I am not sure if this is true or not, but that’s what he prescribed.

Update on the bad back situation:

Saw the spine doc/pain management fellow today.  He said I had 6 choices, most of which included (what he said would be) PAINFUL injections to the spine, while awake- including, perhaps, cauterization/burning of those nerves in the lumbar region where the pain is originating.

I have to bodily drive back to South Bend, IN (where my rheumatologist is) and bring him a physical copy (on dvd) of my back x-rays.  He did not order a MRI.

He talked so fast and was so dismissive, I could not get a word in edgewise.  He blew into my room like a rockstar with his 2 female groupies (“assistants”) in tow.I asked him twice to explain the procedures, but he could just tell me ‘they were painful’ and continued to blow me off.  I expressed my nervousness over what he was saying, he said I sounded MANIC.

Um, excuse me, F*cker, but that was A-N-X-I-E-T-Y, not mania.  I am not bipolar, but I know quite a few others who *are* and that would be an incorrect diagnosis.

When I also told him that I wanted to resolve this and not become a slave to pain meds, because I have an infant daughter to care for- he prescribed Tramadol.  I don’t know much about this med, but he was sure to inform me that it was an opiate.  Yay.

Not.

I paid my $75.00 copay for that consult.  My frustrations with the $1600 dollar shit insurance I pay for monthly are a WHOLE ‘nother blog…