Hey canagirl - How'd you get on?
Hope your ER visit was helpful and they were able to give you some pain relief (and hopefully some info to set you in the right direction to get longer term treatment).
I'm also in a country with a public health system so if you had a less than positive experience feel free to vent - I can empathize.
Take care.

Please let us know how you are doing. Hopefully they gave you something, at least short term to give you a break...and some names of pain mgmt doctors, etc to go see.

Well not great, u guy were right. Offer of an Ativan and told to see me dr.

Canagirl I might have missed this but do you have a primary care physician or a neurologist?

Hi canagirl
Sorry to hear your ER visit was not useful. I had to look up Ativan as it's not a brand name I'm familiar with - expected to see it was some sort of pain reliever like Tramadol but was surprised to see it's from the benzodiazipam class of drugs, often used for anxiety. That they offered you that suggests again that they think your symptoms are imagined!

In your earlier posts I think you said you were in Canada - correct? I'm not sure if there would be many in your area but you might be able to find a Neurophysiologist - a neurologist who specializes in how neurological conditions manifest as physical symptoms in the body. They should be able to recognize the SFN symptoms and recommend the skin biopsy.

Keep working with your good PCP to manage the pain as much as possible - I'm not sure what level of pain reliever medication they can prescribe - or what you've already tried. Maybe they would be willing to consult another doctor within their practice, or elsewhere, to find some solutions.

That's pretty crappy for your neuro to say "there's nothing wrong". My neuro agrees there's something causing my symptoms but he has the humility to say "I don't know what's causing it".

Positive skin biopsy test = It's not "all in your head"

I know that you have already made the trip and I hope you are better. Going to the ER and asking for anything is a short path to a Tylenol and a kick back into the parking lot. IMHO the chain of command is the ER gets you through the night. If your lucky, to your next appt w/primary. Your primary will decide if you are a candidate for Pain Management. Only in PM will you have access to meds that have real theraputic power. Even then these guys have it all figured out pretty good. Your relief may never reach the level you want. You remember the commercial where the guy sits in front of the big speaker with a glass of wine in his hand and the speaker is blowing his hair back? Not going to happen. Just a suggestion, don't tell your primary that pain is driving you to depression. Don't use the word, let him use it. There are many clinical markers for depression and if he is any good, he will be trying to make up his own mind. If you feel like slinging snot and screaming then sling snot and scream. Honest feelings and real-life conditions in your home. Please don't sling snot and scream, I was trying to make a point. I don't know of anyone that has leap-frogged the chain of command. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

I went to the ER once for pain and was treated like a junkie. They kept me waiting, while I was crying, for 3 hours. I brought a bottle of my percocet and some nitwit doing intake said we can't give you anything stronger. I was given a shot that helped for a couple hours and a script for four I think 2mg diaulada (allergic to morphine ) on my chart they wrote treated for mild pain. The top reasons pill seekers use to obtain narcotics are tooth and back pain or migraines.