Can't find anyone who will treat me... HELP

Hello all...

I am sorry this is so long but I wanted to include everything.

I would like to start by letting everyone know that I am a new member... this is all new to me... I am turning to the internet as I do not know what else to do... My story below...

I am a professional 36 year young male who has a 10 year history of neck and back problems which causes me severe pain... Over the years I have been managing the pain with medication along with various medical procedures that range from had 2 Cervical Spine Surgeries to help remedy the neck pain....  facet block injections, daily use of my tens unit, physical therapy, exercise, disc-o-grams, several cycles of steroid injection therapy (@ nearly $400 a week out of pocket as my health insurance refused to cover as I was not "Wasting Away"), and have done several stretches involving a chiropractor for my low back pain...Aside from the 2 surgeries which offered temporary relief the only thing that helped with the severe pain is the medication that I have been taking over the past 9 - 10 years...

With that having been said I have been seeing the same primary care doctor ever since I was about 21 years young... in fact he is our family doctor...  Up until about 3 years ago he has been the best doctor anyone could ask for. but I cannot say the same currently... as he no longer focuses on treating his medical patients as his first priority but rather his cosmetic laser treatment center patients. Meaning that he has Physicians assistants running his Medical Practice... and he himself is never around to see patients. So, after putting up with a different doctor seeing me every other time I go in for a visit and the fact that I am no longer able to see my doctor I decided to find another doctor who is allot closer to my current residence.

This is where the problem starts... basically my doctor had been treating and managing my pain with the above stated treatments as well as with narcotic pain meds... So when I advised him that I would be needing my medical records so I could be prepared when looking for a new family doctor he was not impressed to say the least... in fact it turned into a huge blow up where we have now parted ways... Due to this having happened I no longer have the luxury of wanting to find a new doctor... but rather I need to find a new doctor.

So into my health insurance benefits booklet to get a list of primary care doctors in my immediate area... I located a bunch, found a few I was interested in... Made appointments... took in my 3 inch stack of medical records from my previous doctor and met with the doctor who took one look at my current medicine regimen and said that he would not treat my pain issues and that I would need to see a pain specialist..... So I was like okay... (I had never been to a pain management specialist but was up for it) I made an appointment with the one he recommended and that doctor took a look at my medical records and said that he too would not be the right doctor to treat my pain as I had already been thru all of the services he offered and that what I needed was a doctor who specialized in medicine management, he said that I need a doctor who treats the pain with medicine and also monitors the progress and such surrounding the narcotic pain medication. So he referred me to a specialist who specializes in prescription management... I called and that doctor does not accept my insurance... but would still see me for $300 for the first visit and $150 for each follow-up visit which according to his office was at a minimum of every week and that was not until after a "doctor / patient relationship had been built which according to his staff once again would mean that I would need to do my follow-up visits starting every day and tapering down to every other day and so on... as if the scheduling issue was not bad enough he also has a fee per prescription written for Non- Insurance Patients... Now I make very good money but I cannot afford this... not to mention that I have been getting all of my medication thru mail order pharmacy which all are done on a 3 month basis which costs me a Max of $17 for generic and $25 for Brand… and with having to get new prescriptions every day or so (if I am kept on the same medicine regimen it would be at least 3 prescriptions each visit) I would no longer be able to use mail order hence I would have to use my local retail pharmacy… and the fact that these prescriptions have to be brand name that also adds $50 for each totaling a whopping $150 each and every time I have to get these filled… so whether its every day @ $4500 a month or every week @ $650 a month… its still not an option for me….  I case anyone is wondering some of my medicine is requested as brand medically necessary  by my doctor.... so having to do this would be a total life altering financial disaster. So, with that having been said I decided to reach out to the referring doctor at the pain management center  and advised him that the doctor he recommended was out of network and asked if he had any other doctors who do what I am needing and if so would he refer me to them... He did make another referral that was in network.. I went and saw this doctor who looked at my medical records and the medication that I am currently on and he too will not see me... I asked him what I should do as I am about out of my 3 month supply and he was very heartless and said I will not be taking you as a patient... so basically stop taking the medication. HUH?

So I am dangerously close to being out of medicine and don't know what else to do... I have started trying to take less then I am supposed to which puts me into severe pain... I don't know what else to do... I don't drink and I have never tried a single street drug... but it had crossed my mind that I might have to turn to these for pain relief. I live in Maryland which seems to be the state where the Doctors are afraid to treat their patients properly in fear of Big Brother scrutinizing the scripts they are writing, or are afraid of bad publicity due to the stigma that comes with narcotic pain medication.

If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You for reading and sharing your ideas.

Signed;
At a Loss and Scared

[namnam46]

Hi what,

First, I want to welcome you to the Pain Management Forum and let you know that we are glad you found this Forum. I want to let you know that there are NO Doctors on this Forum, only CP  {Chronic Pain}  Patients that help each other with our OWN expertise and experiences that we have developed through our OWN CP Issues.

I'm really sorry to see that you have found yourself in such a dilemma!!  I hate to have to tell you this but we don't recommend PM {Pain Management} Doctor's OR Family Doctor's on MH {MedHelp}. The reason that we don't is because a Doctor that MIGHT work for one of us MIGHT not be a good fit for someone else. :{   About the ONLY recourse that you have is to keep looking on the Internet OR check with your Insurance Company and tell them what you've run into and ASK thm for their advice on how you should proceed from this point on.

I SURE wish that you hadn't handled your Old Family Doctor in th way that you did, BUT I'm pretty sure that YOU wish that you'd done it a little differently too.  :{  Is there ANY chance that you can BEG him to take you back?  Usually IF you will apologize to  your Doctor you can get back in with them ESPECIALLY when you havd been with a Doctor for as many years as you have.   What you DIDN'T realize is that ALMOST ALL Doctor's count on the PA's to handle their patients for MOST of their visits now.  EVEN PM Doctor's do this.  When you FINALLY find a new Doctor chances are that you will b seen by the PA INSTEAD of the Doctor for MOST of your visits.  It's just the way that it is.  

It's even MORE difficult to help you as you HAVEN'T told us what meds you are on.  Therefore, there's NO WAY that we could recommend anyone as we don't know what you are taking.  IF you can let us know what you are taking, how often, how much and the mg's OR mcg's depending on the medication, that would help us. :}  At least then we'd know whether it's EVEN do-able.

I wish you the very best and look forward to your updates..........Sherry

[Ashelen]

I'm very sorry that you're in this situation. I've been between doctors before while needing pain meds and it is a horribly terrifying process. I honestly think that your best bet is to go back to your family doctor and humbly apologize. what does staying mad get you, other than in trouble with no pain meds? apologizing may not work in the sense of being accepted again as a patient, but you can always say "can I sit down with your person who handles referrals and work with her to find someone who will treat me?" at the very least.

Best of luck...I know how frightened you must be. Pain medicine is such a Catch 22; it gives you quality of life, but you become dependent on it to MAINTAIN that quality of life, and it's terrifying to think of losing it. Maybe (depending on what meds you are, this isn't safe to do with all meds) this is a good time to wean yourself off and take a "drug holiday" (meaning you avoid pain medicine for a period of time and lower your tolerance) because then you would have more time to look for a good doctor, you won't be trying to do it before withdrawals kick your butt. It really stinks to be in pain while you're between doctors, but it's better than going through full withdrawals AND being in pain. again this all depends on the meds you are on though as it is not always safe to taper.

Wishing you the best, please update us.