There Is Help Out There, But You Have Look For It

By Ann Marie Gaudon, PNN Columnist

As a patient, you strive to be heard. Nowhere is this truer than when your medical issues are chronic and complex. However, when your physicians dismiss, minimize, invalidate, and/or ignore what you say, this can lead to a misdiagnosis or lack of diagnosis – which can lead to your condition getting worse.

Physicians rely on test results, but what if the test is an epic failure? What if there is no test at all to diagnose you?

Medical providers can erroneously blame your suffering on your age, race, sexuality, gender, weight or other factors that have nothing to do with your complaint. It’s also not uncommon for a physician to tell a patient that there is nothing at all wrong with them and that it’s essentially “all in their head.”

Even if your symptoms do not resolve, further testing may not be offered. You may not be listened to or you may have your symptoms downplayed.

I learned that the hard way after experiencing a significant back injury in 2017. I thought I was going to be disabled forever. My own medical system could not help me. I was told I had to wait six weeks for an appointment and if I was still in pain then, an MRI would be ordered.

The MRI was ordered and the imaging showed a significant injury. But my general practitioner could offer no help aside from a mild muscle relaxant. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who could also offer no help. I never considered surgery – truth be told it terrified me – but I was looking for any treatment to help myself heal.

Fate brought me to a CBC radio interview with Stuart McGill, PhD, Professor Emeritus at the University of Waterloo. I immediately bought McGill’s book “Back Mechanic” and started my healing journey with one of his master clinicians.

I learned the medical system knows virtually nothing about the injury I had and had no way to help me heal from it.

Fast forward six years. Here I am “back” to back pain; limping and having significant pain in my upper right leg. I found out that I had been engaging in activity that I should not have been (weight lifting) and not doing enough to strengthen my core.

Now a loss of height and stiffness in my spinal joints are giving me much grief. My L4 and L5 have lost their strength due to injury, and the lower joint L3 is feeling the lack of support.

The entire point of this column is to show you the difference between seeing a physician who has no knowledge and relies on unreliable tests, and finding and seeing someone who has the essential knowledge to help you heal.

Take a look for yourself. Remember, my symptoms were lower back pain, upper right leg pain and a limp. Here is a copy of my recent MRI report, which is the only test my GP has ordered. Also, here is a copy of my personalized treatment recommendations from Professor McGill, which I use along with his book. Notice anything different between these two assessments?

This difference means everything! Why? Because one is antiseptic, hopeless and sounds like my pain was of my own doing. The other offers the reason for the pain, plus exercise and treatment options I can do to make it better.

My lapse in keeping up with the exercises necessary to protect my spine was slow and happened over time. I’m not sure that I even noticed. By the time I did, I had already irritated my compromised spine.

If I want to be free of back pain, I will always have to do protective exercises. I will always have to take care. This is of little consequence, considering that pain and disability are the alternative.

Thank you, Professor McGill for being the compassionate and skilled researcher that you are. There are so many of us in need of real help with our back injuries. I am so grateful for you and your life’s work.

Here is what I have learned. Often there is a practitioner who is knowledgeable and skilled in helping you with a complex and chronic condition. But the only way I have found these people is by accident or by word of mouth. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

Don’t give up hope and be prepared to investigate your options!

Ann Marie Gaudon is a registered social worker and psychotherapist in the Waterloo region of Ontario, Canada with a specialty in chronic pain management.  She has been a chronic pain patient for over 30 years and works part-time as her health allows. For more information about Ann Marie's counseling services, visit her website.