Neurologist for sciatica pain. What questions should I ask?

It's you're right and you SHOULD doctor shop (off topic but especially in the mental health arena, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists and nurse practitioners) because you need to find someone who works with you, and your personality! Oh and by the way he cannot say Fibromyalgia doesn't exist - some doctors may disagree but this is a real disease/diagnosis call it psychosomatic if you want - that doesn't mean its imaginary! Or that it should go untreated - that's cruelty). Some of mine in the past has some sort of god-complex; they have to be correct - and detest/get angry with you if you suggest something, or contradict them because you happen to have more knowledge in this particular area than he/she does (in my case hormones, pharmacology organic chemistry and biochemistry) or ask for any type of pain medicine (in my case there should be no reason to stigmatize me for this - I have no history of drug abuse, I'm 25 years old - with slipped disc at S1-L5 compressing my sciatic nerve that keeps me awake, when I do sleep I wake up multiple times, and interferes with my work as a PCA) yet you get labeled as a "drug seeking" individual simply because you asked about some analgesic medicine (after having tried every single NSAID, Tylenol, OTC or Homeopathic remedy so basically ran the gamete of whats out there, now they've given me Steroids *sigh*). Its ridiculous - remember you pay them, they are working for you and your health, if the are refusing to treat you, or endangering your health by malpractice (you can sue them!).

You always have the option of finding a better suited doctor to you, and your/their personality. Don't think that they are infallible either, half the time they don't spend anywhere near enough time trying to diagnose you, 15 minutes and your times up see us again in a month or week, etc. I have a laundry list about a mile long of things Id like to discuss but it always gets focused on the first few things I say - and they ignore the rest. A doctor is supposed to evaluate all the possibilities - not just one small possibility in a sea of diagnoses, pain can be referred, and it can be muscle, bone, or nerve based, or a disease/virus/infection.

I went the ER 3 times got xrays and cat scans - it wasn't until I went to sports medicine that they found my lateral herniated/buldging disc at S1-L5 pinching my sciatic nerve - how can a CAT SCAN - 360 degrees - miss that? Lazy radiologists and overbooked (thinking about their paycheck mostly - more patients, more co-pay) doctors who don't pay enough attention to their patients. First they thought it was a urology problem, then I was sent over to endocrinology, then 3 ER visits (where they said I probably had appendicitis which it was not, and having done test that would've clearly shown the slipped disc - they were ONLY looking for symptoms of appendicitis and not ANY other possible problem that could be causing my pain, I call that inadequate treatment, they're supposed to be diagnosticians of the body, checking everything) - so including 2 visits to my GP/PCP - that's 8 visits to different specialists, the emergency room, general practitioner, urologist and endocrinologist (and radiologists who took multiple X rays/Cat scans before the SPORTS MEDICINE people found my slipped disc in a simple X Ray- you cant miss a slipped disc on a cat scan unless you just not properly trained as radiologist!) That's 10 doctors before they could even pin point what the problem was (SEE a PROBLEM here? Who gave these people their PhDs?) no offer of pain medicine ever, given corticosteroids for the imflammation (medrol) which btw drives me psychotic and keeps me up at night, sweating bullets and has wonderful side effects like musclular atrophy and brittle bones (Thats CERTAINLY going to help heal my disc... NOT).

After all this they still only recommend Tylenol - can't I even get a measly Ultram (like that crap ever did anything, SNRI for pain? kiss my... ) or a T3 (so much APAP even if I was a junkie/drug seeker - I could only take 2-3 before the Tylenol is too much for you liver to handle). They're scared of the DEA aswell - if they give out one too many pain meds or scheduled meds (benzodiazepines, amphetamines etc) they can have their licence revoked so thank the DEA next time you're refused your right to be pain free. They won't give in (and thats what they do, last time I was given Percocet (5mg oxycodone with 500mg apap) my doctor literally sighed and said I can give you a 10 day supply of oxycodone, but that's it (and thats the last time I ever went to HER again, try having some COMPASSION for your patients! or atleast some common decency I would never ever sigh at a patient of mine - as I said im a Personal Care Attendent - Id be fired!) unless your in SEVERE PAIN and tried everything from steroids, to injections in your spinal column, to physical therapy (not looking forward to being in pain and forced to exercise, what kind of cruel torture is this - I cant even get a Flexeril (dont even get me started on Tiziandine, Skelaxin, and all that other useless new crap like Robaxin) - the one and only muscle relaxer that's truly worked for me was Soma, even Flexeril sucks because of its anti-histamine and anti-cholinergic properties, (Acetylcholine = Your Memory, so an anti-cholinergic - screws with the encoding and decoding of memory/learning process) Asking for Soma now is just as bad as asking for an opioid, and Miltown/Equanil (soma's big brother) went out, thanks to the false-media frenzy that should've had Rohypnol taken off the market but instead targeted fantastic medications like Xyrem, barbiturates, barbiturate-like medicines (placidyl, gluthemide, clomethiazole, etc) and quaaludes back in the day (sad because it also had amazing anxiolytic action aswell as muscle relaxation and sedative/analgesic properties).

Basically what Im saying is the healthcare system is getting worse and worse, more doctors care less about their patients than ever before and do less test and leg work than ever before. Don't let yourself suffer because of somebodies lack of passion for their job (or knowledge/ignorance) that could ultimately end up endangering your over well being and possibly your health. So find a better, more suitable doctor for your needs and stick with them, file complaints with the licencing board if you feel your been mistreated or theres been an instance of malpractice (and then look into legal recourse because they need to have their licence revoked or atleast suspended - so they'll learn ther lesson, its the only way, because they're on a power-trip - these people are not properly trained nor do they care about their patients). Hope this helps - never feel helpless there are THOUSANDs of doctors more than willling to take your money (lol) over these laughable "Doctors".