re not doing anything wrong. If they did they would see pain meds one time in like the past five years. Post surgery and I didn’t even need them.

I am so confused and frustrated. I feel like now I am stuck in limbo. I tried calling a new dr and they are sending paperwork but can’t see me till December. My back is gonna be fine soon I’m sure. This time. But I need to have a doctor if this happens again or if something else happens. And I sorta want another opinion as to whether I really do need an MRI. I mean of course I don’t want to throw away money if I don’t need it but he said yesterday I needed it and then the radiologist said same thing. I don’t even know what anyone can say about this mess. I just needed to vent I guess. I am mostly just really really afraid that I am going to be in severe pain and end up in the ER cause no one else will help me. That’s gonna get really expensive really quick. Especially if this is a chronic issue.

I actually called my old doctor just now and they are gonna get me in Tuesday. Now I am just worried about how to explain why I am switching doctors without them assuming the same thing about me. This is a nightmare.

Sorry you are going through that, crazy.

Yes, the insurance system is a joke. I had to have a xray before a MRI too a few years ago. Such a waste of money.

I do know there is a serious drug abuse problem (as we all know) and doctors are more strict. But to ignore your concerns is ridiculous! I would definitely be looking for a new doctor.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

I can relate to this on so many levels. I went to the ER with a blinding headache once and was told once that I was not going to be given the drugs I was looking for. Fortunately the neurologist I saw at the time was on call came down and saved the nurse from my temper. I could only see out of one eye and she wanted to send me out the door with a Tylenol. The neurologist snorted at that and loaded me up with with the rescue protocol for my pain.

My surgeon who did my gastric bypass insists the issues I've run into are all anxiety. I had to push for testing because I know something was wrong...yeah, I have a staple line ulcer and a slightly twisted ulcer. She wouldn't answer my questions. Atleast my GI doctor did.

By far though was when I was pregnant. This damn near killed both me and my daughter. Because I could stop vomiting, I was losing a lot of weight quickly. Yet the chief of the residents clinic insisted that I didn't need nutritional support. At one point I started having pain and my skin took on a yellow tone...that was gallstones. The surgeon was furious that I was essentially being starved, called the residents clinic and made it known how unacceptable it was. I was admitted and 5 days later had a feeding tube in my chest. I went into labor early and labor/delivery insisted I didn't need to be seen because I wasn't in pain. Thankfully a medical assistant wasn't having any of it and pushed for an exam. Yes, I was in labor and they had to rush me because my fluid levels were low and my daughter was very breached.

The OB/GYN said had I not gotten in as soon as I did, my daughter would have died and I might have too from further complications.

14 minutes ago, St77 said:

I can relate to this on so many levels. I went to the ER with a blinding headache once and was told once that I was not going to be given the drugs I was looking for. Fortunately the neurologist I saw at the time was on call came down and saved the nurse from my temper. I could only see out of one eye and she wanted to send me out the door with a Tylenol. The neurologist snorted at that and loaded me up with with the rescue protocol for my pain.

My surgeon who did my gastric bypass insists the issues I've run into are all anxiety. I had to push for testing because I know something was wrong...yeah, I have a staple line ulcer and a slightly twisted ulcer. She wouldn't answer my questions. Atleast my GI doctor did.

By far though was when I was pregnant. This damn near killed both me and my daughter. Because I could stop vomiting, I was losing a lot of weight quickly. Yet the chief of the residents clinic insisted that I didn't need nutritional support. At one point I started having pain and my skin took on a yellow tone...that was gallstones. The surgeon was furious that I was essentially being starved, called the residents clinic and made it known how unacceptable it was. I was admitted and 5 days later had a feeding tube in my chest. I went into labor early and labor/delivery insisted I didn't need to be seen because I wasn't in pain. Thankfully a medical assistant wasn't having any of it and pushed for an exam. Yes, I was in labor and they had to rush me because my Fluid levels were low and my daughter was very breached.

The OB/GYN said had I not gotten in as soon as I did, my daughter would have died and I might have too from further complications.

Oh my gosh you have had some really bad experiences. Makes my situation look like more of an inconvenience. I am so glad you are okay. Both of you!!

1 hour ago, kcuster83 said:

Sorry you are going through that, crazy.

Yes, the insurance system is a joke. I had to have a xray before a MRI too a few years ago. Such a waste of money.

I do know there is a serious drug abuse problem (as we all know) and doctors are more strict. But to ignore your concerns is ridiculous! I would definitely be looking for a new doctor.

Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.

Just seems like it will end up costing them more paying for two tests if everyone does it. But I guess maybe some people drop the ball or something. I’m sure they have figured it all out and it saves them money somehow. I was actually kinda amazed to know that you can get an X-ray at the walk in clinic, though. I was there less than a half hour from the time that I walked in!! Anytime I have ever thought I needed an X-ray I have gone to hospital. Now I know to save a fortune I can just go to urgent care and they can do it all right there. Guess that’s one good thing out of all this.

Can’t believe no one is really willing or wanting to help. I think it may be time to find a new doctor too.

As a side note I found acupuncture very helpful with my oozing disc pain which raises it’s ugly painful self every couple of months. (Except my acupuncturist moved like 90+ minutes away so not happy.) It dud more to help my back in a single treatment than the physio did in four sessions. It may help with your sciatica too. The last time my back went I had some sciatica as well & I found some exercises online to help stretch & open up the muscles & release the nerve. I added them to my daily stretches which I do to support my back. Just a suggestion.

5 hours ago, Arabesque said:

Can’t believe no one is really willing or wanting to help. I think it may be time to find a new doctor too.

As a side note I found acupuncture very helpful with my oozing disc pain which raises it’s ugly painful self every couple of months. (Except my acupuncturist moved like 90+ minutes away so not happy.) It dud more to help my back in a single treatment than the physio did in four sessions. It may help with your sciatica too. The last time my back went I had some sciatica as well & I found some exercises online to help stretch & open up the muscles & release the nerve. I added them to my daily stretches which I do to support my back. Just a suggestion.

Thanks. I talked to a friend I hadn’t seen in a while and they told me about the preventative stretches too and I am going today in hopes that they will teach me those. She also swears by her tens unit which I cannot believe I forgot about mine cause that was my lifesaver after a car accident like 18 years ago. I never thought about acupuncture either. I will have to look into that as well I am so sorry about yours moving. I know how bad driving is when your back hurts. Will they come to you when it’s really bad? I know massage people sometimes do that.

Anyways, This whole thing may end up being a blessing in disguise cause I haven’t felt like this doctor is the best fit for me for a while. I put up with him cause I was already established and the location was good. Once I calmed down I had the sense to call my old doctor and they said I was still in their system so I didn’t have to do the new patient appointment and I see him Tuesday for an annual exam. I can address the stuff that sorta got rushed through because of all this. Honestly, I’m sure I will be much happier with him. I just needed something like this to motivate me to make the switch.

16 hours ago, ShoppGirl said:

Just seems like it will end up costing them more paying for two tests if everyone does it. But I guess maybe some people drop the ball or something. I’m sure they have figured it all out and it saves them money somehow. I was actually kinda amazed to know that you can get an X-ray at the walk in clinic, though. I was there less than a half hour from the time that I walked in!! Anytime I have ever thought I needed an X-ray I have gone to hospital. Now I know to save a fortune I can just go to urgent care and they can do it all right there. Guess that’s one good thing out of all this.

We have places like Advanced radiology around here. You can get Xrays and other tests like MRIs and don't need to go to the hospital. The walk in clinics are nice, but a lot of times (around here) they don't have a tech to take the xray so the send you somewhere else anyway.

Just now, kcuster83 said:

We have places like Advanced radiology around here. You can get Xrays and other tests like MRIs and don't need to go to the hospital. The walk in clinics are nice, but a lot of times (around here) they don't have a tech to take the xray so the send you somewhere else anyway.

Well it’s all part of the hospital group but not the same place so I’m not 100% certain how it works. You literally can go into the building by going through the regular doctors plaza or through the walk in clinic but it’s actually separate from both and it was the regular dr, not the urgent care that ordered my X-ray this time. We do have standalone radiology places too but from my experience if you want the X-ray the same day you have to go to the ER. Hopefully I don’t ever need it anyways but that particular walk in was surprisingly efficient too so I think for me it would be worth the try to skip the hospital. I feel like its this little hidden secret that you can do it this way. Kinda like that you don’t have to to admitted into the hospital or even the ER to get fluids. I got them ordered by a dr and you still go to the hospital building but it’s more like an office visit. I’m sure you have seen me say that over and over on here. Trying to save people some money, time and stress of going to the hospital when they don’t have to.

3 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Well it’s all part of the hospital group but not the same place so I’m not 100% certain how it works. You literally can go into the building by going through the regular doctors plaza or through the walk in clinic but it’s actually separate from both and it was the regular dr, not the urgent care that ordered my X-ray this time. We do have standalone radiology places too but from my experience if you want the X-ray the same day you have to go to the ER. Hopefully I don’t ever need it anyways but that particular walk in was surprisingly efficient too so I think for me it would be worth the try to skip the hospital. I feel like its this little hidden secret that you can do it this way. Kinda like that you don’t have to to admitted into the hospital or even the ER to get fluids. I got them ordered by a dr and you still go to the hospital building but it’s more like an office visit. I’m sure you have seen me say that over and over on here. Trying to save people some money, time and stress of going to the hospital when they don’t have to.

Going to an ER for an XRAY seems like a massive waste of resources. That is strange. I have never went to the ER for anything except and actual emergency.

Just another big insurance waste of time and money!

1 minute ago, kcuster83 said:

Going to an ER for an XRAY seems like a massive waste of resources. That is strange. I have never went to the ER for anything except and actual emergency.

Just another big insurance waste of time and money!

Ooh yea I think it’s insane, but I live in the same town I grew up in (just went away to college and came back) and it has always been that way. I’m surprised that the insurance companies don’t notice the trend and do something to be honest. But it’s a huge waste of our money too. The worst part is all the hospital does is the X-ray to say it’s not broken and then you have to go to the orthopedic dr anyways to find out whats actually wrong. Seems like the orthopedic dr could just order an X-ray up front and skip the hospital and the urgent care. Reality is we should be able to just walk in and get an X-ray without a dr’s permission. But Don’t get me started on all that.

45 minutes ago, ShoppGirl said:

Ooh yea I think it’s insane, but I live in the same town I grew up in (just went away to college and came back) and it has always been that way. I’m surprised that the insurance companies don’t notice the trend and do something to be honest. But it’s a huge waste of our money too. The worst part is all the hospital does is the X-ray to say it’s not broken and then you have to go to the orthopedic dr anyways to find out whats actually wrong. Seems like the orthopedic dr could just order an X-ray up front and skip the hospital and the urgent care. Reality is we should be able to just walk in and get an X-ray without a dr’s permission. But Don’t get me started on all that.

Oh yea, I am right there with you!

So I’ve been having back pain since last week- sciatica I think. I went to urgent care and they gave me injections which did nothing but it’s been a week so it is starting to heal on its own. Yesterday was my annual physical so I figured I would go ahead and ask about it. I asked what I am supposed to do next time this happens in terms of pain management since tylenol doesn’t do anything for me and the first day or two it’s pretty painful.

He started acting all weird immediately. Avoiding the Pain medicine part completely. He did an exam, wrote a script for lidocaine Patches, a referral for physical therapy and an order for an X-ray. I said nothing gonna show up on an X-ray is it? He said no you probably need an MRI but we have to do this first cause of insurance. But The whole time he just kept saying okay okay okay with one foot already out the door and never would talk about pain rx. I said I understand there are risks of addiction and transfer addiction and all that but there has to be a responsible way to treat my pain, right? I wasn’t looking for anything then, just the reassurance that if I do need it that my doctor will help me. Again, he just avoided the issue entirely.

Frustrated, I took my stack of referrals to the front desk and she said he wanted to see me back. I asked if I could see a different doctor next time because I don’t feel like this doctor really listens to me. She said she would have to call me to set that up. When I got to the parking lot I called my surgeons office. I asked the nurse do I need to just see a pain management doctor or something? She said that the pain management doctor would probably ask for an MRI too and it wouldn’t hurt to find out if it’s something chronic since if it is pain medication long term can’t be the answer anyways. That made sense so I went and got the X ray.

When I called to ask about my appointment she said that the other doctor refuses to see me. I said I was confused and asked why she wouldn’t answer and gave me the number for the office manager. This morning I finally got through to him and he says he has to call the dr and see what’s going on.

in the meantime my X-ray results had come back and the nurse called me. Basically said one thing was from normal aging and another thing was cause my back was in spasm when they took the film. I said maybe cause I was in pain lying on that table she said most likely. Then I said well what is the next step. She was going back and forth with him and he said physical therapy. I said well yesterday you said I needed MRI and maybe surgery or ablation. He says no you don’t need that yet you need to do physical therapy. I said well the radiologist report says they recommend it too. He basically says well I’m the doctor. I just keep thinking that if I have a MRI in another week or two, this episode will be healed and nothing will show and I will just be wasting tons of money. Frustrated again I said okay thanks and got off the phone.

I’m guessing he is ticked off cause I want to see a different doctor and I have no clue what he told the other doctor to make them not want to see me but The only thing I can think of is that he got the impression I was just trying to abuse drugs?? Or am I crazy. That’s the only thing that makes sense right? I mean we also talked about my cholesterol and I asked about my hormones so he ordered a lab and referred me to an endocrinologist but that can’t be it. I thought they can check under your social and make sure you’re not doing anything wrong. If they did they would see pain meds one time in like the past five years. Post surgery and I didn’t even need them.

I am so confused and frustrated. I feel like now I am stuck in limbo. I tried calling a new dr and they are sending paperwork but can’t see me till December. My back is gonna be fine soon I’m sure. This time. But I need to have a doctor if this happens again or if something else happens. And I sorta want another opinion as to whether I really do need an MRI. I mean of course I don’t want to throw away money if I don’t need it but he said yesterday I needed it and then the radiologist said same thing. I don’t even know what anyone can say about this mess. I just needed to vent I guess. I am mostly just really really afraid that I am going to be in severe pain and end up in the ER cause no one else will help me. That’s gonna get really expensive really quick. Especially if this is a chronic issue.

I actually called my old doctor just now and they are gonna get me in Tuesday. Now I am just worried about how to explain why I am switching doctors without them assuming the same thing about me. This is a nightmare.

I'm sorry your going thru this. Sadly, I can relate. One of the reasons I got WLS was because of back issues and sciatica. It took me 18+ months of complaining to get an MRI ordered thru my doctor. If you want one I would suggest taking your chances with the emergency room as they are usually more willing to do expensive tests. I can't help but wonder if some of my back problems could've been prevented had my doctor found the herniated discs, bulging discs and stenosis sooner. Pain management hasn't been terribly helpful for me either. Noone will prescribe me anything since my condition is chronic. Surgery isn't likely to help, so my only options are PT and epidurals. The first one didn't help much. I hope you get answers and help sooner. Do not assume it will heal on it's own. You may need to switch to a different doctors office altogether.

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