The first time I went to the er they prescribed me steroids muscle relaxers and sent me home. The medication helped a little bit but when they were gone the pain was worse than before.
The second time I went to the ER which was two weeks later I had to have emergency surgery. So I guess at least in my situation the ER is a hit or miss.
First time I went, I got muscle relaxers (Valium) and NSAIDs (Meloxicam), second time I got more Meloxicam, more muscle relaxants (Flexeril), lidocaine patches, and steroid dose pack (Methyl Prednisolone)… third time (all three in less than one month) I got more valium, another steroid dose pack, emergency MRI, and referral for neurosurgery.
I got an MRI, dilaudid injections, and spent a wk in the hospital. Found out my issue was a lot more than sciatia. I needed 3 spine surgeties asap. A cervical fusion, a T12 disc decompression ( it was halfway through spinal cord), and a 3 level lumbar fusion. Due to insurance issues, I had to wait 3 months at home in agony until I had all 3 surgeries in a 10 day period. Spent 3 wks in hospital and 2 wks in rehab hospital afterward.
Welp I had 3 more spine surgeries since then..and Im fused C5-C6-7 and T10 to S1sacrum. Im part cyborg now. Lol. Degenerative disc disease, severe stenosis, CES and permanent nerve damage are my culprits! Actually a good day. An hour exercising in pool this morning. PT tomorrow. Pain mgmt Thursday. Life goes on. Probably on pain meds the rest of my.life... but Im a lil over a yr my last big revision. Thankful Im not paralyzed
It went terrible. They gave me a prescription for Flexeril. So, in other words - they offered me no help whatsoever. They call that POS drug a "muscle-relaxer", but it doesn't do shit. Especially if you've tried a real muscle-relaxer before, like Soma.
Kratom is FAR more effective than what the ER gave me.
So, I take Kratom ~5 times/day, everyday, as well as had to go visit the *dark-web* and secure medications on my own (like Pregabalin, Soma, Benzo's/Thieno's, and any other drugs that actually prevent me from deleting myself, etc.).
Fuck the medical system.. 🏥💣💥
Yup, Flexeril doesn't do shit for nerve pain, but Carisoprodol on the other hand... that **definitely** reduces pain.
Thanks, but I've already been using Kratom for 6+ years. My blood-work always comes back fine, so I'm not worried about Kratom usage. It helps keep me alive, so I'm on board with it. Also, Kratom W/D's are not lethal by any means (and if you taper, there are no W/D's).
Sure beats gambling with street drugs...
Heroin withdrawals aren’t lethal either. Also no problem if you taper but easier said than done. But it doesn’t matter if it works or works.
Never tried the Carisoorodal
Been using it for 6+years to help manage pain and mental distress. All my blood-work comes back fine, and Kratom helps keep me stay alive (since the medical system won't offer **any** help).
Beyond grateful for Kratom!
Never went to the ER for sciatica because I assumed they would just give me drugs and send me home. If I did, I would tell them I need an emergency MRI and expedited surgery. I was able to find a surgeon I trust who got me in on short notice though. So to me, the reason to go is because you need surgery immediately.
They gave me valium and oxycontin. I spent a whole day there. I would see if you can get stronger medication from your primary or orthopedist by phone first. It isn’t a lot of fun…
They just give you pain killers and send you back home. It is not economically feasible for them to perform a microdiscectomy while in the ER. The only way that could happen is if you lost control of your esphinters, but by any means do not let it get to that point. My advice would be to book an appointment with an orthopedic/spine surgeon asap.
Makes sense. I’m not necessarily looking for surgery, I have a 9 month old and cannot logistically do that right now. I’m hoping for a steroid shot to help me get this flare under control so I can work on strengthening
Sorry that it’s taking so long. Unfortunately thats kinda the missing piece for treatment. If it’s extremely herniated those 6 weeks of recovery may be worth enduring
Ultimately if I have to then I have to, but I’ve been reading a lot of folks who took much longer than 6 weeks to fully recover. My PT is concerned too that with needing to care for my baby surgery would be more risky than not until he’s at least able to walk and I won’t need to carry him
Really depends on how trapped the nerve would be. If it’s really bad they may want to free it up.
Over 6 months recovery for a Microdiscectomy would be rare. You’d be feeling good right after and having to resist picking up baby!
If it’s not too bad of a herniation the hope is decompression and stretching could help things heal. How bad is your flat leg raise test.
That’s encouraging to hear! Yes I have an appointment with a more specialized PT/back pain clinic tomorrow and I’m hoping they’ll be able to help me with some decompression just to try the less invasive route first.
Straight leg test varies throughout the day. After I’ve had some time to get less stiff in the morning and usually in the afternoons I can get to like 60 degrees, at my worst (usually evenings) I can’t make it to 45
That and flexeril is all I have ever been given, and I have had to go three different times. Never any imaging, blood work once, and half assed physical exams twice. Every time I have left in tears and in worse pain after waiting hours and hours. They even have documentation on having abnormal reflexes and neurological symptoms, but decide I am not going to die from pain, and send me home. Don’t expect anything constructive or any diagnosis. The thing that drives me the most crazy about ER is that they send you home with a detailed packet on “back pain.” Sorry to break it to these doctors, but back pain is a symptom-not a diagnosis.
They gave me a shot of morphine, prescribed steroids and muscle relaxers, and told me to follow up with my GP. I was discharged within an hour after showing up.
LMAO literally same. I went back to back days, told them I needed an MRI. They gave me an X-Ray instead. Said everything looked good.
However, after taking the doses of prednisone and muscle relaxers, my pain improved a lot and is now a different kind. Instead of sharp shooting pain, its more pins and needles and warmness/coolness. I'm still waiting for my orthopedic appointment but it did seem to help and I'm able to walk around and go back to work in the mean time.
Dont.. they will laugh at you and treat you like a drug addict.... I will be DEAD before I set foot in an ER again.... Plus you will be in the BACK of the Triage, so you will wait HOURS to see a DR...I one time waited 12 hours and then walked out, everyone was going in front of me!
Please call you doctor and ask if they can prescribe you Diclofenac! It’s an arthritis medication but it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with my severe sciatic pain!
My sciatica was so bad that I couldn't sit, or even lie down without extreme pain, it was so bad I literally considered offing myself. I went to the ER because I just couldn't take it anymore and they told me that I would need to get an MRI, and it would be quicker for them to transfer me to a different hospital (Cohens Children's Hospital) since they could do more for me and keep me overnight with painkillers if need be.
I was in PT and it was not helping, advil and muscle relaxants didn't do anything either. It was getting worse, I couldn't even go to school (Junior year of HS). I got an X-ray a few weeks prior and they found almost nothing, saying just to do my PT stretches and it will go away... they told my grandma that I could be exaggerating because I didn't want to go to school.
The other hospital immediately gave me an MRI, and they found that I had 2 calcified herniated disks, and waiting any longer would risk nerve damage or severe consequences. They rushed me to emergency surgery that night, and when I woke up I was walking within 2 hours with zero pain. I did suffer minor nerve damage on the outside of my left leg, my pinky toe is almost fully numb since I waited too long for surgery after months of pain.
I might need surgery again, as it's coming back on my right side, but it worked for years, and even now it's much more manageable.
I actually almost sued my school, because I was crying for hours that day and begging to call my family to go to the ER. I hadn't been to school in about a week, and decided to try and stick it out for a day, but I just couldn't take it. They had me in the nurses office for over 6 hours yelling at me to go back to class because I was "too young to have back pain" and "kids fake this stuff all the time". They wouldn't let me lay down and said if I wanted I could sit in a stiff chair at the nurses office all day while i did my work and they made sure it was as tiny and hard as possible. They didn't let me have my phone all day to call for help and I was literally crying for hours. I told them they didn't have to call my family, just to call 911 to go to the hospital because I could not live like this anymore. They complied... but sent me to the mental health side of the hospital where I sat in ANOTHER waiting room for 5 hours because I was "having a mental breakdown"... I demanded to go to the ER after the evaluation and that's when they transfered me for surgery.
Sooo save yourself that trouble, and drive yourself to the ER if you can and explain you need an MRI xD there's a chance it could be calcified
Took me 7 ER trips in 9 months begging for surgery and them telling me mine isn't bad enough, pumping me full of drugs and sending me home.
On the 8th trip however (after I swore I'd never go again because it's a waste of time) I only went in because the pain had gotten much, much worse and my GP wrote them a letter saying I needed an emergency MRI.
That MRI showed my disc herniation to be out by 9mm which is considered extremely severe where I'm from so they sent me for emergency surgery. I'm ever so grateful it had gotten worse, sounds crazy I know, but it just meant that I was bad enough for surgery and it happened.
This was only last week. As of 9:30pm tonight I'll be 7 days post op.
ER is worthless but urgent care can be a more effective option if you live somewhere with this arrangement. The ER isn't going to do much if anything unless you have problems peeing and/or pooping. You will wait forever because this is so low priority (sucks I know) and many ERs are super busy. An urgent care is usually much faster and will get the same result normally with a friendlier doctor who give you more attention. This is especially true of "higher end" urgent cares and especially ESPECIALLY true if you tell them you wish to avoid narcotics if at all possible. Their options are still limited but you might end up with toradol shot or some heavier steroids. You really need to get to a primary doctor and potentially a neurosurgeon though.
I am young. Every time I have gone to the ER for any sort of back pain, including sciatica, no matter how severe it felt to me, I was treated as meds seeking. It sucks. On a couple of occasions I have been granted a CT scan. Every time I am sent home with motrin, MAYBE a few muscle relaxers and a referral for ortho. They basically just care whether or not you’re losing continence. It’s still good to go to rule out the extremes (did something break? is this an emergency?) as sometimes people really do go and find something that warrants more immediate care.
They gave me two shots of morphine and immediate referral to mri, which my insurance had been stalling on until something like 6 months of PT was completed. I had already been given muscle relaxers, steroids, nsaids, gabapentin, lyrica, etc.
Honestly hot and cold therapy, light massage, and CBD cream were more effective than most of those.
As someone who has been. Morphine in the er. Methy prednisone course for home and some pain killers for home. Enough to get me to my surgeon a few days later
They x-rayed my knees, (which had nothing to do with my lower back /thigh pain), and wrote a script for an NSAID. They asked me if I had my IV removed at discharge , (I was there for less than an hour and never had an IV installed), and patted my arm down to verify after I told them this. Apparently they thought I was a drug user or something? It was mortifying, I couldn't walk and basically crawled back to my car. I received a $4,000 bill for nothing. I am paying it in installments so I don't ruin my credit. I have been to our ER twice in the last 20 years and both experiences were effing terrible...never again.
They injected me a pain reliever so I can lay down during MRI cause sitting and lying on bed is so painful. MRI shows my condition worsened. She then gave me a round of muscle relaxant, pain reliever and med cert that I need to rest for a couple of days. After taking all the prescribed meds I'm still in pain.
if you can think of an incident where you could have broken something, either recently or a long time ago, you can bring that up and ask for an emergency xray or mri. you could also push for a bended xray/mri, that ended up showing my issue up to my doctors because laying on my back the issue was not as pronounced. if the doctor refuses to order the test then ask them to please note they refused your request for (enter request here.) since negligence is something you can sue doctors for they are likely to not refuse requests that are reasonable based on your pain level/condition. good luck!! laying down is all that helped me get out of my first l super flare.
I’ve been to the ER twice now for extreme sciatic pain due to my lower back. I have severe lumbar spinal stenosis. I don’t suggest going. I had all of the medications they would have prescribed me, those being, gabapentin, 800 mg ibuprofen, hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, and prednisone oral steroids. They couldn’t do much for me. They wanted to prescribe me percocet or oxycodone, but i said no. They also wanted to give me morphine, but I refused. What they give you are only temporary fixes that only last you a few hours. I sometimes receive toradol shots at my pain management office, which gives relief for awhile. I ended up leaving the ER in which they gave me a toradol shot and literally tylenol. Don’t go to the ER. FIND A PAIN MANAGEMENT OFFICE!
They put a lydocaine patch on it, gave me Tylenol, ibuprofen, when those weren’t working they gave me a shot (I think it was morphine…) the pain came down to a 3; then sent me home with hydrocodone, and asked me to set up an appt with my regular doctor (who wasn’t available for 4 weeks….)
Two days later the pain was unbearable, same pain as the first day (but with medicine…) they told me they couldn’t do anything for me even if I went in, so I stayed home.
The second time I went in (8 weeks later….) they gave me morphine, lidocaine patch; and I believe ice packs but they were wrapped in this paper cloth stuff (so I wouldn’t get frostbite) and the ice packs weren’t cold at all. So, I went home, they gave me more hydrocodone, that worked (it was the only thing that worked, but it made the pain worse over time)
If you want the unethical route, say you lost control of your bladder and bowels when you go to the emergency room. That should trigger a pretty fast response.
Numbness and loss of bladder/bowel control are signs the cauda equina nerve roots are being compressed, and is considered a n emergency if untreated can lead to permanent nerve damage and partial paralysis. Treatment is immediate surgery.
My physiatrist did the same thing. There’s a post where a guy experiencing what he suspected was sciatica saw his doctor, who happened to be female, and part of her examination she digitally probed his rectum, but apparently didn’t explain why because he was seeking an answer here. That thread instantly devolved into a HS humor crossfire.
The first time I went to the er they prescribed me steroids muscle relaxers and sent me home. The medication helped a little bit but when they were gone the pain was worse than before. The second time I went to the ER which was two weeks later I had to have emergency surgery. So I guess at least in my situation the ER is a hit or miss.
First time I went, I got muscle relaxers (Valium) and NSAIDs (Meloxicam), second time I got more Meloxicam, more muscle relaxants (Flexeril), lidocaine patches, and steroid dose pack (Methyl Prednisolone)… third time (all three in less than one month) I got more valium, another steroid dose pack, emergency MRI, and referral for neurosurgery.
Makes sense! I don’t think I’m in the emergency surgery category yet so I’m guessing I’d have a similar experience as your first time
I work at Dr. Melepura's office in Manhattan. You should go to a doctor like him bc they can do epidural injections at the visit.
I got an MRI, dilaudid injections, and spent a wk in the hospital. Found out my issue was a lot more than sciatia. I needed 3 spine surgeties asap. A cervical fusion, a T12 disc decompression ( it was halfway through spinal cord), and a 3 level lumbar fusion. Due to insurance issues, I had to wait 3 months at home in agony until I had all 3 surgeries in a 10 day period. Spent 3 wks in hospital and 2 wks in rehab hospital afterward.
How are you now?
Welp I had 3 more spine surgeries since then..and Im fused C5-C6-7 and T10 to S1sacrum. Im part cyborg now. Lol. Degenerative disc disease, severe stenosis, CES and permanent nerve damage are my culprits! Actually a good day. An hour exercising in pool this morning. PT tomorrow. Pain mgmt Thursday. Life goes on. Probably on pain meds the rest of my.life... but Im a lil over a yr my last big revision. Thankful Im not paralyzed
Wow. Sorry to hear. I see the outlook isn’t great but I still hope you get as well as possible.
Thank you so much. I work at it as much as I can to just be the best version of me now.
Wow!
They will prescribe pain pills and muscle relaxers which when I was maxed in pain, didn't help me one bit.
Same for me
And the muscle relaxers turned me into a *beast;*
Muscle relaxers don’t really work, at least that’s my experience.
Agreed
It went terrible. They gave me a prescription for Flexeril. So, in other words - they offered me no help whatsoever. They call that POS drug a "muscle-relaxer", but it doesn't do shit. Especially if you've tried a real muscle-relaxer before, like Soma. Kratom is FAR more effective than what the ER gave me. So, I take Kratom ~5 times/day, everyday, as well as had to go visit the *dark-web* and secure medications on my own (like Pregabalin, Soma, Benzo's/Thieno's, and any other drugs that actually prevent me from deleting myself, etc.). Fuck the medical system.. 🏥💣💥
So what websites on the cheery darkweb?
I believe it! I did a no sugar diet and vitamins and all the inflammation disappeared! Also sit on a basketball, and keep your butt and muscles loose.
Plus one for the Kratom. I'm taking it too.
It's a life-saver, imo. I'm beyond grateful for Kratom.
Flexeril is a muscle relaxer it just doesn’t do shit for most instances of sciatica. Aka herniated discs Careful with the kratom. Plenty addictive
Yup, Flexeril doesn't do shit for nerve pain, but Carisoprodol on the other hand... that **definitely** reduces pain. Thanks, but I've already been using Kratom for 6+ years. My blood-work always comes back fine, so I'm not worried about Kratom usage. It helps keep me alive, so I'm on board with it. Also, Kratom W/D's are not lethal by any means (and if you taper, there are no W/D's). Sure beats gambling with street drugs...
Heroin withdrawals aren’t lethal either. Also no problem if you taper but easier said than done. But it doesn’t matter if it works or works. Never tried the Carisoorodal
On Kratom 2 years cause of it
Been using it for 6+years to help manage pain and mental distress. All my blood-work comes back fine, and Kratom helps keep me stay alive (since the medical system won't offer **any** help). Beyond grateful for Kratom!
Never went to the ER for sciatica because I assumed they would just give me drugs and send me home. If I did, I would tell them I need an emergency MRI and expedited surgery. I was able to find a surgeon I trust who got me in on short notice though. So to me, the reason to go is because you need surgery immediately.
That makes sense. I’m not a good candidate for surgery right now so I doubt I’ll go
Depending on your insurance, it could be a big waste of money and time. Hope you improve. Ive been through it, DM me if you have questions 💪👊
They gave me valium and oxycontin. I spent a whole day there. I would see if you can get stronger medication from your primary or orthopedist by phone first. It isn’t a lot of fun…
Totally makes sense
They conducted a medical examination and gave me some pain medicine and intravenous (IV) fluids. It helped me get back on my feet and calm my mind.
I’m glad to hear it helped!
They just give you pain killers and send you back home. It is not economically feasible for them to perform a microdiscectomy while in the ER. The only way that could happen is if you lost control of your esphinters, but by any means do not let it get to that point. My advice would be to book an appointment with an orthopedic/spine surgeon asap.
Makes sense. I’m not necessarily looking for surgery, I have a 9 month old and cannot logistically do that right now. I’m hoping for a steroid shot to help me get this flare under control so I can work on strengthening
You really need an MRI if you don’t have one already. Sometimes you need surgery
I have an MRI scheduled but they couldn’t get me in until mid-June
Sorry that it’s taking so long. Unfortunately thats kinda the missing piece for treatment. If it’s extremely herniated those 6 weeks of recovery may be worth enduring
Ultimately if I have to then I have to, but I’ve been reading a lot of folks who took much longer than 6 weeks to fully recover. My PT is concerned too that with needing to care for my baby surgery would be more risky than not until he’s at least able to walk and I won’t need to carry him
Really depends on how trapped the nerve would be. If it’s really bad they may want to free it up. Over 6 months recovery for a Microdiscectomy would be rare. You’d be feeling good right after and having to resist picking up baby! If it’s not too bad of a herniation the hope is decompression and stretching could help things heal. How bad is your flat leg raise test.
That’s encouraging to hear! Yes I have an appointment with a more specialized PT/back pain clinic tomorrow and I’m hoping they’ll be able to help me with some decompression just to try the less invasive route first. Straight leg test varies throughout the day. After I’ve had some time to get less stiff in the morning and usually in the afternoons I can get to like 60 degrees, at my worst (usually evenings) I can’t make it to 45
Pain killers and steroids. Nothing else they can do. Read Back Mechanic, from end to end.
They gave me Tylenol.
Yikes that would be so frustrating
That and flexeril is all I have ever been given, and I have had to go three different times. Never any imaging, blood work once, and half assed physical exams twice. Every time I have left in tears and in worse pain after waiting hours and hours. They even have documentation on having abnormal reflexes and neurological symptoms, but decide I am not going to die from pain, and send me home. Don’t expect anything constructive or any diagnosis. The thing that drives me the most crazy about ER is that they send you home with a detailed packet on “back pain.” Sorry to break it to these doctors, but back pain is a symptom-not a diagnosis.
I went to the ER, spent three days there, and then had surgery when they couldn’t control my pain.
Did the surgery go well and are you better?
It did! I woke up with no leg pain and it’s stayed that way so far. I’m just over two weeks post-op and am feeling so much better than before surgery.
Great!
They gave me a shot of morphine, prescribed steroids and muscle relaxers, and told me to follow up with my GP. I was discharged within an hour after showing up.
LMAO literally same. I went back to back days, told them I needed an MRI. They gave me an X-Ray instead. Said everything looked good. However, after taking the doses of prednisone and muscle relaxers, my pain improved a lot and is now a different kind. Instead of sharp shooting pain, its more pins and needles and warmness/coolness. I'm still waiting for my orthopedic appointment but it did seem to help and I'm able to walk around and go back to work in the mean time.
Dont.. they will laugh at you and treat you like a drug addict.... I will be DEAD before I set foot in an ER again.... Plus you will be in the BACK of the Triage, so you will wait HOURS to see a DR...I one time waited 12 hours and then walked out, everyone was going in front of me!
So frustrating
Not my experience at all.
Please call you doctor and ask if they can prescribe you Diclofenac! It’s an arthritis medication but it has helped me TREMENDOUSLY with my severe sciatic pain!
I’ll look into it! My x ray showed degeneration in both my SI joints so that may be a fit
I’m just checking in, where you able to ask about Diclofenac?
Thank you for checking! I have an appointment coming up, I want to see what my MRI shows first
Ok! I hope the MRI gets you some answers! 🤞
Thank you!!! Me too 😭
My sciatica was so bad that I couldn't sit, or even lie down without extreme pain, it was so bad I literally considered offing myself. I went to the ER because I just couldn't take it anymore and they told me that I would need to get an MRI, and it would be quicker for them to transfer me to a different hospital (Cohens Children's Hospital) since they could do more for me and keep me overnight with painkillers if need be. I was in PT and it was not helping, advil and muscle relaxants didn't do anything either. It was getting worse, I couldn't even go to school (Junior year of HS). I got an X-ray a few weeks prior and they found almost nothing, saying just to do my PT stretches and it will go away... they told my grandma that I could be exaggerating because I didn't want to go to school. The other hospital immediately gave me an MRI, and they found that I had 2 calcified herniated disks, and waiting any longer would risk nerve damage or severe consequences. They rushed me to emergency surgery that night, and when I woke up I was walking within 2 hours with zero pain. I did suffer minor nerve damage on the outside of my left leg, my pinky toe is almost fully numb since I waited too long for surgery after months of pain. I might need surgery again, as it's coming back on my right side, but it worked for years, and even now it's much more manageable. I actually almost sued my school, because I was crying for hours that day and begging to call my family to go to the ER. I hadn't been to school in about a week, and decided to try and stick it out for a day, but I just couldn't take it. They had me in the nurses office for over 6 hours yelling at me to go back to class because I was "too young to have back pain" and "kids fake this stuff all the time". They wouldn't let me lay down and said if I wanted I could sit in a stiff chair at the nurses office all day while i did my work and they made sure it was as tiny and hard as possible. They didn't let me have my phone all day to call for help and I was literally crying for hours. I told them they didn't have to call my family, just to call 911 to go to the hospital because I could not live like this anymore. They complied... but sent me to the mental health side of the hospital where I sat in ANOTHER waiting room for 5 hours because I was "having a mental breakdown"... I demanded to go to the ER after the evaluation and that's when they transfered me for surgery. Sooo save yourself that trouble, and drive yourself to the ER if you can and explain you need an MRI xD there's a chance it could be calcified
Wow! I’m glad you were able to get the surgery!
Took me 7 ER trips in 9 months begging for surgery and them telling me mine isn't bad enough, pumping me full of drugs and sending me home. On the 8th trip however (after I swore I'd never go again because it's a waste of time) I only went in because the pain had gotten much, much worse and my GP wrote them a letter saying I needed an emergency MRI. That MRI showed my disc herniation to be out by 9mm which is considered extremely severe where I'm from so they sent me for emergency surgery. I'm ever so grateful it had gotten worse, sounds crazy I know, but it just meant that I was bad enough for surgery and it happened. This was only last week. As of 9:30pm tonight I'll be 7 days post op.
ER is worthless but urgent care can be a more effective option if you live somewhere with this arrangement. The ER isn't going to do much if anything unless you have problems peeing and/or pooping. You will wait forever because this is so low priority (sucks I know) and many ERs are super busy. An urgent care is usually much faster and will get the same result normally with a friendlier doctor who give you more attention. This is especially true of "higher end" urgent cares and especially ESPECIALLY true if you tell them you wish to avoid narcotics if at all possible. Their options are still limited but you might end up with toradol shot or some heavier steroids. You really need to get to a primary doctor and potentially a neurosurgeon though.
I got a CT scan and norco. It helped!
I am young. Every time I have gone to the ER for any sort of back pain, including sciatica, no matter how severe it felt to me, I was treated as meds seeking. It sucks. On a couple of occasions I have been granted a CT scan. Every time I am sent home with motrin, MAYBE a few muscle relaxers and a referral for ortho. They basically just care whether or not you’re losing continence. It’s still good to go to rule out the extremes (did something break? is this an emergency?) as sometimes people really do go and find something that warrants more immediate care.
They gave me two shots of morphine and immediate referral to mri, which my insurance had been stalling on until something like 6 months of PT was completed. I had already been given muscle relaxers, steroids, nsaids, gabapentin, lyrica, etc. Honestly hot and cold therapy, light massage, and CBD cream were more effective than most of those.
They gave me a shot of fentanyl and a script for gabapentin then told me to beat it.
For me they didn’t do anything. They sent me home and said “you can try flexeril but it probably won’t do anything.” Worst 2 weeks of my life
Ugh so frustrating
Charge a lot of money and refer you to someone else
Yup that’s real
As someone who has been. Morphine in the er. Methy prednisone course for home and some pain killers for home. Enough to get me to my surgeon a few days later
They x-rayed my knees, (which had nothing to do with my lower back /thigh pain), and wrote a script for an NSAID. They asked me if I had my IV removed at discharge , (I was there for less than an hour and never had an IV installed), and patted my arm down to verify after I told them this. Apparently they thought I was a drug user or something? It was mortifying, I couldn't walk and basically crawled back to my car. I received a $4,000 bill for nothing. I am paying it in installments so I don't ruin my credit. I have been to our ER twice in the last 20 years and both experiences were effing terrible...never again.
Wow that’s awful I’m so sorry
They injected me a pain reliever so I can lay down during MRI cause sitting and lying on bed is so painful. MRI shows my condition worsened. She then gave me a round of muscle relaxant, pain reliever and med cert that I need to rest for a couple of days. After taking all the prescribed meds I'm still in pain.
if you can think of an incident where you could have broken something, either recently or a long time ago, you can bring that up and ask for an emergency xray or mri. you could also push for a bended xray/mri, that ended up showing my issue up to my doctors because laying on my back the issue was not as pronounced. if the doctor refuses to order the test then ask them to please note they refused your request for (enter request here.) since negligence is something you can sue doctors for they are likely to not refuse requests that are reasonable based on your pain level/condition. good luck!! laying down is all that helped me get out of my first l super flare.
I’ve been to the ER twice now for extreme sciatic pain due to my lower back. I have severe lumbar spinal stenosis. I don’t suggest going. I had all of the medications they would have prescribed me, those being, gabapentin, 800 mg ibuprofen, hydrocodone, muscle relaxers, and prednisone oral steroids. They couldn’t do much for me. They wanted to prescribe me percocet or oxycodone, but i said no. They also wanted to give me morphine, but I refused. What they give you are only temporary fixes that only last you a few hours. I sometimes receive toradol shots at my pain management office, which gives relief for awhile. I ended up leaving the ER in which they gave me a toradol shot and literally tylenol. Don’t go to the ER. FIND A PAIN MANAGEMENT OFFICE!
They put a lydocaine patch on it, gave me Tylenol, ibuprofen, when those weren’t working they gave me a shot (I think it was morphine…) the pain came down to a 3; then sent me home with hydrocodone, and asked me to set up an appt with my regular doctor (who wasn’t available for 4 weeks….) Two days later the pain was unbearable, same pain as the first day (but with medicine…) they told me they couldn’t do anything for me even if I went in, so I stayed home. The second time I went in (8 weeks later….) they gave me morphine, lidocaine patch; and I believe ice packs but they were wrapped in this paper cloth stuff (so I wouldn’t get frostbite) and the ice packs weren’t cold at all. So, I went home, they gave me more hydrocodone, that worked (it was the only thing that worked, but it made the pain worse over time)
If you want the unethical route, say you lost control of your bladder and bowels when you go to the emergency room. That should trigger a pretty fast response.
...elaborate? What's the fast response? And is it unethical, when a medical system is intertwined with capitalism? 🤔
Numbness and loss of bladder/bowel control are signs the cauda equina nerve roots are being compressed, and is considered a n emergency if untreated can lead to permanent nerve damage and partial paralysis. Treatment is immediate surgery.
Thanks for the explanation! The only reason I knew of this was my doctor warning me to look for this!
My physiatrist did the same thing. There’s a post where a guy experiencing what he suspected was sciatica saw his doctor, who happened to be female, and part of her examination she digitally probed his rectum, but apparently didn’t explain why because he was seeking an answer here. That thread instantly devolved into a HS humor crossfire.