thrown for an s-curve

living in lovely vancouver, canada there are a few things that we have at our disposal as tax paying citizens. one of those things is “free” health care. i say “free” because unless you are living in poverty you pay a monthly sum to have access to “free” doctor visits and surgical procedures covered. good system, because in comparison to our friends in the U.S. if you don’t have health care you are more than likely going into debt. but. i digress.

there are flaws with this system, too many patients, not enough doctors seems to be the first one that comes to mind and there is the problem with 15min. appointments to address problems. granted some problems can be addressed in that time, however, i don’t think that my complaint was addressed thoroughly or provided with a plausible solution.

i went to a walk in clinic to complain of pins & needles and burning sensation in my feet. doctor prescribed physiotheraphy. my reaction was….”seriously?”. needless to say i didn’t follow the doctors prescription. i was confident that there was an underlying problem. therefore i made an appointment to see my naturopath [whom i haven't seen in four years]. she was very adament that i see a chiropractor. i’ve been reluctant to see chiropractors in the past, but when the words “lifetime in a wheelchair” came flying out of her mouth i quickly asked around and made an appointment to see one. my friend works for a chiroprator and she’s a nutritionist and they don’t have a problem with working with a naturopath, therefore it’s not the chiropractor that my naturopath recommended, but they all can live with it.

so after my initial visit with the chiropractor, i had standing x-rays performed. they took pictures of my back from the front view and from the side view. last night we went over the results and i have an s-curve and rounded shoulders…my hump, because i have no natural curve in my neck. talk about a curve ball. it’s like the muscles have seized it into one place.
the good news is that this is fixable.

the bad news is that this is likely cause of my aches and pains and my reoccuring groin pull and anything else that can go wrong. because you know all your nerves for your body go through this thing we call a spine.

the upsetting news. five years of misdiagnosis because noone took the time to hear the problem and think that maybe it’s not just the groin, maybe it’s not shoulder pain.

the bitch of it all. any diagnostic tests wether its blood work or xrays are not covered under our “free” health care plan. luckily i have a pretty good extended health care plan at work, but it doesn’t cover anything. and it’s a good thing i’m able to convey my concerns enough to a doctor at a walk in clinic and eventually get tests that the naturopath wants and more because the doctor has an opinion. ultimately it’s my health, do what i want.

i’m 29 and feel like i’m 50, lets hope in six months i’ll feel like i’m 29 again.