I was diagnosed with Crohn's early last year. I had symptoms for
about 8 years.

When I started experiencing back pain at night in my early 20's –
about 14 years ago I mentioned this to the doctor she told me "get a
new mattress". She didn't even ask any further questions nor did
she do any medical tests on me!.

So for years I spend thousands of dollars on new mattresses, foam,
coil, you name it I tried it. I was a student at the time, and this
was very financially trying for me. No mattress made any bit of
difference so I just lived with it.

Then the pain became so severe in 2004 I had to quit my fulltime job
and work part time because I wasn't getting enough sleep and I was
falling asleep at work. My doctor still would not take my pain
seriously.

With my back pain it gets progressively worse throughout the night
and I wake up every half hour or so and have to get up and walk
around in order to be able to fall back asleep again.

I have spoke with a number of doctors on this and the only one that
even took me mildly seriously was a rheumatologist. Unfortunately
less than a month after seeing this specialist my husband (air
force) received a posting message and we had to move.

My doctor in my new city doesn't seem to believe the level of pain I
experience at night. He told me he would prefer if my
gastroenterologist referred me to a rheumatologist, but my gastro
only tested for spondylitis, which came back negative.

For the past couple of days I've been noticing pain in my
breastbone, and I believe it's the same pain that is involved with
my back as it seems to also get worse at night.

I would consider switching doctors but here in Canada where I live I
am just lucky to HAVE a doctor, so there is no chance of me
switching doctors as there simply are not any others accepting new
patients in my city.

Has anyone experienced similar circumstances? Remember I have been
tested for Ankylosing Spondylitis and it came back negative. I have
been battling infertitily for over 10 years now, with four losses
including a child lost six weeks ago due to incompetent cervix –
they had to induce to save my life and she lived for less than two
hours. I say this because I'm dealing with that pain and then this
back pain on top of it all is really getting to me. I'm starting to
get angry the doctor isn't taking my back pain seriously and I don't
know what to do. I just want some relief from the pain!!

Shaynelle