Chronic pain after gastric bypass

Welcome to HealingWell jfranco,
I've not had gastric bypass, just wanted to welcome you and say that I hope you can find help soon. Have you gotten a reply from your bariatric dr yet? It seems that dr should be able to give you something to show your primary or confer with her--maybe that's only in a perfect world. The older article included some interesting ideas, maybe some of those were helpful. Anyway, keep checking in and see what advice others have to offer.

Most people here use a Pain Management Doctor rather than depending on their primary. Is that a possibility for you?

Post Edited (Abilene) : 12/15/2014 12:35:37 PM (GMT-7)

Hi jfranco & welcome to the chronic pain forum. Sorry to read what you are having to deal with. Hopefully you can get some decent care for your problems.

I am not sure how well versed you are about all the things going on with treatment of chronic pain or not but there is a huge difference compared to where we were even 2 1/2 years ago. The DEA is now involved & they have rules & guidelines that all the drs are following including our pain mgt drs. As a result of these rules & guidelines most primary care physician will no longer take care of a chronic pain patient on a long term basis simply because they don't have the time or people to jump through all the hoops. These drs do not want the DEA showing up to do an audit in their office & some fear losing their licenses. Every dr you talk to these days is saying "I can't give you this medication or that medication because I could lose my license." I feel quite certain this is why your PCP is rxing just the Norco on a limited basis. It is not that he does not want to help you, his hands are tied. Pharmacist in some states are refusing to fill scripts because they think the patient should not need the medication beyond 6 months depending on what their dx is for which they are being treated.

As far as whether Fentanyl being something that may help you, it is a very strong medication & most people do get relief. Something we have seen here at the forum is people that have had bariatric surgery do in fact end up with absorption issues after surgery. But, getting a dr to understand that is next to impossible. The dr that did your surgery could verify this in a letter to be given to your drs, No one will believe a patient when they say I have absorption issues since I had my surgery. That one will not make any difference coming from a patient. We did have one lady that her surgeon write a letter & stated her absorption issues were a big problem & her pain mgt dr had her on liquid pain meds.

In order to get some type of real pain mgt care you are going to have to resign yourself to being treated by a pain mgt dr... Not all PM drs are like the one you saw so don't let that experience sour you on all of them.

I suggest contacting your insurance company to see what PM drs are covered under your insurance & do some calling to see who is taking new patients & what it will take to get an appt. Most require a referral from another dr. All you have to ask is does the dr rx medication if warranted in addition to procedures. You will not sound like a drug seeker asking those questions.

If you would like to read some of the older posts about problems others have had with absorption issues after surgery you can use our search feature here at the forum. We do ask that you not post on those older posts as we like to keep them off of the main page & the poster may no longer be active here at the forum.

Take care.

can I ask what is MPS and CPS?

My sister had bariatric surgery, but a different kind that actually causes mal-absorbstion on purpose. They said they are seeing more and more people dx'ed with things like CFS, Fibro, and such but it may just be more of a nutritional issue causing the symptoms, just as you have to take Calcium to prevent Osto, we are seeing more things are needed to supplement this lose or malobsorbtion bariatric patients may have.

I'm sure your on supplements, but I'd try increasing your nutritional stuff as well. Maybe take a probiotic, and eat foods that lower inflammation, increase iron, Vit c, potassium, etc. The thing is your body may never abosb those things well, no matter what you eat so you have to find ways to get those vital nutrients.
( i hope that made sense)
I don't mean this badly in any way, but You may just be glad you get the 75 month....PM is going all the the feds and without cancer, or something major showing on MRI, or test they don't and or can't do much anymore it seems. and for things like Fibro, CF, and such they aren't so keen on treating with narcotics usually despite having lots of very real pain.
My GP just left to work in an urgent care office bc he said all the rules he had to follow kept him from being the dr he wanted to be, my neurologist left the state of TN bc the rules/regs are so crazy hard to follow and not worth their time.
I hope you find the relief you need.