Surgery Rejection

I went to an orthopedic surgeon for a consult regarding treatment of disk disease. He denied treatment and referred me to a pain specialist. I met with the pain doctor and he refused to inject the steroid into effected area due to the risks associated with hemorrhaging (ITP). I'm frustrated with the Orthopedic surgeon for not talking strait with me and telling me he choose not to treat due to the ITP.

Now I am concerned I will be refused necessary treatment for the rest of my life due to their fear of me hemorrhaging.

The fear may be unnecessary. What are your counts and have you ever treated?
I've had those injections. I used to get them every four weeks for quite a while. I've had two disk surgeries and am having problems again. I was given a choice of starting the injections again or trying physical therapy. That might be another option for you and personally, having had both, they work about the same (PT has no side effects though). Another options is a TENS which has helped tremendously.

The Orthopedic Surgeon may not recommend surgery at this point because the disk has not progressed to that point yet. I had full blown stenosis twice where bone spurs were half-way through the spinal cord. That was when surgery became a must. In that case, they would not simply refuse surgery, they would advise you to get your counts up for the surgery.

I have degenerative disk destate with a buldged disk that creating a pinched root nerve. My pain doctor will only provide a coddle injection, which does not directly treat the troubled area. My platelets are typically around 60,000 but never above 90,000 in last 7 years.

DM:
Unfortunately, they usually do just treat bulging disks with pain management. I had a few that were bulged and herniated for years and treating was all that was recommended. I did the injections, PT and used the TENS. Nothing took the pain away, but it did help to relax the muscles around the area. It wasn't until it became full stenosis that they said surgery was necessary. After the first surgery, I had about a year before the pain returned and another disk was involved. Three years after that, I had another surgery to replace that disk. I had about three months pain free that time, and now another disk is involved. Back to pain management....I'm supposed to start PT but haven't gotten there yet.

Once it hits the stenosis stage, they have to do surgery or you run the risk of being paralyzed due to bone spurs cutting through the spinal cord. I don't think having ITP would get in the way of a surgery. Most people just treat to get counts up, even to have something simple like a tooth pulled. Your counts are not too bad and I'm not sure why they won't do injections unless they are worried about bleeding into the muscle. Like I said, you could ask for a referral to PT and try that, and ask for a TENS.

Thanks for the feedback. My thoughts are that some physicians over react when they see the ITP diagnosis. A couple of years ago I was hospitalised and the surgeon gave me neupogen to increase platelets. I then saw my hemotolgist and he was furious and told me to tell the surgeon to stop trying to be a hemotolgist in that he didn't know what he was doing.

Yes, many do overreact to ITP. Neupogen does not increase platelets! If memory serves, it increases white cells. Wow.

Your memory serves well Sandi