Pain Management Doctors dismissing patients

[csbaby]

Is anyone here experiencing issues with pain management doctors dismissing them this year telling them that they can't help them anymore? I was referred by my surgeon's office to pain management earlier this year because they have told me they are "surgeons" and no longer want to handle patients that are not in need of surgery but still require pain medications.

So I went to the pain management doctors they referred me to and my second time in the doctor told me I was going to have to learn how to live without medications and that he couldn't help me anymore. He then proceeded to say that all his patients are responding to him with "I'm just going to have to kill myself" and I was blown away.

I'm now seeing another pain managment doctor that so far has refused to give me the medications that work and help me get through a day. He gave me a new medication, Opama (instead of the hydrocodone that works). I told him that the morphine derivative drugs constipate me - which this one did and lead to a urinary track infection (saw my pcp for antibiotics). I called the pain mgmt office and told them I couldn't take this medication. They told me I needed to bring it in and give it to them (I paid for it at the pharmacy so why should I give it to them?)

The pain management doctor wants to do injections (i've had one series with him already). I've gone the injection route so many times in years past - I get some relief for about a week and then nothing. I'm scheduled for injections again tomorrow - knowing they won't help for long.

Is anyone else experiencing issues with pain management doctors (specifically in Texas)?

Thanks,
Christy

[Back-out]

I'm very sad to read your post, Christy. I'd thought we'd entered an age of enlightment about pain management, but your message indicates this is not so - or that there are major pockets of ignorance which are still entrenched by law in those locations...and maybe much worse.

A quick online check at the NYTimes.com (to look for an article I thought I remembered) showed me - the attached blog especially - that it is indeed a serious problem. Also that the legal incentives are reverse what they ought to be in relieving those in chronic pain.

You might be interested in this article and as stated above, the attached blog is especially helpful as are links. FWIW if the NYTimes requires you to join to access it, it's free and there is no SPAM attached. Their archives are great, especially on medical subjects - easy to search too. Just watch you indicate the right time frame and experiment with different word combinations.

Good luck to you with this nightmare problem and please stand up for your rights! I see there are advocacy groups.

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/...agement&st=cse

[jrnyc]

hi Christy
sending you a private message...

jess

[Scoliosis Hurts]

Find anew doc!! See my post about these clinics too.

[rainbow2010]

I was seeing a pain management doc and he moved his office further away from me, so I switched doctors to another clinic. The first doctor sent me a nasty letter saying he was kicking me out of his practice. The new pain doctor explained that they have to do this because of people doctor shopping to get pills to sell. The new clinic said they would do random urine tests to make sure their patients were not getting different pain meds from another doctor.
When I went in last week, I found out that Darvocet had been recalled. That was one of only a couple that did not give me bad rebound headaches.

[Scoliosis Hurts]

This is precisely what they keep telling me. The docs are being overwhelmed with literature and reminders about just how bad the criminal element is in high gear with respect to these pain med's like Oxycodone.

I sharply cut my doc off in mid sentence last time he started with this speech and clearly told him not to paint me with the same brush as the scum bags out there that are making life miserable for us. The legit pain sufferers.

He apologized and told me he had no choice but to give me the speech as I was a new patient and had none of my history. he went on purely a recent pill bottle and my disability / specialist reports. Also, that I am clearly physically disabled***

If my previous clinic does not get him my paperwork by Jan 2011 he is not certain if he will continue with my treatment so I await another stressful 2011 I bet. Time will tell. The ER cannot turn me away Feb 10 2011. HEALTH CANADA says so anyways.