Murrey,
This isn't my first experience with the health system. Sorry for the following rant (that I'm so well known for). There's actually a salient point to it I think. I doubt this will clog the thread up too much tonight anyway ;-)
Almost 10 yrs ago I was treated by a number of doctors for three compressed disks in my neck. I will give them credit for accurately diagnosing my problem eventually. IMVHO, our current health system prevented them from properly diagnosing the cause or recommending a proper treatment/solution to stop the nearly constant pain.
I had a chronic pain in my chest, chronic pain in my shoulder that felt like my collar bone wanted to explode, coupled with pain, numbness & a tingling sensation in my right arm & hand. I only had an occasional sharp pain in my neck. It seems that compressed discs can cause more pain elsewhere as certain nerves get pinched in the back/neck.
As a caveat, surgery is a last resort when you have compressed discs so high in your back. The risk of becoming paralyzed outweighs potential benefits. I was introduced to the world of chronic pain when I was asked by the first doctor, "How much pain can you tolerate?" A few tests revealed that I shouldn’t be in so much pain though. The disks were only slightly compressed & some chronic pain would be expected. My symptoms seemed unusually severe.
I changed doctors a couple of times when I became disenchanted with their inability to help me. I got the usual 3 to 5 minutes I face time in the exam room. I was flabbergasted that I would arrive for my appointment & the waiting room would be at capacity. I'd get called into an exam room usually an hour or more after my scheduled appointment & wait another 45 minutes & more to see the kindly doctor. I was lucky to get 3 to 5 minutes face time almost every time. I could never figure out how these doctors could read a patient's chart, look at X-rays, test results, etc; talk to the patient, adequately understand cause & effect, properly diagnose the problem & prescribe a proper course of treatment in 222 seconds +/-.
However, pounding a square peg in a round hole accomplishes little as well. Aye, there's the rub me thinks.
Each doctor would repeat almost exactly what the previous doctor did even though I explained what had already been tried resulted with zero improvement in my condition. It was like they were following a recipe book or something.
The main difference would be the prescription they would recommend. They would still always prescribe a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory from the same family of drugs that produced the same results time & time again. The main difference was that some caused less or more stomach problems than others. I'd usually try 2 or 3 different prescriptions & move on to a new doctor when they wanted to try a fourth or fifth prescription from the same family of drugs, but they were unwilling to trying anything else different.
I finally gave up when I changed doctors one last time. She wasn't any different with the 3 to 5 minute face time. However, I did make it clear to her that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs did not resolve anything. She wanted to try snake venom & anti-depressants. I reluctantly took the anti-depressants.
I researched both & found that some snake venom was being used as an experimental way to treat pain. I found that in a test, the anti-depressant she prescribed found that some respondents experienced a reduction in pain.
I took the drug for a few weeks & was still in nearly constant pain. I did notice however, that my mood had dramatically changed. Even though she said I was taking a very low dose, I found that nothing mattered to me anymore. I didn't feel like I was drugged or anything, but I didn't have any feelings about anything at all.
I figured that folks taking the drug in the study didn't actually experience any less pain. I think they just didn't care about it as much any more. These folks were taking a much larger dose than I took. I know my mood was dramatically altered. I pretty much just existed, not caring about anything or desiring to participate in much of anything at all. My primary care physician explained that depressed folks would likely see that as a dramatic improvement.
In any event, I accidentally found a solution to my problem. All of the doctors I had seen for this problem had been given the possible cause of the problem as well. The lack of time to adequately assess my slightly unique situation most likely was the reason they were all unsuccessful.
When I fell almost 4 years ago & screwed up my knee, it had a profound effect on me. I thought I could die from throwing a clot (besides severely tearing my meniscus, my leg was severely bruised & swollen grotesquely - enough that it made folks, including my primary care physician, gasp when they saw it). It made me change my thinking about a lot of things.
That included working 70, 80 or more hours a week relentlessly. This included 60-70 hours a week desk work, 15-20 hours of moderate physical work, plus long hours at the start & end of most weeks traveling (mostly driving) to & from job sites from Texas to New England, while living out of a suitcase.
I decided that something had to change. It was time for me to take time for me. Much to the chagrin of my supervisor, I began to cut back on my workweek. (LOL - down to a paltry 50-60 hours a week).
It only took a couple of months before I noticed that I rarely had the chronic pain associated with my neck problem. I could ride my motorcycle far longer without any serious pain too (prior to this I could only tolerate short rides on my bike before the weight of the helmet would set off some serious pain). I found that when the weekend came around I hardly had any pain. Previously, I would be in nearly constant pain by Wed/Thurs & it usually took most of my weekend resting to recover enough to be physically able to hit the road again by Sunday/Monday.
Since you only get a few precious minutes with the doctor, they are generally forced to follow a somewhat inflexible process that generally works on the largest number of folks. When this doesn't work, they still only have that brief window with the individual to determine why.
And since I was a Federal Auditor, it seems they all too easily stereotyped me. Even though I clearly explained my real working conditions, I frequently found them referring to my "desk job" & my “working conditions” as not being a contributing factor. It was almost like all they heard when I talked was a clock ticking in the background & they relied on the information from my chart to determine my “real working conditions”. And we know that most Federal employees have cushy jobs, lax working conditions & short workweeks, right? Tick, tock, tick, tock – try this non-steroidal for a couple of months.
So when I would reiterate my real working conditions, it was mostly as if I hadn’t said anything at all, or like it was almost impossible to believe a Federal employee worked as much as I actually did. They seemed unable to grasp that I actually had quantifiable physical labor involved on a regular basis or that my workday regularly exceeded 12 hours. I can understand a certain amount of skepticism. No doubt they see their fair share of folks trying to beat the system. But what about folks who are suffering real pain? Tick, tock, tick, tock – take these useless meds & see me in two months.
I really believe the 3-5 minutes of face time contributed heavily to the problem. It seemed to force them into generalizing everything & everyone PDQ. Anything slightly out of the ordinary had to be discounted, rationalized or otherwise dismissed & the standard procedure applied – tick, tock, tick, tock – try this “new” non-steroidal for a couple of months - time to see the next patient.
Funny that when a different life altering experience caused me to dramatically alter my “real working conditions” & return to a slightly normal lifestyle, my problem with my neck nearly completely resolved itself without any medication.
Yes, 3-5 minutes face time with a physician who follows standard protocols may generally help a fair number of people, while allowing for the insurance companies to maximize profits – that is if prescription drugs can solve the problem, as that seems to be the first & easiest standard protocol. If you happen to fall outside of “normal” parameters for symptoms, living & working conditions, etc., well, you may not be so fortunate at all. You will have to continue to pay the insurance company regardless of the outcome. You may just need them again sometime.
So here I am now with multiple physical ailments, but it seems that it’s too much to treat them all in the 3-5 minutes allotted, so we’ll work on the most serious one first & simply ignore the others for now. Tick, tock, tick, tock – take these meds – I gotta run.
OOF |
