Anone who might could help me

[cookiedust]

I have been going to an anesthesia pain clinic in Chapel Hill at the hospital for over 15 yrs for a chronic pain in my lower abdomen. He and other doctors have ran every test you can imagine including putting me to sleep with an IV and then telling me, "You definitely have a pain and it isn't in your head, but I am bumfuzzled as to what it is or what is causing it. BUT, I promise I will treat you as long as you need it, which very well may be the rest of my life. He put me on a very low dose of methadone 20-40 per day and I get by with the 20 and so far I have been taking the same dose for about 14 yrs. I even took it during my pregnancy and my daughter is now 12 1/2 and she has had NO complications due to this or anything else. I didn't hurt worse when I was pregnant. It may have even been better, because of no period, which I think has something to do with it.  Even though my OBGYN says nothing is wrong with anything in there. They can all tell me what is NOT wrong with me, but so far no one has been able to tell me what it is.
Well, the last time I went to the pain clinic, he told me that DEA is cracking down on them and he isn't going to be able to prescribe me meds to me anymore, because I don't take a high enough dose and there fore could probably do without it. I tried going without once when I accidentally ran out and couldn't get it filled for 2 days and I did have withdrawal but, I also had the pain and I don't care about being addicted to something that is helping me. I have been told by a doctor that if you took something as simple as asperine for a long period of time, you could get hooked on it, also. This doctor even told me that he has too many patients and also has new patients wanting to come in, so I am not understanding how he can just tell  me he isn't going to treat me anymore. He told me that my regular physician is going to have to, but he will not give me this medication. I don't know what to do. Is it legal for a doctor to just stop treating a patient after he has done it for over 14 years? I was actually told this by my OBGYN.
Any suggestions on what it could be or has anyone else out there got this same problem? I'd like to talk with them.
Cookiedust

[Jaybay]

Your current doc should give you a referral (or several) before discontinuing your treatment.  Either that or help you detox with suboxone or other meds that can help with the withdrawal symptoms.  Did he even offer to try you on a different medication other than the methadone?  If he didn't do any of these things, then yes, you may have a patient abandonment case.

I'd be more concerned with getting to the bottom of your abdominal pain.  When was the last time any diagnostic work was done?  Have you ever had an exploratory laparascopy of the pelvic region?  The reason I ask is that you may well have endometriosis.  It doesn't show up on imaging studies, and tends to be a big culprit in pelvic pain.  If your current gyn won't discuss it with you (many gyns don't for whatever reasons) then find one who will.

[oneafter909]

In my case the pain doc was retiring and gave all his patients a certain amount of time to find another, if you have been taking 20 to 40 mgs. a day, that is relatively low but taking it for 14 or 15 years,would absolutley make you dependant on it.Not to mention your brain chemistry is way out of whack.I was taking 260mgs.a day for a spinal condition called Arachnoiditis,very painful. Went from that to Fentynl patches and now am on Suboxone which is buprenorphine,which is a pain killer/antagonist which means it has a chemical in it so thatcounteracts any high feelings and you cant use morphine or any needle type pain killers or it will put you in withdrawals.It might be something to look into for future use. If you stop methadone and start to feel withdrawal you melt a Suboxone under the tongue.you wont have withdrawals.The reason they put the antagonist in with the Suboxone is that taken by mouth the antagonist part wont work,just the chemical that helps you by filling your opiate receptors in your brain and spine. But if you melt it and shoot it ...sudden and severe withdrawals. The reason I mention this is because if you cant find another Doctor to prescribe opiate pain meds,there are more and more Doctors going with outpatient prescribing of Suboxone and Subutex which is another buprenorphine drug without the antagonist Naloxone.In my case I couldnt handle the painkillers anymore,so I detoxed and found that Suboxone helped with some pretty severe pain. I found also in my case it took about a year and a half for my brain chemistry to achiveve a semblance of normal. I hope this helps.P.S. Your Doctor should provide a list of possible candidates to replace him,or the very least a list of Doctors who work with Buprenorphine(Suboxone-Subutex)-Traveler