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Just got back from the ER...

Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
Went to see my family doc on Tuesday to see why I'd been having headaches for two weeks straight. After a general exam, he asked if I'd ever been to a chiropractor. I told him maybe once or twice, but not regularly. He said he is an osteopath and wanted to "crack my back" to see if it would help with my headaches. Should have declined, but I figured he's the doc and he knows what he's doing, right?

So he has me lie on my stomach on the bench, stands over me, places his palms between my shoulder blades, and pumps down as hard as he could. I felt a stabbing pain in my chest and hollered "Ouch!"  Then, BOOM! He does it again. Same sharp shooting pain in my ribs. He stops, prescribes an antibiotic, and I leave.

By this afternoon, my ribs were hurting so bad I went to the Emergency Room to get checked out in case he had cracked a couple of ribs. X-rays don't show any breaks, but there's probably separation of the cartilage. Left with pain meds and prednisone for the inflammation.

ER visit cost me $150 plus whatever bill will come from the x-rays since my deductible reset for the year. Probably end up costing me $1,000 before we're done.

Should I send him the bill?

"When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Comments

  • Usaf06Usaf06 Posts: 11,340 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's some ****
    "I drink a great deal. I sleep a little, and I smoke cigar after cigar. That is why I am in two-hundred-percent form."
    -- Winston Churchill

    "LET'S GO FRANCIS"     Peter

  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Heck yes..  Hard to find a good bone bender. I've only been to 1 but he is good. People come from 100's of miles to our small town of 3,000 people to see him. 
  • RhamlinRhamlin Posts: 9,037 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Oh man that bites! Sure hope it doesn't wind up costing you that much. Seems like he should be responsible since he's the one messed you up. 
  • NolagizmoNolagizmo Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭✭✭
    **** yeah send him the bill
    "Come party with me in Tennessee for my birthday July we can smoke in the Smokey's."
  • genareddoggenareddog Posts: 4,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Absolutely 
  • peter4jcpeter4jc Posts: 16,610 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I would take the bill to him in person.

    But he'll most likely try to weasel out of any responsibility, and tell you he had no way of knowing that would happen, like "it's not my fault you have weak cartilage."  Hopefully, he'll have some way to get your bill from the ER dropped, or have them run it through his practice and take care of it himself.  You never know, but I say it's worth a try; doctors nowadays know their reputation can suffer by way of online reviews, so maybe he'll agree to come to terms with you.
    "I could've had a Mi Querida!"   Nick Bardis
  • BigshizzaBigshizza Posts: 15,659 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ohhh yeah bring it to him, he will deny it because he's perfect but that ain't right puffy....did your headache go away?
  • RainRain Posts: 8,958 ✭✭✭
    I just for back from the ER too.

    Dropped em off and left though 
  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bigshizza said:
    Ohhh yeah bring it to him, he will deny it because he's perfect but that ain't right puffy....did your headache go away?

    Still having the headache, but don't notice it so much now because of the pain in my ribs... so I've got that goin' for me.
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • genareddoggenareddog Posts: 4,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Bigshizza said:
    Ohhh yeah bring it to him, he will deny it because he's perfect but that ain't right puffy....did your headache go away?

    Still having the headache, but don't notice it so much now because of the pain in my ribs... so I've got that goin' for me.

    Let the meds kick in. Hope you feel better.
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    That's how he gets repeat customers.  Figures you will go back for bruised ribs. Might break your leg so your not thinking so much about your sore ribs
  • jlmartajlmarta Posts: 7,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, if you have a headache should you drop a sledge hammer on your toe so you forget about the headache??  What kinda simian logic is that??

    like, the patient says, "it hurts when I do this"
    And the doctor says, "well, don't do that. That'll be $50 please"
  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, it's been a week and a half since this unfortunate incident. Pain is worse today than last week. Anybody have experience with deeply bruised ribs? Is it normal for pain to intensify over a week later? How long does it take to heal? This sucks.
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • NolagizmoNolagizmo Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭✭✭
    So, it's been a week and a half since this unfortunate incident. Pain is worse today than last week. Anybody have experience with deeply bruised ribs? Is it normal for pain to intensify over a week later? How long does it take to heal? This sucks.
    Takes forever to heal. Pain gets worse before it gets better. The only medicine that worked for me was John Wayne medicine (Whiskey. Bourbon to be exact). Whole process of healing took me 4 weeks and I was in my 20s then. 1 cracked rib 3 bruised ribs.
    It's been almost 20 years and on cold rainy nights I still get pain around the cracked rib. Right now what you are feeling is the healing, it will get less and less as the weeks progress. 
    "Come party with me in Tennessee for my birthday July we can smoke in the Smokey's."
  • WylaffWylaff Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I broke my bottom two ribs at a Flogging Molly concert 6 years ago. I honestly think a deep bruise hurts more than a break. The break is at least a very local pain, while the bruise just covers everything.
    "Cooking isn't about struggling; It's about pleasure. It's like sǝx, with a wider variety of sauces."

    At any given time the urge to sing "In The Jungle" is just a whim away... A whim away... A whim away...
  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Thanks guys. Helps to know I'm not just being a big baby. (Well, I might be, but at least to know the progression of pain is normal). Lesson learned... Stay far away from anyone who offers to "crack your back". 
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • NolagizmoNolagizmo Posts: 1,914 ✭✭✭✭✭
    There is an acceptable technique for cracking a back that evolves elbows being in the way of ribs. Your ribs should not receive pressure when your back is cracked.
    "Come party with me in Tennessee for my birthday July we can smoke in the Smokey's."
  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Agreed. I'm referring more to the terminology the doc used. Every reputable chiropractor I know hates the word "crack" being used to describe their techniques. "Adjustment," or "manipulation" but not cracking. 
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
  • kswildcatkswildcat Posts: 1,490 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hope you get to feeling better soon. We gonna need you cheering for our Steelers
  • genareddoggenareddog Posts: 4,223 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hope you feel better. Wish I could help cheer for your steelers but you know. 
  • raisindotraisindot Posts: 1,294 ✭✭✭
    Feel your pain, Puff. I'm very skeptical of chiropractors and osteopaths. While I've known some people who swear it helps, I've known others who have come away with serious injuries and pain like yours. The only time I ever saw an osteo (who I chose over a chiro because an osteo has actually been to medical school) was a guy who was "highly recommended" by many people I knew. He spent the first fifteen minutes with his fingers on my temples trying to "sense my inner psyhic balance." Then he did the usual cracking stuff. It felt, as Homer Simpson said in the episode where he became a "trash barrel chiro" "a little bit better." But the pain came back within a day. Since that time I've never seen a back-cracker since. I don't they fully understand what they're doing.   
  • Puff_DougiePuff_Dougie Posts: 4,599 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Nolagizmo said:
    The only medicine that worked for me was John Wayne medicine...
    At the moment, I'm finding a combination of vodka, fireball and scotch to be pretty effective.

    Thanks, doc!

    Who needs some cigars???
    "When I have found intense pain relieved, a weary brain soothed, and calm, refreshing sleep obtained by a cigar, I have felt grateful to God, and have blessed His name." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
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