Rant about doctor & pain meds......I'm ready to ring his bloody neck!!!!!

Carina- HUGS
Dont feel bad for ranting, we all do it at some point or another. I do it every few months or so, when I'm just fed up. :)
The first thing I would do is call your current pain doctors office and request a copy of your records. I have never had this problem, BUT, I've heard from a few that if you go in and rant at the doctor or say you are switching that they some might "edit" your records. If anything just let them know you would like a copy to have due to your ER visit. So you can take it with you.
If your pain doctor is not treating your pain, and you are NOT on an unhealthy dosage of medications already, I highly suggest finding a new doctor. Stick to that. It's just like everything else, sometimes you have to go through alot of frogs before you find a prince. It applies to doctors too. If you decide to go in and confront him be warned that he may upset you more. It might be easier to just switch doctors. Rather than have this doctor tell you what he feels your pain is at, and what he feels your problems are.
As far as the whole weight merry-go-round, I've been there too. I've gained a great deal of weight IMO since I hurt my back in 2000. What sucks is that 1)I can't do anything that creates impact due to my back problems which rules out walking, jogging, etc. 2)I can't bend that too causes pain 3)If I do manage to go for a 15-20 minute walk I'm in pain for a week because of it 4)pain medications screw up your ability to lose weight. 5)I agree you can't cook a healthy meal because of being unable to stand that long 6)My colitis makes eating veggies (such as a salad thats quick) HORRIBLE
I've actually seen a dietician who told me that due to my colitis and reactions to any green veggies, that salad just isn't an option for me unless I want to end up in the hospital. I've also been told after keeping a record of everything I ate (using a measuring cup) for a month, that I should weigh about 1/2 of what I do. She said the only fix is to go off the pain medication, but my other hormone problems still interfere, and hope that it works. When I have a bit of pain free time, I do lose weight. I was given steroid shots July 06 that I was told would force me to gain weight, I lost 20lbs because over 2 weeks I felt good. But was told the steroid shots were not something that could be done again.
Anyways, take care, and I would really debate on confronting this doctor. Personally I would go see the other pain doctor to interview him, and ask about what he plans to do as a treatment plan, and then write a letter to your previous doctor if you like the new one explaining why you are leaving his practice.
Good luck!

Carina, I am so sorry for where you are. I have been there before and I know exactly what you are feeling right now. If you ever- ever need to talk, send me and e-mail & I will happily talk to you. I know how ticked you feel and alone and I thought I was crazy until I was properly diagnosed from a different PM. Well, I have had a hell of a week too. I should start with I am 5'1, and of course, overweight (we all know why). Started a diet plan with a HIGHLY recommended dietician. Was going great- 2 weeks I had lost 25 lbs. Now, strict diet though. At the same time, my dosage was upped on the duragesic patch. Started getting nausiated, thought well- it must be the patch. I had talked to the dietician & he said it was sodium, I needed more. Sunday, I couldn't even swallow water or barely move. Decided to go to the ER. They IV'd some fluids in me- said to see my physician the next day. Went the next day & he had a fit over the amount of phentermine I was on. Told me to stop taking it, get some rest- drink lots of gatorade. Tuesday, still not feeling any better- called my physican- he said to come in right away. As soon as I got there he took me to the hospital and admitted me. Now, I want to make it perfectly clear I do not abuse any of my meds. The number one side effect on ALL my meds- from PM to BC- was depression. I had been crying like a fool the past week, could not understand why. So bless my dr, he dropped his other patients that day- got me the hospital psychiatrist and stayed until 8 pm -when I was calm and rested. Came back the next morning before he went to work to check on me. God Bless him. Now, I am not upset at any of my drs, they could not possibly know what would effect me the way it did. My physician put me on zoloft, amitriptyline, MS contin and my regular soma & percocets. I really thought I was going to die. I check all my meds, when I get something new I go to the web and look into the side effects- talk to my pharmacist.... it was very scary. So all the meds I have been on the past few years- I have not felt this well in 5 years. My physician said he could not understand why I wasn't on something for depression since it is linked to chronic pain, even the psychiatrist said the same thing. Was this all it took? I love my PM dr- he really does have my best interest at heart. I just can't believe this. I am sitting in bed with my laptop- not lying down crumbled with an ice pack. Well, I know it is a long story- Carina. But, my point was that there are drs out there who have good intentions. I know I had told you before about what I went through with my old drs... I don't think the majority would personally attend to you in the hospital, but you need someone you can have faith in. If you need to start from sctratch with a new dr- then do it. Thats what I did. They did all of my MRI's, etc all on their own without my previous record from the quacks I had before. If you ever need to talk, feel free to e-mail me anytime I really mean that. I know the place you are at right now with the dr and it sucks. I just wonder with myself with all the depression it was keeping me from healing. I can't tell you how well I feel right now- I am a consistant 8 pain scale and I am at maybe a 4 right now. Anyway, I will say a prayer for you tonight and I hope this week will give you the courage to drop him and get some help from somewhere else. It will be worth it in the end. You should be able to talk to your dr like you talk to us on here. You can not possibly get better if he is not setting monthly goals for you or trying different meds to help manage this. And, now I know I needed the mental help too. It felt good to say it aloud to an actual person. Be done with this dr and don't look back. Let me know what happens! :) Shannon.

----------------P.S. Thursday was the first day in over 5 years I had more than 5 hours worth of sleep without waking up.

Post Edited (kttn251977) : 8/10/2007 11:14:57 PM (GMT-6)

Thanks for all your replies. I am definately NOT going to tell my pain doctor that this is his last chance but I will know it. I agree that it wouldn't be a smart move to let him know I was looking for a new doc, I don't want to have to deal with not being able to get my meds or treatment or anything. I made a list of things I want out of this appointment. I AM going to get through each one, I am NOT going to let him talk over or inturrupt me, and I WILL make him listen. I can't make him do anything about it but he will at the very least listen to me. I wound up in the ER AGAIN last night, which sucked! And I got the doctor I hate b/c he treats me like a drug adict & is just generally a jerk, then the stupid nurse gave me a shot IN THE SAME PLACE that she did one Wednesday night when I was there......its still a green bruise & I asked her 3x to please not give me a shot on the bruised area. They should really just let me do my own darn shots....then I wouldn't bruise at all. Grrrr. I have my appointment today at 12:30 (and then a Rhumey appt at 2) so I will definately update after that & let you guys know if my doc listened to me or if I am looking for a new one. Thank you all so much for your support! I know most of us have dealt with difficult doctors and we often take a lot of crap from them b/c of our fears of not having one at all or not getting our meds, etc.

Carina, well how did it go? I was thinking about you today- hoping it went well. Give us an update! Shannon.

At least that's better news. BTW, that rotten ER nurse??? Write a short note to hospital admin and share that story. She'll get busted. I did that with some *$#ch that didn't care how she ran a mamogram machine. She got sent back for retraining. Bet she doesn't "slam" anyone ever again.

Chutzie

Well the first day on the patch was wonderful (Tuesday)....I felt like a totally different person and it was GREAT. But by the end of the day I could feel the pain start to creep in & then late that night it was unbearable again. I ended up having to leave work 1/2 way through the day on Wednesday b/c the pain was so bad. It's this one spot, like at my sholder blade level and it feels like someone is stabbing me and it hurts right through to my chest then up my neck & through my jaw....all on the right side. I've had this pain a million times & it has been the cause of most of my ER trips. My doctor refuses to send me for an MRI of this area.....don't ask me why b/c it makes no sense at all but I am going to have another of my doctors write the script . So i paged my doc last night and he told me to apply a 2nd patch, which I did at 9pm last night. (and I wrote the dates on them so Id know when to change them lol) But as I sit here I am feeling the pain start to come on & I just don't get it!! I've got ALOT of Fentanyl going through my system right now.....why wont anything work???? I just don't know what to do. I do feel better than before the patches but I don't get hoe this incredibly strong pain is breaking through it all or how to stop it!! Now, I've only been on the patch since Monday night so I am hoping that it will build up in my system more & start to be more effective but man, this is killing me!! As for getting the patch to stay on I am seem to be fine now with the medical tape around the edges. I did call the manufacturer and ask about those things that go over them but they said they do not advise them. They said that the brand name Duragesic manufacturer is the one will advises those. They told me not to cover the patch completely with anything & that this patch works a little differently than the others in the way the medication is dispersed and covering the patch completely can cause the patch to dispense the medication too quickly. Thanks again to everyone for their support & input, I can use all the help I can get! ;)

I have finally gotten the patches to stick, and my doc has me on 2 25 patches (equiv. of a 50 patch) but honestly it isn't working like I had hoped. I really do not understand why!! Its a strong med and enough of it that it should be helping but I find myself in a good amount of pain still. This is SO frustrating!! I am still giving it a shot but I jsut don't get whats going on here. I am gonna call and talk to the nurse in my doctor's office and see if she might have any suggestions. It is helping but at the same time I am in a lot of pain. And the pain that is the worst is between my sholder blades....it's killing me. *sigh* I will keep with it and maybe the doctors office will have some suggestions. I will keep you all updated! Thanks for the replies!! I have tried amitriptlyne (sp?) but it no longer works for me, I am on Lexapro but not for depression....its to try and help with the pain also. I was depressed for a very very long time & I know when I am depressed. I had a doctor try to tell me "maybe your not depressed enough to know your depressed" which to me is a load of crap!! But thank you very much for the advice because you are corect, depression can play a big part & many depression meds are used to help in pain management situations! Also, FYI, I take SOMA 1-2x daily and prior to the patches I was on 10mg of Percocet 3x daily so I have already tried that road. Right now I am jsut using small amounts of Percocet to manage the breakthrough pain (cause I know when I run out my doc isn't going to give me anything for breakthrough pain....hes just like that)