My Family Dr. Said He Couldnt Order An Mri

[Darlene]

my lower back has been hurting for about 10 years now. i have been to my family dr. off and on about this problem. i have went through physical therapy, the chiropractor, and i have taken motrin 800. none of this has helped the pain. well, yesterday the pain was so bad i went to the ER. they gave me percocet, an injection toradol, and flexeril. i m still in pain. they also did an xray, and said it looked ok. but he did say an xray would not show a herniated disk. he wrote me out a few prescriptions and told me to schedule an appontment with my family dr. well, i had an appointment with him today anyway i had made a few weeks ago. well i told the dr. about going to the ER monday and asked him if he could order an mri. he said he couldnt. hahahaha. is that true. a dr. can't order an mri. if he can't order one, then who can? i don't think my back would hurt for 10 years now if nothing was wrong.

[rubytuesday]

My PCP (IM) will never order MRI on anything suspect of orthopedic or neurologic problem--rather she makes referral or if I already have ortho/neuro tells me to ask them. If she did test, test was abnormal--what would she do with it but send you to ortho or neuro, thus she views it as beyond the scope of her practice.

[Lemons2lemonade]

If he can't, call him back and ask who can. More than likely he just doesn't want to. I talked to my neuro about an emg after hearing that this might be caused by neuropathy. He said no, you don't have neuropathy. No, I don't have typical neuropathy. It's frustrating.

[L4UR3N]

I would definitely ask for a referral. It may be that he does not want to order the MRI because he does not know how to interpret the results (though usually a radiologist will give them a very nice print out). Family doctors are great for getting antibiotics and referrals......and that's about it. LOL.