“Please see a medical doctor as soon as possible...”
Very good advice. Shortly after I graduated from nursing school, I had an emergency call out to assist in a gastroscopy on a patient in the ICU who had an active GI bleed. It was a 50 y.o. female who had recently received her first dose of chemo for metastatic bone cancer. She was having severe coagulopathy issues, meaning that she was having clotting and bleeding issues simultaneously and it was a balancing act to keep her from having life-threatening clots AND life-threatening bleeding. She was getting blood and other plasma components as fast as they could be infused. The first gastroenterologist came and we performed the gastroscopy...there was so much gastric bleeding that we could not see at all to perform interventions to stop the bleeding. He said he could do no more. The family begged the attending physician to call another GI MD and he did. The second GI doc started the gastroscopy and the patient started bleeding so profusely that it was like a volcano of blood and blood clots spewing from her mouth....the doc stopped and told the attending and the oncologist there was nothing that he could do. The family stood there in total shock while their mother bled to death.
And the reason that I relate this story: the lady had been having pains that were similar to disc and sciatic nerve problems. She finally went to her primary care MD two or three weeks prior to her death. He prescribed a pain-killer which had no noticible effect...she went back to him and he ordered a CT scan. She was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer and was told she had two months to live.
I will never forget this lesson and I always advise to never ignore any symptom.
My wife came down with debilitating pain 4 weeks ago shooting from her left hip down her leg. Saw a chiropractor and 3 doctors who couldn't find a cause even after an MRI. She was prescribed opiates, muscle relaxants, steroids, and even an anti-seizure medicine. She saw a nerve specialists who saw that her left leg muscles were weaker than her right leg. She was a type 2 diabetic and he attributed this to diabetic neuropathy. She was favoring 1 leg over the other and the imbalance put a strain on her hip. PT is now being directed to this issue. He took her off all meds accept 1 for anti-inflammation. It took 5 consultations to get this point.
Thanks. That’s a horrible experience for the poor woman and with such tragic consequences for her and her family and all because she waited until it was too late to see a real medical doctor. Far too many similar experiences happen every single day. As soon as I posted though, I realized my suggestion that the poster seek immediate medical attention was not going to be “heard” so I am happy that at least one person read and agrees.
Pain is a helpful tool we humans are blessed with as a means of signaling that something is wrong. Medical doctors are the only trained professionals who have the education and training to first get an initial impression from a patient’s complete history, assess symptoms, run appropriate tests, diagnose, recommend treatment and give a long term prognosis. Yet some patients seem fixated on seeking medical advice from everyone except a qualified and trained medical doctor. Perhaps they also ask for investment advice from the cashier at their local 7-11 Mini-Mart and rely upon their dry-cleaners to give sound legal opinions and advice.
Miraculous “cures” via chiropractor, over the counter devices, masseuse, vitamins, advice from a dietitian, and non-traditional medical treatments should be pursued only after being seen, diagnosed and treated first by a medical doctor. Then a patient can ask their doctor for recommendations for alternative treatments, ask if alternative treatments will interfere with prescribed medications and ask if alternative treatments will help or possibly worsen the underlying condition(s) causing the pain.
If the back pain isn’t referred pain from elsewhere and is related to a prior back injury which only a medical doctor would be able to determine, then a referral to a good board certified orthopedic surgeon is the next step.
A good orthopedic surgeon will only recommend surgery, or surgical procedures such as Chymopapain injections if and only if the same orthopedic surgeon can also give the patient a 100% guarantee that such surgical intervention will provide the patient at least 90% pain relief.