[at-l] Hiking related health question

[atrailhiker at adelphia.net (Marsha)]

Jim:
Insist he run tests, or get another opinion. It's your body and your 
pain. PAIN MANAGEMENT my butt. Let's hope it's not serious. I want to 
see you in the Daks some day.

Marsha
I asked the doctor in my house :)

Jim Bullard wrote:

> I know some on the list have also had back problems and a few have 
> worked or do work in the medical field and this relates to my ability 
> to hike so I'm looking for opinions.
>
> About 3-4 years ago I had a mishap on my motorcycle (lost it on a 
> curve) and ended up face down on the road. There weren't many places 
> on my body that didn't hurt the first few minutes but most settled 
> down quickly so that the two biggest pains were in my left ankle and 
> right hip. By the time I went to the ER (I rode the bike home first) 
> my hip didn't hurt so much and the only thing they x-rayed was my 
> ankle which was sprained but not broken.
>
> 2 years ago I had a pain in my right hip after spending some time 
> kneeling in the cold fixing some Christmas lights. When I went to the 
> ER (on Christmas Eve) all they did was ask where it hurt, poke around 
> and give me progressively stronger pain killers until I was able to 
> stand and walk out. They "thought" it was probably a pinched sciatic 
> nerve. My doctor later seconded that a few days after poking my hip 
> and sent me to PT.
>
> About 2 weeks ago I began having pain in the hip again. It peaked last 
> week. Today the doctor said that it was a definitely a pinched nerve 
> due to deterioration of the disks in my spine and that treatment is a 
> matter of "pain management" not cure. He also said that hopefully it 
> will get somewhat better as the weather gets warmer and I lose more 
> weight. He told me to walk but don't walk uphill and if it gets worse 
> he can refer me to a pain management clinic.
>
> So here is the question: Is it actually possible to make such a 
> diagnosis without ever taking one x-ray, CT scan or MRI? I don't want 
> to call the guy a liar but I don't understand how he can diagnose 
> deterioration of my spinal disks without ever looking at them.
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