I had posted this on a different forum while waiting to be activated... Here is my story.
Hello everyone, I am a new member that has been battling with what I think is a Kyphotic curve in the cervical part of my spine since I was in my teens. I am writing this to not only vent, but to help find answers and what I should be doing.
I have always known my back was ‘different’, even when I was a kid. There was always a little hump in my upper back/neck area. It wasn’t until I was 12 years old that I found out it was kyphosis through my middle schools physical testing. However, being 24 and since then, I have yet to be diagnosed by a physician.
I began seeing a doctor about my back ‘problem’ when I was 21. Initially I complained of back pain that had been going on for several years and told him I think I have kyphosis. I ended up receiving x-rays, but only of my cervical spine. The test turned out fine. This, in my opinion, is due to the fact that my whole spine was not x-rayed, the cervical area still showed a natural ‘j’ shaped curve, and without a whole x-ray of my spine extreme forward head posture could not be established. However, my doc did prescribe me hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflammatory medications. All of which I have been taking since then are barely helping with the pain. He did however send me for a referral to a spine specialist and to have an MRI done. I was however not able to do this because my health insurance expired due to my father’s loss of a job.
Fast forward to now. So between 21 and just a few months ago, I felt helpless! I did not have medical insurance and here in the states, if you have a pre-existing condition forget about trying to get medical insurance, it is literally impossible!! At the beginning of the year, I was put on to my father’s Kaiser Permanente health plan. It was a miracle! I finally felt that this was it, that I would be diagnosed, taken through the process, and finally treated! Boy was I wrong!
Kaiser Permanente physicians are crap! If you guys/girls are not familiar, Kaiser is its own Hospital/Plan in itself where you can only use Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and Physicians. So, I set up an appointment immediately. My initial appointment was a physical and to tell my doc about my problems. When I told her the meds I was on and how long I have had this problem, she got pissed! She told me I need to get off those meds now and that I am too young to be taking those. I immediately told her no, I need to be referred to a spine doctor. This didn’t happen. I was referred to a pain specialist. A few weeks later, I go in to the pain specialist, I tell him the same thing. X-Rays are given, and what do you know, nothing again! After years of waiting, the same thing again? Everything is supposed to be fine with me? They did x-rays, supposedly of my whole back, but I have yet to see them to this day. He then refers me to back and neck therapy classes. This just pissed me off! How are you going to send someone to a therapy class to try and rehabilitate them from something when you don’t even know what that something is!!!! So these classes, which I have been doing to this day, have been little to no help.
I mean I have no jaw-line anymore and my face has changed over the years, no one even recognizes me!!! My neck and back are killing me!
Today, I set up an appointment from two weeks from today. What do I ask? What do I tell him? Do I ask for an MRI? Do I take a look at my x-rays? I am in pain 24/7 and have been for years and years and I just want it to stop!! I feel hopeless! The 20’s are suppose to be your growing years and I feel like my life is dead stopped because of this pain that is becoming worse throughout the years!
Please Help! PS…. Sorry for the long-winded intro!
Hello everyone, I am a new member that has been battling with what I think is a Kyphotic curve in the cervical part of my spine since I was in my teens. I am writing this to not only vent, but to help find answers and what I should be doing.
I have always known my back was ‘different’, even when I was a kid. There was always a little hump in my upper back/neck area. It wasn’t until I was 12 years old that I found out it was kyphosis through my middle schools physical testing. However, being 24 and since then, I have yet to be diagnosed by a physician.
I began seeing a doctor about my back ‘problem’ when I was 21. Initially I complained of back pain that had been going on for several years and told him I think I have kyphosis. I ended up receiving x-rays, but only of my cervical spine. The test turned out fine. This, in my opinion, is due to the fact that my whole spine was not x-rayed, the cervical area still showed a natural ‘j’ shaped curve, and without a whole x-ray of my spine extreme forward head posture could not be established. However, my doc did prescribe me hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, and anti-inflammatory medications. All of which I have been taking since then are barely helping with the pain. He did however send me for a referral to a spine specialist and to have an MRI done. I was however not able to do this because my health insurance expired due to my father’s loss of a job.
Fast forward to now. So between 21 and just a few months ago, I felt helpless! I did not have medical insurance and here in the states, if you have a pre-existing condition forget about trying to get medical insurance, it is literally impossible!! At the beginning of the year, I was put on to my father’s Kaiser Permanente health plan. It was a miracle! I finally felt that this was it, that I would be diagnosed, taken through the process, and finally treated! Boy was I wrong!
Kaiser Permanente physicians are crap! If you guys/girls are not familiar, Kaiser is its own Hospital/Plan in itself where you can only use Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and Physicians. So, I set up an appointment immediately. My initial appointment was a physical and to tell my doc about my problems. When I told her the meds I was on and how long I have had this problem, she got pissed! She told me I need to get off those meds now and that I am too young to be taking those. I immediately told her no, I need to be referred to a spine doctor. This didn’t happen. I was referred to a pain specialist. A few weeks later, I go in to the pain specialist, I tell him the same thing. X-Rays are given, and what do you know, nothing again! After years of waiting, the same thing again? Everything is supposed to be fine with me? They did x-rays, supposedly of my whole back, but I have yet to see them to this day. He then refers me to back and neck therapy classes. This just pissed me off! How are you going to send someone to a therapy class to try and rehabilitate them from something when you don’t even know what that something is!!!! So these classes, which I have been doing to this day, have been little to no help.
I mean I have no jaw-line anymore and my face has changed over the years, no one even recognizes me!!! My neck and back are killing me!
Today, I set up an appointment from two weeks from today. What do I ask? What do I tell him? Do I ask for an MRI? Do I take a look at my x-rays? I am in pain 24/7 and have been for years and years and I just want it to stop!! I feel hopeless! The 20’s are suppose to be your growing years and I feel like my life is dead stopped because of this pain that is becoming worse throughout the years!
Please Help! PS…. Sorry for the long-winded intro!
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