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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am 44 and she’s is 30. I love my sister, shes extremely intelligent, funny and generous. However, she can also be her manipulative. I think I am frustrated because it has been over a year since she went to the ER and I felt she was finally at a better place with all this medical drama. I do recognize that if she ends up having spinal surgery this is very serious. I am worried about her. This is going to sound terrible, but I feel like this is one those situations where she went from specialist to specialist until someone agreed something was wrong with her. We all have minor medical issues that if we had dozens of scans, and test run, they would find something too.

-OP[/quote]

Hi OP, I am sorry that your sister has been suffering. It sounds like she may have a legitimate diagnosis to explain her symptoms. However, 
as a medical professional, I can confirm: if you look hard enough, you WILL find something. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for patients with undiagnosable and/or functional disorders to undergo unnecessary interventions for incidental findings which are discovered during exhaustive workups. Seeing many different doctors, or doctor shopping, increases the likelihood of this. Most surgeons are judicious, but when you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. These patients are suffering greatly, but the etiology of their suffering is often psychological. This doesn't make their suffering any less real or important, but it should change the approach to management.

I cannot say which category your sister belongs to, but I know as a professional and family member, providing constant attention and support can take a toll. Regardless of whether her illness is mainly physical or psychological, managing a chronic illness of any nature can take a psychological toll. Counseling, or medications, can similarly help both a functional fibromyalgia patient or a cancer patient cope with their physical and psychological distress. One can suggest therapy without implying "it's all in your head". Perhaps you could warmly encourage her to seek out therapeutic support to help her cope with her diagnosis (syrinx, chronic pain/headache/neuropathy, or otherwise).

FWIW, the sickest patients are often the most graceful. The worried well, on the other hand...[/quote]

PP, your response is a bit obnoxious. Why are you implying that she is just worried?

As someone else who is in healthcare and has a spinal issue (injury) that was repeatedly missed, misdiagnosed, or written off as "just workout more-you probably just have weak muscles (NOT true, per the PT)" but is in treatment and also a candidate for spinal surgery, it is entirely possible for multiple doctors to miss things, especially if they refuse to do proper testing.

Ex: they only do an xray instead of an xray AND an MRI. It took moving and literally not being able to move before a new set of local specialists took a look (because they were the closest medical facility), did the proper testing (as was indicated and I pointedly requested) that I began to receive proper treatment. I am also a candidate for spinal surgery and hoping to avoid it! If they'd correctly id'd the issue previously then I absolutely would have been rushed into surgery. I'm going to guess OP's sister and I have the same thing.

In no way is a herniated disc-especially one that is impinging a nerve- just psychological or made-up.  I have a lot of resentment towards my primary and the hospital where I was taken after the initial accident for missing it and ignoring my requests to do imaging based on the pain while I was there and asked again and again after being effectively paralyzed for a week after they released me.

If the sister is only "manipulating" people to try and get them to take her medical issue seriously, it isn't manipulation so much as begging for assistance and reassurance while she is in pain. Just because her arm is lopped off and you can't see the issue yourself doesn't mean it isn't real and exists.

OP, gifting a TENS unit like the one from compex to help with your sister's pain is a good place to start, along with a sincere apology. You have an opportunity to make up for being such a jerk-take it.[/quote]

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