MS doesn't cause pain?
 

So my back has been really bothering me for about a month or so. Not sure what the cause is. The vertabrae I broke 3 years ago, my inactivity over the summer, or something else and possibly worse.

I swallow my pride and go into the ER. Hoping to get a Xray, MRI, or whatever to see what's going on. The doc comes in and I bring him up to speed. I added that the VA considers MS a SCI (spinal cord injury) and from my own research I can see where they are coming from.

So he pokes and rubs and stuff on my back. We continue to talk back and forth about my past injuries and what may be causing this... but then he said it.:mad:

Yep, this egghead, God complex yahoo in this one horse town has the wontons to stand there and tell me that MS doesn't cause pain. I just sat there shaking my head and smiling for awhile as he rambled on with "neurological this and that and the nerves yadda yadda yadda if it were blah blah blah, etc."

He adds they can't do any MRI's or Xrays today and then I give him a verbal punch to the throat:

"It's OK. I tuned you out when you said MS doesn't cause any pain, so if you could just wrap it up now.":mad:x:cool:=MooseasaurusRex.

He popped his eyes and walked out.
Like I've said in a few posts, I don't care much for doctors (No offense DocJohn, you I like). We come to them hoping to get help in a time of need. And I swear I don't show up with a chip on my shoulder. How I feel about the proffesion doesn't get in the way of me still needing thier help.

So anyhow-itzer... It just reminded me of how many posts I've read from people that have had this said to them. I always thought to myself that if it were to happen to me and how I would react. TAH DAH!

And my back still hurts...

I would kick him for you , but my legs hurt. I do like your response though, and plan to use it, if I can remember it:o

:D

glad ya let him have it with both phasers set on stun.

ignorance in the medical profession, while understandable, is unforgiveable when they pontificate upon subjects of which they knoweth bupkis.

:(

OMG! What a .....well....you know!! I admire your ability to keep your composure though! I'm too much of a hot head with a big mouth!

OMG...I love your response...Muahahahahaha!!!!!:D

Oh, sorry about your back. :hug:

Would a brace help? My Bro swore by 'em.

Not sure, beautiful.
But thanks for bringing it up. I'll quiz the VA at my next appointment.

I did get to talk it out with the nurse who gave me a shot of something for pain. *Can't remember what it was now.

My first physical symptom of the MS was felling like splinters had been jabbed into my fingertips on the right hand. It slowly spead to my entire hand feeling like it was 'asleep'. Then up my arm and the entire right side of my body. That was my first exacerbation. It has subsided since then and isn't quite as bad.

Not whining, mind you. I'm actually glad he said it and prompted my response. Maybe he'll do a little more learning on the disease.

Doctors can be so irritating sometimes.

I told my Neuro that I wasn't going to start Tysabri because 1) it scared me and 2) I would have no way to pay for it.

His response to me was "Well, you know how I feel about that. Do what you want...this is a progressive disease. Come back in six months if you want to."

I'm going to look for a new Neuro. I don't need that kind of attitude along with my "progressive disease". And you don't either, Moose. If they can't open their minds a little and learn something from someone who actually has the disease then I have no desire to stroke their egos by taking their dimwitted advice.

Good for you for giving it right back to him. I've gotten brave and somewhat outspoken since I've been dx with MS. :eek:

MS DOES CAUSE PAIN CAUSE I LIVE IT!!!!!!!

Sorry Moose but when I hear that I just want to crawl out of my skin. Luckily I have a great neuro who sends me to a pain doctor that helps me tremendously.

I have suffered from MS related pain for about a year now. my muscle spasms cause sever pain at times and I do take medication for it.

I hope you find answers that help you with your pain. I'll be thinking of you:hug:

CLASSIC Moose! Just Classic! :D Good for you. Moose is armed and verbally loaded. :cool:

A doc told a friend of mine who was dying from non-Hodgkins lymphoma that cancer doesn't cause pain. So now we have TWO diseases that don't cause pain--MS and Cancer.

SOOooo..... if MS doesn't cause pain, then didn't the doc have a duty to investigate further since there HAD to be a cause for it that was other than neurological in nature? ;)

Moose, do you want a bunch of us to meet you around the back of the hospital, with baseball bats, and show that doctor how MS patients can cause pain??? (just kidding!!)

I hope that the pain that you "dont have" goes away soon, or that you can find a doctor that knows something about MS who will give you a Rx for it.

I have a very high tolerance to "normal" pain, i.e. NOT the neurological kind, so I can't say that I have really experienced any direct pain (that can be treated with pain relief) from my MS. I wonder how other's experienced their MS pain, other then migraines?

BUT, when it comes to neurological pain, there is no "pain relief" drug that really helps it, and I wonder if that was what he was trying to say. :confused: It's like a phantom pain, and pain killers have nothing to target to give relief. I could take narcotics 24X7, and it wouldn't make a pinch of difference to the pain that "I think" I feel.

I have used other drugs though, such as LDN and A/D's, that seem to help with some types of neurological pain, like spasticity. Heat also helps with that . . . but not pain relief meds.

I sometimes have had indirect pain from MS too, like pain from a bladder infection, or from sitting in a weird position to compensate for other pains, or from not getting enough exercise/stretching/having strong enough muscles due to lack of exercise (because of the MS), etc. Pain relief meds help with that kind of pain too.

I suspect what he was trying to say is that "neurological" pain is not helped by typical pain relief methods.

Either that, or he is a complete idiot.

Cherie

I vote for "idiot". :D

I vote for idiot or butthead or jerrrkoff or 'someone who DOES NOT HAVE MS', Kelly. Sorry about your pain and the pain in the *** you had to deal with Moose, I feel for ya buddy. :hug:

sorry about the subhuman life form you had the displeasure of meeting, careful with braces I got a lousy back too you dont want those muscles becoming dependent on the brace for temp they say its ok but i am a thinking you got a disc issue , so be careful, are they going to find the docs body:rolleyes::eek::rolleyes:

No no.
If I need someone to dissapear, there's plenty of hog farms in this area.
Plus he didn't anger me with his ignorance and arrogance enough to do that to him.

I was just hoping to get some pics of my insides to see what was causing it. Forgot to tell you, my Mom and me got hit in the rear at a stoplight back in April. (I told the doc about it.) So there's a couple of different factors that could be causing it.

I just wanna know which one is it and what do I do to fix it.
I even told him it's probably from being on my butt too much over the summer, I haven't been that active lately.

But I was hoping to give him all this info and then he takes the baton and figures out what it is. Just didn't happen that way.

No biggee. I'm following up on other options.
Moose always has a Plan B. :)

So he blew off your pain as something that MS doesnt cause, since he's under the mistaken belief that MS doesnt cause pain...but then didnt bother to try and figure out what the cause was?

So, he just doesnt want to be bothered with trying to figure out what's causing the pain, but he knows that it cant be the MS because "MS doesnt cause pain"??

That's crazy! I'd like to have some of these doctors feel what we feel for one day and then tell us MS doesn't cause pain, stress doesn't flare up MS and some of the various other things I've heard that some doctors, even MS specialists have said.

I have pretty bad back pain too and have been denied an MRI of my spine on a few occasions by my MS neuro even though I've never had an MRI of the spine. I go to see him tomorrow again for my 6 month check up. I'm trying again.

MS doesn't cause pain is old school thinking! He needs to attend the "new" school.

personally ... i think you should have told him to get his lazy butt out of the room and then ask, no demand, another doctor to examine you ... then if they don't want to tell them you want to speak to the charge doctor as most of the doctors in ER are resident doctors .... i would have thrown such a fit that some one would have taken care of my needs just to shut me up ... as frank ... i can drive a bat batty if i so put my mind to it ... lol

Moose, how come you aren't going to the VA for the pain and such? Are you rated through the VA? Just curious, you know me. Oh, just a FYI, Hines VA has SCI/SCD on their walls so not to confuse an injury with a disease anymore. Maybe your VA will get up to date on that someday too. lol

Hope you feel better soon!

PS: Next time that happens do what I did to a resident once. He told Jim a cystocopy wont hurt much. So I smiled and said "Have you ever had one?" He replied "No." I smiled again and said "Well, when your done with Jim, I will do yours, so next time you tell a patient what it will feel like, you'll know first hand."

He left Jim's case and we had a new resident. lol

My Bro had back spasms and the brace would keep him from making any sudden moves which would bring on a spasm. He wore it when he golfed..:rolleyes:

If your back goes into a spasm, it's best to keep it in one position for awhile, but, no, it's not a permanent fix.

"MS DOESN'T CAUSE PAIN!" You've got to be joking!!!! After so many years of nerve damage (32), mine has now turned into Central Pain Syndrome where it feels like ALL the nerves in my body are on fire and that "shockey" feeling we get with the L'hermittes goes on all over!!!! WHERE'S THAT NITWIT?????? And yes, the spasticity causes pain also, especially in the back. My neuro finally prescribed carbameclezine (sp?), the generic for Tegretol, for the nerve pain. It was like a miracle -- that burning pain was actually gone! To start, it was 1/2 tablet two times a day, but after a week I was so weak, could barely stand at all. Now I just take 1/2 tab. when it's an especially bad day. Like Cherie said, the NSAIDS, narcotics, etc. don't touch that pain. I do take two Aleve in the morning since I'm so stiff from the Fibromyalgia. Can't win!!!!

The pain management docs I went to around here had no solutions other than maybe acupuncture and the other things I'd already tried. Just my luck, an acupuncture needle would hit a nerve and make things worse. Kind of strange, all this type pain started while I was on Avonex back when a nurse, etc., had to give the injections. She sure hit something in my hip one time that made me almost go through the roof!!!! OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!! :(

Are we having fun yet? Good luck Moose -- I sure hope it's something treatable and you find the right person who will LISTEN!!! :)

They are my plan B. ('C' is going to see my old PCP about it).
The VA in Fayetteville is close to an hour away. And with all the vets in this area (Fort Bragg, Pope AFB), I figured I would have to wait for hours before seeing anyone. ---Elizabethtown ER had only one person in waiting room when I got there.

And yes, good comeback. We all need to remind individuals with these sort of jobs that lying to us doesn't make the procedure any easier.

:Thats-Funneh:

LOL, Love it!

Totally agree with the others. Thinking there's no pain with MS is so old school. You did a much better job than I would've done, Moose. Hope you feel better soon. :hug: