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So, it turns out it's probably not a kidney infection after all. Thinking back, I believe I told the emergency room physician last week that that's what I believed it was, and he just apparently took me at my word instead of actually doing his own diagnosis. Prescribed antibiotics (which, not being an infection, did nothing), and Vicodin, which I only took a little bit of, since I hate the side effects. It did help the pain, but didn't do anything toward a cure. I guess I can't entirely blame him - he's dealing with broken bones and stab wounds and unconscious people and all sorts of stuff all day, probably doesn't have tons of time to deal with some guy who tells him "my back hurts".
I took Naproxen Sodium when it was hurting, but not on a regular schedule. According to my new doctor, that probably did more to help, and might have completely knocked the problem out had I taken it on a regular two-a-day schedule for a week, instead of just taking one then waiting for the pain to get bad before taking another.
So, looks like the pain was probably caused by an inflamed ligament in the lower back. I'm going in for an X-ray and sonogram (or maybe he was just trying to explain that a sonogram was kind of like an X-ray, or something like that) to make sure it isn't kidney stones, or anything else. He doesn't think it is, as I lack the usual symptoms, but the pain is in the right place, and he wasn't sure
Definitely not a disk or vertebrae problem, as I failed all the tests for those (or, as he put it, none of the tests he had me do "caused sudden massive excruciating pain").
So, he gave me an anti-inflammatory, Meloxicam, which is in the same family as Naproxen but stronger, and, according to my internet research, generally used to treat arthritis in dogs.
Oh yeah, the sonogram (or X-ray, or whatever it is - he gave me a card in the usual doctor cryptic handwriting to give to the hospital's radiology department) is scheduled for next week. Tuesday. Right. Eight-day wait for the X-ray machine. Yeah, I'm so glad we don't have socialized health care in this country or else I might have to wait a week or more just to get an X-ray. Oh. Um. Never mind.
And as for why I waited two weeks to go to a doctor after I decided to do so? I couldn't go see a doctor until I could get the list from Blue Cross of which doctors take it in the area. Of course, I couldn't get the list until they verified my coverage. When I called them to verify my coverage, they told me I didn't have any, since I "cancelled coverage in 1997". Which is quite likely true. I have had other jobs before this, and some of them provided health care, and it's possible at least one of them provided health care through Blue Cross, which then would have been cancelled when I left. But, I figured, once I got another job and started paying for coverage again, they should have automatically reinstated it. But what do I know?
Finally got coverage verified, got the list, went down it, and the 18th person I called was both taking new patients, and able to see me this month. I do like my doctor, though, so that's good. I didn't bother telling him he was my 18th choice :)
Of course, my back has been slowly (very slowly) improving for the last three weeks, so by the time I get to the X-ray (or sonogram), it'll probably be completely healed.
At least I hope so.
Have I mentioned recently that I really hate the American health-care system? Not the doctors, I want to point out - we've definitely got some great doctors here - but the system just sucks royally. And I'm just lucky that this year I happen to be among the 45% of Americans who have health insurance, so I didn't have to figure out the whole treatment on my own, and got prescribed antibiotics (even though I didn't need them) instead of buying them on the black market like I've done in the past. I mean, seriously, can you think of anything more pathetic than a wealthy industrialized nation that forces half of its citizens to purchase black market antibiotics because they can't afford a doctor to prescribe them?
I took Naproxen Sodium when it was hurting, but not on a regular schedule. According to my new doctor, that probably did more to help, and might have completely knocked the problem out had I taken it on a regular two-a-day schedule for a week, instead of just taking one then waiting for the pain to get bad before taking another.
So, looks like the pain was probably caused by an inflamed ligament in the lower back. I'm going in for an X-ray and sonogram (or maybe he was just trying to explain that a sonogram was kind of like an X-ray, or something like that) to make sure it isn't kidney stones, or anything else. He doesn't think it is, as I lack the usual symptoms, but the pain is in the right place, and he wasn't sure
Definitely not a disk or vertebrae problem, as I failed all the tests for those (or, as he put it, none of the tests he had me do "caused sudden massive excruciating pain").
So, he gave me an anti-inflammatory, Meloxicam, which is in the same family as Naproxen but stronger, and, according to my internet research, generally used to treat arthritis in dogs.
Oh yeah, the sonogram (or X-ray, or whatever it is - he gave me a card in the usual doctor cryptic handwriting to give to the hospital's radiology department) is scheduled for next week. Tuesday. Right. Eight-day wait for the X-ray machine. Yeah, I'm so glad we don't have socialized health care in this country or else I might have to wait a week or more just to get an X-ray. Oh. Um. Never mind.
And as for why I waited two weeks to go to a doctor after I decided to do so? I couldn't go see a doctor until I could get the list from Blue Cross of which doctors take it in the area. Of course, I couldn't get the list until they verified my coverage. When I called them to verify my coverage, they told me I didn't have any, since I "cancelled coverage in 1997". Which is quite likely true. I have had other jobs before this, and some of them provided health care, and it's possible at least one of them provided health care through Blue Cross, which then would have been cancelled when I left. But, I figured, once I got another job and started paying for coverage again, they should have automatically reinstated it. But what do I know?
Finally got coverage verified, got the list, went down it, and the 18th person I called was both taking new patients, and able to see me this month. I do like my doctor, though, so that's good. I didn't bother telling him he was my 18th choice :)
Of course, my back has been slowly (very slowly) improving for the last three weeks, so by the time I get to the X-ray (or sonogram), it'll probably be completely healed.
At least I hope so.
Have I mentioned recently that I really hate the American health-care system? Not the doctors, I want to point out - we've definitely got some great doctors here - but the system just sucks royally. And I'm just lucky that this year I happen to be among the 45% of Americans who have health insurance, so I didn't have to figure out the whole treatment on my own, and got prescribed antibiotics (even though I didn't need them) instead of buying them on the black market like I've done in the past. I mean, seriously, can you think of anything more pathetic than a wealthy industrialized nation that forces half of its citizens to purchase black market antibiotics because they can't afford a doctor to prescribe them?
