I was in the same position. No insurance, pre-exisiting problems and in need of surgery. No doc would see me for the same reason. I went to my local hospital. Check out yours. There is hospital advocasy programs that can get you into see a physician. Takes a bit of doing, but there will be someone to see you, no insurance and all. I know this can happen, because I had to do this before I got disability. Give it a try, can't hurt to ask. ginnie

Emergency rooms are no fun. I avoid them as much as possible (except when I was working in the hospital, there was no way to avoid it then lest I lose my job). I reserve it for things such as pain that is so out of control that I have exhausted all options AND it is after hours AND I've discussed it with my doctor first. There are some things that are best treated at an ER. I had breathing trouble with a swollen throat, lymph nodes, etc. that my dr. felt I would be treated quicker than by going to her. She would not be able to get the testing down and results in a timely manner seeing as this was possibly a severe allergic reaction. That is a reason to go to the ER and I know that, but I would have preferred to go to my dr instead and I asked them to please just let me go there but they said no, the ER was the best option for me.

I think coming up with some better pain management techniques is going to be tremendously helpful to you, especially since you don't have insurance and are paying cash for any meds prescribed for you and all dr. office visits as well as ER visits. That can be costly. Finding a technique that works well for you is going to be a trial and error for you. For me, any kind of detailed work helps. I usually get out my sketchbook and draw intricate designs with as much detail as possible. The pain doesn't go away completely but it helps alter my perception of the pain. For you, it may be something else, maybe playing a video game or something. Anything that shifts your mind from the pain. This is no easy task. There are times when the pain is so bad that nothing seems to work. When I get like that, I just talk to the pain as if it were my best friend. It helps quite a bit.

I agree with Jules. An ER is not a good place for pain management. However, there are plenty of drug seekers that go to the ERs seeking drugs. Most ER's also treat on a subjective level as well. Meaning, looking for signs of severe pain such as facial expression, skin color/temperature, pulse, blood pressure, pupils, etc. If a patient is exhibiting some of the signs, they may not got the pain relieving drugs they are seeking. However, I have to say, there are patients that done show these signs of pain but they're symptomatology and clinical findings show they truly are in pain. So, going to the ER for pain management isn't the best of options unless it's absolutely without a doubt your only option.

Also, have you considered going to a sliding fee scale clinic in your area. Georgia has plenty of them and it may be a great option for you. Here is a link to the ones in Georgia. http://www.needymeds.org/free_clinic...=list&state=ga I understand you don't qualify for your state's Medicaid program, which I'm not quite sure how you didn't qualify for it based on the fact that you have an illness and are unable to work. If you had not income but the ability to work, I could understand that and that's how a lot of state programs are. But in most states, if you are unable to work due to an illness or injury, you qualify for Medicaid. You won't qualify for Medicare for at least a couple of years. I can't remember exactly how long after the date of disability that you qualify for Medicare. (Maybe someone else will chime in with more information). I'm pretty sure mine didn't kick in until a couple of years after receiving SSI. But, I was on state Medicaid during that time.


Good luck!

My ER experience was great. I was treated like a queen and
received help immediately. I have, in the way past had long
waits and terrible service in the ER.

It's all different now, you are assigned Docs and nurses onto
your case and if you are admitted, you use the staff Docs
and not your own PCPs. My hospital is a teaching hospital.

QUOTE: "Finding a technique that works well for you is going to be a trial and error for you. For me, any kind of detailed work helps. I usually get out my sketchbook and draw intricate designs with as much detail as possible. The pain doesn't go away completely but it helps alter my perception of the pain. For you, it may be something else, maybe playing a video game or something. Anything that shifts your mind from the pain. This is no easy task. There are times when the pain is so bad that nothing seems to work. When I get like that, I just talk to the pain as if it were my best friend. It helps quite a bit."

Very sound advice. Meditation, taking courses on-line and creative writing do help with changing the pain perception in my case. For me, focusing on it seems to be the worst thing as that usually only serves to bring up emotions that make the pain worse. Its a vicious cycle.

In my thoughts and prayers that you find a managment techinique that works for you.
Know that we do understand .
At the moment I'm sort of grasping at straws to find something that might augment the techniques that aren't cutting it as much as they used to.

With love, Erika