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workers comp question

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J

jjcje

Guest
What is the name of your state? south carolina
Hi- Just was wondering if anyone had any advice for me? I am a us postal service employee since jan 1996. I injured my lower right back and my right shoulder working on our pouch rack. My condition was accepted for lumbar strain and shoulder strain. I worked with restrictions from the date of my injury (9-30-02) til may 2003. At this time my pain in my back and lower extremeties was so bad i thought i would feel better to die. My primary dr put me out of work until i could get a mri done and see exactly what was going on with my back. After mri i went to a 2nd dr who said that cuz of the sciatica he wanted to do a epidural block to see if that would help my pain. It did help my leg pain a little but back remained unchanged. He said that at this time there was no need to operate but he believed i would recover he just didn't know when. He said that that they(back injury) take time to heal. This dr was a neurosurgeon and since i didn't need surgery he sent me to a pain mngmnt dr. I finished with dr #2 about oct 03' and soon after started seeing dr #3. He did 2 more blocks and again it helped lower extremity pain but not the back at all. After seeing him for a few months til april 04' he said that my problem was determined to be in the muscles and ligaments. It had been strained for so long that it had my back in a new constant position. He referred me to dr #4. This dr is one who practices pain mngmnt and prolotherapy. He said that i had structural disfunction. My pelvis had tilted cuz the muscles were so tight on one side and the other side was trying to compensate for the injured side. This is June 04' by now and suddenly i get a letter for the Dept of Labor telling me they are sending me to a workers comp 2nd opinion dr. All of this time that i am out of work they have paid me every 28 days and paid for all medical exspenses about my back. Oh by the way i have also been referred to a pysch Dr because i am depressed. I see the pysch dr and he determines that yes i am depressed but that people who have had chronic pain for so long this is normal.Let me say that for several years before my injury that i have been treated for anxiety and was taking prozac already. Well since this injury they have had to increase my depression medicine to take prozac and zoloft on a daily basis and i also take a med to get me to be able to rest at night. I go to the 2nd opinion dr as required by dept of labor. A few weeks later i rec'v a copy of his report and he thinks that i am able to go to work for 4 hours a day with restrictions. He also said that depression should be taken into consideration for any job that the post office may offer me. On aug 13,04 i rec'v a letter from the dept of labor telling me that all medical benefits and compensation will be terminated in 30 days but i can appeal this. They have interpreted the 2nd opinion dr' report much diffrently than i. They(DOL) said that i have degenerative facet atrophy and that is where my pain is coming from not from a work injury.They have decided that my injury has been resolved. That is so untrue!! What can i do? Any info or suggestion would be greatly appreciated.By the way i am a 34 yr old female who knows that i should be having a better quality of life.Thank You JJCJE
 
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