Chiropractors ? Diagnosis ? My Wife

[dethman]

as a physician, i can say without a doubt that chiropractors are fvcking quacks.

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: dullard
Chiropracters are excellent massage therapists. But many times they attempt to go outside of that realm into areas where they have no training and no expertise (exactly what happened here). Those who do that are quacks. I bet 80% are quacks. But there is still a small core of chiropracters who don't go beyond the true skills and then they are very good at what they do.

All the more reason just to visit a massage therapist instead. 80% is too much a gamble, and I'd venture to say it's higher.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: CollectiveUnconscious

Originally posted by: eits
they are damaged... because they're pinched. you've got tiny vessels that run along your nerves in order to provide the axons with oxygen and glucose. whenever you pinch off that blood supply, the nerve starts to lose it's function. it starts tingling and you feel pins and needles (parasthesia) and, after some time of that without getting it fixed, you end up getting nerve permanent nerve damage in the form of paralysis (could be sensory, motor, or both). however, because the damage isn't in the cord, you can regain sensation.

peripheral nerves can regrenerate and function properly once being damaged or even cut. neural tracts in the central nervous system cannot (naturally, that is... they can with embryonic stem cells and this new "glue" they just discovered).

Then why would I be told I would not regain sensation? I went about a month after my chiropractic visit, when sensation completely disappeared, and this is what I was told. I'd be very interested to learn of any way that I could remedy this annoyance.

well, in order to begin answering that, i'd have to look at your medical and case history... i'd have to know things like your age, when this started, what made it worse, what made it better, what you were doing when this first happened, how often you saw a chiropractor for it, other doctors' opinions, etc.

however, i'd say that if you're young enough, if you got treated by a chiropractor, there's a good chance that you'd probably be able to feel pins and needles in your sensationless fingers (which is a GREAT thing, because that means that the nerve is regenerating and sending sensory information to your brain, something it wasn't doing before). after a couple months of pins and needles, you'll probably stop feeling the pins and needles and start feeling normally. it probably wouldn't be 100%, but it definitely wouldn't be 10%.

were you in a wreck or did you fall on your head somehow or something?

if you're older, the chances of you regaining sensation are probably very slim... it's because your joint space is decreased and you probably have degenerative disc disease or osteoarthritis in that area, which would not help get rid of the suffocating pressure on the nerves.

 

[CollectiveUnconscious]

Originally posted by: eits
well, in order to begin answering that, i'd have to look at your medical and case history... i'd have to know things like your age, when this started, what made it worse, what made it better, what you were doing when this first happened, how often you saw a chiropractor for it, other doctors' opinions, etc.

however, i'd say that if you're young enough, if you got treated by a chiropractor, there's a good chance that you'd probably be able to feel pins and needles in your sensationless fingers (which is a GREAT thing, because that means that the nerve is regenerating and sending sensory information to your brain, something it wasn't doing before). after a couple months of pins and needles, you'll probably stop feeling the pins and needles and start feeling normally. it probably wouldn't be 100%, but it definitely wouldn't be 10%.

were you in a wreck or did you fall on your head somehow or something?

if you're older, the chances of you regaining sensation are probably very slim... it's because your joint space is decreased and you probably have degenerative disc disease or osteoarthritis in that area, which would not help get rid of the suffocating pressure on the nerves.

The chiropractor caused it during my first session for middle back pain I acquired after a TKD tournament 2 years ago. I went to a doctor a month afterward to see what the total damage was, and I was told the aforementioned.

 

[mattpegher]

First rule, while under a doctors care or after surgery, if anything goes wrong contact that doctor. Her recent surgery should have alerted the chiropractor that a larger differential diagnoses list than he is capable of diagnosing exists. Failing the ability to reach the surgeon she should have gone to the ER first.

A good chiropractor whould have suggested such, and on the other hand a bad physician could have missed the diagnosis as well.

The two most elusive traits of a good clinician are listening and teaching. In today's medical environment it is hard for a doctor to take the time to get a thorough history and address all of the patients concerns and complaints.

A wise attending of mine during residency once asked "what does doctor mean in latin. Teacher".

 

[mattpegher]

As far as what you should do.
Don't use that chiropractor in the future. It is unlikely that you would get anywhere contacting him or filing suit.

And tell your mother-in-law to stop practicing medicine without a license.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
First rule, while under a doctors care or after surgery, if anything goes wrong contact that doctor. Her recent surgery should have alerted the chiropractor that a larger differential diagnoses list than he is capable of diagnosing exists. Failing the ability to reach the surgeon she should have gone to the ER first.

A good chiropractor whould have suggested such, and on the other hand a bad physician could have missed the diagnosis as well.

The two most elusive traits of a good clinician are listening and teaching. In today's medical environment it is hard for a doctor to take the time to get a thorough history and address all of the patients concerns and complaints.

A wise attending of mine during residency once asked "what does doctor mean in latin. Teacher".

yup. my professor always reminds us that "doctor" means "teacher" and, as such, when we're in practice, we need to help teach our patients as well as treat them.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: mattpegher
As far as what you should do.
Don't use that chiropractor in the future. It is unlikely that you would get anywhere contacting him or filing suit.

And tell your mother-in-law to stop practicing medicine without a license.

hahaha

 

[mitchelt]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: mitchelt
I don?t know how I feel about this, and I?m curious as to what you think.

My wife had surgery 6 days ago, and all was going fine. She could not lay down on our water bed because it did not give her enough support. She decided to sleep on the couch which is more firm.

4 days after surgery she tried to get up from the couch and she felt a sharp pain, she thought she pulled something and took some aspirin and I applied some Icy- Hot. The next day is was still hurting a lot, I was not home and her mom was watching her. Her mom decided to take my wife to her Chiropractor to see what they could do.

The Chiropractor checked her out and concluded that my wife pulled a muscle and some how shifted some of her ribs and bruised them.

Later that evening the pain was really bad and I took her to the hospital. They did some blood work and performed a cat-scan. They came back and told her she has a blood clot in her left lung and that they needed to admit her. She is now on blood thinners and morphine for the pain, she will be in the hospital for at least three days.

What bothers me is how does the Chiropractor come up with such a radically different diagnosis. She knew my wife had surgery a few days back. The nurse at the hospital took down our info and within a few minutes guessed at what the problem was.

I don?t know if I should be angry at the Chiropractor or not?believe me I have no intention of calling her or making any problems/waves.

I look forward to hearing your comments.

The chiroquacker f'ed up. You should inform him of the correct diagnosis your wife got from the hospital no thanks to him.

I called her this morning and let her know what happened, she was very concerned and thanked me for the update.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: CollectiveUnconscious

Originally posted by: eits
well, in order to begin answering that, i'd have to look at your medical and case history... i'd have to know things like your age, when this started, what made it worse, what made it better, what you were doing when this first happened, how often you saw a chiropractor for it, other doctors' opinions, etc.

however, i'd say that if you're young enough, if you got treated by a chiropractor, there's a good chance that you'd probably be able to feel pins and needles in your sensationless fingers (which is a GREAT thing, because that means that the nerve is regenerating and sending sensory information to your brain, something it wasn't doing before). after a couple months of pins and needles, you'll probably stop feeling the pins and needles and start feeling normally. it probably wouldn't be 100%, but it definitely wouldn't be 10%.

were you in a wreck or did you fall on your head somehow or something?

if you're older, the chances of you regaining sensation are probably very slim... it's because your joint space is decreased and you probably have degenerative disc disease or osteoarthritis in that area, which would not help get rid of the suffocating pressure on the nerves.

The chiropractor caused it during my first session for middle back pain I acquired after a TKD tournament 2 years ago. I went to a doctor a month afterward to see what the total damage was, and I was told the aforementioned.

if you can prove that the chiropractor caused it, sue the hell out of him.