Almost everyday I get a new patient who “has tried everything” but is still in pain. It doesn’t matter where they hurt, the story of how they got to my office is almost always cookie cutter.
They hurt somewhere, went to their doctor who handed them a prescription for pain pills, maybe an anti-inflammatory as well. Sometimes they’re given a script for physical therapy. After several months they feel better, but they are limited in their activities, or the pain returns. Many more months go by and then years. Finally, they return to their doctor who tells them they need to live with it or perhaps get an operation.
I remember one patient being told by his doctor that he is in pain himself all the time and just lives with it.
How would you ever expect to get your condition corrected if your doctor doesn’t know how to fix his/her own problem?
It’s at this point that someone recommends to them getting a second opinion from someone who does not treat with pills. Reluctantly they schedule an appointment in my office.
Once I examine them and explain their problem and what can be done, they have a ray of hope that my approach of correcting the underlying condition is a more logical approach than trying to cover up their pain.
Turning off the body’s inherent pain signal that something is wrong is a pathway for long term prescription meds, possibly opioids, and inevitably a continual path of joint and muscle destruction.
Don’t let this happen to you or the people you care about.
BTW – Why did the first doctor not treat the problem and only try to mask the pain? That’s another story.