Accused of being a "drug-seeker"

[lyndsay0504]

I posted a few days ago about the undiagnosed pain I am having in my abdomen. Well, I got the MRCP and it was normal. I had an EGD - normal. I also had a colonoscopy which was also normal. My husband couldn't get off work so my mom came with me for the EGD. After it was over, my doctor went to tell my mom how it went. She said that all my tests were coming back normal, and she was starting to think (and was hearing rumors that) I was just drug-seeking. I was devastated. I don't know what to do now. She agreed to do a small bowel series and a gastric emptying study in the next two weeks, but only because my primary doctor asked for them, so I don't know if I should just go to another doctor or what. I'm worried that if I do go to another doctor it will just make me look more like a drug seeker. I'm so upset. I mentioned SOD and she just said that wasn't it. Didn't say why or anything. I'm just at a loss.

Besides, if you are a drug-seeker, telling a doctor you have abdominal pain is NOT the way to get drugs...considering pain meds affect most of the tests they do so they don't give them to you anyway!




I will include a copy of my last post below for those of you who want to know what is going on:

This all started in 2008. I had a really rough pregnancy, I only gained about 10 pounds during the whole 9 months because I could not keep food or liquids down at all until about the third trimester, then by then the baby was so big that I couldn't eat much anyway. Well 2 months after Madelyn was born (she was born beginning of Oct. 2008), I was still not feeling right. I would get horrible, excrutiating pain in my abdomen that I previously thought was heartburn. One night during a bad "attack" my mom told me to go to the ER and tell them to ultrasound my abdomen to check for gall stones. They did...the doctor came in and said "definite, DEFINITE gall stones." So, the next day, I had surgery to have my gall bladder taken out. And I thought that would be the end of it.

Well a few days after the surgery I called the surgeon's office because I was still in pain. They said it was probably from the air they pump into your abdomen during surgery, take some gas-x, and it will get better. Well...the pain just got worse. I didn't even make it to my post-op date a week later. I was back in the surgeon's office. I was jaundiced, and itching all over my entire body. My liver was not working. So he set me up to go to the hospital the next day to have a HIDA scan and an ultrasound and a CT scan to see what was going on in there. I couldn't take any pain pills after midnight because it would affect the scans. So. I made it to about 4am, and we ended up in the ER in the most excruciating pain I have ever felt.

They went ahead and scheduled my HIDA scan first. For this test I had to lay flat on my back for an hour and a half while they took pictures of my abdomen. They had given me a tiny bit of demerol when I got there but it wore off about halfway through this procedure. I was throwing up, crying, begging for pain meds and they wouldn't give me any. When the HIDA scan was finally over, I had to go to ultrasound. Still couldn't have any pain meds. I really truely thought I was going to pass out from the pain. That took about 20 minutes, then they sent me back to my room. STILL couldn't have any pain meds, AND they wanted me to drink the barium thing for my CT scan which was next. I got a little of it down, and promptly threw it back up. They decided to just take me for the scan anyway. That went really quickly and I finally got back to the room where they FINALLY gave me some more demerol. 20 minutes later I was still in pain. So they came back and gave me some dilauded. Normally dilauded knocks you out...I was in so much pain it barely did anything. So finally the Dr. comes in and says I'm getting no blood flow to my liver. So up to the 5th floor I go for surgery. I had an ERCP (basically a fancy scope thing) down my throat (I was asleep for that thank God), and while the dr was in there he found a 6mm stone stuck in a bile duct blocking everything off from my liver. He removed it. I went home the next day, and only had ONE pain pill that night. Previously I had gone through a whole bottle in about 4 days.

So a few months go by and I start to feel kind of weird. Well that turned out to be a hormone issue I believe, which is now resolved. So I'm thinking, great, I'm finally healthy, I can finally relax.

No.

Two weeks ago I began to have the same excrutiating pain in my abdomen, which felt like gall bladder attacks. I know that's not what it is considering my gallbladder is gone. So, one night my dear sweet neighbor came over and sat with Maddy so I could go to the ER. They drew blood, checked my pancreas, everything was normal, they sent me home with a referral to the GI doctor. The next day I called the GI clinic to make an appointment and they told me I could not be seen until July 1st. I explained that I was having severe attacks of pain and was referred from the ER. She still wouldn't fit me in. So, back to the ER the next day. They gave me demerol, zofran for nausea, and pepcid for any acid that might be causing me to be in pain. Drew more bloodwork, all came back normal. So they sent me for a CT scan. Normal, except that they found some cysts on my ovaries, but the doctor doesn't seem to think its anything to worry about. I told him I could not go home knowing that I would just be back in the ER the next day when I was in pain again. I NEEDED to see the GI doctor, whether they had to call her in to the ER or if he could get me an earlier appointment. He came back and said go to the clinic first thing in the morning.

So, we get up and get to the clinic for about 8. She examines me, looks at my chart and everything I've had done, and schedules me for an MRCP and an EGD. I had the MRCP on friday which was terrifying as I am claustrophobic but some Ativan got me through it. That night I went to my mom's house since my husband would be working and I needed help with the baby since I was on pain meds. Friday I felt pretty okay. Saturday we went out to eat for my brother's birthday, got home, and I was in severe pain again. This time it was so bad that I actually started throwing up. My EGD was scheduled for Tuesday, but I was in such bad pain that my mom called the on-call GI dr and she said to go in Mon to the office to at least get the results of the MRI. So tomorrow morning I will be in the clinic AGAIN. Tuesday I have my EGD scheduled for 9:30. I'm very frustrated and feeling sort of defeated at this point because the pain I am in is NOT normal but all my tests keep coming back as nothing is wrong. I don't know what to do. I am hoping and praying that the MRCP and EGD will hold some answers for me.


I copied and pasted the above from my blog but it sums up what I have been going through. I feel like everytime I go to the ER they blow me off. I don't just have a stomachache...I am in serious, severe pain! They give me something for pain, tell me to take antacids, and send me home. I feel like I should be demanding to be admitted until they find out what is wrong. I can't live like this! I have an 8 month old to take care of and the closest family (besides my husband) is an hour away! The vicodin is doing pretty much nothing anymore. Does anyone have any insight into what is wrong with me??? Tomorrow I go see the GI doctor again and if my MRCP results are normal I seriously don't know what to do from there. Other than like I said, demand that they admit me to the hospital and run tests until they find out what is wrong. Can you even DO that? I'm so frustrated and upset at every doctor I've seen in the past year.

I appreciate whoever takes the time to read this, I know its a little long. I just need any advice anyone can offer. Thank you.

[Matilda270]

I have been a nurse fora long time and know how the ER staff mistreats patients with pain. If it isn't something they can see then you don't realllly have pain.  Ahhhhhh  I had been to ER 4x in a couple months after vomiting 24-36 hrs straight. I had abdominal pain and I think that made nausea worse.
Not one time would they give me something for pain!  Until the last few months I hadn't even bee. In ER.  This is so wrong! The last time the Arnp thought she seen inflammation of my diverticuli. I was hospitalized. I was in for a week. Morphine didn't seem to help at all. They tried dilaudid and it seemed to break the chain of my nausea and pain. A GI MD said I have abdominal migrains. I am on preventive medicine. I still worry about having to go in ER for this. I'm afraid I will continue not to be treated better.  One DR hS laughed at the diagnosis saying that is something they say when they don't know why you have pain! I have been sick for soo long. My tests and labs and. T scan will be normal so they just send you home. Especially this one nurse. I had complained about her. Now if she is anywhere aroundi get poor tx.

[JanesMa]

Dear Lyndsay...I am so sorry you are going thru this...it's unbelievable that these doctors can't get this right.  Can you go to a major medical center??  When I read your story your pain is exactly what has been happening to me.  My MRCP can back with Dilated ducts but the dr is Still saying its not SOD.  My husband wants me to print stuff from online and bring it to him!!    Take care...I'm glad you have a supportive mother.

[ggreg]

Since it was the ERCP that allowed the doc to find a 6mm stone, THAT'S the test you need again.  Do not worry about the drug-seeking thing, your symptoms and history defy that handy thinking.  While I do not think you should take such comments personally, I DO think you should forthwith vomit on anyone who says that again.  Ha!  People get stones in ducts even when their gallbladder is removed, becuz the process that makes them is still at work.  I might add that you said you took some ativan at one point, and if you have any left, do not take it anymore, becuz it can tear up your guts.  If the doc says nothing is wrong with you, or you wind up back at the ER, by golly tell them you ain't leaving until they do that ERCP again, becuz after all, they found that big stone before, even tho every previous test under the sun revealed nothing.