Doctors keep dismissing my shoulder pain as 'pre-existing' — it started the DAY of the crash
I genuinely don't know how much more of this I can take. My accident was about 14 months ago — rear-ended at a stoplight by someone on their phone — and I have been fighting for a real diagnosis ever since.
I've done X-rays, two MRIs, a round of cortisone shots, and now I'm almost done with my second stretch of PT. My shoulder still hurts constantly. Like, radiating, can't-sleep-on-that-side pain. And every specialist I see finds a slightly different thing to focus on but none of them are connecting it back to the crash.
The worst part? My most recent orthopedist basically implied this looks like 'degenerative wear' — the kind of thing that builds up over years. I'm in my early 30s and was completely fine the morning of that accident. I have photos, the police report, ER discharge papers from the same night. None of that seems to matter.
He didn't say I was lying exactly, but his whole tone was like he thought I was exaggerating or chasing a payout. It was humiliating. I left the appointment feeling like I had done something wrong.
The at-fault driver's insurance has already been slow-rolling everything, and I'm terrified that if no doctor will clearly say 'this injury is crash-related,' I'm going to be stuck with all these bills AND a shoulder that doesn't work right.
Has anyone else dealt with doctors who just refuse to connect the dots? Did you ever find someone who actually listened? I feel completely alone in this.