Hello everyone, I just joined here and am hoping to get some information. I am asking for my sister who is not very computer savvy. She has extreme pain in her back and was referred for a Spinal Cord Stimulator, she had to go to a Neuro/Psych exam 3 days ago and just got a call from her back doctor's office that she has been denied. The back doctor will call her tomorrow to tell her what she can. I was hoping to get information if anyone has been through this before, can the decision from the psych doctor be appealed or can she get a 2nd opinion. She is so upset right now she has been crying nonstop and she doesn't usually fight what they say and takes what they say as it is the last word. I told her to ask if she can appeal or do anything else but thought I would try to find any information I can for her but I'm having trouble finding out any info online. She went to the psych exam and was truthful and tried to be upbeat and positive. He seemed to focus on the fact that she is on several medications for depression, would that make a difference? In my opinion, of course, she is depressed she can barely walk and cannot sleep in a bed anymore and can barely sleep in a chair.

Thank you

William

William, I have only just found this site, so maybe your sister has gotten the help she needs by now. But if not, here’s my reply to your cry for help.
I have a stimulator. It is the third one for me. The first had a problem with kinks in the leads and so I needed a new one. The second didn’t work, for reasons no one can figure out. This third one is helping.
I was required to go through the psych exam each time.
My general impression was that they are looking for mentally stable patients. Insurance companies don’t like to pay for this (it is very, very expensive) if they feel the patient might jump off a high bridge in the near future.
I was basically honest, but I did not say that I had been or was depressed. I have never been on meds for depression so I kept my attitude happy, even though I felt like I had a hot poker drilling into my lower back and sending pain down my right leg.
I’m pretty sure my desperation wasn’t evident. They needed to know that I wasn’t expecting a 100% cure. I told them that I was hoping to be able to lead a fairly normal life. Well, at least more normal than it had been to date.
My claim of a stable home life and since I am single, the ability to be independent might have factored into his findings.
They needed to know that I wasn’t going to do a high dive if the stimulator didn’t meet my blown up expectations. Every one is hoping for the ultimate answer for pain relief, ergo, unrealistic expectations.
If your sister can get another psych evaluation from a different psychiatrist it may have a different outcome.
She must not give up. A change in her meds should help with that. I am still taking pain meds even with the stimulator. The initial settings didn’t help me, but I have had some reprogramming and things are a little better. There is always hope. I’m guessing that your sister is younger than me. I’m 70, also female, and have been dealing with this for 20 years.
I don’t know where she lives, but you may need to explore a change in doctors.
I wish you both the best and pray that she gets the help and results she needs.
Mary

I was recently told that my only choice for pain relief at this point would be to get a spinal cord stimulator. I have heard many horror stories. And then, reading these posts about having to have psych evals, how am I going to pass those when I am bipolar with borderline personality disorder? My insurance company will never approve me. I just refuse to think that's my only and final option for pain relief. These doctors just refuse to increase my pain meds in the slightest. I am at wits end and have no idea what to do next. I am so depressed. They just want me to keep trying different kinds of shots. I've done nerve ablations, epidurals, nerve bundle branch blocks, everything they've suggested. Now they say the stimulator is my only choice. I don't want my spinal nerves messed with any more and I don't want any more shots. But they threatened to discharge me as a patient if I didn't get shots anymore and my primary doctor sent me to them because she didn't want to write my pain meds. Help! I don't know what to do!

Sambouka74

First off I'm wondering what your back issues are from. I am 82 and first had back issues come on at 18 and have lived thru it all, it's gotten worse since 2010 when I had a hip replacement, a big mistake I'm believing now..

I've never done all the drastic protocols mentioned above, had 2 scripts for epidurals but could not bring myself to do them..

You don't mention your age, have you done all the more natural stuff in your life, like chiro work, PT etc...

I take NO hard drugs, they can really mess one up, with other side effects and then the addiction issue.

I don't know about your issues, but perhaps PRP and/or Stem Cells would work for your body. We have a great PRP MD in my area here and there are many across the country. Wonder if you know about PRP..which is Regenerative Medicine. Again, wondering how all your issues came on.

Sambuka,

I'm so sorry to hear about the amount of pain you are in and the physicians not willing to help you with increasing your medications to help.
Unfortunately, so many have abused these medications and illegal drugs that has led to the opiod crisis. I had problems getting my medications at first when I had to change physicians because my other doctor was closing his private practice.
You didn't meantion what your back problems are, nor what kind of medication you are being prescribed. I know from my personal experience, many physicians are cutting back on the kind of medications that are being prescribed now then before the opiod epidemic.

I ran into a problem with my medication being changed to a different medication that wasn't as strong than the one I had been on before. My body is a little different when it comes to pain medication. I was on 4mg Dilaudid to help with back pain. The problem came about when I had to have oral surgery done. As crazy as it sounds, the Dilaudid never helped with anything in regards to oral-dental work except for Percocet. I explained this to my new physician and he thought I was crazy and it didn't make any sense. That is the difference in my body and I only needed the Percocet for a shirt period of time without Dilaudid. Once I was finished with the oral surgery he could take me off the Percocet and put me back on Dilaudid. Lucky for me the Percocet helped with both my back and oral, so it wasn't luke I was asking to be put on both at the same time. It was a pain just to get that changed for oral surgery. Once I was done with the oral surgery, I returned back to my physician to get my medication changed back to Dilaudid and he refused to do it then.

I'm wondering if you have looked into a portable T.E.N.S unit? You don't need a prescription for it. You will not need a psych evaluation to obtain one either. I have one abd it helps a lot. Another thing I also use are the Salonpas patches for nerve pain.


Best wishes,

Diamond Tiger<3

I have a TENS unit you can have, it's worthless, it's one of the first approaches, again very temporary if it works, and if one owns a very pricey one.... PRP and or Stems could help and especially if one has no hardware in their bodies from surgeries...