What are my options? Impossible to get anything straight out of drs anymore

[Hooch]

All that is likely going on as with most cases of severe functionally incapacitating back pain is you've got some bad arse annular tearing going on, but on the MRI all you see is a typical grey disc with reasonable height.

Typically this is why people with severe incapacitating back pain are palmed off, as you cannot image annular tearing reliably without discogram and dye, and if you're doing that you're considering surgery.

As for the patient expressing intolerable pain, well the good doctor didn't go to med school for x years to have to listen to someone of such a lowly status as a patient.

Your doctors are unfortunately incompetent and you're going to have a find a way around them to get diagnosed let alone any possible surgery.

I'm sure lots of people on this website and others can give you names of more up to date spine surgeons.

I don't how long it's been this bad, but the acute stage can last longer than this arbitrary made up 3 month limit. If the condition has been degenerating slowly and is chronic then the outlook is a bleaker.

Good luck.

[Maria]

an annular tear I have to say I've lived thru one that hasn't actually progressed any further and stabilized enough not to be a major pain generator. I've had it since my early 30's and it was greatly painful in my early 40's tho that didn't really last that long compared to all the other back pain probs I had ESP a failed percutaneous discectomy at L4 that changed my episodic pain to horrific chronic pain 24/7 which lasted 5 years in an acute stage also gave me burning neuropathies (severe) from waist to feet bilaterally and then after this severe pain let up I still had chronic low back pain and in both lower discs that had been surgerized (discectomies). They both bulged again and I was put on a low dose opioid medication, had 10 years worth of ESIs and 12 years of Neurontin 1800mg/day for neuropathies.

I was recommended to have more surgery by at least 4 spine surgeons who all more or less agreed on type of surgery but decided not to do anything else and to date I'm still very pleased with this decision.

Be careful whatever you do for whatever reason because you have to live with the consequences and they may be good, not so good or terrible. Either way.. the patient is the person that has to accept whatever condition we end up in and hate to say this tho I think for many it's true.. one spine surgery begets another, sooner or later . I'm not saying to not have surgery.. just to be as sure as you're able it's the right thing to do for the right problem.

[Spine Advocate]

Let's not mince words here. Many doctors are unethical and incompetent.

I found a great blog that exposes the spine industry. The Spine Blogger