Ok this is as much venting as asking 4 advice, and it's long

PowerOn

Hello.
I am feeling more then a little confused and angry with my doctors.
:? Major grumble on the way!!
I went to see an ENT specialist a few weeks ago due to a lump in my throat, he sent me to have a barium swallow - result is "you have changes in the vertebra in the neck due to the spondylosis you have with oestophytes (spelling bad but i think you will know what i mean) it is a degenerative condition and you should get physiotherapy and pain relief for it."
So I am now going to make an appointment with my gp to see a specialist.
Grumble part is, a few years ago I went to my gp with lower back pain, I rang the receptionist who read out the results of an x-ray, " you have 3 discs affected by spondylosis" I went in to see my gp who said it is, "normal wear and tear and nothing to be concerned about."
The next gp said I do not have spondylosis where did you hear that word from? you just have one disc that is a little worn."

So all this time I was cross at the receptionist (never said anything to her) thinking she had mis read my results, now the ENT doctor says I was diagnosed with spondylosis, "some years ago."

Do doctors always lie? (rhetorical no need to answer) in my experience that is a big yes. I have had several surgeries over the years and been in a few hospitals so i do know they lie to cover their mistakes.

I had an accident where I hurt my neck (whiplash) I had physiotherapy with out an x-ray and now wonder should the doctors knowing I had spondylosis in my spine been a little more aware and sent me for a neck x-ray before I had physiotherapy on my neck?

Right now I have pain in my neck, left hip, both knees (told last year I have rear foot varus so now wear insoles which help) fingers,wrists,back of neck, funny I have a lot of pain in the arm between the wrist and elbow a real ache, and other places. basically my joints hate me!

So the lump in the throat is worrying as it seems to have increased very quickly and I am wondering if these growths do take growth spurts?

I am 49 and try to keep walking and moving but some days I just sleep even after a good nights sleep I can fall asleep on the counch so do try to keep on the move.

I was also told I have fibromyalgia some years ago.

There are days I am too sore and tired to do much even house work so the place is a little abandoned.

I also have three children. two doing exams now and the eldest due to graduate and job hunting so I don't say anything to them if I can help it- they have enough to think about.

Right now I take lisinopril 5mg for high blood pressure and I have high cholesterol which one doctor says I need to take medication for another says I don't - I don't like medication so am trying to lose weight to get off the lisinopril.

I have taken anti inflammatory but they cause me stomach problems so have stopped them.

So I need to know if there is any way of knowing if the lump in my throat will keep growing and if there is anything to be done to stop it?

Also is there any medication that stops spondylosis or is it a case of nothing but pain relief?

My knees and hip are getting very sore now and I am wondering if in the future joint replacement is an option? my ankle is extremely sore but I have never heard of a replacement ankle joint.

Feeling a bit grumbley today as I always thought there wasn't anything wrong that exercise and positive thinking could beat, the pain is showing me otherwise which is very annoying as I really am afraid of side effects from medication.

An extremely annoying thing, which from reading posts here seems to be a sympthom of spondylosis, is the constant twiches, right now my arm is twiching giving the feeling of being poked by someone, very annoying.

All help and advice very gratefully accepted,
Rant over.



Thank you.

pinkbritishstars

No advice but plenty of hugs xx

PowerOn

pinkbritishstars That is very sweet and Hugs to you as well.

hileena111

Sorry not a lot of advice.....but one question
The anti inflamms that were upsetting your stomach......were you taking a stomach protector.....eg omneprozol????
I didnt realise this until i came on this forum....doc hadnt suggested it. I asked him to which he replied....Oh well I suppose if you want it I'll prescribe it
Needless to say am with a different GP now
Love
Hileena

PowerOn

hileena111
I didn't know there were stomach protectors!
aren't doctors a wonderful sub species- sorry to the exceptions who must be good at their jobs but I have yet to meet any.
Have to go, will be back tomorrow.
Good Luck everyone.

hileena111

Hi
Well you ask your GP the next time you are there......I didnt know there was such a thing before reading it here
Possibly hear you tomorrow
Love
Hileena

barbara12

Hi
And a warm welcome to the forum, but Im sorry you had to find us in the first pace, you are right about GP they all seem to have different views,
I found out this to my cost many years ago.
I really wish I could offer you some advice, but hopefully someone will be along very soon that can,
Has for there being any new drugs around there are a couple that are being tested has we speak , one of them is used to treat osteoporosis.
I do hope you stay with us, its so good to talk to people that understand some of what you are going through
Just one more point have you seen a rheumy, they could check for fibro
You take care xx

suzygirl

Hi, doctors do have different opinions so go with the doc you trust. Doctors can be quite dismissive of spondylosis but I have cervical and lumbar and know how painful it is.

I would be asking my gp for instant pain clinic referral and maybe an ortho, if the spondylosis is affecting your throat you need to know all your options. You can always take someone with you to the appt, it makes them take it more seriously.

Physio do give exercise to keep you moving which help a lot, important not to overdo it.

You can get help, that will make a difference.

Take care

Heather65

Hi and welcome,
sounds like your having a badtime at the mo doctors can be useless at times you just got to keep on at them you should be able to know what is in your records ,ive got neck problems to and get by on meds rest and my chiropractor helps .
Its good to come on here and have a moan i do find its helps we can all sympathise

elnafinn

PowerOn wrote:

hileena111
I didn't know there were stomach protectors!
aren't doctors a wonderful sub species- sorry to the exceptions who must be good at their jobs but I have yet to meet any.
Have to go, will be back tomorrow.Good Luck everyone.

Hi PowerOn

As I understand it a few combination drugs do include an NSAID plus a stomach-protective drug. If not, a stomach protector should be prescribed.There is a choice, Lansoprazole, Omeprazole and I believe there are a couple of other ones too.

Elna x

stickywicket

Hello again PowerOn. You have a lot on your plate and I really don’t think I can help at all with the bony growth thing. I have had arthritis in my neck for years – it doesn’t move much now – but no lump in throat thing, although I do scare anaesthetists

What I don’t quite ‘get’ is if the pain in your hip, knees, fingers and wrists has been diagnosed. If so, are you taking anything for it? In your situation, I think I’d want to be. When you were taking anti-inflams, did you also take a med to protect the stomach? If not, you could ask to try them again but, this time, with omeprazole or lansoprazole.

Future joint replacement for your hips and knees (and ankles – yes, they do them) will depend on what’s causing the pain. If osteo arthritis has set in then replacements are likely at some stage. However, going by what you’ve written, I guess your pain could be either muscular or referred from your back, in which case there’d be no point.

Exercises and positive thinking will get you a long way but you need to know exactly what’s going on, otherwise you could do more harm than good with the exercises.

I hope someone else can give you better advice with the spondylosis thing.

PowerOn

Thank you so much everyone.
I think this, "Exercises and positive thinking will get you a long way but you need to know exactly what’s going on, otherwise you could do more harm than good with the exercises."
Is my main worry, I do tend to get active (more so in the past) and shrug pain off which is going to have to change, ignoring it has not made it go away.
Pilates did really help with the lower back pain and even cured my Sciatica Pain but I had to stop the group classes as there were too many exercises that hurt my neck and foot.

I do exercise at home now, lazy sit-ups etc.
I also stopped quite a few other activities that were causing problems, cycling was murder, real shame.

I went into my doctors surgery to make an appointment only to be told on Wednesday 13 that I can not have an appointment as, "the booking system is not up yet for July and you are not able to come in for the appointment available on the 29th of June."

I am going to look through the site to see what to expect as I will tell the doctor I need to see a specialist.

Due to the last doctor telling me I do not have Spondylosis ( the gp a few years ago not the recent ENT) although the x-ray report showed I have I will ask first what the ENT specialist said, just to see what the gp says.

As for pain meds I hate taking any meds as I'm sure we all do, just wondering, recently I had to take powerful painkillers due to a dental abscess, the dental pain went but the pain in my knees was unaffected, arthritis pain killers work in a different way or are much more powerful?

The painkillers for the abscess spaced me out what on earth do arthritis meds do??????????

elnafinn

Hi PowerOn

I just read that you are doing sit-ups, lazy or not.... I had an op at the top of the spine and asked the surgeon about sit ups, and he told me, no not advisable due to too much strain on the neck. I now do other daily exercises that kinda achieve the same thing but my neck is not involved.

Surely at your pilates you could have mentioned to the teacher that some movements caused discomfort for you and she/he could have given you others to do instead perhaps?

Elna x

PowerOn

Hi Elna,
I think you are right about sit ups and neck strain, I do them while in a seated position and just use my stomach muscles to pull myself up a few inches and stay there, I can feel my neck tighten as I do them so I relax my shoulders as much as possible, will have to do until I get some new exercises to do.

In the pilates class the instructor just said to sit out the exercises that were too much for me, was not a good suggestion as I was sitting out too much of the class and was getting funny looks. Prefer to do the exercies at home.

dreamdaisy

I think it true to say that arthritis pain never completely goes, it just becomes a little more tolerable when pain relief is consumed. I have 38 arthritis-affected joints, four of which also have osteo-arthritis and pain is my constant companion. You get used to it. I take the meds to ensure that I have a reasonable quality of life as that is what counts and I know that without them I would not be able to do any where near as much as the little I can currently manage. I don't know much about spondylosis (apart from the fact it must be miserable) that is something for the docs to deal with, and I hope you can get some help sooner rather than later. DD

PowerOn

Hi dreamdaisy,
I am trying to get an appointment with my gp to be referred to a specialist, it is a slow process, i have to wait two weeks to be able to make an appointment with my gp, then I will have to wait for my gp appointment.
I think my surgery does not allow patients to make appointments more then two weeks in advance so they can say they have no one waiting more then 2 weeks for an appointment.
If they have no appointments within 2 weeks of you requesting one they tell you to call back in two weeks time to make an appointment, they refuase to make one at the time, It must be a way to get round waiting list times.
I called in a few days ago and was told I would have to call back on the first week of July, I am going in again today to see what they say.
I hope you have found some meds that agree with you and are effective as the two do not always seem to go together, good luck.