Linda had always been a very active person and a proud manager of her community centre. In 2008 she suffered an accident while lifting furniture at work that caused her a great deal of pain in her lower back. She was unable to return to work for 2 weeks and received physiotherapy in the hopes that the incident would not develop into anything more serious.

Unfortunately, her aches didn’t disappear entirely. Linda was able to manage the issue with periodic massage therapy until 2010 when the pain became more severe one day after simply changing a pair of bed sheets at home. She was treated with osteopathy, by a chiropractor and received physio treatment but when her pain persisted and began to radiate down her left leg, she was scheduled in for an MRI scan.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the process. Have a nurse and administrative person assigned to keep me informed and updated was amazing.

Linda’s scan confirmed a disc prolapse, more commonly known as a ‘slipped disc’. When she didn’t respond successfully to non-invasive treatment, Linda underwent a discectomy to surgically correct the disc. She felt extremely disheartened when her pain returned after her operation and had to be managed with daily medication. Her doctors believed that the continued aches could be related to lumbar sacral disc degeneration and prescribed physical rehab. Linda’s pain was constant and worsened as from morning to night. By 2014 the aches began in other parts of her body including her toes, ankles, thighs, chest shoulders and neck. Naturally she found that her quality of life was greatly being affected and had to seek the help of a Pain Management Specialist.

She underwent additional testing that showed bursitis in her shoulder, caused when the fluid-filled sac that facilitates joint movement becomes inflamed. Linda was referred to a local Rheumatologist who initially treated her for inflammatory arthritis. Upon examining her progress with the medication prednisolone, Linda’s diagnosis was rectified and she was told that her disease was actually rheumatoid arthritis.

Linda was prescribed a new medication, methotrexate, but her pain did not subside and continued to affect her daily life. It was at this point that she contacted Best Doctors – a service that her employer gave her access to.

Her insurance policy granted Linda access to the international team of experts at Best Doctors. Linda spoke to her personal Member Advocate who not only thoroughly explained the second medical opinion process that Best Doctors would be providing, but also took careful care and time to get to know Linda and her medical history in the utmost detail. The team handled the entire medical records gathering process in order to ensure that her expert had every detail necessary to properly analyse her condition.

A Rheumatologist from Best Doctors’ global database of more than 50,000 expert physicians was hand-picked to analyse Linda’s case. He received her medical records and all the questions Linda had passed on to her Member Advocate. Struggling to understand where her constant pain was coming from and what alternative treatment options were available, Linda hoped that Best Doctors could help shine light on the best route to follow.

I wanted a second opinion and receiving the report was extremely helpful. The service provided was excellent.

When Linda received medical report she knew she had made the right decision when contacting Best Doctors. Her expert reviewed every detail of her medical history, her reactions to medication and the progression of her pains and ache over the years. His professional opinion was that Linda had actually been misdiagnosed and that she was suffering not from rheumatoid arthritis but actually has seronegative arthritis.