i know what yuou mean. are you on anythng to help you for pain???? hope you feel better soon.

my regular pcp doc prescribed ibuprofin and then ultram which neither worked very well so my other dr prescribed soma and that helped some but not a great deal. When i can afford to im going back in to request xrays of my entire back and neck there is something really wrong here its been 2 months already

Don't request X-RAYS - that only shows bone. What you need is an MRI - that shows bone AND the soft tissue like the discs, tendons, muscles, etc. This way you can see if you've herniated a disc or what. An X-ray will NOT show the discs. They are soft tissue.

When you are at home, use ice for 20 minutes every 2 hours, and believe me, that will help. NEVER use heat - that will make it worse. A neurosurgeon taught me this, and it made a world of difference.

Best of luck and let us know what your MRI says. God bless. Hugs, Lee

With my insurance company i have to go through the xrays first or they will never get the authorization for an mri

don't ya just hate insurence compines they rassion health care and then what you can get they don't pay for nothing. Well this is what I would do get the xrays done then demand an mri then take the mri to a really good nureosrugeon that does backs, ns seems to be better then orthos so stick with that. Then find your self a really good pain managment doctor, if you need help here's a good website that could help ya out
http://www.raceagainstpain.com/help/clinics.cfm?langid=1
hope ya get some relif soon

its funny you mention that. Cause my shrink for my depression and anxiety is going to email me a list of reputable pain dr's and im goin to eventually pass that by my pcp and see if i can see them after i can manage to get the mri

Boy ~ they could SAVE money by just doing the MRI. But no, they want to run *2* tests instead. That's an insurance company for ya. LOL

yeah no kiddin it really sux!

Hi Greg, nerve pain is terrible and the anxiety that goes along with it. I had back surgery 10 year ago and I am so glad I did. I want to encourage you to keep letting your dr know what is and is not working for you. If they give you something and not hear back from you they presume you are better. Become a advocate for yourself. Good luck and hang in there.

thanks i will try to remember that

Greg,
You have been given great advice. Get those X-Ray's, then get the MRI, whatever the MRI says, then go see a Neurosurgeon, and of course a pain management Doctor. The good news is that this can be taken care of, the bad news is that you have to deal with the insurance company! I've had both, a cervical fusion, and a lumbar spinal fusion, my cervical fusion turned out fantastic, the lumbar fusion did not, so do not listen to too many horror stories of surgeries out there, you do what you got to do for yourself, and take care.