I suspect my first spinal fracture occurred approximately 2 years ago and the others followed periodically. For years I’ve paid for physical therapy as a way to maintain my functioning, but unfortunately the person in my area that is well trained in using a SCENAR is no longer working. I have used SCENAR therapy for pain management for about 7 years because I have not had much luck with MDs.
In my prior journal entry I mention the years of difficulty I had receiving a confirmation from many MDs that I have osteoporosis or simply that my pain is more than a sore back. My fractures are L1, L2,L3 and L4. I can not say that I have learned to live with the pain all this time, because my decline has been progressive and my life is close to a stand-still since I am without a way to prevent the pain. As others with fractures mention, moving is so painful that is an easy decision to do as little as possible despite the consequences of neglecting the basics of daily life. Now, after four months of treatment I realize my naïveté in believing that I would automatically begin receiving the help I need once I was diagnosed. Instead, I have continued to decline. The only “treatment” I have been offered is a Rx for Fosamax. I would have purchased that on the inter-net myself log ago if I believed toxicology is the cure.
Like many others that use this site, I spend a lot of time self-educating myself about treatment and medical resources, often when I can’t sleep because of the discomfort. I have been aware of Vertebroplasty / Balloon Kyphoplasty for some time, but did not look at the details of the procedure. I searched the posting and it shows up only once in a discussion. Based on the minimization of my health concerns by doctors, it was my understanding that a Balloon Kyphoplasty is not what I need. However, I did not know until now that this procedure is supposedly recommended immediately after a vertebrae fracture is diagnosed and that waiting is not recommended. Have lived with four fractures for a couple years – event though I have descent health insurance – leaves me wondering why this has yet to be mentioned to me by the physician being paid to improve my health. I’m stunned. My life has slipped away more and more during the last several years, and significantly during the last year. I have mentioned my decline during each of my appointments for many years. Yet, the response and hoped for pro-activeness has never been the outcome. I began to have hope in response to the willingness of this current doctor to listen to my logic and request for a bone scan several months ago, when his colleague and many doctors before him would not. However, I am now realizing that the distinction is most likely that of “dumb and dumber”
Last week, Dr. Grimm spent so little time offering me help that I had to keep asking question after question about treatment options I have discovered on-line and rephrasing my conclusion that I need recommends for a couple specialists. Instead, of answers and appropriate referrals, he ignored my questions and my voice. He did noting but read my lab results, made no comment nor offered any additional suggestions, then left the exam rooms while I was asking him for his recommendations for screening for secondary osteoporosis. Dr Grimm has yet to mention secondary osteoporosis to me.
I reviewed the new lab results added to my chart before handing the file to the nurse waiting outside the door, disappointed by the fact that my anemia and hormone levels are still declining and that Dr. Grimm left without mentioning this. That afternoon I scheduled an appointment with a specialist about an hours drive from me and if not for that I would probably be very upset and worried at the moment, instead of mostly angered by the laziness and inadequacy of doctors I have had the unfortunate luck to select.