Because of the extreme pain of this disease people will often describe their dogs as being depressed - which they probably are. This works well for cases that are not so severe. The reason I recommend a specialist is that pano is diagnosed with x-rays. Reading those x-rays is not a simple matter. Unless your local vet is an expert in this area he is going to have problem reading the films.
Most dogs seem to have relief within hours of the first treatment.
There is a lot of information on the internet for this disease and explanations of it's disappearance after the growing cycles stop. This is a very painful condition for dogs and people should not ignore the problem.