Have any of you experienced the following. After tests that do not show anything and are mostly normal that the docs say that it is pyschosomatic. I only ask this question now as if you do not fit neatly into a diagnostic category then it is 'in your head'. It has not happened to me as such but I was just thinking back to a resp doctor who was called for a consult for my resp problems but took it on himself to note that my pain did not seem to be organic and he could not explain. He then went on to suggest that other docs needed to look at my psych make up and that I was demanding more analgesia than on pre surgery - yes well on virtually none pre surgery as problems with opiates, so not hard to be on more, plus cons told me I must take pain meds and ask and not suffer in silence. So he implied I was a hospital hopper, a malingerer, wanted drugs or and possibly munchausens!! Charming doctor, he never said this to me but put it in writing to a doctor. Thankfully I was told so that could complain as it could have had devastating effect on rest of treatment etc..Needless to say I do not see him for resp care!!

Also asked as I read a very interesting article I think cited on forum (very long) about the prevalence of diagnosing or referring to psychiatrist and dismissing pain as actual just because they cannot find something wrong. As it stated if a fisherman goes out to sea and returns with no catch, it does not mean there are no fish in the sea!!

Also the article stated that the more intellectual and less likely to say yes doctor and agree the stated treatment the more likely you are to be cited as being non compliant and unhelpful with many doctors BUT not all - thankfully!!
Sorry if slightly off topic but interesting I thought.

Best wishes my forum friends
Hx

I had an incident, years ago, before surgery when I was trying to get dianosed where a neurologist told me there was nothing wrong with me and to get on with my life. Was not the answer and did not help at all. Never went back to him again. After disc surgery I needed more meds and I believe they thought just looking for prescriptions until finally diagnosed with TOS and the proper surgery performed. I don't want to take too much medication but when you are in pain, there is not much else to do. Depending on your diagnosis and doctor recommendations. But it is tough to have a doctor tell you there is nothring wrong when you know there is. Thanks. Linda

I know exactly how you feel- the first PM dr. that I was ever sent to- and I don't mind stating this at all- was a QUACK as far as I'm concerned, plain and simple. Since he couldn't "see" anything wrong with me, or the MRI's didn't show anything, etc. (you know the drill), then I must be making this up and looking for drugs, even though I told him from day one that I did NOT want to be on any narcotic drugs (I didn't need them then and don't need them now). He was an *****. He didn't believe me until a CT scan that he grudgingly ordered (just to pacify me), came back with a radiologist's report of small cervical ribs and he said, "hmmm, there may be something here that explains your weakness of your arm and dropping things," although he never once apologized- naturally. Several years later, I was in a wreck and not being at fault, I had to deal with the other person's insurance to get them to pay my chiro's bills and they gave me a hard time, and requested all my drs. records to "review" and I also got a copy of them. In my PCP's records, there was a copy of a report that this PM dr. sent to her and in it he states "that there appears to be nothing obvious wrong with this patient and that he feels that I am drug-seeking".....To say I was LIVID would be an understatement. So now that sits in my permanent medical records and as far as I know there's nothing I can do about it because he's the dr. and was just reporting what he felt was true, even though there's no other report from any of my other drs. mentioning anything like that.

Hi Hx,

sorry to hear your troubles....I too have had this disgusting response from ignorant doctors. I have had docs tell me to go and live in pain....UNACCEPTABLE !!!!!!! What was that very clever quote from a good movie.....stupid is as stupid does????? did I get it right??

At any rate idiots the bleeding lot of them! Need a new referral to a doctor who actually worked with pain to get a degree... coventry has a good pain center do they not???
http://www.iasp-pain.org/AM/PrinterT...ContentID=1293
http://www.nbpa.ac.uk/
http://www.tamethepain.co.uk/Therapy...ment/index.htm

do these help???
can I do anything else...please let me know I would be happy to do what I can for you.

love and gentle hugs,
Victoria

Yeah- Forrest Gump- "stupid is as stupid does"- one of my FAVORITE quotes- I use it quite often. Sadly, there's alot of STUPID in the world, namely some drs.

My TOS was caused by a medical procedure where they screwed up. During the lawsuit which followed they actually tried to blame the problem on the fact that when I was 5, in 1969!!, I broke my collarbone! They gave me doctor releases for doctors I had never even heard of! Between doctors and lawyers it was a pain. My lawyer was great. My favorite statement, during depositions became "I do not recall". Can't get in trouble with that one!

Good Luck! Linda

Ditto from Australian dr's. I was told I am a obese (I am 163cm and 72 kg, chubby yes, obese NO), depressed mother of 3 who has muscular problems, thats the opening line of a insurance DR's report. Ha, what a a...hole. I was then told by my own Dr that "he fails to believe what im telling him" refering to weakness / pain in my hands. Then I paid for my own MRI, ultrasound and Doppler studies and wouldnt you know it guys......Bilateral thorasic outlet syndrome and C5-6 central disc protursion abutting the exiting left side C6 and C7 nerve roots. Muscular problems sounds so much easier! Who thinks I should send those 2 Dr's a copy of my results???? I also seen a insurance Dr yesterday who informed me that if I can get out of bed I can go to work....spoke over me at all times....then told me he is suprised that some of the specialists I have seen havnt asked me to be their final exam patient! as I am a challenging patient. Another A...hole. Not much support down here im afraid.

Take that MRI report to those drs. and MAKE THEM EAT IT.....

Not only have I dealt with plenty of s%@& as far as TOS is concerned, several years ago I was having what 5 other drs. said were classic gallbladder symptoms. I was referred to a gastroenterologist who put me through all the tests. The scan came back showing my gb was functioning at 30-something percent, which they consider normal So, after that, the gastro and the surgeon that I begged my PCP to refer me to, told me that there was nothing wrong with my gb because that test said so.....(You know where I'm going with this don't you....). I finally convinced the surgeon to just TAKE IT OUT and surprise surprise, he came out and told my husband that I was right- the gb was diseased....Imagine that....

I've not had a doctor come right out and say that its all in my head, but I've had 1 neurosurgeon poke a little bit, decide that it was an ulnar nerve compression and want to operate (all in ~30 min). I'm pretty sure that he thought the rest of my pain was all in my head. Needless to say, I never went back to him. ANOTHER neuro I saw couldn't make heads or tails of the normal and abnormal results of the EMG, Nerve Conductivity tests, etc, and thankfully had the sense to refer me to my PM - who immediately noticed the discoloration, temp differences and muscular differences in my 2 arms/hands. Anyways.... I did have a PT "friend" say that he thought it was all in my head...... and he had a teacher that thought and shared w/ the class that RSD and TOS were both BS dx...sort of a Dx of last resort.

Oh.... and people around me (not all of them, but still) - i get those "you look healthy, why do you have to ....." looks all the time. My mother in law asked my wife if I had a "problem" with my meds. Arrggggggggggh. People just don't get it i think.... 10 tylenol a day isn't healthy!! Months ago, someone posted their response to the question "How are you today?" since many people ask it as a courtesy, not really caring that a,b,c,d,e,f,g are all hurting/not working today. best response (i think) was "No better, no worse." If they DO care, then they'll ask for more details.

Sorry to say this, but I believe it is just "par for the course". I went 4 years before I was finally diagnosed with TOS. There are so many doctors out there that don't even believe in TOS. Because of that I am not a good canidate for surgery. It made me so mad when a couple of the docs said there was nothing wrong with me, or maybe it was hormonal or I should see a shrink. Even after I got diagnosed and had to go and see w/c docs it still continued. The way that I look at it is, I knew something wasn't right, and I was in so much pain. So I continued until I found a doc who believed in me.