For the past 4 years I have suffered from various amounts of lower back pain and stiffness. Which all actually started right before pearl jam's state college show ( rocking out at that show did not help). I had a minor procedure early last year to remove some fluid in my lower back because I suffer from a rare condition called Schmorl Nodules. But I have been going to a orthopeadist from the last 6 months to see how my back is doing and treatment options.

I had a more recent MRI done last week and have been given the run around in regards to getting my results and some sort of over the phone plan of action. Once, I was able to get the doctor on the phone. He informed me of what is now going on, when I asked him about treatment options, his response was "ya could lose some weight ya know". "You are some 20 pounds over weight". The doc who seemed nice in person was the biggest cockbag on the phone and sound like he could not be bothered.

First off for the record. I am 5,10 with a stocky/muscular build. I have spent a majority of my 20's working out and staying in shape. Weight is sensitive issue to me and when I was 21, I decided to make a change and shed my weight from 250 to 188. Even when I was on the tightest diet possible, I was 188 and looked like a ironing board. I haven't been able to go as hard because I simply don't wannt be in pain or discomfort all the time. And it the last 3 years went from 192 to 200 pounds. 12 pounds over 7 years total. I just wish a doctor could have given me a realistic goal of treatment. Not just some insensitive remark. Oh, well, time to find a new doc.

so you're mad at your doctor b/c you're a fat ass?

I am not a fatass. I could put a picture up and show you, if you wanna see a naked one of me, pm me. I went to him to help me improve my back so I COULD shed some pounds, I am not oblivious to that opinion. I need to shed atleast 5 pounds to be where I wanna be. He told me fucking 20! like an asshole too!

I'm with you on this one dude. It hurts so fucking bad when they say something like that. And if you have to say it, there's more sensitive ways to say it too.

They all want to be House.

Seriously though, sounds like his bedside manor might need a bit of work, but maybe he was just having a bad day. Docs are just regular people. Also, doctors don't make any money talking about results over the phone, you won't get any serious "plan of action" over the phone.

Humm...try to lose 10lbs and see if helps.

doctors have too many patients they're suppposed to deal with in my opinion- how the heck can they get to know anything about anyone when they have another 50 people they need to address medical issues with at the same time?

I also think that know one knows your own body as well as you do. Doctors will often use charts of average weights for different types of body frames and come to a determination about what you "should" weigh according to those averages. But everyone knows that no two people are the same and you have to deal with your own set of issues - how fast is your metabolism, how active are you, what kind of food do you eat, whatever- I think all of that should be taken into consideration when you think about what's a 'good ' weight to try to maintain.

I believe I can lose 5, when u have back pain. U jus don't go as hard. and in my case. I stopped lifting weights two months ago. I feel mostly better now. I have a new workout plan with weights. I will be happy if I lose 5

I have to say, I hate people who only does stuff for money. I know this is how it works in many countries, but over here the doctors are concerned and willing to make an effort for their patients. Of course there are some who does it for the money, but most of them doesn't. They get paid no matter how many patients they're having, because they're paid for the amount of hours. Hence they can also talk to their patients on the phone.

I'm not sure if I made my point clear in that rant, but still. I wish people would care a bit more about each other

Oh, and I also agree with that doctors are human too. But I don't agree with them being assholes just because they have a bad day - they should know to part their feelings from their work. My dad's a doctor, and believe me, he can have bad days and they're shitloads of patients where he works, but no matter how stressed he is, I've never once heard him be rude to a patient..

If you are having back problems I believe you should start out with low-impact cardio workouts like an elliptical machine or a stationary bike.

Hahahahahaaaaa, medical insurance. NHS baby!

It's all about the benjamins.

In my experience with talking to a lot of doctors, most of them are not in it solely for the money. But, fact is that they've invested a shit load of time and a lot of their own money to get a medical degree. They should be compensated for the work they've put in to do that. I'm in Canada and we have a "similar" medical setup to Sweden. Similar in that it's a government run system. Anyway, here, the doctors bill for the patients they see and other things they do. They cannot bill for phone calls so they just won't do them.

My wife's a family doctor and she got into it in the first place because she LOVES to help people. Fact is though practicing family medicine in Canada's not a super paying gig. The days she works in the office she works from 8:30 - 5:00 seeing patients full time all day. Then she'll come home and spend another 3 hours on notes for the patients she saw that day. She can't bill for any of the time outside of the office so she doesn't get paid for that. She doesn't have any spare time during the day to spend talking to patients on the phone even if she could bill for it and it would take away her time with patients who actually come in to see her, which isn't fair for them. And she's not about to take away from her free time she spends with her own family to talk on the phone with paitents, especially when she's not compensated for it.

Anyway, seeing this side of things has been enlightening to how hard a doctor's job is and I empathize with family doctors, especially here in Canada where there's just not enough of them and they're not fairly compensated.

pain-free exercise and developing a treatment plan with a registered massage therapist could work wonders.....along with the actual treatments, the RMT would also guide and help you in formulating an at home strengthening/stretching regiment......do you do much stretching?

this sounds good! i would also suggest accupuncture, which can really do wonders for back pain..srsly! try it, but get someone recommended

I have been working on stretching for the past 3 months, before that it was quite minimal. I just recently started going to a REAL massage therapist. But it is 60 bucks for an hour of work. So I can only go once or twice a month. I am gonna speak to my chiropractor, who has become a friend of mine. See what I can do.

nice....i'm an RMT by trade and i'm all to aware of how pricey it can get.....the low back pain could be caused by a variety of things, but from the very brief description you gave, sounds like there might be some shortening and trigger points developing in your lumbar spine due to the healing after your operation.....is the pain localized to your lumbar area, or does it radiate into your glutes/legs as well?.....it's amazing what abdominal strengthening and some simple back stretches can do for this type of pain......

time for a new doctor