trip to a new pain doctor today has given me hope
 

hello friends

i went to a new pain doctor today and it was actually very good. he looked at me like a whole person....that desperately needs help. he didnt want to just write a script and throw me out. i went to his office today to do a urine test which is required at this pain clinic...but then when they saw me walking down the hall and how much pain i am in they put me in an exam office like an emergency case. My real appointment wasnt until this Friday.

SO after he saw the distress i was in from walking a short distance, and then he saw how swollen my abdomen was...he said I will help you short term but you need to be in a hospital. they can Diurase you, which is giving you medication to reduce inflammation in a hospital setting. He also told me that it is dangerous for me to take Lasix with Methadone at home because both medications lower your potassium level which can give your heart problems.

He kept asking me what the long term plan was for my treatment and i said there isnt one. I need to lose weight but its hard to do that when you are immobile in bed all the time which he agreed. So i have a call into my primary care doctor to see about being put in the hospital to see if they can help with my swelling. I asked about Mannitol but he doesnt know what the hospital will use at this time. So maybe there is still hope for me.
Hope your day is going well too!
Lori

Of course there's hope for you Lori. Did you have to travel far? If for some reason this doesn't work out for you let me know because Suzy and I are in NOVA too. Her doc may be of help too.

That is good news, sometimes we just need a new set of eyes to look at us. Hopefully you can get admitted into the hospital and get some of that swelling down in the abdomen and then move from there. Good luck and keep updating on your progress!!! :)

Thank you Jim

i didnt remember that you are here...i remember Suzy telling me she is nearby.
the pain dr told me to call my primary care and have him put me in the hospital for some ind of diuretic treatment...so i called my primary care dr who is also an internist...so far no call back. he makes me nuts when he doesnt call. Jim who do you see for your rsd and where are they?

thank you Sonny for your encouragement. i have felt helpless but not hopeless. i told the doctor today that i am afraid i will die from this because i didnt have a good team of doctors working together to make me as well as i can be.
its hard to keep talking to new people when it feels like none of them care. he really gave me the impression that he cared today.... time will tell

I do not have RSD my wife Suzy does. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of who the heck is who, that's for sure. :) Her doctor is Dr. Bautista-Quint. She runs a small pain center called "painRehab" near Old Town Alexandria on Duke Street. She can be difficult but not nearly as bad as many doctors we've seen through the years. She referred Suzy to GW hospital in DC a couple of times to quiet her pain and treats her on a monthly basis.

thanks Jim

i will keep her name close to me....lol
where does Suzy have rsd? does she have an rsd doctor?

I'm so very happy to hear this Lori! I will keep my fingers crossed that things work out well for you. It's been a long journey and I really hope that you get what you need. It makes such a difference to have a doc you feel good about, doesn't it?

Keep us posted on this...I look forward to hearing some good news.

Lori,

I am so truly, truly happy for you.

Keep posting.

Gabbycakes

Suzy has RSD in all her limbs, neck area. Her right arm has been in a brace for many years, bottom of her legs and feet look RSD'ee :) loss of hair, shiny flaky skin, red-purple color etc. Her doctor is Dr. Quint, a female who is an anesthesiologist, a pain specialist who operates her own small pain rehab center.

my goodness..Suzy has been through alot. I know you are a blessing to her.

so far this is the 2nd night hat my primary care has not called me back after the pain doctor said he should put me in the hospital to see if a diuretic iv would help me. hes done this before. when i asked him if i were too much for him to handle at his practice and should i find a new doctor, he said no, no he would treat me for everything except pain...now im left frustrated,,,and no call back.
ugh!

There is no excuse for that behavior. You are in pain so he's not calling? RSD is a disease about pain. I just don't see why a doctor would treat RSD without dealing with the pain. I'm ******. The doc sounds like a coward.:mad:

Could he be waiting for a report from the pain doc? Maybe you could check with the pain doc's office and get a copy of the reports that he has prepared from your office visit. And perhaps because it was your pain doc's idea that you be admitted to the hospital, your PCP would like your PM doc to manage your case.

I am guessing that it's probably not about you, but about them, and how they want to manage things....

I hope things get resolved quickly!

The best of luck to you, Sandy

I am fit to be tied!!!

this happened last month, i was having a bad rsd flare up and my doctor wouldnt return my calls...finally i went to his office and saw him and said if you dont want to be my doctor i will fine someone else...if im too sick for you i understand..but i need you to call me back when i call. so he said he never got my messages from his receptionist which i knew was a lie...but i thought it was over with and we had moved on. So i saw the new pain doctor monday who said you are in bad shape you should be in the hospital to see if they can get some of this fluid off of you in a hospital setting.

So i called my primary care on Monday...no call back..on tuesday..no call back...i called 9 am the recp again said i will have him call you i dont know why he hasnt. then i called again at 2pm...she said he is catching up on alls and has your message...no calll....then i called at 4:55 she said...the doctor said if i want to go to the hospital to be evaluated i should go...he will not admit me or suggest that i should be admitted. I said why wont he speak to me...she said..this is what he told me to tell you.
I said...will you please ask him if he still wants to be my doctor or should i find another doctor to take care of me? she said she would ask him...no call back.

I have no idea what has ****** him off at me that he wont call me back. I guess i am to high need for his practice and he doesnt want to take care of me. The Pain doctor was very critical of the primary care doctors care of me. he said i should never have been given methadone and lasix, that it can cause heart problems. that as swollen as i am, i should be in the hospital getting diuresed in a hospital setting. he asked what the long term care plan was and all kinds of questions..that i just didnt have answers for....

SO now i have to find a new primary care doctor to start over with. I have many health problems and take alot of meds...its just tiring and physically hard to go for appointments. Please Please pray that God will choose the perfect doctor for me. let this be a door that closes on the old doctor and opens like a bright ray of sunshine with a new doctor!

thank you for listening. On top of it all like so many of us here...im financially poor, im working so hard in my business trying to get my sales up so i can keep my job. So much pressure and now this. God please show your favor upon all of my friends here that need you SO much and myself.
Amen!

Hang in there Lori, things happen for a reason. At this point maybe you can call your new PM doctor and explain what has happened with your primary Dr. and see if he can admit you to the hospital and while in hospital begin the search for a new primary care doctor. This old Dr. seems like a jerk anyways. He could have killed you with the medication combo and contributed to that swelling in your abdomen, who knows? Right now is a tough time for you but it is also the time you need to be the strongest to fight for yourself and your treatment. KEEP FIGHTING, you will get there one battle at a time.

I will think of you along the way! :)

Document everything that has happened. request a complete set of your medical records from this guy. Examine the documentation he has regarding your case. then file a complaint with your State's Board of Health.

in the meantime, find a new doc. Good luck....

Sandy

You know, it doesn't hurt to go to the ER (esp where your pain doc is affliated) and just park yourself there. They can admit you for either pain control or the fluid. My daughter found her best doctor by doing just that. Her other doctors simply would not listen.

Liz

thank you all...sorry for venting..you all have your own life issues.

in my 9 month observation of being here...it just seems like as a group, we get crapped on by doctors! let them live one day in our bodies...not even a day...1 hour in my body and they would be writing themselves all kinds of prescriptions for happy drugs! do they forget that we pay them!!!

i will report him to my insurance company after i get my records out of his office. if i go to the hospital on my own and tell the ER doctor that i need to be admitted to get the fluid off me...i just dont think they will understand. i am not in terrible pain..just normal pain. i will call the pain doctor and ask if he has a primary care doctor that he thinks would be a good fit for me and this condition...and go from there.

i truly cherish everyone here. thank you for helping m keep my sanity.
love you!