New Here! My Story And Questions On Pots

[Benny]

First off, I need to say MY NODULES WERE BENIGN AND MY THYROID WAS NORMAL!!!! I was so worried and every time a possible cancer diagnosis pops up I get a little bit more scared

What conservative methods have you tried? Chiropractic and Decompression would be the first two that come to mind. Surgery would be my absolute very last option after everything else available completely failed, especially at 23 years old.

Please, don't get me started on the quackery that is chiropractic "medicine" ... Sorry, sort of a sore subject for me I've known too many shisters and snake oil salesmen, as well as people who have been PERMANENTLY injured (as in now quads moving around with a breathing tube) due to chiropractic manipulation.

As far as conservative therapy...

I have had 3 months of physical therapy, including manual therapy (NOT THE SAME AS A CHIROPRACTOR, MANUAL THERAPISTS ARE REAL MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS) with muscle release, nerve release, stretching, strengthening, and time in the gym. Also, I have had FOUR-FIVE+ epidural steroid injections this year, none of which have helped the pain at all.

I have REALLY avoided ANY sort of surgery, but this herniation is bad enough that I really NEED a microdiscectomy to relieve the nerve compression and hopefully get rid of my leg, hip, and butt pain, as well as bit of my back pain in the process.

This is not some magic bullet that will cure everything, but this is a small step and a small operation to fix a structural problem and see from there how my symptoms and pain level change. I have put off surgery for 10 months, it is time and I CANNOT and will not live wit this level of pain any longer.

e telling me will happen! Thanks so much for your thoughts.

[Benny]

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Benny-

I second putting off back surgery as long as possible. I didn't see any rheumatology consults listed. The blood work they order tends to be very specialized. Given your age and back pain, I am thinking about Ankylosing Spondylitis. There is an association with AS and other autoimmune diseases and PoTS.

Obviously, I am not a doctor and I could be off base here but your description of flares and your costochrondoitis history lead me to think this should be investigated.

wishing you the best,

noreen

Thanks for the post Noreen! I am actually scheduled to see a rhuematologist first thing after my surgery is taken care of I have looked into AS a bit in the past, and will bring it up with my doctor.

Benny,

Just wanted to tell you that I also had a thyroid nodule found during my cervical MRI. What happened in my case was that I had to have a thyroid ultrasound and since the nodule was under a certain size (sorry I can't remember what that was), we just watched it. I had blood work to check out my thyroid function. Then I have had ultrasounds every 6 months for a total of 2 years and now we will watch it once more in a year and if it still hasn't grown, we will quit watching it.

Just wanted to tell you that sometimes the nodules are nothing to worry about. Hope yours turns out to be like mine and you just have to keep an eye on it.

Also best wishes for finding a doctor to treat your neck issues.

Babette

Exactly what they are saying for my nodules Thanks so much for your thoughts.

[Ashelton80]

First off, I need to say MY NODULES WERE BENIGN AND MY THYROID WAS NORMAL!!!! I was so worried and every time a possible cancer diagnosis pops up I get a little bit more scared

What conservative methods have you tried? Chiropractic and Decompression would be the first two that come to mind. Surgery would be my absolute very last option after everything else available completely failed, especially at 23 years old.

Please, don't get me started on the quackery that is chiropractic "medicine" ... Sorry, sort of a sore subject for me I've known too many shisters and snake oil salesmen, as well as people who have been PERMANENTLY injured (as in now quads moving around with a breathing tube) due to chiropractic manipulation.

As far as conservative therapy...

I have had 3 months of physical therapy, including manual therapy (NOT THE SAME AS A CHIROPRACTOR, MANUAL THERAPISTS ARE REAL MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS) with muscle release, nerve release, stretching, strengthening, and time in the gym. Also, I have had FOUR-FIVE+ epidural steroid injections this year, none of which have helped the pain at all.

I have REALLY avoided ANY sort of surgery, but this herniation is bad enough that I really NEED a microdiscectomy to relieve the nerve compression and hopefully get rid of my leg, hip, and butt pain, as well as bit of my back pain in the process.

This is not some magic bullet that will cure everything, but this is a small step and a small operation to fix a structural problem and see from there how my symptoms and pain level change. I have put off surgery for 10 months, it is time and I CANNOT and will not live wit this level of pain any longer.

e telling me will happen! Thanks so much for your thoughts.

That's a shame. Have you personally been to one and had a bad experience? There are definitely "quacks" in all profession as I've seen quite a few in conventional medicine as well. I would be careful blanketing an entire profession. Either way, I have been helped tremendously as have countless other people by chiropractors. I have been seeing one for 10 years and married one 4 years ago. I won't take your outlandish and careless comments personally though. Actually, an atlas orthogonal chiro (not my husband) along with salt and fluids has been the ONLY thing to give me relief from my POTS symptoms and pain that goes along with it.

Good luck with your surgery.

[Benny]

That's a shame. Have you personally been to one and had a bad experience? There are definitely "quacks" in all profession as I've seen quite a few in conventional medicine as well. I would be careful blanketing an entire profession. Either way, I have been helped tremendously as have countless other people by chiropractors. I have been seeing one for 10 years and married one 4 years ago. I won't take your outlandish and careless comments personally though. Actually, an atlas orthogonal chiro (not my husband) along with salt and fluids has been the ONLY thing to give me relief from my POTS symptoms and pain that goes along with it.

Good luck with your surgery.

I'm sorry if I offended you, but I stated right off that bat I'm not a fan of chiro's in my last post My previous post was not meant to be insensitive, or insight any sort of anger or hostility, and I'm glad you didn't take it that way! I'm generally a nice guy and like to be helpful and learn, listen, and on the flip side educate others whenever possible - so your reply was fine by me and I appreciate your comments.

I mean no disrespect and I do acknowledge that there are some chiropractic techniques that are beneficial to a multitude of conditions, however I disagree with the way the industry is ran and (not)regulated, as well as how patients are often treated like cash cows rather than real people with medical problems that might need addressed by a medical doctor as well. Chiropractics cannot fix everything, nor can traditional allopathic medicine, but if I had my choice between paying to have somebody with 8-12 years of medical training and somebody who just opened their own mom & pop back cracker store, I'm gonna stick with my docs

Anyway, to answer your question - yes I have had personal experiences with a variety of different chiro's, some nice genuine people who admit that they can't cure or even help everybody, and others who want to charge $80 a pop for a single view x-ray to "diagnose" disk problems or "subluxations" (which are darn near invisible by xray btw...) and collect a huge visit fee at the same time. I had a run in with one particular Chiro who is currently running his business, and a couple charities as well, into the ground due to bad business and a general lack of care for his patients and even his family. I also know that this particular Chiro reccomended to put me in traction (decompression) which in reality would have just accelerated the degeneration and open up the annular tears in my lumbar disks, herniating more than just my blown L5/S1 and L4/L5. Not everyone should be treated the same way, and people with DDD (current diagnosis) should NOT have tractional decompression (though inversion is OK and I have used it at home and at the gym a few times, but usually I just lay flat with my legs up on a medicine ball and tilt my pelvis 20* updward to releive the strain of my herniated disc on the left S1 nerve root).

On the other hand, I am very intrigued with Doctors of Osteopathy, and DO's are becoming a really integral part of the general pracitioner market. These people train along side MD students and often share the same residency programs - though they also focus on manual manipulation and treatment of symptoms rather than, say, surgical procedures or internal medicine (like my dad, who has done both though his residency was in internal medicine he started a colorectal surgical fellowship but long story short the clinic he was partnered with went out of business due to pressure from a new hospital that moved into town, this was in 1990).

Growing up I went to Occupational Medicine and PMNR conferences with my dad, and because I'm a geek, I payed attention. I know a lot about this stuff, though I'm not a doctor and have "no formal training" and I make no claims to anything of that sort! However, I would like to reiterate that my opinion on the medical treatment I have and will be receiving on for my back are the proper and cautious course of action. There is only so long you can be in physical therapy with no results, pain medications and muscle relaxers, all the while while your MRI's show clearly that there is a surgically fixable problem. I waited an extra 3 months over the summer to get this surgery, and am just not pulling the trigger. I have exhausted the resources I am willing and able to try, and everything that could be safe and beneficial to my condition. Next up is a visit to a rheumatologist to rule out AS and other rare genetic and arthritic conditions.

Thanks for all of your support, everyone, and I'll keep everybody posted as to my surgical recovery and heart/dysnomia stuff as well!

-Benny