| Re: New to Pain management
Welcome! Sorry you are having to deal with this. However, it sounds like a step in the right direction as you are seeing a pain doc and they gave you multiple treatment options. I know that for me, finally seeing a pain doc / going to a pain clinic was the best decision I ever made for treating my chronic pain, as I made the most progress.
I too had a bad reaction to Nucynta. I took a very low dose for my tolerance, and I was incapacitated by dizziness and felt pretty horrible. Its a unique med. Everyone won't respond well to every med, so I'd recommend moving on. That type of side effect is unlikely to get better if you keep taking the med (and being able to get used to a med doesn't happen as much with an as needed med as a daily med).
It is quite common for pain clinics to not make any medication changes in between appointments. Keep in mind that they only get paid when a patient comes in for an appointment, and there is already a lot of overhead; unless a doctor's office is doing procedures and such, they really aren't making much money on office visits alone. An exception to having to wait until the next appointment would be for example if a patient was in withdrawal due to a daily opioid switch, and even then they would usually just fit them in the appointment schedule.
Many pain meds need a paper script (Schedule II), so you'd have to go into the office for a replacement script anyways. Also, its very easy for info to get misconstrued on the phone when dealing with multiple people (reception, medical assistant, doctor, etc), so it is often not a great idea to try to get stuff done over the phone, even if the doctor's office is willing.
I know it can be disappointing to have even more waiting, as I imagine you have been going through chronic pain for months or years already. I would recommend taking some notes on your side effects so that is fresh and you can be specific when discussing it with your doctor at the next appointment (and, as recommended, bring the pills into the appointment). Were any of the other meds helpful? Best wishes.
__________________ Kate
constant headache since 2006 | 
