This is hard to narrow down to one thing, but I don't want to find the most disheartening comment in my black notebook of neck notes (yes I own such a thing, in which I jotted down notes from various doctors, insurance adjuster, attorney, etc.--no wonder I was depressed lugging around my ominous black notebook of pain!). So I will just go from memory...
I think the most disheartening comment was made by an anethesiologist/pain dr whom the attorney had recommended. At this point, I was pretty much assured from other doctors that my herniated disk was minor and my problems were most likely muscular. All these other doctors (two physiatrists and a neurosurgeon) did the various nerve tests where they prick you, test your strength and so on.
But when the pain doctor tested my arm strength by pressing against my hands, he did it harder than other doctors, and when my left arm was weaker than my right, he said that, even for someone with a dominant right hand, my left arm was quite weak. And he said because of that, "I am not so sure your pain isn't caused by your herniated disk."
His recommendation was a selective cervical nerve root injection using modified anesthesia, and then if that didn't help, a facet nerve block.
So, when he said he thought my pain might be caused by the herniated disk, it stirred up all my old fears about that. However, I cancelled the nerve root injection that he was going to do on my neck. Interestingly, my pain levels decreased (though didn't go away) on their own the same week I would have gotten the procedure!
I told the pain doctor's concern about my left arm strength to the neurosurgeon whom a family member recommended, and when the neurosurgeon did the hand-pushback test (I'm sure that's not the official name) he said "Your strength is fine." This guy is now a chief of neurosurgery, so I am going by his opinion over the pain doctor an attorney recommended.
The second most disheartening thing was when a chiropractor told me my spine wasn't curved normally and I had verterbral subluxation complex. However, when I saw my x-ray report, it said my spine curvature was normal and there was no subluxation. So I stopped seeing the chiro and have seen been quite skeptical of chiropractors in general ever since But I don't dare say that out loud to the people I know who love their chiropractors and go to them once a month for adjustments...hey, if that works for them, fine, I'm busy enough trying to heal myself to worry about other people's choices.
In a strange way, cancelling that nerve root injection was a turning point in my recovery, because it made me realize I was in control and I could make decisions that felt right for me even if a doctor was suggesting something else. Stopping PT and dropping legal counsel were also very liberating decisions, both of which resulted in lower pain levels. (The legal counsel was because I was rear-ended and a friend urged me to consult with an attorney.)
I think the most disheartening comment was made by an anethesiologist/pain dr whom the attorney had recommended. At this point, I was pretty much assured from other doctors that my herniated disk was minor and my problems were most likely muscular. All these other doctors (two physiatrists and a neurosurgeon) did the various nerve tests where they prick you, test your strength and so on.
But when the pain doctor tested my arm strength by pressing against my hands, he did it harder than other doctors, and when my left arm was weaker than my right, he said that, even for someone with a dominant right hand, my left arm was quite weak. And he said because of that, "I am not so sure your pain isn't caused by your herniated disk."
His recommendation was a selective cervical nerve root injection using modified anesthesia, and then if that didn't help, a facet nerve block.
So, when he said he thought my pain might be caused by the herniated disk, it stirred up all my old fears about that. However, I cancelled the nerve root injection that he was going to do on my neck. Interestingly, my pain levels decreased (though didn't go away) on their own the same week I would have gotten the procedure!
I told the pain doctor's concern about my left arm strength to the neurosurgeon whom a family member recommended, and when the neurosurgeon did the hand-pushback test (I'm sure that's not the official name) he said "Your strength is fine." This guy is now a chief of neurosurgery, so I am going by his opinion over the pain doctor an attorney recommended.
The second most disheartening thing was when a chiropractor told me my spine wasn't curved normally and I had verterbral subluxation complex. However, when I saw my x-ray report, it said my spine curvature was normal and there was no subluxation. So I stopped seeing the chiro and have seen been quite skeptical of chiropractors in general ever since But I don't dare say that out loud to the people I know who love their chiropractors and go to them once a month for adjustments...hey, if that works for them, fine, I'm busy enough trying to heal myself to worry about other people's choices.
In a strange way, cancelling that nerve root injection was a turning point in my recovery, because it made me realize I was in control and I could make decisions that felt right for me even if a doctor was suggesting something else. Stopping PT and dropping legal counsel were also very liberating decisions, both of which resulted in lower pain levels. (The legal counsel was because I was rear-ended and a friend urged me to consult with an attorney.)
