RESPONSE NEEDED ASAP -- ER HELP??

I have done all I can to make it to this day. I am in pain and having reactions to abruptly stopped medication due to my doctor suddenly leaving and or closing down. I do not know why and the operator at the Dr.'s office can not tell me - I am sure it is a privacy right's situation and for that I respect that particular matter but direly wih I knew where to turn.

I have called 32 doctors. Most can not see me due to the pain medications i am on. Others wont except me because I lost my insurance when I was discharged from my previous employer. No insurance will pick me up due to pre- existing conditions, "they say' and HIP excepted me but enrollment was full.

Urgent care will not except me. The ER is all I am left with. I feel this is an emergency but I am waiting (on the floor) for my fiance to come home so he can drive me. Will the ER assist me with a temporary script until I can get into a PM doctor. I have found one that will see me in almost a month. It is the only one that will due to my medications, having no insurance and the circumstance of no doctor. PLEASE REPLY ASAP.

The ER bill will be 1000 or 2000 or more that i can not afford but will deal with that later when the damage arrives in the mail. I just need advice. Will I be helped? OR will I not be helped and leave with the pain and WDs I came with except 10x more anxiety.

THANK YOU!

Renren,

The ER is not going to give you a prescription for the fentanyl patches. Withdrawal is not an emergency, despite it feeling like it is. That is , unless you have some other life threatnening condition that would make sudden withdrawal dangerous.

This is how many days now since you removed the last patch? The worst of the withdrawal symptoms should start improving after day 3, and should improve more as hours go by. If I recall correctly, this should be at least day 3 now, so your symptoms should improve from this point on. Chicken and rice help bind the bowels, so eat rice, chicken and other bland foods for the next day or so to help your body readjust to the intake of food.

The symptoms of withdrawal can easily be managed with some over the counter medications, like anti diarreheal medication, and there is some ingredient in the antidiarreheals that helps to ease some of the withdrawal symptoms too,  some hot showers for the chills and cool baths for the muscle cramps , and some gatorade to help make sure you don't dehydrate.

The most the ER will do is maybe give a small, very small amount of vicoden and most possibly a catapress patch to help with withdrawal symptoms but your GP can also give you similar medications.

An urgent care is also not going to give you a prescription for fentanyl but may give you a catapress patch which is supposed to help with the withdrawal symptoms.

 

Well Guys I went. Based on my records and MRIs that were performed at the hospital I went to for an ER visit ~I was sent with three fentanyl patches to 'bridge/carry" me over ( allowing me 6 days to get a Pm doctor. I think I may have one. I have faxed and faxed and called and called and finally got a receptionist that worked for my suddenly gone PM doctor. I had to be persistent but she faxed my records to a doctor that would except me and we will see how that goes on Thursday of next week. I had to go to ER. It was all I had left despite how much I did not want a bill for 1000 bucks! My shoulders were locking up and burning so badly that it took all the effort I had to just go. At least I can focus for a week and get something done now. Answer me one thing PLEASE... I feel deserve to know what hap with my doctor.I have made calls to a lady at the hospital he is affiliated with but she wasn't there when I called right back. They ( receptionists at my doctor's office) will only tell me he is no longer with us. ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO INVESTIGATE THIS MORE WOULD BE HELPFUL. They scheduled my an appt. for August 3rd for my blood pressure medication. And I am not going just to get that with a $75 copay and also pay $250 to get in this new doctor so maybe I can get my bp meds from him or maybe I can be off the BP meds ~ until then I have some left. (and for guy above I do not have a PCP he was my PM doctor and PCP They closed for 2-3 days leaving a sign on the door so I couldn't even get my medical records after that, I only had to go into day 3 with out my patches but I had xanax to help and I wore that last patch longer and just got maxillofacial surgery that gave me lortab for the teeth pain (because fentanyl isn't the dentist preferred medication for teeth gum surgery).so that helped as, well, your gonna laugh when I say this; but I have had so much dental work done that when I went in to the orthodontist I had no idea what I was in for. Walked out numb as heck, and stitches in my gums due to a tooth that broke off and infected my gums rather quickly and a cut open gum line near my sinus palette. I it was a root canal and crown that ended up falling out~ but only few months after it was done (and I swallowed in nearly choking to vomit.) And no. I do not see that dentist anymore. So thank you guys a bunch. I hope I can be here to help others. Im exhausted. Thanks again.

Renren,

If you got three patches, instead of leaving each one on only two days ( 48 hours), they are supposed to last 72 hours. With the new adhesive backing, the fentanyl is in the adhesive, so it gives it a much smoother delivery, and more consistent. You should be able to leave the patch in place for the entire 72 hours , and that would give you 9 days worth of medication, rather than just six.

I have never heard of a PM doctor giving anyone blood pressure medications. That is very strange. If they finally got a new doctor at the old practice, to replace the one that was there, then you shouldn't have any further problems.

It sounds to me that this is a cash only clinic? Is that the case? You pay cash for the visit and get your medications there also?

I doubt that this new PM doctors office is going to write you a prescription for blood pressure medications, so it would be prudent for you to find yourself a regular GP doctor to take on that aspect of your health care. If you need bp meds, you will most probably continue to need them, so it doesn't sound like not taking them would be a good idea.

Sandi

RenRen I hope this new dr will take you on as a permanent patient. I would not go back to that clinic for BP medication, instead if you have issues with high BP you would do much better finding yourself a primary care physician. They can see you for pretty much anything except most will not handle chronic pain patients. Everyone needs a good primary care physician in their corner.

We could sit here all day and speculate what happened with the dr, who knows the feds could have closed him down, I mean there is really no way of knowing, his office sure will not tell you anything. If you read your local paper you may want to be on the lookout for any articles over him being shut down, if it was by the feds it will eventually be in your paper.

Let us know how your appt went. Yes, I too think you need to make your patch last 72 hours instead of 48. The Fentanyl patches are usually rx'd to be changed every 72 hours. If the outside temperature is hot where you live stay inside where it is cool so that your body temperature does not get elevated causing your patch to release too much medication. Same thing with staying out of a hot shower.

Let us know how your appt goes. Take care.

Sashamom,
Welcome to the forums! We're sorry that you had to join us but glad that you found us....hope that makes sense ! Anyway, I just wanted to address something that you said about oxycontin, tramadol and percocet being "addictive", yes there is a potential for "addictions" to come from taking medications, but that only happens if you are abusing the medications. "Abusing" the medications means, taking more than you are supposed to, without the permission of your doctor, taking it more often than you are supposed to, altering the delivery method of the medications, and some other factors all come into play in addiction, including the potential for abuse/misuse.
Tolerance is something that will occur in any patient taking long term opiate medications. It is simply that the body becomes acclimated to having a certain amount of opiate in our system and if we were suddenly to stop taking those opiates, we would experience withdrawal. After some time on these type of medications, just as in other types of medications, our bodies become acclimated to the current dosage, so our dosages may need to be raised or lowered, depending on the circumstances.
It is very, very common , when we are lowering our doses of pain medications for our bodies to try to convince us that we need it, but that is simply an issue of tolerance and many people find if they can stick with the lower dose, their body will start to reproduce the endorphins to help block the pain again....It may take a couple of weeks for your body to start making its' own endorphins again but in the meantime , you can supplement the pain medication by using heat, ice, over the counter creams and analgesics, TENS as you mentioned and even rice grains in a sock , heated in the microwave will all help lower the seemingly increased pain.....medications should only be one small part of your total pain management plan- use the other modalities as a first line defense when pain levels rise and you will find that both the other modalities will be pretty effective when you find the right combination for you, but it will make your breakthrough meds more effective as well, when they are used sparingly.
There are many other medications for you to try if you are not finding adequate relief from your current pain medication plan before the patches. The patches they are talking about are fentanyl transdermal patches. They are up near the top of the pain medication spectrum and should only be used after a patient has been properly titrated up to that type of medication.....
There are also many of the anti depressents that work really well in managing nerve pain ( neuropathy). Gabapentin and Lyrica are two other , similar medications that really do work well at managing nerve pain. Talk to your doctor about trying some of the tricyclic antidepressants or SSRI's, such as Cymbalta , which is reportedly getting good results in neuropathic pain......
Best wishes to you,
Sandi