Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
I have severe chronic lower back pain.
I am 30 years old.
MRI shows a black buldged disc nearest to my tailbone and disc-o-gram showed that it was not bad enough to operate and then diagnosed me with Facet Joint arthritis. I have been receiving Facet Joint Injections for about a year and it provides very little but some relief. My pain is almost a 10 scale at times. It aches constantly and I have no mobility. I lose a lot of sleep due to the pain.
I have lost my employment due to this condition and have government assisted medical insurance. All doctors and specialists prescribe is zanaflex and naproxen. I have been to the ER several times and they prescribe a narcotic to help and it does much more than injections and muscle relaxants. what do i do to fight this pain and get proper treatment with medications?
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
Try to see a specialist in Pain Management. Mine is the first doctor who I thought listened to me. We are still working on controlling my pain level now. I have been through all the procedures in an effort to stay off of longtem narcotics. I am a nurse and just didn't feel that I could work on the narcotics since I would be impaired. Right now he assures me that eventually I can have my meds adjusted to where I will be comfortable and not impaired. I hope so. Anyway, if you search for Pain Management docs in your area you should be able to find one..they are generally doctors who specialized in anesthesia or physical medicine and then took a fellowship in this specialty.
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
see thats the problem! I see a pain clinic that does the facet injections only and they say I need my family doctor to prescribe me meds for pain that they do not. They say they only do procedures only. Know of any pain clinics in central kentucky that accepts medicaid that can help me find this pain off with precriptions temporarily?
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
I would suggest calling your primary care doctor and explaining that the pain clinic will not prescribe meds for you and you need meds, is there some place else that you can try going to for pain relief.
You may also need a second surgical opinon on your facet joints. I just recently had fusion for facet arthritis. I know just how painful it is. My discs were fine, the facets were very degenerative according to the operative report.
One more small piece of advice is to not tell doctors your pain level is a 10. Imagine 10 being screaming in the hospital in so much pain you would rather die. Docs dont take you serious I think when you say your level is a 10. Just my opinion though.
Good Luck! Hope you feel better soon!
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ihavtwins
One more small piece of advice is to not tell doctors your pain level is a 10. Imagine 10 being screaming in the hospital in so much pain you would rather die. Docs dont take you serious I think when you say your level is a 10. Just my opinion though.
Good Luck! Hope you feel better soon!
That's really good advice! I remember back when I was getting worse and made the decision to try stronger meds. My primary wanted to know how bad the pain was. He told me to consider child birth a "10". To have something I was familiar with was very helpful in giving him an idea of how bad it was. I told him that if child birth was a 10, then on my bad times I was an 8 or 9. He said, okay that's pretty bad. I'm not sure he would have taken me as seriously if I had said 10. If you feel that you're really at a 10, see if you can think of something to compare it to so your doctor will take you seriously. Have you ever had a broken bone or other medical emergency that caused a lot of pain? Had a severe illness that made you exceptionally miserable? Those might be good comparables.
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
If you dont have the ability to change docs (medicaid can be a problem in the way) I would suggest you start a dialogue with "both doctors" working together "with you" to come up with a pain mangement plan. This way everyone is on the same game plan and everyone is in the loop and your pain mangement is truly "being managed".
Im sorry you are having such a hard time. It's bad enough to hurt, then another to work so hard to get decent care. Keep us posted.
__________________
"believe in the beauty of your dreams"- E. Roosevelt
L5/S1 bulging @ 18, now 46; still there (but no pain)
Fusion at L4/L5 Apr -2006
Solidly Fused Nov-2006
A Success, but still improving!
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
Wow,
Well i hope you find some relief with youre pain. Just be careful when you do get meds not to allow youreself or youre doc over medicate. My Issue is on the other end with what seems to me that i am on meds as a answer to all. I do get some pretty good relief from them i just feel thats all that this doc wants to do. I think his plan is just keep me doped up so that i cant complain because i cant talk. Anyway maybe getting the clinic and youre primary talking will do you some good. good luck hope all gos well.
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
I think you have recieved alot of good advice especially about finding a doctor who will listen to you. All I can suggest is that you be honest with your doc and let him or her know that your quality of life has gone by the wayside and you would truly like an opportunity to have it back. Good luck in your quest!
JoJo
Re: Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattiemay
Try to see a specialist in Pain Management. Mine is the first doctor who I thought listened to me. We are still working on controlling my pain level now. I have been through all the procedures in an effort to stay off of longterm narcotics. I am a nurse and just didn't feel that I could work on the narcotics since I would be impaired. Right now he assures me that eventually I can have my meds adjusted to where I will be comfortable and not impaired. I hope so. Anyway, if you search for Pain Management docs in your area you should be able to find one..they are generally doctors who specialized in anesthesia or physical medicine and then took a fellowship in this specialty.
Your pain doc is right. Been there, etc. I don't feel impaired at all and witnesses say same. Pain is mostly controlled where I can work but at times when I get home I have to take my breakthrough meds. Still even with them I rarely get impaired.
Doctors will not prescribe anything for pain? what do i do? 
