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← Return to Chronic Back Pain for Years
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The support and encouragement i have gotten here has been just unbelievable!! I have never gotten SUCH CARING even close to this!!! I can't stress that enough!!
Sadly, I have severely re-hurt my back over and over these past few years especially, because my doctor told me I had absolutely no limits on what I could do. I have leaned over many times to pick up heavy things, only to be "frozen" in gut-wrenching pain, and not able to straighten back up for at least a week. I really thought my doctor knew best.
I sadly have no family near by who can help. I live alone (my fiance died unexpectedly several years ago due to an unknown congenital heart condition) and must do everything myself. My doctor always said that it was OK.
I have no other health insurance, or recourse.
One hard and ugly truth I have learned over and over about the VA hospital here.. if you slight a certain doctor, not follow what he says or try to turn him in, you PAY for it a hundred times over. I hesitate to even mention specific circumstances as most people would probably not even believe that any doctor could EVER stoop to or dare to do such things.
The more I try to complain or try to stand up for myself in even the smallest way, the more certain doctors can (and do!) get back at you. It becomes so brutal and traumatizing, over and over and over. But it is REALITY.
It makes it worse, I believe, that I am a woman, as certain male doctors will shamelessly and openly harass and cruelly sexually abuse women patients, with no fear of reprimand whatsoever.
PLEASE PLEASE NOTE: MOST DOCTORS here are VERY ethical and VERY kind to all. I just happened to have gotten the very bad one or two.
Replies to "The support and encouragement i have gotten here has been just unbelievable!! I have never gotten..."
@cognac. Terrific advice! There are places here that offer free MRI reviews. If a facility like that requested her records with a signed release from @ lifetime they could not refuse.
Thank you so very much, for such excellent suggestions, @cognac!! I just started about a year ago to keep copies of all my medical records from the VA. It was not easy at all, in the beginning, to get them.
But now that they are being a little less argumentative about it, I can legally get copies, and I certainly do.
There are a few places near me that will read your MRI results, but only for a very hefty fee. (I wonder if the MRI itself costs as much!!).
I am working very, very hard on finding a way to get an alternative doctor. Even if I succeed at the VA to get a different primary doctor, they made it clear to me that it would be a doctor on the same exact "team" as my first doctor and he would still have input on everything decided and done on my case. Each team also backs up each of its team members.
And you cannot get an appointment with any other doctor or specialist in the VA hospital your primary doctor's approval.
BUT.. I am still always thinking and working towards eventually getting some help...
So sorry.. made a typo. ti should say, "WITHOUT your primary doctor's approval".
@lifetime keep that positive attitude, without iT a person is lost.
JK
@lifetime Hello Lifetime! I am Jen and I am a Volunteer Mentor here on Mayo Connect I have read the many postings about your problem with the healthcare at the VA. My husband served in the Navy for 30 years, retiring in 2014. Over the past four years I have learned quite a lot about the VA. May I ask if you retired from the service and how long ago? What state do you live in? I know the VA did start a program for Veterans to get their health care from private physicians. Perhaps this could help you.
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@lifetime, I know how hard it is to live alone and live in pain. I'm sorry you're going through it, too. Perhaps this group can figure out some way to at least get you re-assigned to another doctor? Perhaps the first step would be for you to keep copies of the results of your tests? That's one of the things that helped me when I changed doctors. I actually went and had copies made of what was on file in the "Patient's Records Library", as one hospital named it. The doctor had made several mistakes of a CAT scan. Anyway, you get the idea. You do the best you can to take care of yourself. We're all pulling for you.