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MRI & CT scans
These machines are relied on by GP’s and specialists to diagnose the cause of back pain, but the problem is the patient is lying down during the scans and as 99% of people with back pain get relief by lying down, I don't believe they show the actual extent of damage to the disc or nerves. There needs to be an MRI or CT invented to take scans whilst the person is sitting or standing, as this is when people with back pain suffer the most pain. From memory even Dr Cain agreed with this, if you imagine the disc in between each vertebrae in the spine as a ball, when the ball is stationary with no weight on it, it is perfectly round, but when you place weight on the ball the ball flattens and extends vertically. This is exactly what I believe happens to the discs in your back when you stand or sit so if the MRI or CT was taken when the weight was on the spine there would be a greater chance for a correct diagnosis.
Doctors
I used to believe modern day doctors have learnt all that needs to be learnt re the human anatomy and that everything except cancer was curable.
I now realise doctors are only human and just like the rest of us some are very ignorant of people suffering from pain etc, some are very understanding. There is still a lot that medical science has to learn about the human anatomy as an example only 50% of back pain is diagnosable and even then the diagnosis may be incorrect.
Doctors, just like the rest of us come from far different backgrounds, some become doctors because they want to help people, some because of the respect the qualifications bring.
Unfortunately today because of the changes the Howard government has brought in only very wealthy families will be able to afford to pay the massive fees that are now being charged by universities. This could be very bad for the future as children from wealthy families rarely see people suffering and are far more likely to be ignorant of peoples pain or suffering.
I have no doubt the lady at the pain clinic was from such a background and that is why she was completely ignorant of my pain, despite her qualifications and why she gave me no respect.
It was also very obvious that a lot of doctors I saw took a negative view of my injuries because they were from a car accident and I was trying to get an insurance payout.
While I was in the RAH I was also very concerned for the intern doctors one lady was on duty for 72 hours straight, there is no way a human can function properly after working for that long and I feel we need to regulate to stop interns working crazy amounts of hours at a time, which can only lead to serious mistakes for the patients and health problems for the interns.
I was also amazed at the amount of inaccuracies in the reports from the doctors, of course the insurance doctors were inaccurate but what astounded me was the reports from the pain clinic which read as if they had not believed a word I or my local GP and physiotherapist had said, and basically blamed me for my situation.
Doctors reports
While I expected the insurance doctors to down play my injuries and understate the disabilities they have left me with, what took me by surprise was the “normal doctors” reports which stated a bare minimum permanent disability. I confronted several of these doctors and they told me they “had” to state the absolute bare minimum disability for fear of being sued by the insurance companies, one doctor stated this was a much safer option as the patient would not be able to sue as no doctor would back a patient over another doctor. As an example one of the more generous insurance doctors said that at most I would have a 15% loss of function in my spine.
What also amazed me was the amount of inaccuracies in the reports which also just happen to down play my injuries and levels of pain. As an example at the pain clinic I described my pain as being like having someone constantly stabbing me in the back with a red hot knife and when the pain was at its worse, the knife was being twisted as they punched me or alternately like being hit with a sledge hammer whilst someone twisted a red hot knife into my back (these were the actual words I used) . The pain clinics reports described my pain as “a right sided upper lumber ache which was dull most of the time”.
I had worked nearly every day since I was 15 years old and for the first 5 years after the accident pushed myself everyday to complete my rehab exercises and hydrotherapy, but without any questions to me or anyone who knew me or questions to the physiotherapist who was overseeing my rehab, the pain clinics report stated “he was not exercising” and that they thought I should start exercising and doing hydrotherapy.
I could fill the next 5 pages listing inaccuracies just in the pain clinics report, but what really makes me angry is that they tried to say it was because of my depression and lack of motivation that I was suffering back pain when in truth I was highly motivated and had hundreds of witnesses to prove I had been exercising and doing hydrotherapy. My depression as I have previously stated was caused by my lack of progress and doctors which didn’t listen or believe what I was telling them. In fact the pain clinic also tried to blame “financial worries” and “family stresses” for the continuing pain in my back, which was completely wrong.
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