[Gabrial]

Greetings,

I live in Louisiana and from 2001 to 2007 I saw a GP that prescribed me short acting pain medication for arthritis and pancreatitis (chronic). I had some dependency hurdles which I resolved, and from 01 to 07 I did not have any pancreas problems, and my arthritis was manageable.

Well in their infinite wisdom the Rulers of this state decided to change the way doctors could proscribe narcotics and other drugs I'm sure. So my doctor packed up and moved out of state. Leaving me without a doctor. So three months go by and I'm in the hospital with pancreatitis yet again.

I am visited by a foreign doctor who gives me a prescription of Percocet and tells me to come to his office in three weeks upon my release. Several visits ensue and after much torment, I find a doctor that specializes in pain management. "Great, I think, maybe now I can actually get some help!"

Boy was I wrong! After a MRI, blood work etc. proving that my pancreas is indeed damaged etc.. I am given Hydrocodone Viokase and several minor prescriptions. I had been noticing that the Lortab was not as effective as it was in the past, so I thought that I was developing a resistance to the medicine. Several months go by and at my urging I try Kadian, Opana Percocet, in various doses and quantity. The Kadian makes my blood pressure go up and the Opana does nothing at all. I can only assume that my resistance to Hydrocodone prevents the Percocet from working? Because I am now taking Oxycodone APAP 10/325 and they do nothing.

Ok, so at my next appointment, I tell the PA, who I am now seeing instead of the Doctor, all this and I am given the answer of "Well I'm just not sure what else we can do." During this time my pancreas problems are remaining with me as is the pain after meals and at various times throughout the day.

I feel that the Clinic which I am going is unwilling to do anything other then they have done. There are several Pain management offices in town, but I was turned away from one, due to their not accepting abdominal pain patients, and from another for reasons I was not truly given? And from everyone I've spoken to getting into see a actual pain management doctor is very hard. (At least in this area? )

Does anyone have any experience changing pain management doctors? I know if I were to mention this to the PA that I am seeing, It would likely be met with ill intention and a notable lack of cooperation.

I'm just stuck and don't know what to do at this point, and Percocet is of no help to me at all. If I had a record, or something I might at least be able to understand what these Doctors are thinking, but I am a normal working person and am really having trouble with this.

Thanks for reading and responding if that is the case.

Gabrial

[Robert_325]

Originally Posted by Gabrial

Greetings,

I live in Louisiana and from 2001 to 2007 I saw a GP that prescribed me short acting pain medication for arthritis and pancreatitis (chronic). I had some dependency hurdles which I resolved, and from 01 to 07 I did not have any pancreas problems, and my arthritis was manageable.

Well in their infinite wisdom the Rulers of this state decided to change the way doctors could proscribe narcotics and other drugs I'm sure. So my doctor packed up and moved out of state. Leaving me without a doctor. So three months go by and I'm in the hospital with pancreatitis yet again.

I am visited by a foreign doctor who gives me a prescription of Percocet and tells me to come to his office in three weeks upon my release. Several visits ensue and after much torment, I find a doctor that specializes in pain management. "Great, I think, maybe now I can actually get some help!"

Boy was I wrong! After a MRI, blood work etc. proving that my pancreas is indeed damaged etc.. I am given Hydrocodone Viokase and several minor prescriptions. I had been noticing that the Lortab was not as effective as it was in the past, so I thought that I was developing a resistance to the medicine. Several months go by and at my urging I try Kadian, Opana Percocet, in various doses and quantity. The Kadian makes my blood pressure go up and the Opana does nothing at all. I can only assume that my resistance to Hydrocodone prevents the Percocet from working? Because I am now taking Oxycodone APAP 10/325 and they do nothing.

Ok, so at my next appointment, I tell the PA, who I am now seeing instead of the Doctor, all this and I am given the answer of "Well I'm just not sure what else we can do." During this time my pancreas problems are remaining with me as is the pain after meals and at various times throughout the day.

I feel that the Clinic which I am going is unwilling to do anything other then they have done. There are several Pain management offices in town, but I was turned away from one, due to their not accepting abdominal pain patients, and from another for reasons I was not truly given? And from everyone I've spoken to getting into see a actual pain management doctor is very hard. (At least in this area? )

Does anyone have any experience changing pain management doctors? I know if I were to mention this to the PA that I am seeing, It would likely be met with ill intention and a notable lack of cooperation.

I'm just stuck and don't know what to do at this point, and Percocet is of no help to me at all. If I had a record, or something I might at least be able to understand what these Doctors are thinking, but I am a normal working person and am really having trouble with this.

Thanks for reading and responding if that is the case.

Gabrial

Gabrial ... If you have a primary care doctor they should be able to refer you to a different specialist if you are dissatisfied. You are the customer. Without referrals pain doctors are often reluctant to take a new patient when they have been seeing another pain doctor. The reason should be obvious. Patients who switch doctors wanting more medication are seen as a red flag. Not saying you are wrong, but pain doctors see a lot of patients who are addicts. It has nothing really to do with whether you have a criminal record or not. The DEA monitors pain doctors big time and they are held accountable for the narcotics they write prescriptions for. It all has to be totally justifiable legally or they can lose their privileges as a doctor. People with criminal records can get prescriptions for opiates the same as earth people if they have something wrong with them.

Your situation could be turning into something that would concern me. Don't know how many of the Percocet 10/325 you are taking, but Percocets are ocycodone and Opana is a time released morphine. If they are not providing any pain relief at all your tolerance is getting quite high. Hydrocodone is not going to do anything for you at this point. You said that you have been taking opiates for your pain since 2001. That is seven years ... a long time. Sometimes when we take pain meds for a really long time it becomes necessary to almost start over again to really get relief from a reasonable amount of medication. We either do that or go to really large doses of medication and become totally addicted.

When our tolerance gets so high sometimes we have to basically detox to clean out our system. Once this happens we are then able to determine what our true pain level is without it being affected by our dependence. Dependency can cause our mind to play tricks on us convincing us that the pain is lots worse than it is so that we convince ourselves to take more pain meds. There is no way that I am saying you don't have bad pain. Just saying that you are at a tough place. You're taking very strong pain meds to be getting nothing from them at all. If Percocets and Opana are really doing nothing to help you with the pain then you seriously need to discuss this with your doctor and determine what the best course of action is. I would explain that you are not just trying to see how much pain medication you can get, but it isn't helping you and what do they think you should do about it. And I seriously would do that. This needs to be dealt with. The other option would be to maybe switch to methadone. But even then you still have the same level of dependency hanging over you as you have described. I really would talk to your doctor about this as these medications should be providing you some relief anyway. Are they really doing nothing or are they just not working as well as you would like for them to??? There is a big difference.

Let's say that you are successful and you are able to switch doctors. The new doctor will require that you have the same discussion I am talking about before they give you anything I promise. It would likely be easier to have that type of discussion with your existing doctor than someone who would automatically be suspicious of you coming in the first appointment and wanting to increase your medication when you are already taking serious pain medications now. That would really be a red flag situation. Just something for you to think about. You won't walk into a new doctor and just walk out with more pain meds because it's a new doctor. It will be a hassle. You know it will. I would deal with it now. Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

[Gabrial]

Robert_325, Thank you for the reply.

Actually I met with my Doctor's PA today, and had a talk much like you described. I found out that although the office that I was being treated at does practice pain management, they are actually a GP. So they are going to refer me to a PM doctor, who would be able to prescribe whatever is decided upon.

It means going through a 'getting to know you' period, but at least the new doctor will have access to all the records and MRI, Xrays etc.

I'm actually hopeful about my treatment, and I've not had that feeling in some time.

Sometimes, just being able to get it all out and know that I'm not alone helps

Once again, thanks for the reply, and may your path lead you to what you desire.

Regards,

Gabrial