Looks like its not gonna happen...

I now have my doubts my friends that the SCS will be tried. Why you may be asking? I received a call from the Psychologist that did the evaluation today and it seems I forgot a few things in my history. I forgot that I was hospitalized when I was 21 for a mental breakdown after I left my first husband. I forgot about a couple of years that I experimented.....(I'll leave it at that). And it seems I forgot to add that the second eval I told the psychologist that I did NOT have a happy childhood.

All these things are not giving me a good vibe about actually being approved for the SCS. It's been many years since all these things really happened except for telling the second psych about my childhood and even though I explained or thought I explained myself for forgetting these things I just really don't think he is going to approve me now. He asked what I would think about seeing a pain psychologist and I told him I didn't have a problem with that. I actually think it would be a good thing. But even after talking with my workers comp agent I don't think they will pay for that either. Apparently its on a case by case basis and if they do go for it I would only get to go for 6 months max.

So now I am feeling blue and depressed, even though I should keep my hopes up. It is so darn hard to keep the faith now. There was a thread about getting our hopes up and I think that is now what I have done is gone too far with the hopes that they would approve me for the stim and I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that all hope is lost. I know ya'll are thinking don't do this but its so darn hard not to after being denied time after time and having to go through hoop after hoop for the sake of my stupid pain.

I need some HOPE!

Hugs

Scarred

Scarred,

How did they know you were hospitalized when you were 21.

How did they find out that you experimented?

Good Gravyboat, do they expect us to have a happy childhood to receive good
medical attention? If so, they definitely need their ears pulled (or SOMETHING pulled)
Not having good medical attention could make this unhappy childhood turn into
an unhappy adulthood. Tell them that for me!

Pamela

Scarred,
First, try not to think the worst. The psychologist may have just been trying to clarify things for his report.

But if they deny you I really think you need an impartial eval - or have your attorney get a competing expert opinion. If the psychologist recommends you seeing a pain therapist, hopefuly W.C. will have to pay for it. Again, some of this is legal stuff. I think W.C. is just out to deny people and give them a hard time, regardless. There's nothing fair about it. Others have posted about their problems with the system, too. It's not you, so try not to take it so personally.

I wish I had better answers, but wait unti you get the final outcome. You've done all you can up to this point. Whatever happens is not your fault!

PaLady

Hi Scarred:

I had a nervous breakdown just weeks before I had the neurostimulator implanted. The breakdown was a result of my not coping well with the pain and with what the pain was doing to my life. My doctor understood that I was at the end of my rope because of the suffering, and went ahead with the implant because it was hopefully going to help the pain.

I know my pain doctor told me that he did not do this surgery until he knew a patient for a year so that he was sure that the patient didn't have unrealistic expectations, and I would assume that if your doctors are looking into your past with such detail, that they are doing this in an effort to get to know you well. I fully understand the idea of not getting your hopes up too high so that you are not too disappointed if things don't work out, but it doesn't mean to give up hope all together.

I sincerely hope that everything works out!

Scarred, after reading your post I had several reactions. Remember I know people and just let me know where this shrink works and consider it taken care of. Just Kidding. Then my mind went to my eval that is coming up. Wow, I might as well not show up. My past is so clutttered with garbage the shrink will have to use a trash compacter just to fit it on his note. Don't let the name Fatherjohn fool you. I had to use creative storry telling to hired as a law enforcement officer. My bet is still on you. I will be praying for you. 

Scarred,
I will still keep hoping & praying for you to get approved for the SCS.

As far as the pain psychologist, I would think 6 months would be more than sufficient. In my experiences at least, pain psychologist doesn't get all into the analysis & such. They are almost always trained as behavioral psychologists. They will observe & ask you about specific behaviors that you choose. Then, they will talk about how those behaviors may be keeping you from being as fully functioning and/or happy as you could be. Next, they will discuss strategies for changing your behaviors (in my case it was: no more training for half marathons, take your pain meds as prescribed instead of trying to tough it out & wait until you've gone into shock/blacked out before taking anything, do visualization exercises -- we practiced & made tapes during a couple sessions, make a list of things you're grateful for, find some sort of low impact exercises you can do everyday, and avoid sharing anything of any meaning with your family b/c they will only reply with disparaging remarks). For me, it was really quite helpful & I liked it b/c I could see results in a fairly short period of time.

I realized that without meaning to that I was getting in the way of my treatment through some of the things I was choosing. By overdoing. By waiting until the pain was so out of control that the medication really didn't even help much. By not making a point to take regular "mental breaks" from the pain & all the stress it brought to my life. I think it could probably help you too. I went once a month for 9 months, but you could probably get everything learned & added to your daily routine if you were to go once a month for 6 months. Anyways, just wanted to encourage you that it's not like regular counseling where you need years to make even a dent in the problem -- pain psychology can help you pretty quickly & you will learn everything you could possibly learn in 6-12 visits anyways so after that the counselor would just be repeating himself/herself.

best wishes,
frances

I agree Susie and I'm not giving up by no means . It's frustrating that we have to jump through so many hoops to get the relief that we so desire! I don't understand why a 25 year old hospitalization nor what I did 30 years ago as a young stupid woman has any bearing on my current state of mind. The reason I did not remember them was exactly as you stated, Susie.....it has no bearing on my life as of now and I don't intend on ever repeating those steps again! I think if anything it really helped me to grow as a human being and as everyone knows we ALL make a mistake or two that we are not proud of in our lives. But to say that I'm not qualified to have the SCS because of something that happened 20 some odd years ago is not only ridiculous but totally prejudges to me!!! I know that the psych evaluation has to happen but geeeez do they have to bring up so many things from my past??? I'm not psychotic here...I just want some pain relief!

As my doctor has told me this is my last resort for any kind of relief as the medications will not work on the nerve pain. What really gets me is I would like to know if my nerves that are impinged will deteriorate anymore? Can this possibly be a situation where I can end up worse then I am now? If so then why are they pushing so hard to keep me on my current medication?

Ok....time to get off my soap box cause I'm getting angry LOL.

Hugssssssssss Don't give up on me yet! I will figure out a way to get some relief!

Scarred

I agree Susie! There are points to the Evaluation that I can see dwelling on. Overall pain control.....how a person handles the every day stressors of our day.......how we take our medications and are we prone to abusing them.......how our pain affects our daily lives.....our support chain at home...and such but, bringing up something that happened 30 years ago who cares!! I have gotten past my first marriage and think that it has made me a stronger person for going through it but, that is where it should stop! There is no need to drudge up whether my childhood was a pleasant one or whether my parents beat the crap out of me. Because of one thing.....I do not dwell upon the past and have quit holding things in (my feelings and what I think about things).

My first evaluation psych told me that the tests they do are 90% accurate. Now this infuriated me! I wouldn't want a mechanic to only repair 90% of what is wrong with my car...or have a doctor only treat 90% of my pain. That would be just insane....so why in the hell are they expecting me to stand there and allow them to group me together with 90% of patients in pain?

I'm not going to dwell on the negative of this SCS....only the positive and if he doesn't approve me well then I will just deal with what I have to. I have to keep myself calm about this and try to get through it.

Hugs

Scarred

Me,
Believe it or not, there really are a lot of valid reasons, although I think in some cases (like possibly with Scarred) it's also used as just another hoop. That more than annoys me as it gives the process a bad rap.

For one thing, our history shows how we cope with things like challlenges (like pain and others) and that can give clues as to how we might or might not cope with a pump or SCS, or any other major treatment for that matter. If expectations are unrealistic, then even what could be considered a successful procedure or treatment might be considered unsuccessful by a patient because there were unrealistic expectations, or an inability to cope. And what kind of childhood we've had can play a role in the coping style we develop.

Let me give you an example from a different process. Psychological evaluations are required for bariatric surgery. Things that are considered are what weight management stratgies have been tried over the years, and how successful or unsuccessful they've been. Bariatric surgery doesn't cure everything; one will have to change their eating habits significantly or weight can go back on. So a person needs to deal with the emotional reasons for eating or in the long run the procedure will be unsuccessful. And there are tons of reasons for emotional eating, as many of us know! Our emotions play a role in pain, also, and how we manage it. If you have anxiety and depression, or other mental health histories, it doesn't mean you shouldn't get an SCS or pump, but how you deal with those things can greatly influence how you manage pain.

I know it doesn't seem like there's a relationship, but there is. However, I think in far too many instances these evals are misused.

PaLady

Scarred,
You're making perfect sense! I actually think your past has a lot to do with your current state of mind - but in a positive way. Someone who takes the time will see all the challenges you've met, and that a trial with the SCS will not be what makes or breaks you in life.

But also as you said, my hunch is they may just find another hoop for you to jump through, which is saying it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the W.C. system just rejecting you at every step. That's a legal issue not a psychological one.

Hugs!!

PaLady

Scarred I will pray for you it`s about all I can do for you.I would think that the Psychologist would understand how you forgot to tell them about these two things.Most people would not have a hard time remembering some thing this important but for those of us with C/P do this all the time because of the type of medications we take we forget everything.Even something we just said.Yesterday I lost my car keys 2 times in a half hour.I would think that the Psychologist has had to deal with this in Pryor patients.So maybe there is still hope.Good Luck.

Dear Scarred:   I know that when I started seeing my Physiatrist (pain mgmt specialist), he was WAY more paranoid than the person who had been (lightly) medicating me before!!!  He insisted that I go through an assessment with a Pain Psychologist (which I thought was FOOLISH since he KNEW I was a Mental Health Clinician/Program Director & could have GIVEN the assessment MYSELF), Ph.D. BEFORE he would prescribe ANYTHING!!!  I had to wait 6 weeks for this Psychologist to have an opening, then do 3, 1 and 1/2 hr appts for the assessment PLUS follow up.  I HAD my OWN PSYCHIATRIST.  I didn't NEED a Psychologist, "Thank You Very Much".  As soon as I started getting my pain meds, I stopped going as soon as I could!!!   I don't know how your Pain Psychologist got access to your info about hospitalization, past abuse issues, history of drug use...  You said something about having a FIRST evaluation?  Was this something that would've been in your Pain Doc's files so the Psychologist would automatically have access to it?  Or was it done in another setting so that he'd have to LEGALLY have a RELEASE to KNOW the info???   Anyway, knowing what I know due to my profession--there were just SOME things that Psychologist wasn't gonna get to KNOW!!!  1) I have Depression (stable for MANY years) & was hospitalized 4 or 5 times (!!!) between 18 & 21.  When I was in high school I drank EVERY DAY & took whatever drugs I could get my hands on (all of which I quit when I was 16)!!!  I KNEW (though adolescent malcontent &drug use is pretty irrelevant to me) that they would NEVER medicate me with THAT kind of drug/alcohol abuse history AND mental instability--despite the fact that I was now in my 40's, with kids in college, and a Professional in the Community.  "History" is looked at in "black & white" in the medical profession.   THAT SAID...  It's not like you're looking for shots of Demerol!!!  You're talking about Spinal Cord Stimulation, if I understand your abbreviation correctly!!!  THAT could actually reduce your needs for narcotic medication--which I would think your Doc would be all for!!!  AND I bet he WILL be!   I TOTALLY agree with "Straydog":   "...I just don't get what the importance of how we grow up affects what we expect from a SCS to a pump. I think if they are going to do these eval, why not center it around the pain, isn't that why we are there, to try to get something to help us...  ...Ask me all you want about how I take my medications...  ... if I ever abused drugs, but just keep it the actual reason for the equipment centered of how I have handled pain in the past and how I am currently handling it...  ... how ir affects daily living..."  [Sorry about the "condensed" version!!!] I REALLY believe THAT is what YOUR Doc is going to be interested in--in the end!!!  Remember, the WC people are there, honestly, to try and SAVE their company MONEY!!!  They are paying out BIG BUCKS.  Your DOC is there to ADVOCATE for YOU--to make documentation SO clear...  ...that it would be ILLEGAL for WC to refuse to pay. Your Doc is your BEST FRIEND (IF you have a good rapport).  Try to think of that and not to get "bummed out in advance". Blessings to You; Mia  

The reason the psychologists assess you from childhood through adulthood is to identify your life-long coping mechanisms, so that they have a complete picture of how you cope with situations where you have little to no control.

Think of it in actual visual picture format -

If I were to hand you picture focused on woman throwing a baby and asked you - based solely on the information in the photo - whether or not you'd leave your infant in that woman's care, you'd probably tell me hell no.

But what if I "zoomed out" to the entire picture and the woman was in the window of a burning building and a firefighter was just out of reach, but close enough to catch the baby? Would that change your mind about leaving your infant with that woman?

The SCS is no different. The doctors need to see the whole picture and it's ultimately to your benefit; otherwise you may find yourself being thrown out a window with no firefighter to catch you.