Hello, I'm new to the forum. Please excuse the length of this post (and I edited it). Anyhow, I was diagnosed with a L4-L5 herniated disc after a work-related injury last year. Due to the settlement agreement (kept my medical open), all my future medical treatment has to be with the authorized doctor, in my case the neuro-surgeon the I.C. initially assigned to me. I have seen him several times since the settlement due to my condition not improving and everytime it's the same routine, 3 options: 1) surgery 2) nerve blocks 3) Live with it/find less physical work. Then he says continue with the anti-inflammatories (which I'm not even prescribed) and out the door.

Well, just a little background on this, after the injury, he recommended surgery, which I politely declined (i'm in my mid 30's). He took me off work for approx. 3.5 months and returned me to full duty (unloading heavy freight daily). I resigned from the job due my physical inability to continue that line of work ,as he suggested numerous times previous to returning me to full duty. After my settlement, in which he gave me a rating of 0 (ZERO), I had maxed out my nerve blocks (3 annually) and had another MRI. When his nurse called me about the results, she said my condition had "worsened" and she set up an appointment with him. When he came in, he said, "it looks like you have improved" which absolutely confused me. He said (after a year and half) that my disc had decreased in size. So, pain continued and I wasn't getting anywhere. The only "treatment" I received during this time was about 30 hydrocodone pills every two weeks or I never deviated from the instructions.

Well, I finally got to the point I wanted and needed surgery. I met with him and he agreed but wanted a myelogram first. He briefly explained the unpleasant sounding procedure and it's use to locate pain points. He set it up and I told him I was getting a second opinion, which i did. The other neuro-surgeon said a myelogram was unnecessary with two MRIs and that aside from the disc herniation, I had severe spinal stenosis, which is causing more pain. So, I cancelled the myeloG. and yesterday an irritated nurse calls me and asked why I cancelled the procedure. I told her about the second opinion and what he said. She proceeded to tell me their reasons for the test was because their were "changes" in my condition. I wasn't told about any changes before, nor was I told about the stenosis. She ended the call remarking that I would not be prescribed any "narcotics" until I carry on with the myelogram. So, anybody know whats going on here. Does this sound odd? Anybody?