Well, it finally happened. I went to the ER for a severe migraine, and after three hours of waiting, the new doctor refused to honor my PCP's standing order for a pain injection. I was in agony, and this chick said she didn't give pain meds for migraines. My Dad was doing the talking cuz I was pretty monosyllabic from the pain. She said she'd have to think it over and just left the room. She left me in pain, wondering if she was going to help me at all.
about a half hour later, I was in tears, needless to say, and she came back in the room saying there were some "combinations" of meds she was willing to try...leading off with imitrex. Well, having already told her that imitrex made me violently ill when reviewing my failed meds 45 minutes earlier, I just lost it. I wasn't going to go along with something that was going to make things worse. I started crying harder and the doctor just walked off, saying I could consult with one of the other doctors on duty.
about twenty minutes later, this nasty, sawed-off male nurse oozed his blubbery self into my cubicle and said that the other doctor had left, so it would be impossible to talk to him. When my Dad enquired about the third doctor, this nasty little man said that it wouldn't make any difference, because the doctors would back each other up. On top of that, he had this totally affected lisp which made his voice all the more irritating, and I was just waiting to hear him start snapping his fingers. He sounded like his stillettos were too sizes too small. You could tell this chap had his panties in a twist. It was basically..."you don't like the treatment, then you are refusing treatment, so just leave." End of discussion. No second opinion. Tough luck. One nurse named Julie, who had seen me before, was very sweet and was visibly distraught that I was getting the shaft.
My Dad offered to take me to the ER in the next town over, but it was almost 2:30 am, and I wasn't about to make him drive across the county at that time of night. I just went back to my apartment and waited until daylight. My Dad came back to get me to take me to my PCP, but I had just fallen asleep about 7:30, so he just curled up on my couch and went back to sleep. When I woke up a couple hours later, my Mom called my PCP's office to get me in to see him, but I had to wait until 4:15 in the afternoon.
It was total misery. My PCP did give me a pain injection and refilled my migraine meds, but wouldn't do anything extra in case I had an emergency room level migraine. I have a referral to a specialist(neurology/pain) at Duke University, about four hours from here, but I have to wait until the MIDDLE OF OCTOBER for an appointment!!! So much for getting a new work-up anytime soon. I don't know what's going to happen until then. Heaven only knows I don't want a duplicate trip to the ER. I've never had a problem before, but I guess from here on out I'm screwed. The doctors in Virginia have a severe case of opiophobia, and don't want to prescribe opiod pain medication for anything that isn't terminal. Having chronic pain most all of the time, doctors don't want to prescribe enough pain meds to keep me in a decent standard of living because there is such a stigma about "addicted" patients. There is a huge difference between someone being "dependent" on opiods to maintain a decent quality of life and an "addict", who will go anywhere and say anything to get the meds to get a buzz, not to control pain. When I take the pain meds, all I get is an easing of my symptoms, definitely not enough of a reaction to feel a "buzz". So many doctors are soley focused on not prescribing narcotics, regardless the condition. The hope the attitude at Duke is much different, although it looks like I won't be getting any relief there anytime soon. Say a prayer for me.
Thanks,
Leigh Ann :smokin:
PS - sorry if this sounded whiney, I'm just so beat down these days.