How to go about switching pain doctors?

Hi Louise, wow what a change indeed in your PM dr. I would imagine you signed a Contract with your current dr. They usually state that you will not obtain pain medication from any other dr, use one pharmacy & that sort of thing.

A lot of time patients do what I call a meet & greet with a potential new dr to get a feel for what the staff & dr are like. You can present your case to the potential new dr to see if he/she would be willing to take you on as a new patient. I would not accept any prescriptions at this meet & greet either. Ask the dr if he thinks he can help you or not. Some drs require a copy of the patients medical records to review prior to accepting them as a patient. Do not terminate the current PM dr until after you have found a new one & know for certain you will be accepted as a new patient.

I hope you can come up with a good fit.

I imagine he attended a conference held by PROP (physicians for responsible opiate prescribing) don't let the name fool you,they don't prescribe opiates in noncancer related pain period. They're huge lobbyists and responsible for many of the rules and regulation changes we have seen over the last year or year and a half or since they pretty much formed as a organization. They hold forum's and conferences nationwide as well as having some very influential representatives in their hip pockets spending oodles of money in campaign contributions. They're compromised of Drs of pain management who have always been conservative in treating pain and relying heavily on alternative treatments such as biofeedback,therapy,injections,and laser procedures. They try to reach countless PM Drs throughout the nation by holding these such conferences and having guest speakers mainly those who have lost loved ones from accidental overdose,have been under the care of not so morally responsible Drs prescribing safely,physical therapists,chiropractors who swear on their methods and substance abuse counselors who spew the odds without reliable data. They are definitely not a chronic painers best friend and if they had their way production and manufacture of opiates would basically cease and only oncology would have access.

As for how to get out from under the care your currently in as Susie said you don't want to break your contract although technically its null and void if they are no longer prescribing. Set appointments for "consult only" take no medication whatsoever from the consulting+.Dr,and make sure when you find one to take over your care you don't let the scripts overlap,then draft a letter withdrawing from the care of Dr------? Make a copy for yourself and post it to the Dr your leaving via registered mail....

Finding another Dr would definitely be the way I would go but itsj getting harder and harder to find a good PM Dr and the few that are out there are so overwhelmed with patients that the office settinitsnng becomes more like a assembly line and less personalised.
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Good luck and I hope you find one soon and if you are already doing a takedown it never hurts(much anyway) to see if at this point in your journey it's possible to come down to a substantially lower dose of narcotics or discovered a alternate means of relief, those are things that always are beneficial to you and provide a good starting point for a new member of your pain team to take over.

The contract you signed with the current Dr is legal in every sense and although you could just not go back and it may not have a negative impact its always better and safer in the long run to properly withdraw from any legal agreement or contract you have signed. Notifying him by writing and ensuring its received is done by registered letter. With pain management as rocky as it is these days its best not to leave anything to chance that could possibly come back to bite you.