1. < Spine Health

Any suggestions to help my back injury.

Posted by monty87ls @monty87ls, Jun 8, 2023

Sorry for the long post.
Where to start. In 2013 had a neck injury that resulted in 2 disc replacements being approved but during the waiting period to try get them approved (2 years) I found a program that helped me and made me well enough to not do the surgery. I was doing good ok until June last year when someone decided to look at his phone while driving and introduce his Range Rover to the back of my Prius while at a light.

The MRI report shows minor things but def feeling a bit brushed off in terms of it by most a few Drs. First spine Dr sent me to pain management and she did some trigger points that did nothing. She then did EMGs and after looking at them and the MRI report she decided to send me to another pain management Dr and said she may be able to help me better. It was a 2 month wait for her so in the mean time I went for a second opinion in October with a new spine Dr who 100% brushed me off. First words out of his mouth were "tell your lawyer you'll be fine" (Didn't and still don't have a lawyer but did talk to one about 2 months ago).

Ended up going to a Neurologist about a month before the scheduled pain management Dr. and he told me to cancel it and wanted to do his own set of EMGs and we would go from there. That was November 28th and I just got the results finally about 5 weeks ago and had my follow up with him a week ago. Took months to get them done and get them uploaded into the computer so they could just tell me what it said.

As of right now I'm doing PT which most of the exercises cause's slightly more pain and 2 or 3 of them cause pain that lasts for few days after doing it. I'm also taking Gabapentin and Nabumetone. Dr just raised it but it started messing with me pretty bad so I needed to bring it back down. I go to see him in another 5 weeks but not sure what will happen next.

This is 3rd medication they have tried because the other 2 caused side effects also plus added in the Nabumetone with it.
I went to another PT office initially and she ended up hurting me by digging into my shoulders on the initial and first visit and I was advised to not go there. Took few months to get into another one while waiting for a new script.

2013 Injury cervical spine C4/5 C5/6
2022 MRI results
Cervical: Normal
Thoracic: Tiny central protrusion at T3-4, Minor upper thoracic spondylosis.
Lumbar: 7mm L1 vertebral hemangioma, 2.1 Tarlov cyst at S2

First EMG results
Cervical: C7/8 Radiculopathy
Lumbar: L5/S1 Radiculopathy

Second EMG
Cervical: C6/7 Radiculopathy
Lumber: Same as first.

I have pain throughout my entire back, legs, arms all of it.
The Gabapentin was prescribed at 100MG and to double it if it doesn't help. I doubled it and nothing. Now he wants me to take 400 twice a day. It started messing with me right away, and the Nabumetone is 500 once a day.

In 2013 I had a similar experience with the MRI results not showing much but when I went to a Dr recommended to me in Westchester County NY he basically called the Drs up by me stupid and said he sees this all the time, that they miss things. In one hour told me more than anyone else in 2 years. He pushed on my neck and the pain shot down my arms and he said that confirmed what the issue was. He gave up on me 3 years into my Comp fight but did help me pinpoint the issue. He's now semi retired between Florida and NY anyway.

I thought the Dr I went to see for the second opinion this time was a good one but felt brushed off.

Appreciate the time reading this and any suggestions given. Thank you

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Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jun 9, 2023

@monty87ls Hello and welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are getting the run around. There are doctors who work for attorneys and their job is to minimize the problem when someone is injured because the insurance company doesn't want to pay. They are not giving you an unbiased opinion. You need to select a good spine specialist for a consultation, and even then, if you got several opinions, they could all be different. Have you thought about starting over with a new specialist? One consideration is the statute of limitations or time frame in which you have to make a legal case when you are injured by someone else will expire. Insurance companies don't want to pay for expensive spine surgery, and your health insurance would likely go after a person's automobile insurance for reimbursement if they paid your bills.

You get caught in the middle of the mess. I'm not sure about the details, but describing spondylolisthesis as minor without giving a measurement is questionable to me. That is when your vertebrae are slipping past each other because the disc has weakened. That can get worse, and can lead to vertebrae contacting the spinal cord if the condition deteriorates further. It may take years for that to happen or not, and another injury could make this worse. I did receive a whiplash from another motorist who rear ended my car and I thought I was going to be OK, then 20 years later, my bulging disc ruptured, caused bone spurs to grow and it was pressing into my spinal cord. It lead to spinal surgery which was out of my pocket and my health insurance.

You may run into doctors who don't want this situation because they don't want to be dragged into a legal fight. That would impose on their time to be called into depositions in a court case. Some surgeons don't want cases involving thoracic vertebrae because it takes real skill to operate there. The lungs are in the way and may need to be collapsed to access a surgical path to the injured area. A spine deformity specialist would be more likely to take on a complex case. I also have some hemangiomas which is a congenital formation within the bone that represents more vascular area, and most of those are benign.

Can you get a spine specialist's opinion at a major medical center such as Mayo? I saw 5 surgeons locally and none understood my case, and coming to Mayo made all the difference for me.

REPLY
1 reply
monty87ls | @monty87ls | Jun 11, 2023
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@monty87ls Hello and welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are getting the run around. There..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@monty87ls Hello and welcome to Connect. It sounds like you are getting the run around. There are doctors who work for attorneys and their job is to minimize the problem when someone is injured because the insurance company doesn't want to pay. They are not giving you an unbiased opinion. You need to select a good spine specialist for a consultation, and even then, if you got several opinions, they could all be different. Have you thought about starting over with a new specialist? One consideration is the statute of limitations or time frame in which you have to make a legal case when you are injured by someone else will expire. Insurance companies don't want to pay for expensive spine surgery, and your health insurance would likely go after a person's automobile insurance for reimbursement if they paid your bills.

You get caught in the middle of the mess. I'm not sure about the details, but describing spondylolisthesis as minor without giving a measurement is questionable to me. That is when your vertebrae are slipping past each other because the disc has weakened. That can get worse, and can lead to vertebrae contacting the spinal cord if the condition deteriorates further. It may take years for that to happen or not, and another injury could make this worse. I did receive a whiplash from another motorist who rear ended my car and I thought I was going to be OK, then 20 years later, my bulging disc ruptured, caused bone spurs to grow and it was pressing into my spinal cord. It lead to spinal surgery which was out of my pocket and my health insurance.

You may run into doctors who don't want this situation because they don't want to be dragged into a legal fight. That would impose on their time to be called into depositions in a court case. Some surgeons don't want cases involving thoracic vertebrae because it takes real skill to operate there. The lungs are in the way and may need to be collapsed to access a surgical path to the injured area. A spine deformity specialist would be more likely to take on a complex case. I also have some hemangiomas which is a congenital formation within the bone that represents more vascular area, and most of those are benign.

Can you get a spine specialist's opinion at a major medical center such as Mayo? I saw 5 surgeons locally and none understood my case, and coming to Mayo made all the difference for me.

Jump to this post

Thanks for your response. Yeah its been a long road for either injury. I was doing ok from the 2013 injury using the MEDX program at a local gym and highly recommend it if you can find it close! Unfortunately all the of the Drs I have seen have been Drs of my choice either by research or availability. I avoided the neurologist that I saw under workers comp as he was just good for giving muscle relaxers that did nothing and some "trigger point injections" which barely poked through the skin which seems to be incorrect. Current neurologist is little over an hour from me in Yonkers NY and has a good reputation but his office staff slow pace leave much to be desired.

For this 2022 injury I did try to avoid the long wait process like last time and skip straight to a second opinion with a supposedly good Dr and got the brush off. His name was John Abrahams of Brain and Spine Surgeons of NY, I saw Dr. Jack Stern there before as a 3rd opinion on my neck last time because the first spine surgeon for my 2013 injury said Disc replacements and the second opinion said to try burning the nerves ( I forget the term now). Dr stern only sees surgery candidates now so he was willing to see me just yet so figured I'd try the guy he put in charge of his group but it seemed to back fire. He told me I'd be better in 6 months well over 6 months later and I'm still in constant pain!

I am in Dutchess County NY and I do not think there is a Mayo clinic near me only thing I know of Is HSS in NYC or in CT so maybe I should consider that. With this being a no fault case and having a previous workers comp case I know how I get looked at though.

Ill add in that when I got hurt in 2013 I was 24 and in the process of buying my first income property and moving up at work, that injury derailed it all. I spent the next 7-8 years just surviving and finally settled the comp case in 2020 just for covid to kick in and making my return to work take a little longer as I was in the middle of a nasty divorce and since my ex wife built her career while I stayed home with the kids I needed to do it longer during covid. Figured Id get the divorce over with as it was taking a toll on myself and the kids and figure out where my life was gonna go. May 10th 2022 signed the divorce papers and June 7th 2022 got rear ended and my car totaled and have been in constant pain since then.

I will 34 in a few days and have spent the last 10 years in pain even if just a little. It would be nice to find someone who can help me get back to the level I was at prior to the car accident because that I was able to tolerate at least.

The lawyer I spoke with few months ago in regards to the car accident said he was ready to sign me when I came in but after sitting with me for 2 hours changed his mind. He said given my previous injury and the fact that I don't have any real answers yet means its too complicated and no chance of it going anywhere. He also said it would be good to know what he long term prognosis is. Either way the guy that hit me was driving an 04 range rover that appeared to be sprayed painted all over and that he purchased the day before in NYC according to him. I doubt very much that it would lead to anything life changing. Why it couldn't it have been an Amazon truck! lol

If anyone has any suggestions for Drs near me I would appreciate it. Thank you.

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