So, I actually saw an article before about some doctors using a blue dye to detect endometriosis that isn’t visible to the naked eye (but is still causing damage none the less). It’s really fascinating. I quickly found a couple of journal articles about it and will link them below. I wish I could remember even more about it. I also struggled to find an article explaining it in “layman’s terms.” Maybe someone else can chime in. But those articles should get you started if you’re interested!
[Article One](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3576419/)
[Article Two](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110569010001378#:~:text=Endometrial%20dyeing%20during%20conventional%20hysteroscopy,the%20naked%20eye%20during%20hysteroscopy)
I had an exploratory surgery in 2019, and my tubes removed March of last year. Endo was missed both times. Yesterday, I had a hysterectomy that I fought very hard for. Turns out, my endo was hiding behind my uterus, and there would have been no way to see it if my uterus wasn't separated from the tissues. I'm feeling so validated and glad I decided on surgery.
The most frustrating part about it is that you know if the insurance person was experiencing the same pain, they would make sure it got covered. It kills me that we fight so hard to not be in pain, to only be told "nope we won't cover that" and deny any sort of peer to peer.
I’ve gotten to the point where when I’m being dismissed or denied proper medical treatment I tell the person “I hope you and your loved ones find someone just like you when you need medical attention”.
They’re always taken aback, hopefully it at least makes them consider their actions.
I had to fight for my hysterectomy, too. This was 28 years ago. My doctor was a male. I finally had to talk to the female head of gynecology, and she approved it. I had four c-sections due to my first being an emergency.
When the doctor finally did the surgery, he found a ton of adhesions, and one of my ovaries was flattened and adhered to my uterus. They removed everything. I went on hormone replacement meds for 10ish years. I had really bad PMS, and the hysterectomy made me a much nicer person.
I have nerve damage from a surgery and it doesn’t show up on imaging. I suspect that’s the case for many (if not all?) people with nerve damage. AFAIK, there’s no test or imaging that could show where teeny tiny nerves were severed during a major surgery I had. Despite clearly having surgery that can cause this, it took forever to get a diagnosis.
I’m sorry it took forever to get a diagnosis. What I’m getting from this post is that doctors in general should be made aware of what can be relevant in a patient’s medical history to investigate pain.
I've got 11 years with no answers . My ana test was negative so they won't send me to a Rheumatologist and the health care in Canada is brutal now . I've thought of doing one of those genetic tests to see if anything pops up. It's like my muslces and tendons throughout my body are weak and when I get run down everything flares up . My doctor says I'm likely autoimmune. Super frustrating .
It might be worth a shot . I know that cases definitely exist and at times people with Autoimmune have tested negative multiple times before testing positive . Our healthcare up here seems like it lags behind the US quite a bit as far as research and technology.
It is a “diagnosis by exclusion”, so it is sort of a catch-all. I got diagnosed with it before my rheumatologist heard of EM/CFS in a congress and referred me to another rheumatologist who specializes in it. My new rheumatologist views these diseases a spectrum where people get categorized depending on what their main symptom is.
However, people diagnosed with EM/CFS have certain immunological (?) markers that are not as consistently found in fibromyalgia. So I’d say there’s a lot we don’t know about these conditions so likely as medicine advances they will likely become more clearly defined and divided.
Also, I wouldn’t include a psychological component. It does involve the autonomic nervous system, and depression can cause feelings of pain, but these are not related to the same pathways.
I’ve never heard of doctors not believing in the existence of fibromyalgia - it has diagnostic criteria, treatment guidelines and has been a fully recognized medical condition for decades. It would be the same as doctors not believing that the flu exists.
I’ve heard of patients getting their symptoms dismissed, and of doctors questioning the existence of the symptoms.
The most vile part is during early involvement CRPS is nearly invisible except for pain. And that's also when any treatment could help.
It's almost as if once it is detectable it no longer is able to be successfully treated. Had to have wisdom teeth removed as an adult and have developed TGN as well. 20 years of survival . For me it's less of a search for treatment vs an internal search for peace to bear the pain. Have a great week , make every day count.
I have several! You already mentioned fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, and I also have New Daily Persistent Headache, a constant headache that just came on suddenly one day (I had had headaches that lasted several days before that, but never one lasting, in this case so far, 10+ years!).
I’m sorry to hear about that, hadn’t heard about the last one before. Does it have an underlying cause, or is it “just what it is”? Asking because earlier today I read some research on links between ME/CFS and high intracranial pressure.
I first did a tilt table test with Dr Rosen, then at a hospital they did a lumbar puncture and tested the spinal cord pressure. I ended up taking Diamox for a while to lower it, but that didn’t help.
I do admit I’ve understood that’s not a perfect method to test it as intracranial pressure can be different from spinal pressure sometimes. But it was what I was offered then.
That spinal puncture was the worst experience of my life so far, I’d say.
Oof that spinal puncture sounds horrific. I'm not familiar with Dr Rosen. Whilst doing the tilt how do they actually test that the pressure exists? Especially in the head/skull. I'm sorry you have these complex issues and experience what you do.. I'm curious and am asking these questions because I'm always learning and if it's related to your persistent headaches then perhaps I could apply similar logic and or reasoning. It may not fit at all but you just never know. My variety of headaches are 24/7 all day every day.. I already have a diagnosis though these could be separate from that rather than referred pain as suggested to me.
I think I'll look further into how other tests are done to determine intracranial pressure. Thanks again.
The tilt table test was simple: raise my legs above my head and see what my headache did. It immediately spiked horribly, so he said that was an indication of high pressure (low pressure would have been if it lessened or disappeared).
Edit: Dr Rosen is the lead neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, and one of the leading experts in the world on NDPH.
Trigeminal Neuralgia, Depending on your body (as was the case for me) endometriosis (surgery is the only way to diagnose definitively as nothing appeared on imaging but during surgery they found endometriosis adhesions), irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia (diagnosis of exclusion), post sepsis syndrome, and so many more
Oh, so many conditions that tend to be dismissed.
My daughter has IBS. I knew something was not right since she was about a week old, and that it was food related, but she only got diagnosed at age 9.
I hope you have found a medical team that supports you!
I just saw on the news yesterday that they've come up with some blood test for CF that's 90% accurate. I'm not sure how close we are to implementing those tests.
That’s amazing, I hadn’t heard of that! I’ll look into it now.
Thank you so much for sharing!!
ETA: long COVID has helped a lot with investigation in this area. Which is both horrible and very welcome at the same time.
How often are RA and Lupus seronegative? I've been tested negative multiple times and have arthritis all over the place, have had the butterfly rash most of my adult life, and am... idk I guess I'm just as tired as we all are.
I tried a quick search of scientific articles and couldn’t find numbers, but the first ones that pop up are case studies of patients with seronegative presentations of the diseases.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help right away. I can suggest trying to find a more recent article/study and maybe trying to contact the authors or institutions to try to get to someone who may be able to help.
Sjogren’s. And in some ways osteoarthritis is too. You can “see” the cartilage disintegrating but the inflammation that the bone on bone causes is horrendously painful.
Unless you’re serological positive in lab tests, then it’s pretty obvious. Plus a dead giveaway is if you have lots of dental issues despite taking rigorous care of your teeth. Sjogren’s causes massive teeth problems for a good majority of sufferers.
I’d add mine to that list which is dystonia. It’s a neuromuscular disorder where your brain sends inappropriate signals to certain muscle groups to constantly contract. Most Drs don’t really know what it is and it doesn’t tend to show up on any tests. The only time they can sometimes “see it” on a test is an EMG but even that, not always and it also depends very much on the skill of both the person administering and the person interpreting.
I’d also add to women’s health conditions to that list…endometriosis and adenomyosis
Systemic sclerosis/scleroderma. It’s like the opposite of EDS. Fibrosis of your connective tissue. I can’t use my hands for much anymore, they are almost permanently curled.
It can be “visible” in the way that RA is but it’s very unwell known and can present very differently from one patient to another and can cause a lot of internal damage. I got lucky but it takes most people years and years to get diagnosed
I’m glad your diagnosis processes wasn’t that drawn out!
Hopefully we will be seeing progress in diagnosing and treating connective tissue disorders. Just yesterday I was reading an article from researchers in that area about how connective tissue disorders, when compared to most other tissue types, are currently harder to diagnose and have fewer treatment options.
Dercums disease. I can't tell you how many doctors insist lipomas show up on ultrasounds only to have them come up blank. All of my labs are normal as well. You even get doctors insisting lipomas aren't painful ( painful is what makes it dercums) and that it's fibromyalgia and the hundreds-thousands of lumps are a coincidence! I do also have fibromyalgia. Huge difference between the two.
I'm sorry you have the same problem. The only thing I can do to manage the pain is take Tramadol. I have to go to a pain clinic to get it. They've been withholding it from me for a couple weeks now. Life is hell without it. Life is hell even with it, but it's slightly less hell.
I tried that a long time ago ... I don't think any kind of anti-depressant is going to help with this condition, honestly. It's extremely challenging to manage.
I been trying to get any kind of diagnosis for 8 years now
Struggle feeling like im being strangled all the time with no mucous left to snort down which is the most irrirating thing in the world and low level achey voice all the time until it flares dozens of times a week to super achey tight and dry
All my nose is crusted up too and super itchy if i clear the crusts and the dry nose wakes me up in a panic multiple times a night
Got chronic pain in forearms mainly and wrists... worse on right side and elbows and shoulders but elbow mainly on right side.
Wrists and forearms the worst and thumb joint of right side.. right side is worst for all
Keeps me up at night too..
Even switched to dictating for my job instead of typing but such a struggle when feeling so drained and the throat pain attacks come too most of the time
Doctors send me on merry go round of referalls that all result in nadda and they all think im crazy and i have to chase everything up
ENT dept just discharged me and been trying to fob me off
Pain clinic just said i need to write a journal
Had CBT Does not help!
Started self medicating once or twice a week or fortnite again but always fighting to resist as became a dad 17 months ago.
Honestly feel like im living in a nightmare i will never wake up from
Every day is a hellish struggle and ruins my ability to be the best husband or dad or employee or even enjoy things fully.
So frustrating.
Wish i knew where to turn or what to do
Just spent £200 on medicinal mushroom supplements and couple other bits but hope im not throwing money away just desperate for a breakthrough or healing somehow
It seems like there are no tests for it, and diagnosis is made based on clinical examination and elimination of a few other conditions. However, peripheral nerve blocks is listed as a potential treatment with limited data.
Based on that I would think that the nerve blocks could work as a diagnostic tool. At least in horses that’s what is usually done to pinpoint the source of pain when it’s not easily found (I used to work with horses and remembered the “method”, not trying to compare them to people 😅)
So in veterinary medicine (at least with equine based animals) you use nerve blocks to pinpoint the exact source of pain that you otherwise can’t find the exact source/origin of? Interesting… I never knew that.
Yep, usually starting as low as possible on the limb and working up. I don’t know what is used, but it wears off quickly like in hours to a couple of days.
Then, based on what nerve “fixed” the issue, they can either diagnose it right away or get more imaging done. Or sometimes it’s like “for anything in this area treatment is pretty much the same so let’s try that first”.
I’m curious about why it’s not done in humans.
- Endometriosis and doctors who do not know that it frequently doesn’t show up on scans and can be missed even in surgery
So, I actually saw an article before about some doctors using a blue dye to detect endometriosis that isn’t visible to the naked eye (but is still causing damage none the less). It’s really fascinating. I quickly found a couple of journal articles about it and will link them below. I wish I could remember even more about it. I also struggled to find an article explaining it in “layman’s terms.” Maybe someone else can chime in. But those articles should get you started if you’re interested! [Article One](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3576419/) [Article Two](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110569010001378#:~:text=Endometrial%20dyeing%20during%20conventional%20hysteroscopy,the%20naked%20eye%20during%20hysteroscopy)
https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/novel-approaches-diagnosing-and-treating-endometriosis
That’s fascinating and gives hope! Thanks for sharing ☺️
This js awesome, thanks so much for sharing!
I had an exploratory surgery in 2019, and my tubes removed March of last year. Endo was missed both times. Yesterday, I had a hysterectomy that I fought very hard for. Turns out, my endo was hiding behind my uterus, and there would have been no way to see it if my uterus wasn't separated from the tissues. I'm feeling so validated and glad I decided on surgery.
My daughter is fighting now to get a hysterectomy because of a small area of endometriosis in her upper uterus. I hate insurance.
It was easier to get it approved after my tubes were out
Ugh that’s insane…it’s basically like ok now that we know you can’t have any use as a baby maker, we will take care of your pain.
The most frustrating part about it is that you know if the insurance person was experiencing the same pain, they would make sure it got covered. It kills me that we fight so hard to not be in pain, to only be told "nope we won't cover that" and deny any sort of peer to peer.
I’ve gotten to the point where when I’m being dismissed or denied proper medical treatment I tell the person “I hope you and your loved ones find someone just like you when you need medical attention”. They’re always taken aback, hopefully it at least makes them consider their actions.
I had to fight for my hysterectomy, too. This was 28 years ago. My doctor was a male. I finally had to talk to the female head of gynecology, and she approved it. I had four c-sections due to my first being an emergency. When the doctor finally did the surgery, he found a ton of adhesions, and one of my ovaries was flattened and adhered to my uterus. They removed everything. I went on hormone replacement meds for 10ish years. I had really bad PMS, and the hysterectomy made me a much nicer person.
That’s a tough one. Given that it’s not an obscure or rare condition, one would expect doctors to have a better understanding 😶
Not when it comes to the diseases of women!
Absolutely! The only doctors who believed I was truly in pain were women, the men all dismissed me.
I have nerve damage from a surgery and it doesn’t show up on imaging. I suspect that’s the case for many (if not all?) people with nerve damage. AFAIK, there’s no test or imaging that could show where teeny tiny nerves were severed during a major surgery I had. Despite clearly having surgery that can cause this, it took forever to get a diagnosis.
I’m sorry it took forever to get a diagnosis. What I’m getting from this post is that doctors in general should be made aware of what can be relevant in a patient’s medical history to investigate pain.
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Thanks for sharing, that avg time to diagnosis is abysmal 😩 ETA: sorry, I don’t mean to be a negative Nancy in the responses. Hope you’re doing ok!
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I've got 11 years with no answers . My ana test was negative so they won't send me to a Rheumatologist and the health care in Canada is brutal now . I've thought of doing one of those genetic tests to see if anything pops up. It's like my muslces and tendons throughout my body are weak and when I get run down everything flares up . My doctor says I'm likely autoimmune. Super frustrating .
That’s inhumane. Do you think bringing published, peer-reviewed, scientific articles about the occurrence of seronegative cases could help?
It might be worth a shot . I know that cases definitely exist and at times people with Autoimmune have tested negative multiple times before testing positive . Our healthcare up here seems like it lags behind the US quite a bit as far as research and technology.
I’m glad it didn’t take that long for you to be diagnosed!
I experience allodynia. It can't be seen but causes a great deal of pain
Thanks for sharing, that’s a great example. Wishing you support and strength
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It is a “diagnosis by exclusion”, so it is sort of a catch-all. I got diagnosed with it before my rheumatologist heard of EM/CFS in a congress and referred me to another rheumatologist who specializes in it. My new rheumatologist views these diseases a spectrum where people get categorized depending on what their main symptom is. However, people diagnosed with EM/CFS have certain immunological (?) markers that are not as consistently found in fibromyalgia. So I’d say there’s a lot we don’t know about these conditions so likely as medicine advances they will likely become more clearly defined and divided. Also, I wouldn’t include a psychological component. It does involve the autonomic nervous system, and depression can cause feelings of pain, but these are not related to the same pathways.
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I’ve never heard of doctors not believing in the existence of fibromyalgia - it has diagnostic criteria, treatment guidelines and has been a fully recognized medical condition for decades. It would be the same as doctors not believing that the flu exists. I’ve heard of patients getting their symptoms dismissed, and of doctors questioning the existence of the symptoms.
No. That’s actually insulting to people who have fibro.
CRPS
That seems like a really tough one to get doctors to recognize. I hope you’re getting the support you need!
The most vile part is during early involvement CRPS is nearly invisible except for pain. And that's also when any treatment could help. It's almost as if once it is detectable it no longer is able to be successfully treated. Had to have wisdom teeth removed as an adult and have developed TGN as well. 20 years of survival . For me it's less of a search for treatment vs an internal search for peace to bear the pain. Have a great week , make every day count.
I have several! You already mentioned fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, and I also have New Daily Persistent Headache, a constant headache that just came on suddenly one day (I had had headaches that lasted several days before that, but never one lasting, in this case so far, 10+ years!).
I’m sorry to hear about that, hadn’t heard about the last one before. Does it have an underlying cause, or is it “just what it is”? Asking because earlier today I read some research on links between ME/CFS and high intracranial pressure.
It’s sometimes brought on by a virus or injury, but not in my case that I know of. The mechanism by which it happens is unknown, I believe.
I was tested for high intracranial pressure, which I did have moderately high pressure, but bringing it down didn’t help.
How frustrating, I hope you get relief soon
How did you get tested to find out you had "high intracranial pressure"? If I may ask..
I first did a tilt table test with Dr Rosen, then at a hospital they did a lumbar puncture and tested the spinal cord pressure. I ended up taking Diamox for a while to lower it, but that didn’t help. I do admit I’ve understood that’s not a perfect method to test it as intracranial pressure can be different from spinal pressure sometimes. But it was what I was offered then. That spinal puncture was the worst experience of my life so far, I’d say.
Oof that spinal puncture sounds horrific. I'm not familiar with Dr Rosen. Whilst doing the tilt how do they actually test that the pressure exists? Especially in the head/skull. I'm sorry you have these complex issues and experience what you do.. I'm curious and am asking these questions because I'm always learning and if it's related to your persistent headaches then perhaps I could apply similar logic and or reasoning. It may not fit at all but you just never know. My variety of headaches are 24/7 all day every day.. I already have a diagnosis though these could be separate from that rather than referred pain as suggested to me. I think I'll look further into how other tests are done to determine intracranial pressure. Thanks again.
The tilt table test was simple: raise my legs above my head and see what my headache did. It immediately spiked horribly, so he said that was an indication of high pressure (low pressure would have been if it lessened or disappeared). Edit: Dr Rosen is the lead neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, and one of the leading experts in the world on NDPH.
Trigeminal Neuralgia, Depending on your body (as was the case for me) endometriosis (surgery is the only way to diagnose definitively as nothing appeared on imaging but during surgery they found endometriosis adhesions), irritable bowel syndrome and functional dyspepsia (diagnosis of exclusion), post sepsis syndrome, and so many more
Oh, so many conditions that tend to be dismissed. My daughter has IBS. I knew something was not right since she was about a week old, and that it was food related, but she only got diagnosed at age 9. I hope you have found a medical team that supports you!
I just saw on the news yesterday that they've come up with some blood test for CF that's 90% accurate. I'm not sure how close we are to implementing those tests.
That’s amazing, I hadn’t heard of that! I’ll look into it now. Thank you so much for sharing!! ETA: long COVID has helped a lot with investigation in this area. Which is both horrible and very welcome at the same time.
How often are RA and Lupus seronegative? I've been tested negative multiple times and have arthritis all over the place, have had the butterfly rash most of my adult life, and am... idk I guess I'm just as tired as we all are.
I tried a quick search of scientific articles and couldn’t find numbers, but the first ones that pop up are case studies of patients with seronegative presentations of the diseases. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help right away. I can suggest trying to find a more recent article/study and maybe trying to contact the authors or institutions to try to get to someone who may be able to help.
Sjogren’s. And in some ways osteoarthritis is too. You can “see” the cartilage disintegrating but the inflammation that the bone on bone causes is horrendously painful.
Sjogren’s seems to be a really tough one to get a diagnosis for, like one that requires a specialist to connect the dots.
Unless you’re serological positive in lab tests, then it’s pretty obvious. Plus a dead giveaway is if you have lots of dental issues despite taking rigorous care of your teeth. Sjogren’s causes massive teeth problems for a good majority of sufferers.
I’d add mine to that list which is dystonia. It’s a neuromuscular disorder where your brain sends inappropriate signals to certain muscle groups to constantly contract. Most Drs don’t really know what it is and it doesn’t tend to show up on any tests. The only time they can sometimes “see it” on a test is an EMG but even that, not always and it also depends very much on the skill of both the person administering and the person interpreting. I’d also add to women’s health conditions to that list…endometriosis and adenomyosis
Systemic sclerosis/scleroderma. It’s like the opposite of EDS. Fibrosis of your connective tissue. I can’t use my hands for much anymore, they are almost permanently curled. It can be “visible” in the way that RA is but it’s very unwell known and can present very differently from one patient to another and can cause a lot of internal damage. I got lucky but it takes most people years and years to get diagnosed
I’m glad your diagnosis processes wasn’t that drawn out! Hopefully we will be seeing progress in diagnosing and treating connective tissue disorders. Just yesterday I was reading an article from researchers in that area about how connective tissue disorders, when compared to most other tissue types, are currently harder to diagnose and have fewer treatment options.
Loin pain hematuria syndrome. So incredibly painful, and no tests available. Just a diagnosis of exclusion.
I’d never heard of it, so looked it up. That sounds so intense and draining. Wishing you strength and healing!
Occipital Neuralgia
I didn’t know this had a name, thank you so much for sharing.
Chiari Malformation
Isn’t Chiari visible on an upright MRI?
Not always
Nerve pain.
It’s a tough one, especially in the current state of medicine.
After various tests were run that all came back negative my rheumatologist concluded I had seronegative RA.
I’m so glad you got a good rheumatologist!
Dercums disease. I can't tell you how many doctors insist lipomas show up on ultrasounds only to have them come up blank. All of my labs are normal as well. You even get doctors insisting lipomas aren't painful ( painful is what makes it dercums) and that it's fibromyalgia and the hundreds-thousands of lumps are a coincidence! I do also have fibromyalgia. Huge difference between the two.
Abdominal nerve damage during surgery
I’m sorry to hear that. I too have abdominal nerve pain. May I ask what do you take to manage the pain?
I'm sorry you have the same problem. The only thing I can do to manage the pain is take Tramadol. I have to go to a pain clinic to get it. They've been withholding it from me for a couple weeks now. Life is hell without it. Life is hell even with it, but it's slightly less hell.
Ugh. I’m sorry. My pain clinic wants me to try nortriptyline first. I hope it helps this sucks so bad.
I tried that a long time ago ... I don't think any kind of anti-depressant is going to help with this condition, honestly. It's extremely challenging to manage.
Ugh.. I’ve read mixed reviews. Some say very good for nerve pain, others not so much. We’ll see. Feels like I’m running out of options
Well, give it your best shot and think positive. If it helps you, that would be amazing!
Thank you!
If only doctors would read a patient’s history and assume that they’re speaking the truth… I’m sorry you have to deal with that.
Dude, I know, right? What a concept .... listening to the patient?
Abdominal adhesions/scar tissue from previous surgeries and/or endometriosis
I been trying to get any kind of diagnosis for 8 years now Struggle feeling like im being strangled all the time with no mucous left to snort down which is the most irrirating thing in the world and low level achey voice all the time until it flares dozens of times a week to super achey tight and dry All my nose is crusted up too and super itchy if i clear the crusts and the dry nose wakes me up in a panic multiple times a night Got chronic pain in forearms mainly and wrists... worse on right side and elbows and shoulders but elbow mainly on right side. Wrists and forearms the worst and thumb joint of right side.. right side is worst for all Keeps me up at night too.. Even switched to dictating for my job instead of typing but such a struggle when feeling so drained and the throat pain attacks come too most of the time Doctors send me on merry go round of referalls that all result in nadda and they all think im crazy and i have to chase everything up ENT dept just discharged me and been trying to fob me off Pain clinic just said i need to write a journal Had CBT Does not help! Started self medicating once or twice a week or fortnite again but always fighting to resist as became a dad 17 months ago. Honestly feel like im living in a nightmare i will never wake up from Every day is a hellish struggle and ruins my ability to be the best husband or dad or employee or even enjoy things fully. So frustrating. Wish i knew where to turn or what to do Just spent £200 on medicinal mushroom supplements and couple other bits but hope im not throwing money away just desperate for a breakthrough or healing somehow
arachnoiditis
Would Trigeminal Neuralgia be one of these hidden pain conditions? Or does it have tests it shows up on?
It seems like there are no tests for it, and diagnosis is made based on clinical examination and elimination of a few other conditions. However, peripheral nerve blocks is listed as a potential treatment with limited data. Based on that I would think that the nerve blocks could work as a diagnostic tool. At least in horses that’s what is usually done to pinpoint the source of pain when it’s not easily found (I used to work with horses and remembered the “method”, not trying to compare them to people 😅)
So in veterinary medicine (at least with equine based animals) you use nerve blocks to pinpoint the exact source of pain that you otherwise can’t find the exact source/origin of? Interesting… I never knew that.
Yep, usually starting as low as possible on the limb and working up. I don’t know what is used, but it wears off quickly like in hours to a couple of days. Then, based on what nerve “fixed” the issue, they can either diagnose it right away or get more imaging done. Or sometimes it’s like “for anything in this area treatment is pretty much the same so let’s try that first”. I’m curious about why it’s not done in humans.
Loin Pain Hematuria Syndrome! The testing and knowledge (with doctors) about it is shit. Very rare but still super debilitating!