Good morning,
I wanted to leave a comment regarding people being in pain for years, not just a few weeks, or even months. My full-time job since July of 2023 has been trying to find out why the muscles on the right side of my torso are continuously locked/spasmed. I have been to (5) hospitals (all top hospitals in my city), and I have seen more than (30) doctors/specialists, and no one can tell me why my muscles will not release.

Many of these doctors give up after a single visit, which is the main reason I have been to so many hospitals and have seen so many doctors. They order a blood panel, or an image (multiple CT scans, Ultrasounds, MRIs have been run by multiple hospitals/doctors, and they all say they do not see what is causing my pain), and when there is nothing definitive showing on that first day, they walk away. No calling a colleague, referral to another doctor/specialist, nothing, just a shrug of their shoulders and a "don't let the door hit you on the way out" attitude from many of these "professionals".

The paraspinal muscles along the right side of my spine, flank/QL muscles above my right hip, and oblique muscles that run from above my right hip at a downward angle towards my naval have all been locked for more than three years now. I am in pain from when I get up until I go to bed, all day, every day. This never goes below a 6, and if I am moving around (just picking something up off of the floor locks these muscles like a calf cramp), it goes to an 8/9 and I have to lay down. This is the only thing that brings any relief, laying on my back. But as soon as I am up, the muscles immediately lock again, and I'm in pain until the next time I lay down.

This all started in July of 2023, and it wasn't until about 2 months ago that a doctor I had just seen for the first time (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) asked if I have tried any medications for the pain. No one has asked me this for three years of me telling them how much pain I am in. They are either worried about drug addiction, or they did not think I was actually in the pain I was describing, so no one even suggested anything for the pain. So, he wrote a prescription for Nortriptyline, which is primarily an anti-depressant, and it is also used for chronic pain. Unfortunately, the only thing I got from this medication was all of the bad side-effects with none of the supposed pain relief it can bring.

We have a terrible healthcare system in the US, and it is only getting worse by the month. I am seriously considering leaving the country for care, as no one here either cares, or knows what they are doing.