Hello All,
My name is Robert and I live in Pinellas county, Florida. I'm 64 years old. I joined this forum to share my experiences and hopefully get some good advice. I have moderate osteoarthritis in my spine which necessitated a four-level posterior laminectomy in April 2007. I've healed up from that surgery OK.

My current problem is with the lumbar end of my spine, or my hip. My lower left leg and foot stings like a bee sting. Some days (and some hours) are worse than others. I can't find a pattern to this. My spinal surgeon says that my lumbar MRI pictures "actually don't look too bad", so lumbar surgery is not being contemplated at present. We originally thought that the problem was nerve compression at L5. I have the classic sciatica leg symptoms.

But lately I have been experiencing some pain within my left hip joint. My spinal surgeon said that maybe I have some nerve compression going on within my hip joint. But he doesn't work on anything but the spine, so he referred my back to my PCP. Problem is, my PCP doesn't have a clue.

So- I'm shopping for a new PCP who could manage all aspects of my arthritis and nerve compression and make the necessary referrals.

Should I consider a DO instead of an MD? I've never seen a DO before, but I need someone who will take my pain seriously and help me with the big picture.

It seems to me that so many PCPs have the attitude that, if you're basically functional and you're not writhing in the floor with pain, What's the big problem? The problem is that I HURT.

Cheers,
Robert