[QUOTE=JoanB;677153]
The last doc I saw was the worst: on my first visit, she tried to force me into a group PT/OT and group talking therapy program where there would most likely be no PN'ers but me. When I asked her to give me just one specific example of how any of that would help me, she couldn't, got mad, and refused to prescribe anything for me, even Elavil, which is all I was asking for. Oh, and she was a pain management specialist.

*** When I went through my final bout of problems with my former primary medical provider she sent me to the Kaiser Pain Clinic doc for a "consult". Last summer I attended the Pain Clinic's 8 week pain management course and learned a lot of new and different ways to self-manage pain.

*** But sitting down with their new doc???

*** She was the [I][B]only[I][B] medical doctor in the program. She was new (had arrived in the last few months) and was a former addiction doctor. In the consult we spent 50%+ of the time discussing the likelihood or probability of me being (or becoming) an addict. I think it is just easier for her to put me in the "addict" box than to really work with me.

*** Other than Lidoderm (3 patches daily!!), I am not taking any opiates. I may check into having Vicodin on hand, but I haven't even done that yet. I don't think the morphine CR was very useful (at least at the strength I was taking it -- 60 mg daily) and am not ready to try it again. I am curious about the Fentenyl patches....

Cowboy

CB