pixiepoodle

Kim and Irish Cream,

What kind of drs. do you have? Perhaps you have mentioned in earlier post(s) that I have not read. If you are not going to a pain mgmt. dr, you might want to try one of them. If your ins. insists on having a referral to one from your family dr., would they give you one? If not, tell your dr. all you do is think about killing yourself because you can no longer deal with the pain. That usually gets their attn and helps them understand you ARE in pain.

If they say you need to see a shrink after you say that instead of prescribing something better, many shrinks are willing to prescribe narcotics because they specialize in managing patients who take many meds. The reason I know this is that recently when I approached my pain mgmt. dr. about switching from Zoloft (originally prescribed by another dr. and presently prescribed by this dr.), he said he felt uncomfortable prescribing a different antidepressant and that he would give me the name of a physicatrist to go see.

At the time, I thought he felt I had mental problems and said, I would try my thyroid dr. who prescribes many of my other meds. She told me she felt uncomfortable doing it also and recommended I go see an internist. I went to see the internist she recommended and she said she was uncomfortable too and that I needed to see a physicatrist because antidepressants effect your brain and interact differently with other meds and she was recommending I see a physicatrist to manage my meds, not because she thought I had mental problems.

If all else fails, just keep trying other drs. until you find one that is compassionate and understanding. I had a great dr. willing to try various meds to treat my Fibromylgia until we found the right combination that worked for me. Unfortunately, she moved out of state and I was left in limbo going from dr. to dr. who all had different theories of how to treat Fibro. The only thing that took the ting off my pain was Ultram, Soma and Zoloft, but none of the drs. would prescribe Ultram and would try me on other meds that made me very dopey and didn't do anything for my pain or would want me to take Vicodin, which I know is not what you want to take for long term pain.

Finally, by going to a Fibro seminar and hearing a speech by a pain mgmt. dr. who treated cancer patients, as well as Fibro patients for chronic pain, I was able to hook up with a pain mgmt. dr. near my office who treated Fibro patients. He tried me on morphine which worked for 1 month and then stopped working. He then doubled the dose, but I had trouble staying awake at work and while driving and could not function very well at work.

At that point, he said that although he didn't know me that long, but knew I had been seeking treatment for 7 yrs. for my pain and felt I was sincerely in bad pain and appeared to be someone who wanted to continue working full time and being functional, he offered to implant a pain pump so I could have continuous meds pumped into my spine round the clock. I am so grateful and blessed to have found such a wonderful dr. willing to give me a pain pump. It has given me my life and sanity back and taken away most of my pain.

If you don't know much about the pain pumps, it is made by Medtronics and they have a website that would be worth taking the time to check out.

Good luck to both of you.