Are Pudendal Doctors Shady?

[Violet M]

I think physicians look at a disease through the lens of how they were trained. If you go to a surgeon they are trained in surgical solutions. If you don't want to consider surgery, don't go to a surgeon. If you want to consider surgery, you have to realize that surgery is never a 100% guaranteed cure, no matter what the surgery, and there are risks involved.

I've met and spoken to numerous PN doctors. I would not pick the word shady to describe the ones I have met or been treated by, but that's not to say they are all perfect saints any more than I am personally. I think as with most health care providers they are caught between their desire to help the patient, the expectations of the patient, the overwhelming demands that are placed on physicians, and the reality that there are limitations on what can be done to heal a nerve. Some general surgeons will limit their practice to certain procedures that have high success rates and low risk -- such as appendectomies, gall bladder surgery, etc. because they are less likely to be sued if they stick with those types of procedures.

I think the question we have to ask ourselves in the PN community is whether we want to lump all of the PN physicians together as shady and by doing so, discourage them from treating this condition and limit our options for treatment, or whether we want to acknowledge that there are some of them who truly want to help us and are doing the best they can within the limitations of what medicine can do. They do not have to accept us as patients and I think they could easily make a very good living without treating any PN patients. Most of the PN doctors I've met fit into the category of truly wanting to help us.

Violet