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Integrative Pain Center of Arizona Anyone?

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 3/15/2008 3:41 AM (GMT 0)
I have an appointment there in April and am wondering if anyone has any feedback on them?
Posted 3/15/2008 4:45 AM (GMT 0)
If this is affiliated with the Univ. of Arizona, and in particular Dr. Andrew Weil's program for integrative medicine at their medical school, it should be highly credible.
Posted 3/15/2008 2:14 PM (GMT 0)
Tdoern,
I went there for about a year and to be honest, I wasn't very happy with the doctor I saw. They have pretty strict rules. You sign a pain contract, they do random urine drug testing, you have to pay $25 for your paper prescriptions each time, you have to call in your prescription refills a week before you need them, and they rescheduled my appointment quite often. The staff there were pleasant but the doctor I saw was not very compassionate. Which doctor are you going to see? My father also went there for awhile, seeing another doctor and had a similar experience. Sorry!
TinaK
Posted 3/15/2008 6:36 PM (GMT 0)
Gee, I sure hope this isn't affiliated with Dr. Weil, otherwise I'd be very disappointed! Some of the things like pain contracts and urine screens are fairly typical, but I wonder how they justify charging you for your paper prescriptions? And not having compassionate doctors at an integrative pain center is beyond pathetic.
Posted 3/15/2008 10:30 PM (GMT 0)
This place is not connected to the UofA or Dr. Weil. I also have experience with the Pain Clinic at the UofA. I really liked the doctor I saw there. But he left the clinic unexpectedly, I guess there was some disagreements with the upper management, and then they closed the place down. I no longer see a pain management doctor. I am a difficult case, chronic abdominal pain due to Crohn's and adhesions, and they tried everything with me. The only thing that works is narcotics and my PCP has no problem precribing them. I've seen four different pain management doctors in the last 6 years and for now, I am done with them.
TinaK
Posted 3/16/2008 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
I googled the name and found what appears to be the center that Tina described. They have a link to their policy on prescription refills and claim to charge a $20 fee whenever prescriptions are refilled without a MD appt. It states that if you see the MD or NP, then the fee is not charged. They claim this policy was put into effect as a result of the increasing malpractice insurance rates and if it's actually administered this way, I'd have to say it does makes some sense. After all, picking up a prescription still requires that someone pull your chart and a licensed prescribed make a note in your chart and write the script.

Perhaps they are cutting down on their actual patient visits by frequently moving people's appts so that they will then request the refill and then see the Doc/NP the next month????

I certainly hope that's not the case and that things go better for you than what was Tina's experience.
Posted 3/16/2008 8:26 PM (GMT 0)
I did look them up on the internet - I'm just trying to find out if it's going to be a struggle to get them to deal with me.

I've done multiple rounds of physical therapy - and am still slowly trying to pay them off. Also, seen a chiropractor, again no help. I went to see a pain doctor the middle of last year and ALL he did in his practice was pain shots. I did 4 rounds of at least 20 shots each time, he said they were nerve blocks and trigger point injects, it didn't help. I'm hoping I can get records from these places so that they don't put me in debt again. Plus after doing so much physical therapy and not getting any help from it, I'm just tired from it. Every therapist I saw said the same thing - what was going was not something they could fix.

The main reason I'm so worried is that three weeks ago I had to make an emergency trip to Virgina to help my mother take care of my grandfather. I called my doctors office to see if I could a pain med refill without seeing her that day so I had meds to get me through the trip. When the nurse called back she asked me if I had always had a "shrunk" L2-L3, and bulging L3-L4 on top of the fusion. Which were both new. She couldn't get me more information than that, she told me it would require an office visit and my doctor to speak with me. Which I didn't have time for. So I took off on the red eye flight that night, and don't know anything else yet.

I'm down 80 pounds since December sixth, have cut so many things out of my life to try to avoid hurting my back more, and I still did it. The nurse suggested not picking anything up weighing more than 5 pounds, avoiding sudden jerks, and being very careful about bending. She did tell me the good thing was the disc hadn't ruptured yet, which is really only a half blessing. I broke down in tears. To know that I've done so much, and my back is WORSE.

I know I have degenerative disc disease, I just hoped that things would be easier after the weight loss, and that I could stall the DDD, and here I am, in more pain than I was when I hurt my back in 2000.

Sorry for the pity party, I've just go so much going on, I'm physically broke down an exhausted, and mentally too.

Tammy
Posted 3/17/2008 6:34 AM (GMT 0)
(((((Tammy))))) living with CP means always having the right to throw a pity party. Even with a great PM Doc, I still have terrible pain. I also have a sick Mom who isn't managing her illness well and I need to essentially be responsible for her too. As if keeping track of my own medical stuff isn't enough! Then I get the added pleasure of trying to run 2 households on top of it all. Needless to say, I am failing that miserably. Oh, I better stop now before my own pity party spills out onto yours! redface

I will be hoping hard that this Center will be able to get you the relief that you need and deserve. You've certainly been there and done that. Someone out there has to pick up the ball and treat you with it.

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