Monday, March 14, 2011

Living With Pain

Lots of people live with pain for a variety of reasons.  When your doctors can't figure out why you are in pain it's even worse.  Right before my plantar fasciatis got bad I went to my doctor complaining about lower abdominal pain severe enough to finally come in.  This was last June.  She sent me to a gastroenterologist who proceeded to perform numerous tests and found nothing.  He sent me to my gynecologist who looked at all my tests and she said,  you're post menopausal so it's not gynecological.  Lose weight.  Well, yeah I want to lose weight  but I was more interested finding out why I was in pain, by then it had been months.  Good news, you don't have cancer, but we don't know what's wrong with you.  I left depressed and  angry with her attitude.  At this point I decided to go back to my primary care physician and asked her to look globally at my pain and  lack of other  symptoms and see if she could look beyond what the specialists had looked at.  My pain is very close to the surface when palpated.  She thought about it and decided to send me to a woman who specializes in woman's urology  at Stony Brook Hospital.  It took several months to get an appointment with her but it turned out that she actually had a diagnosis and a treatment. She sees lots of women with this problem.  That was in December.  She was wonderful, one of those doctors who actually listen and pay attention to what you are saying.  I don't know that there is a medical name but she said that I have what's known as pelvic pain and  mine is muscular.  There are several other causes.

But, getting treatment turned out not to be so easy.  The two very specialized physical therapists she refers  did not take my insurance.  I could only find someone who could do external pt and the low dose valium I was taking  which was  working turned out to turn me into a zombie.  I couldn't focus and couldn't stay awake in the evening and had trouble waking up.  I didn't feel safe driving so I stopped taking it and called the office.  She prescribed  a larger dose to be taken internally once a day.  I won't go into details, but the generic form wouldn't dissolve.  The insurance company wouldn't pay for the brand name which does dissolve.  $100 for a drug that's been around for how long?  I am still waiting for their decision on whether they will  cover it.  Oh, and by the way during this we changed insurance companies and the recommended therapist takes the new insurance.   So for the last 2 weeks I've been finally doing the therapy my doctor recommended.  It's painful and exhausting and time consuming especially since the office is 30 minutes away.  Hopefully it will also work.

I decided to write about this because there must be other women who have the same problem and haven't found a diagnosis either.   My physical therapist said that her boss is working with a doctor doing research on this.  It's not rare, but the doctors I went to weren't aware of it.  There are medical centers where all your doctors are in one place and actually talk to each other.  If that had been my experience I doubt it would have taken 6 months to get a diagnosis. 

12 comments:

  1. Is there a name for your condition? I have a chronic bladder pain I keep under control with cranberry extract pills, I forget the name for it!

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  2. How frustrating. Pain is a serious sign that something is not right and should be taken seriously. I am glad that you are finally getting the attention you need, but sorry it has taken so long.

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  3. I am so sorry for you, hope everything is back to normal soon.

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  4. You have my sympathies, Nancy. What a frustrating medical journey! I am so sorry this has taken so long and hope this therapy does the trick. Therapy is such hard work but I am sure you can stick with it. I will email you as I have had a similar situation twice over the years. I'd rather not publicize.

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  5. I had a similar problem with pelvic pain. The dismissive and often rude attitude of doctors just about drove me crazy. I was told to "get on with my life" (yeah right) and more than a few times, I was made to feel guilty for expecting help.

    Eventually I did get help from a physical therapist who specialized in women's pelvic pain. The therapy I got sounds a lot like what you are describing and it did help, a lot. Unfortunately, the pain does return from time to time, but I'm able to control it with exercise and stretching.

    Anyway, I just wanted to add my comment because I know that problems like this are not common (or at least not commonly recognized and treated) and I wanted to let you know that PT can indeed be effective, at least in some cases.

    Betty

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  6. You must be ready to pull your hair out! I'm sorry you have to go through all of this, and hope that the outcome is positive.

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  7. Perseverance is key to jumping through all the hoops the medical establishment sets up. Glad to hear you are making progress. Have you tried any alternative methods, like acupuncture?
    I'm sending healing energy your way!!

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  8. Oh, Nancy, how awful! It's good that you persisted in seeking a diagnosis and remedy. Chronic pain is an awful thing to live with - it makes it impossible to "get on with life"!

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  9. You're right - pain is insidious, and when you don't know what's causing it, it makes it even worse. I lived with pain most of my life and now that I'm menopausal, it's gone. I hope you pain subsides and that you don't have to take (and pay for) debilitating drugs to cope with it. Glad you found the cause and also glad you can get help for it.

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  10. I sympathise with you. I am often sick and in pain and it took me 30 years to find out it was fructose, lactose and other misabsorbtions! Last year some time I also started to have pain in the pelvis but only on the right hip area. Lots of tests, nothing wrong. but since being diagnosed with the fructose problem and I stopped eating fruit, wheat etc, etc the pain has gone! It would seam that not only excess fructose can cause gastro problems but also muscle and joint problems. You get to the point that you just want to feel better, right? I hope you do soon :)

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  11. Hello Nancy , I am sorry to hear of your problems. I am a physical therapist in Australia where I work in general practise and also with women. I am fascinated to hear what your diagnosis is . I was rather interesed in you experiences with Valium . Here in Australia Valium isnt used so much anymore because it is highly addictive and using it, while it might produce muscle relaxtion in the short term can create a depenedency which is VERY difficult for some to overcome . Even used in a pessary I would be careful if I was you as this still goes into your system. Having chronic pain is very debilitating and can cause a real loss of confidence and even depression. I hope that you fare well with your treatment and that you bounce back soon . Regrds Mem

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  12. Nancy,
    I think your pain may be what my daughter has - too much info for her but if you email me, I can connect you and give you more info.

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