Question: I fell and hurt my lower back, but my doctor seems to think it is muscular. I had to beg her to refer me to get an X-ray. If something is not broken or out of line I'm not familiar with the possibilities that could actually go wrong or nothing is found by an X-ray. What is my next step. I would put my pain at about a 9 out of 10, 3 with medication. She is currently seeing me monthly because I brke my neck apprx. 10 years ago and about 4 I stared getting an annoying constant throb pain about 8 without meds tried injections steroids I believe they were not helpful and extremely painful my original pain management physician had me on 20mg of Opana ER twice daily, Oxycodone 15 mg 4 times daily and 6mg of Flexerall as needed. I felt like I was walking thru life like a zombie I switched to my current doctor to start over I am currently Opana 10mg twice daily, Oxycodone 10mg used to be 4 times daily but for reasons unknown to me she changed from 4 times daily to 3 last month. And Zanaflex 4mg use to be 4 times daily but this moth she changed it to twice daily. So I made it the 3 weeks to next appt. I should have gone to the ER but I figured oh my Doc will fix me. She didn't even exam said oh muscular, I had to ask for an X-ray. If nothing shows up on the X-ray where do I go from there. I see her monthly to be monitored with urine and blood screening because of the narcotics and have never had any issues But I got the feeling she thought I wanted more drugs which could'nt be farther from the truth the regimen on is sufficient for pain. I am however puzzeled why if she thinks its muscular she would drop my Zanaflex and why she changed my Oxycodone from 4 to 3. She is from Yugoslavia and we have a bit of a communication problem. So where do I go if the X-ray shows nothing I know my body and something is very wrong. I would appreciate any helpful input you can give me. Thank you advance for your help.

I appreciate your time and the information. I am still waiting on my physician to follow up with me regarding my X-ray results. Just to verify, you believe that if my X-ray results are normal I should advocate for myself and insist on an MRI. Can you comment on my physician's behavior. I am not a confrontational person but am I very upset and feel that I was not treated professionally or in a compassionate manner by my physician or her office staff. They actually laughed at me when I called to see if my X-ray results were in after confirming with the radiologist that the report had been sent over to the office. In your opinion is there anything else that I can do to advocate for myself? I am in the process of researching other physicians, can you give me any pointers on what I should be looking for and what questions I should be asking?
Thank you in advance, XXXXXXX Kralik