24. The Woman With Hip Issues

During the end of my pregnancy I started having severe pain in my lower back and right hip that radiated down my leg into a couple toes. After my daughter was born, the pain did not improve. I went to multiple doctors, including OB-GYNs and primary care physicians. Everyone said nothing was wrong. Three years later, I went to a new doctor for a basic yearly physical. I casually mentioned the pain to him. He ordered a slew of tests, from blood work to X-rays/MRIs/EMGs etc., but everything came back normal. He gave me a prescription for narcotics (I did not ask for them) and told me to come back in a month. When I returned he acted shocked that I was there just before a month had passed, even after I explained why. He berated me and made me feel awful, claiming I was only there to get more pain pills. When I told him that I had hardly taken any of the pills because they did not alleviate my pain at all, he asked me if I was selling them and had me take a drug test. By the time I left his office that day I actually felt like I had done something wrong.

I decided to take a more natural approach because I could not put myself through that again and went to see a chiropractor. He took X-rays. He immediately showed me what was causing the severe pain. He sent me to an orthopedic surgeon. Unfortunately this doctor was in the same network as the original PCP and saw the notes from my two previous visits. He took new X-rays but had me lyying down for them all. He said they looked fine and once again accused me of lying to get narcotics. Once again I had not suggested in any way, shape, or form that I wanted any sort of prescription. I explained what the chiropractor had shown me on my previous X-rays. After much pleading he agreed to take X-rays of me standing. He immediately apologized and agreed with what the chiropractor had said. He said that no amount of narcotics would have any effect on this type of pain. —kimbroslice