Need not 'apologize' for the 'rant' I get very worked up about this issue also! And don't be 'embarrassed' by being associated with the medical profession! My hope is that MORE medical professionals such as yourself will be able to help get some changes made regarding what i truly believe to be 'discrimination'...
Sounds like Bob's pain clinic is the same as mine.....run by Anesthesiologist know-it-all 'Needle Jockies' who go against the VERY profession they are supposed to be HELPING!! Because they'd rather shove a 4-inch needle in a person's spine for the cost of half of Jay Leno's car collection as opposed to prescribing a PILL from an opiate plant that can be taken on an as-needed basis.....
I WAS TOLD I WOULD END UP IN REHAB IF I DIDN'T AGREE TO GET A $150,000
IMPLANT PUT IN MY SPINE TO CONTROL PAIN
GrrrrrrrRRRRR!

........... ...... my apologies to Jay Leno. I have nothing against your car collection dude.

It is a shame that people, here in the United States, continue to suffer in pain. As a country we do a p**s poor job at treating pain when we have SOOO many resources available to us. Many moons ago doctors use to use the excuse "I can't prescribe narcotics because I will get investigated by the DEA." It is called "proper documentation" folks. Do the work-up, document and treat the patient. There are cases now where payment is being withheld because the presence of pain and pain control were not addressed. Maybe if we did a better job, people would not be forced to control their pain using illegal resources. OK...stepping down now. I guess in a perfect world we wouldn't even be having this conversation........and we would all be pain free!! Dream the dream.

By Golly! I wanna nominate YOU for our next president!

Echoe's is pretty much on target and it IS a crying shame!
I don't know who to be more peeved at.....the DEA cracking down in such an 'over the top' manner OR the Doctors who won't, like you say -DICTATE it in the med records.
The subject of suicide was brought up when I expressed my concern regarding the fact that a person can only take so much chronic pain....and HE (needle jockey) SAID "oh yeah, just last year i lost one of my patients, she took her life" and the way it rolled off his cuff made me want to SLAP him! Because she either couldn't afford or insurance wouldn't approve his $$$$$ techniques (not sure of the details) she ended her life.

I'm FAR from being a genius, but I do know that the suicide rate would be substantially LOWER if pain were better controlled without the patient having to feel like a pathetic drug-seeking lowlife to GET the pain control.
I saw with my own eyes here in my town......a friend of mine found her brother dead out in a shed, took his life because he just couldn't take one more day of the pain he was racked with. He had no insurance.
He was only in his early 50's.

In a way, either way you look at it,.....the street recreational drug user/addicts WIN. The DEA has cracked down so strongly because of these people (and they're STILL gonna find their 'fix'!)........this leaves us going thru hades to get adequate pain treatment.
Good Lord can we re-wind a bit here and remember that the hardest core drug was a standard ingredient in cough syrups and meds for anxiety-ridden young mothers in the great depression......but by golly it was taboo to have alcohol?
Not to get all political here, but MAN. Now, sllllllowly, cannibus is finally becoming 'ok' in the eyes of Gov't. (sort of), but that still doensn't really address pain in general. Some folks aren't holding their breath on this as a great cure for pain.
DEA may think they are 'saving lives' by the way they've got Dr's scared of their crackdowns.....but look how many suicides are being carried out?
Lives are being lost regardless.
Ok, i'll give you back your soapbox.....

One thing my dad thought me was to be your own advocate or have one when you deal with the medical profession. I was in a car accident when I was 17 and one of my docs, plastic surgeon, was planning to wire my jaw shut, I had broken it in the left TMJ joint. My parents insisted, to the neurosurgeon in charge of my treatment, that a jaw specialist be brought in. I remember my dad firing the plastic surgeon after that. He was a very effective advocate for my mom when she had cancer also. Most people don't think they can fire a doctor.

i went to a pain clinic here for steroid shots to cervical spine, ( big mistake pn pain wise), and they wanted me to agree to have anything i take for pain, only amitriptylene in my case, anyway to have it go through this one pharmacy with their approval and i wasnt even looking for or getting any narcotics off of the pain center. i fired them.

I too had a bad experience with a "pain management" doc. To make a long story short, she refused to prescribe any meds for me (I was only asking to try amitriptylene). I am certain that she was punishing me for not going along with their $$$$ group PT/OT/counseling program. Before I refused the program, she was talking about Methadone. After, it was "no, I don't think I will prescribe anything for you."

I fired her.

my gp gave me neurotin then sent me to the neurologist, Test all came back normal but A1c was 6. Now they gave me Lexepro. It wook 1 1/2 years to get to my hips. now it is in my arms across my chest and up to my chin. How do i find agood pain clinic or should i even try?

Well, it didn't work out so well for me, but I am thinking of trying another one. I've given up on finding the cause, but at 54, I'm not ready to resign myself to this level of pain for the rest of my life.

You could start by looking here: http://www.healthgrades.com/local-do...dicine-doctors

I'm assuming that your cornfield is somewhere in that area.

Yep, here is pain management.....

My rheumie tells me my IVIG isn't doing any good....says I have fibro....never mind hubby can smell last nites binge on her breath....

GI sees her say I have fibro.....cripes....now I need neurontin.

OK, I am on neurontin....still need the vicodin, but WTH, taking the neurontin....but running out of vicodin (small dose BTW)...keep in mind I am the person who took myself off fentanyl last year.

Neuro, thank God, ignores all the BS....if not for him, I would want to leave the planet.

Ok, so call the pharmacy, cuz THEY are the ones to fax the doc....I call on Wed. cuz I am going to run out of my vicodin over the HOLIDAY WEEKEND. Med not filled Thursday...Now mind you, it is DUE to be filled...no cheating, no week early...nope was a good girl.

OK, no call on Friday from Robopharmacist.....I get a call on Friday at 3:30 to drive to my docs office to sign a pain contract.

I say, 'What did I do wrong?'
Nice nurse says, "Nothing, every one has to sign them"
'Why?"
"Because the drug dealers are getting vicodin"
'I am not a drug dealer'.
"Well you have to sign this"
"I can't get there....I have an infant, it is late"
"Well, then you can't have your vicodin"
"Fine, I will die with my dignity"

OK, so I opt for dignity and wait until my doc appt. the next week, and cold turkey...you know how well that goes for any one with autonomic neuropathy. My dignity went out the window and down the toilet....by the time my doc appt. rolls around, I am pretty well thru my WD...again.

So today, I sign this 3 page contract, that basically absolves them from any possible circumstance including armageddon. I have promised to give them my first born child to harvest body parts from (they don't want mine, I am sick), my Subaru and best dog, oh and next year's crops....all of them. Oh, and if a drunk driver hits me, it's my fault, no matter what.

I sign this thing only because I am convinced by the doctor that EVERY patient on any narcotic, including Darvocette has to sign this damn thing....plus, I had a headache and my grandson by then, had had it and cr@pped his pants too. And I have come to the realization, I hurt really bad without medication and nothing else really helps, not even my Morontin.

Ok, I get this slew of scripts that needed filling....I didn't pay attention, I just was handed all these scripts, which I shoved into my important papers section of my purse, which also contains my cell phone. and leave...Ok, they win.

I get to the megapharmacy and walk in with this 20 pound burping kid,who has deposited the contents of his last bottle on me. He smells like a compost bin....drag myself to the counter, and voila....there are 2, yes, TWO scrips for vic. I am thinking, what is wrong with this picture??

Well, I knew it was an error and told the pharmacist and then immediately called my doc to tell them what happened....one must have been attached to the contract I failed to come sign and then she wrote one, but half of me wondered....what if they KNEW there were two and they tested me...I really like my primary and would not want to cause her any problem, but I wonder how often this happens.

I have to laugh....if me signing my life away that I won't possibly use more than my allotment per day, will stop the drug dealer on Main St. well bless them...I don't think it will make a dent. People that steal script pads, get multiple narcotic scripts from multiple docs, go to ERs, etc....or make the cr@p themselves, I dunno, I have no idea.....but, I just want to be able to walk on my feet. That is all I am asking....walk on my feet....use my hands....not feel like my rib cage is going to snap at any second, or my head blow up, or my neck....blah, blah, blah....

I have been to a pain clinic and all they ever offered me were drugs I can't take due to movement disorder. I went to one pain clinic where I waited 3, that is THREE hours before I left, in disgust. I am not depressed. I am not angry. I am well adjusted given the fact I live in chronic pain from SFN and a few other maladies. Apparently one doctor feels the IVIG should render me painless, somewhat like her binge did her. Sure I could have reported her and lost my good docs too....my thought was just don't see her again and so far that is working ok. My primary will get her script back....cuz I am honest, and she has taken my pain seriously.

Thank God for my neuro and primary, even if I did have to sign the Snagma Carta to get my 'pain pills'.

I must be unique in my experiences. What?? No one gets 2 scripts after being told they can't have one. Oh, the joys of pain management. Oh, back to Ghost Hunters for me.....I am alone in my own little world.