im not at all sure what it means
but i do want to say goodluck and i wish the best for you

Hello Rambryan,

YOU ARE IN NEED OF IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION. YOU ARE IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION.

IMMEDIATELY GO TO YOUR NEAREST EMERGENCY ROOM.

IF YOU HAVE A SPINAL SURGEON YOU HAVE VISITED, THEN CALL HIM/HER IMMEDIATELY. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!!!!

My thoughts and prayers are with you.

RichT

Seriously?

Yes Rambryan - SERIOUSLY!!

When you have a "I can not feel the urge to urinate or have a bowel movement anymore." that is an emergency situation. You have a MAXIUMUM of 24-48 hr before serious nerve damage is done.

You should be in a hospital at this time awaiting surgery. I mean it.

Time is WASTING. It is your life I am talking about.

No, I am not a doctor, but I have read enough to know the "emergency signs".

RichT

you should i have read on more than one occasion in medical literature that your situation requires urgent medical attention

This is been going on for weeks now, for the 1st week I didnt get the tingle when it was time to urinate and I didnt get gas pains anymore. I could still use the bathroom but I didnt really feel like I had to. The last 2 days have been very different though. I dont get the feeling to urinate at all, I make myself go but it is hard now. I cant get the stream started all the time. takes a few moments and is an effort now. Bowel movements are a lot of effort too, feels like I got to do all the work. I cant explain it but something feels very wrong and unnatural. I hope that wasn't to obscene or personal for this site, I apologize if it is.

I am having a lot of pain in my legs and my knees are on fire. The skin on my legs are numb for the most part. You could actually put a cigarette out on my leg anywhere and I wouldn't feel it. ( I dont smoke just using the example)

I am going to a new Doctor on Friday, he is a Neurosurgeon that I have never been to before. The lady that made the appointment never asked me what my symptoms are, maybe if they knew they would have brought me in sooner. My Ortho however is a crazy man. He thinks if nothing is broken then dont fix it. You have to go into his office with a broken neck to get him to look at you seriously.

My main concern right now is that my MRI results seems to say that everything is OK. I dont want to walk into the doc's office just to have him call me a hyprocondriac. My internist thought they may be something wrong and he ordered the MRI but I haven't talked to him since. I hurt my back 1 time a few months ago when I was lifting a refrigerator up a flight of stairs. I got to the top and the wrap broke and down went me. My back hurt bad, I went to the doc and all they said was that I had an umbilical hernia. Basically he said stop being a puss and take the pain.

I tell ya I went into the Ortho's office and I told him that I cant stand or sit, I cant lay on my back and walking is a bad idea. I told him that I dont really pee anymore. I also told him how I drank 13 cans of coke and nothing happened. I went 1 time that whole day and really didnt feel like I had to go the next day. If I dont make myself I wont go, although it will dribble a lot when I am just sitting around. This Doc said it was no bog deal and to take some antiinflammatories and it should go away. So I just let it get worse because the doc made me feel like I was lying.

I hope this new doctor can help me because changing my shorts 2 times a day is getting old. the pain is bad too. Docs here wont write anything for nerve related pain. So the best you can get is Tylenol 3. I take 3 and the edge is still there. Gosh now I think I am depressed about it and I am scared that there won't be something wrong and the new Doc will be pissed that I wasted his time.
I dunno what to do but thank you for listening and TY for your suggestions.

Rambryan,

Call the doctor you plan to see on Friday TODAY. He/she needs to understand the seriousness of your condition. You NEED to see your new doctor without delay.

For some reason we are not getting through to you that you are in an EMERGENCY situation. You CANNOT delay!!!

RichT

P.S. - If you don't take action today, then there is no need for me to spend my time trying to give you advice.

I took your advice and I called the Doctor's office. They said that Friday was the soonest because he was out of town. They said they would have gotten me in today but there is no one in the office that could see me. I called the county ER, they said unless I can not produce urine then don't bother coming down because they will just send me to my primary for a follow up. 2 different doctor's offices said the same thing. The chick got rude and told me unless I cant produce urine or have a bowl movement then there is no need for an emergency visit.

You have to understand that where I live is a high drug area. All these people that fake back pains to get narcotics ruin it for the rest of us. When you call a NS around here they automatically think you just want pain killers. I told the chick that I am more concerned about not having any feelings in my stomach anymore. She said that I should only get worried if I can use the bathroom and I get a fever or nausea.

My local ER is a 12 hour wait for non life threatening conditions, seriously you have to be shot to get right in. I called another neurosurgeon and the same thing was said to me, they say if my body is still able to produce urine then I am OK even if I cant feel the urge.

I wasn't trying to waste your time or anyone else's. I will post what the doctor tells me on Friday so that maybe it will help someone else down the road that may have the same problem. Other then that I wont take up this forums time by posting trivial questions anymore.

Thanks for taking the time to read this though it was nice to see that people actually say something constructive.

Good Morning Rambryan,

Thank you very much for sharing the additional information and the responses (or lack therof) from the ER, doctors, etc.

I truly hope that all will be okay and that your doctor on Friday can better adivse you.

Do let us know how things go for you. AND if you do have the urine problem that others you spoke with mentioned, then immediately go to the ER. A 12 hour wait. That is unreal!!!!

May I be permitted to ask where you live?

RichT

Morning,
I live in Baltimore and I am very familiar with the the hospitals here. I took my best friend to county with a badly cut finger, hole in his forehead and a partially severed toe. He waited over 2 hours. They have a new program now to fast track people through Triage but it only seems to apply to people that are now bleeding to death or having chest pains and high fevers.

healthcare sucks in the USA but you got to love this country =D

Hello Rambryan,

Man, you are RIGHT ON!!!!! Health care is a disaster in ths U.S. My heart goes out to so many who do not have access to health insurance and thus to medical care.

Rambryan, we are almost within shaking hands with each other. I live in N. Virgina (a separate state from VA LOL).

Have you ever checked out Johns Hopkins? I know they have a very good reputation. Of course, so does the Mayo Clinic, but it would be a cold day in H that you would get me there. My folks were treated very poorly. Only thing that kept me from suing Mayo was that my folks would not have wanted me to do so. GRRRRrrrr

Love of this country - I used to feel that way. Far better than many. If it wasn't for our children and my wife, I'd have left for Australia seven years ago.

Hope all goes well for you in the coming days. I'm still very much conerned about you.

RichT

Ya you are very close. If not for my wife and children I also would be in another country. LOL there is always tomorrow right?

BTW thanks for caring, I am starting to get a little nervous here. My legs are hurting real bad and it is getting difficult to walk. I cant even lay down flat because it hurts. Seems to hurt anyway I try to lay. If I dont change my position every 20 mins or so the pain gets out of control. Friday wont come soon enough.

Hopkins is a great hospital, I should have thought about that. Could slap myself for not thinking about that. I have been there before for a surgery. Hopkins and Union Memorial would be my 2 top picks. I dont know what Hospital my NS has rights to. The hospital by me is just a county hospital. the waiting area in the ER looks like a rehab for crack retards.

I went to this hospital 3 years ago with a lump in my right armpit. After waiting over 7 hours in the ER they saw me and told me that it was a boil and not to worry about it. 3 days later I was having emergency surgery and lost 80 percent of my armpit and got 45 stitches. I had a rather large tumor. So you see my problem with this health care. I have good insurance also, but sometimes that doesn't help.

Still hanging in there =D
Bryan

Hello Bryan,

Sorry to read that your pain is getting so very bad.

A lady at our church had back surgery at Johns Hopkins about 2 years ago. She really liked her spine surgeon. I tried calling the lady but no answer, so I did leave a message for her to call me. Hopefully she will be home later in the day.

That was a really bad thing you had with the tumor in your arm pit. I hope all is well since the surgery.

Can you go to the ER at Johns Hopkins or Union Memorial? If you can, you may wish to try there if needed.

Tell me Bryan, how come there seems to be SOOoooo many incompetent doctors today. My wife had a physical two days ago. The GP she has been seeing for years told her he couldn't give her an EKG because insurance would only pay if she had a heart problem. It was like WHAT!!!!! It says right in our policy EKGs are covered. I have the ole treadmill test every year by my doc , and insurance has always paid. She is going to give her doc H and more tomorrow. He was probably just to lazy to do it.

Thoughts and prayers are with you fellow.

RichT

I dont know what is going on in the medical community these days. My wife broke a bone last winter when she fell. It didnt seem to bother her at first but then next day she was in tears. She went to her Ortho and he took Xrays. He told her nothing was wrong and to try some PT. The insurance company said they wouldn't pay any of it unless there was surgery. So she opted for a second opinion. She went back to the same medical practice but had another doctor look at her films. Now she was told she needed surgery to fix her shoulder. what?

Then we went to another well known and reputable hospital when we had problems with our pregnancy. They had her on high risk and made her get an Ultra sound every week. They told us that our daughter was going to be atleast 10 lbs and said her head was over 11 CM's. They scheduled a C-section because they said my daughters head wouldn't make it out of the birth canal. Our daughter came out weighing 6 1/2 LBS with a normal size head.

These things make me not want spine surgery so I am hoping my problem is not that bad. Although I keep seeing on the net to go to a hospital if your legs are numb with lose of bladder control. I am assuming that this means if you completely pee yourself. I haven't gotten to that point yet. I haven't gone all day honestly. Either it takes a ton of effort or I just dont go at all. I am going to have to ask for something better then tylenol because this is getting ridiculous. I sat in a chair and got Tattooed for 9 hours without breaking a sweat so I can take a little pain. But this back pain is getting a tad ridiculous! Everyone I called said to lay down and that is making it worse! I have a 10 month old and chasing her around the house is killing me! I think I am turning into a Sissy man! LMAO

Hello Bryan,

A very short post. I have the name of the spine surgeon who performs his surgeries at J.H. I am sending you a PM with the details.

RichT

Great TYVM =D

hello Bryan,

My apology for taking so long to send you a PM. I tried before we went to dinner, but I erred in typing in your username.

The PM has now been sent. If you have any questions at all do let me know.

The lady said she is doing very well since her spine surgey by Dr. Kebaish. She thinks he is the greatest.

RichT

Hello Bryan,

I finally read through your 4:19 pm post. Unbelievable isn't it regarding medical practice today.

I must share a "funny" - Know why doctors call it a "practice"? Because they are still practicing!! Not so funny, as it seems that is just about where things are today.

SOOOoooo very glad that all went well with the birth of your daughter. What ever happened to honesty and values?

May I ask what you did regarding your wife's broken bone?

Totally understand why you don't want surgery on your spine. Totally. From a doctor making things worse than they are to MRSA, etc., etc. I'm beginning to sound like my grandmother who had a fear of doctors. Thank goodness she was healthy and touigh as a horse. However, her home remedies used to drive me up a wall.

Have a cold? No problem. She had dried yarrow in her barn. she would make a tea with that. Then add a couple of shots of whiskey. Told us to drink it as hot as we could, cover up with a lot of blankets and "sweat it out". WELLLLLLlll worked as good as the stuff you buy in a pharmacy today. LOL

Please do stay in touch during the next few days. Do let me know if I can help in any way.

RichT

Well Here is the big answer, Today I went to the NS. Let me 1st off say (with out sounding like a racist because I am not!) My NS was a Chinese dude. I got there at 1000 Am and I was out of there at 1003am. He came in the room and asked me what the problem was. I began to tell him while he was looking over my paper work. It seemed like he ignored me because as I was talking he just sat there and said, "Yeah uh huh yeah".

He looked up at me and asked if I was taking anything for the pain, I said yes. I told him that I just had a Umbilical hernia fixed and they gave me Endocet, the hernia repair didnt hurt that bad so I didnt take them. I told him for the last few days while my back was hurting I took the few that I had. He said,"That is very bad, to much Narcotic in America! Do not take them very bad. I will give you Celebrex, it is much better."

He then asked to see me walk and said I was OK and told me to go to therapy for 2 weeks. I said to him that I couldn't feel the urge to Urinate or have a Bowel movement and that it was only going to be a day or 2 before I started pissing myself in public. He then asked me if I got night erections. I said to him," what does that mean?. He said You know night erections. I replied with I dont know what that means and he said like I said you are OK have a nice day.

His secretary handed me 5 foil packs full of celebrex and said Have a nice weekend. I dont know what happened other then I paid a 30 dollar copay and ,learned the phrase night erection. I dont think this DR was into Americans to be Honest. After all I have had 19 surgeries in the last 5 years. I was paralyzed for 6 months and was diagnosed with a rare nerve disease. My original NS is not with the Peripheral Nerve institute anymore so this is why I needed a new one. You would think he would have asked about my prior conditions and surgeries and maybe thought there might be a connection.

here is something interesting, you could take your MRI films to 3 different doctors and they all say something different about them. health question the health care in the USA! I guess being an ex solder doesn't count for anything these days! Sorry for the vent but I have run out of patience. I took it upon myself to find a doc that would write for spinal injections. I have a consultation at the end of the month, I pray that works because I am on my feet all day and need the relief.