I started having neck pain a couple of weeks ago, which turned into neck, shoulder and arm pain. Doctor said likely a pinched nerve, sent me for x-rays which I got done a couple of days ago. Doctor is on vacation for another week or I'd just discuss the following issue with him.
I looked at my old MRI report from about a year and a half ago. The neurologist didn't see it as important to tell me that I have moderate-to-severe narrowing of the spinal canal in my neck due to bone spurs causing flattening of the spinal cord. The person interpreting the results suggested a dedicated cervical MRI series to look at it more closely. Instead the doctor chose to lecture me about my weight (and just to be petty, this woman was much heavier than I am!) and tell me to get my thyroid nodules checked. I assumed that meant my spine was okay. Turns out this is a serious issue that can lead to quadriplegia resulting from minor impact (tripping and falling, car getting rear-ended, etc). It also turns out that nerve damage in this area can be permanent, so even if I retain the use of my limbs, this godawful pain might never go away (the cord compression is in the same area as the nerves that cause this kind of pain and the pain goes away depending on how I hold my head/neck so I doubt it's unrelated).
I left a message for my doctor asking him to look at the MRI report as well as my xrays when he got in. But now I'm going to have anxiety about this until my doctor gets back. I know that waking up paralyzed is extremely unlikely, but it can happen, and as we all know, that can be enough to set us off.
This is also just frustrating as well. My mother's been in the hospital for diverticulitis - she lives with me and the usual outcome of this is that one of us can take over the other's functioning when one of us is laid low by health issues. Now instead she's just irritated with me for not being able to do thing. I'm not especially enjoying just lying around, either. I'm annoyed that my doctor didn't mention his upcoming vacation when I was at his office right before it began. I think the pain might be getting a bit better or else I'm just getting used to it, but another week like this still isn't a fun idea. And I'll be pissed off if all of this could have been avoided if I'd gone to a better neurologist in the first place.
I looked at my old MRI report from about a year and a half ago. The neurologist didn't see it as important to tell me that I have moderate-to-severe narrowing of the spinal canal in my neck due to bone spurs causing flattening of the spinal cord. The person interpreting the results suggested a dedicated cervical MRI series to look at it more closely. Instead the doctor chose to lecture me about my weight (and just to be petty, this woman was much heavier than I am!) and tell me to get my thyroid nodules checked. I assumed that meant my spine was okay. Turns out this is a serious issue that can lead to quadriplegia resulting from minor impact (tripping and falling, car getting rear-ended, etc). It also turns out that nerve damage in this area can be permanent, so even if I retain the use of my limbs, this godawful pain might never go away (the cord compression is in the same area as the nerves that cause this kind of pain and the pain goes away depending on how I hold my head/neck so I doubt it's unrelated).
I left a message for my doctor asking him to look at the MRI report as well as my xrays when he got in. But now I'm going to have anxiety about this until my doctor gets back. I know that waking up paralyzed is extremely unlikely, but it can happen, and as we all know, that can be enough to set us off.
This is also just frustrating as well. My mother's been in the hospital for diverticulitis - she lives with me and the usual outcome of this is that one of us can take over the other's functioning when one of us is laid low by health issues. Now instead she's just irritated with me for not being able to do thing. I'm not especially enjoying just lying around, either. I'm annoyed that my doctor didn't mention his upcoming vacation when I was at his office right before it began. I think the pain might be getting a bit better or else I'm just getting used to it, but another week like this still isn't a fun idea. And I'll be pissed off if all of this could have been avoided if I'd gone to a better neurologist in the first place.