I've been having very painful back pain, I've never had back pain like this before and I'm afraid if I go see a doctor they won't help me and just tell me to loose weight. But I can't even workout or hardly walk because of the pain. Any advice?

Asked by

dance-hall-dyke-deactivated2019

My advice is that you should see a doctor, but go with someone else who supports you, and go unwilling to accept the “lose weight” blanket treatment. If your doctor suggests that, ask them what they would advise for a thin person who was experiencing the same problems.

Back problems can be any number of things, muscular, internal, etc. I know nothing about you. But remember that you are entitled as a person who is the client of the doctor (you hire them, you pay them, etc) to have your problem addressed. If you need tests, you should get them. If you need physical therapy, you should get it. Etcetera etcetera.

A doctor-patient relationship isn’t exactly “the customer’s always right,” because you hired them as a specialist. But think of hiring a doctor the same way you would hire a tax accountant. You might not have the specialized knowledge a tax accountant would have, but you wouldn’t let them treat you like an inferior client, give you bad service, and withhold services they would give to someone else who merely looked different. You’d fire them and hire someone who is competent (or whose bias doesn’t cloud their competence). You should treat your doctor (and hairstylist, and other skilled servicepeople) the same way. Yes, be respectful of their expertise, but don’t think because they have more education/experience than you in a particular area that it grants them the ability to treat you like crap or deny you the kind of basic care they would grant their other clients/patients.

Hopefully this helps.

-ArteToLife