And if they give you a referral to one, make sure it is an actual pain management clinic, before you go to the trouble of going.
My doc wanted me to go, and because of my problems causing pain, I was way more than willing. They set up the appointment and I was very, very happy to go. When I showed up for my first appointment, and just getting there was dire agony as the office was almost an hour away from us and you know long car trips do not agree with pain, they sent me home, the doc had an emergency and couldn't be there to see me. AUGH! So frustrating.
So they set me up a new appointment, I was still so desperate for help that I didn't care, I would suffer a few more weeks, I had already been miserable for so long that it wouldn't make much of a difference. So anyway, to babble onward, I patiently waited for the next appointment. I was so happy that day, I called before leaving to make sure it wouldn't be changed again, and set out with total hope of help. I got there, filled out a mountain of paperwork, including these little pictures of your body where they have you show the painful points and the corresponding papers where you describe the pain.
Waited almost an hour, then the nurse took me back. She glanced at my papers and asked how long ago I had surgery and why I didn't list it. I told her I hadn't had any surgery since I was 20 and had to have my tonsils out, so she looked at me funny, then left the room. I stood there, still very hopeful for another 20 minutes then another woman came in. She asked me what my condition was, turns out my docs office had only told them back pain and nothing else.
I explained to her all the details of my spinal problems and she said, well we don't treat that kind of stuff here. The doctor won't prescibe meds and handle chronic pain. I was floored, I mean they billed themselves in their ads and in the phonebook as a Pain Management and Post-Surgical Care Clinic. That was what the sign on their office door said, that was how they answered their phone, that was what all their paperwork said, and why my doc had sent me there.
Well she said that they didn't have a dedicated full time doctor, the one they had was only there part time and he didn't want to have to put in the time it would take to monitor chronic pain patients on narcotic regimens. So he refused to fulfill that part of the practice and he only did small procedures such as steroid injections for post-surgery patients to help them heal and minimize swelling and inflammation.
Well that did it for me right there, after the time I had spent hoping for help and relief, it was such a blow that I burst into tears. Well she said she would talk to the doc, but didn't hold out much hope of him changing his policy, so she went out and after awhile came back in with the doctor. He basically told me the same thing, he said the injections he did would not help my condition, but very nicely offered to give me one anyway! Well that was it, I stormed out of there in tears. I didn't even say anything to my husband in the waiting room. He came chasing after me to see what was wrong and when I told him, he couldn't believe it either. Our little boy was with us, he was only about 9 then, and I felt so bad because he got so upset and worried about mommy and what was wrong.
All I could do for the longest time was stand there and hug and hold him and reassure him that everything was alright, even though I was still in tears. I called my doc, they fit me in right away that afternoon, and when I told them what had happened, they couldn't believe it either. They really thought they were sending me somewhere to get help, I mean this place was even listed in the directory of the hospital it was affiliated with as doing chronic, severe pain management, with doctor's who "specialize" in severe pain relief. Then to discover there was only one doc, who didn't want to put in the time to handle it, well it was just astounding to all of us.
Anyway, most docs, of course, due to DEA crackdowns, are reluctant to prescribe narcotics of any kind and when they do, they want to stick with the mild stuff that they can easily validate giving to a patient. So I was stuck with
Ibuprofen and Darvocet. At my next appointment, the doc in charge didn't want to sign any narcotics scrips at all, I guess a colleague was under DEA investigation and she was really freaked out about it, so they asked me to try something non-narcotic again, and even though I had tried other stuff before, such as
Celebrex,
Vioxx, and
Ultram, I have always fully cooperated with my doc, so I agreed. They prescribed
Neurontin 100mgs once a day, I had some mild relief, but not much, so they upped the dose until eventually I was on 300mgs three times a day and then suddenly it just quit helping at all. So then they added
Cymbalta, an SSNRI antidepressant that is supposed to also help block the pain receptors and help with chronic nerve pain. I honestly and whole heartedly took both exactly as directed for over 6 months, giving it plenty of time to work and they did NOTHING.
By this time, it was well over a year that I had been trying all these other non-narcotic options. I was perfectly willing to try almost any solution to my pain, both Neurontin and Cymbalta have worked wonders for some people. But as my condition detoriated, my pain worsened and I finally hit the point where I could barely walk and went in for a docs appointment doubled over in pain, I couldn't stand upright and could barely walk, the nurse had to help me from my seat in the waiting room, into the exam room and up onto the table.
Before this though, I began to do a little experiment with the Neurontin to see if it was making any difference at all. I slowly cut my dose down until I wasn't taking any and it didn't change anything, so when I told the doc this, they agreed it was time for something strong. As luck would have it, a doctor who had recently taken training and specialization in pain management had joined my docs practice. So now I am under his patient list, and first we started with Oxy IR, but that didn't relieve all my pain, so they added the time released Oxy, then after a few months, my insurance revamped and won't cover Oxy, so they had to switched me to
MS Contin.
Anyway, when you do get someone who knows what they are doing for pain management, you won't believe the difference it makes. My quality of life has seriously and tremendously improved, even though I am not pain free. It does take some playing around sometimes, and patience on your part while they try to find the right combo or meds that works to help you, but it is well worth it. It really all depends on the person, some people, like I said, have miracles with the non-narcotic options, some people don't. Some people can get relief from very low narcotic doses, as yabatab said about his dad's pinched nerve, he can manage his pain with the bare minimum of meds, and for some others it takes very potent drugs in high amounts to alleviate their pain.
I wish you the best of luck, and yes, looking into pain management could really help you a lot.
verwon@gmail.com
My information is not guaranteed correct. I do not get them right all the time, but I do enjoy the hunt~
pinched nerve in back: NEW DIAGNOSIS 
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