My doctor whom I have been seeing on and off for the past 17 years has left the surgery I have been attending, I have seen other doctors during that time but I have always gone back to him and have been seeing him since my PN symptoms started. I knew he was leaving but did not know when, I rang this morning to make an appointment and was told he had left and I could see him at two locations both are a fair way away and would take me from 3/4 hr to 1 1/2 hrs to see him depending on where I go. I guess if my condition got worse then I would make the journey but for every day things I now have to find a new doctor who I guess I will have to now explain to him/her what I have been going through for the past few years. It is going to take awhile to find a doctor I can trust and who also understands me and what I am going through. Oh well wish me luck.

I do wish you luck. Would the doctor you've been seeing be able to recommend someone closer for you?

I don't know what it's like in your corner of the world, but I know it's very difficult here to find the right doc. Sometime ago I read an interesting article about actually interviewing potential doctors. It made a lot of sense. I can't locate it now, but did find these articles.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5602770_inte...ns-doctor.html

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/ma...ticlekey=47649

The medicine.net article even suggests setting up an "Interview" appointment. Maybe between everyone here, we could develop a list of interview questions for potential doctors. I'll start with mine. They deal with number of patients. I would prefer one with fewer patients, who would not be rushed during my appointment.

How many patients does the doctor have?
How many does he/she treat during an average day?
How much time does he/she spend with each patient?

I do hope you find a doctor you are comfortable with.

I did not think I would be looking for another doctor quite so soon but due to increasing pain which I have not experienced since I was working,( over a year now) so I decided to see another of the doctors at the local surgery that I attended.
I only went to get pain relief, he has ordered more blood tests, abdomen ultra sound and has also referred me to a neurologist (not sure of the waiting time) Oh and he also gave me oxycontin for pain relief. He does seem very through. I am going to have a busy week getting all these tests done, hoping something comes of all this.

I am so sorry to hear you have experienced increased pain. But also happy you have found such a thorough doctor.

Why the abdominal ultrasound? I've never heard of that for PN. I had one when I developed shooting pains down my thigh (meralgia paresthetica). Are you having problems with that?

Please keep us updated. I do hope they find a cause for your pain.

Thanks Plgerrard, The pain is more lower back, shooting down the hips and thighs and stinging feeling on my right knee, left knee feels if it is going to give way. It is funny you build yourself up feeling good about yourself, I met up with a former work mate and then went on and paid a visit to my old work, it was after this the pain started. I had throughts of going back when I had the pain under control and my body said no. I guess it will never truely be under control.

The Ultrasound I think is to check my liver, as my liver funtion test has been high, but had gone down on my last blood test. I had my blood test done today he is checking for a lot of things as the girl took about 8 viles of blood. Should have the results by Friday.

PN can sometimes be very cruel. I find myself constantly counting the good and bad days. And, it can be very disheartening when you have counted mostly good days for a long period of time, only to have the bad days come back with a vengance.

The pain you're describing sounds like sciatica.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sciatica

Has your doctor mentioned that?

Meralgia paresthetica also causes lower back pain and shooting pains down the thigh. Some have caused me to bolt upright from a sound sleep. Fortunately, it typically only affects one thigh. Knowing how painful even that it is, I feel for anyone with sciatica.

You really should check out the thread on magnets mrsD started a couple of weeks ago:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread118248.html

I started using them for my lower back/meralgia paresthetica, and the relief has been amazing.

I hope you get your answers soon, and get some relief from the pain.

Hi Plgerrard, Thanks for the links, the information on sciatica was interesting, I have no compression but do feel it is a nerve problem, when I first went on the cymbalta the pain seemed to go away but I say it is now back.

Regarding Magnets, I have a back brace with magnets on it, I wore it today when I went shopping, it does help a little but does nothing for the hip pain, maybe they are not strong enough, I will look into gettng some stronger ones.

I have an appointment with the doctor on Friday, hopefully my results will all be back and I might get some more answers.

I now have some good news. I have an appointment with a neurologist at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane on the 5th of July, so I hope I will be on the way of getting some answers then.

Some of my blood tests have come back, my liver function test is ok and my ultra sound was good, everything was normal which he said was unusual for someone my age.

Also my B12 levels have gone right up over 700, I am happy about that.

So mabe changing Doctors was not so bad after all, only thing is the long waiting time to see him, appointment was at 3.10pm, left at 5.00pm.

Think I need to take things easy for a while, just doing my housework and I have trouble walking the next day. Oh well thats life.

Leslie, that is wonderful. I'm so glad to hear that things are working out for the best.

And, I hope time flies between now and July 5th.

leslie,
I hope the new doc works out for you.
I don't know what traffic is like in your neck of the woods,
but around here, 45 mins drive is a one-way commute to work..... daily!
It takes me 1/2 hour to get to my PCP
and she's just on the other side of town.
So if the new doc doesn't work out, I think that 45 mins (1-1/2 hrs...two ways) is not too great an inconvenience.
I know that with waiting time in the doc's office, and tests and what-not,
it could shoot the better part of 1/2 day, but what the heck!
You get to see your doc.