Worried I've reherniated
Posted , 3 users are following.
I had a laminectomy discectomy on June 12, 2018. Recovery went well except I had severe nerve damage so my recovery was a little slower than expected. On the weekend of my one year anniversary I had a yard sale and picked up a large tote I thought was light, but was indeed heavy. Immediately I had a shot of pain in my back and dropped it. The first couple of weeks after this I had intermittent, mild pain and figured I just strained my back and I was able to carry on with my normal activities. However, this last week has been excruciating and I have pretty much been bed ridden. I forced myself to carry on with daily activities, but it was excruciating. The last few days I haven't been able to do much and have had to use the walker to get around the house. Last Saturday I went to the ER and because it was a small hospital, they were only able to give me an x-ray, which showed advanced DDD, which I knew. They gave me a shot of toradol and decatron. I know that I had another herniation besides the one that got fixed during surgery, bone spurs, osteoarthritis, spinal stenosis, and nerve compressions. My husband has been laid off from his regular job and recently went back to work for much less money in the mean time, however, Medicaid states I would need about $5,000 in medical bills to be approved for Medicaid. We absolutely cannot afford to pay out of pocket to see my Neurologist and definitely can't afford an MRI, that I KNOW I need. My idea is to go to a major hospital ER and hope they give me an MRI and/or help me and use that bill and the other hospital bill to be approved for Medicaid. I hate to sound like I'm trying to play the system, but I do not know what else to do. The major hospital ER is the same one I went to last time and they did indeed gave me an MRI and they will be able to see that and the fact that I did indeed have surgery. I am just so fearful of being treated like a drug seeker and/or wasting my time and my Mama's time, plus it's a two hour drive and that will be excruciating. I have dealt with chronic pain for the last seven years, between this and women issues, but I have no received a narcotic perscription since after my surgery last year, until this Saturday. I have PTSD from being treated so badly over the years when I couldn't get my pain under control. I am a stay at home mother, who homeschools our daughter and I can't continue on like this. My symptoms are the same as before surgery, but last time it took four months for me to get to this point (barely able to walk from pain and weakeness in leg) and this time it has taken just a month. Any advice, encouragement, whatever would be greatly appreciated. Symptoms are pain in lower back on left side, pain in left hip, pain down left leg all the way to the foot, calf and parts of foot pins and needles, pain up to my ribs on left flank, and recently the last couple of days I have hurt from my toes to the top pf my head on the left side, tension and pain, including headache.
0 likes, 5 replies
TreasureNurse meredith1985
Posted
Hi Meredith, My name is Susan and I am an ER nurse. It sounds like you have re-herniated. You need to see your doctor immediately. Do not wait. More damage can happen to your nerves in your back and legs. I too have had many back surgeries after a car accident. So I know what you are experiencing. I have had several herniations and it sounds like lifting that heavy item may have caused some internal pulling on the surgical area. So don't wait to see your doctor. In the meantime use ice packs on your back. It will reduce any swelling and decrease pain.
meredith1985 TreasureNurse
Posted
I can't afford to see my neurologist that I seen before, because of my husband's pay decreasing by 2/3 recently. The neurologist I was seeing doesn't accept Medicaid, so I have to find a new neurologist who does accept Medicaid and then I have to have like $5,000 worth of medical bills to be approved for Medicaid. My only option would be to go to a large ER two hours away and hope they can give me an MRI and help with pain and perhaps that bill along with my other ER bill will help me qualify for Medicaid. I am taking hydrocodone 10/325 and Cyclobenzaprine and I'm still in severe pain, I am also icing. We are too poor to pay out of pocket or buy insurance, but apparently my husband makes too much to be approved for Medicaid without $5,000 in medical bills. I am stuck. 😦 Thanks for your professional opinion and reply. Just praying the Lord will help me figure out what to do. I do not know how much longer I can stand this.
Seafarer123 meredith1985
Posted
Meredith,
So very sorry to hear that you are in such pain and that you face such financial hardship as well. I think your idea of going to the ER of a large hospital in a nearby big city is a good one. ERs have an obligation to render aid without regard to your ability to pay. They also have a fiduciary responsibility to render an amount of care necessary to at least diagnose your problem, which in your case sounds like an MRI with contrast rather than simply X-rays.
It also sounds like you are far enough away (in time) from the time of the incident that hopefully the inflammation has reduced enough that the MRI will get a clear picture of whatever trauma may have occurred (keep icing aggressively to bring the inflammation down as much as possible. Also see if you can't get a doctor to prescribe a Medrol Dose Pack or some other type of steroid to help reduce the inflammation even more aggressively).
When you are in the ER, be sure to tell them that you have had surgery within the last year or so, and that you fear you did something that may have unraveled whatever was done to you surgically. The goal here is to not let them treat you like one of the many many people who come to them all the time with a strained back, for whom they give a shot of toradol and sent them home with instructions for bed rest. Make a stink that you think you really injured yourself and that your doctor will need to know the extent of the damage you may have caused.
Hopefully the ER will do the diagnostics themselves rather than refer you out to a clinic for the MRI.
Good luck. Also, I see you are taking Norco and a muscle relaxant - did they also give you a prescription for gabapentin? If you are having sciatic pain down to your toes, gabapentin can be a much better (and safer) drug to treat that kind of pain than a narcotic (I'm not saying replace the narcotic with gabapentin, it can work well in conjunction with your narcotics).
TreasureNurse meredith1985
Posted
Meredith, You may want to call a few Emergency rooms in your area to see if they do Emergency CT Scans and MRI's. Not every ER has the MRI machine. I learned that our new Emergency room has the latest MRI and CT capabilities, so that is the one that I use when I need to have an urgent scan. They always ask for money up front but you can tell them to bill you later. I have never received a bill for the times I had emergent CT's and MRI's. They cannot deny care. They have to stabilize your condition. So dont let finances stop you from seeking emergent care. Continual ice packs will take the pain down. I have a continual rotating supply of ice packs in the freezer to use whenever necessary since my fusion was done. I hope you find a facility that will offer top notch assessment of your condition. It is the tendency in an ER for the staff to become cold towards back pain patients because of the many drug seekers out there. Stand strong and dont allow any healthcare provider to play down what you are experiencing. I, as a nurse, had to continually remind them I was not wanting a script, but needed an answer to the source of pain when I re-herniated. Radiology then were able to find a fracture that the Imaging facility had missed. But the initial presentation of the staff was to play me down. When I let them know that I was a nurse and knew what I was talking about, they suddenly changed their presentation.
TreasureNurse meredith1985
Posted
Meredith, Also ask the billing staff in the ER to search the system for your application to Medicaid. They have the ability to converse with them and rapidly expedite your application. If you haven't applied, then have them do it from the ER. You will get faster results like that. If they say they cant help you, then ask to see the hospital social worker. Between the two of them they should be able to expedite the necessary paperwork that will get your casefile opened.