This isn't opiates per se, but I have been on opiates since my accident and think this is a great illustration of why people turn to illegal means. If it isn't on topic, please move it to where it's ok. Background: Was in a car accident 1/8. This impacted my sciatica nerve. Has caused lots of foot pain since then. The only treatment is time. Hopefully the nerves grow back, but they grow slowly. I was supposed to meet with a pain management specialist today, 3/11. This appointment had been made 2/5 or so. More than a month to get in. MY PCP knew of this appointment and told me that the prescription I got from him would be the last. He was turning any prescriptions for pain over to the pain management Dr and any prescriptions for nerve stuff to the neurosurgeon I hav I arrive there 15 minutes early, because I know that there are usually massive amounts of paperwork, it's better to check in and show that you are ready and excited about treatment. The receptionist says to me, "Do you have your paperwork?" "What paperwork?" I reply? "The paperwork we sent to you." I am now confused. "I have not seen any paperwork from your office. I have not had any communication with you, since the referral was created and the nurse called your office." The office manager walks over. "Well, the computer system says that we sent it to you on February 26." I sigh. "OK, I never saw it. But, that's why I came early, can I have the paperwork and fill it out before I meet the doctor?" "Oh no," she says. "We won't see anyone without the paperwork completed. Can we reschedule you?" "Umm, I've been waiting for these appointment for more than a month. Is there any way that I can maybe fill out the paper work now?" "No," she says. "We can't see you if the paperwork isn't done when you come into the office." "Look, my Dr has said that he won't write me any more prescriptions. That's why I am here. You aren't going to see me without paperwork that I never saw? Seriously?" With a pained look on her face, she bitterly speaks, "I can reschedule you. We cannot see you without this paperwork. Those are your options. It is our policy not to see a patient who arrives without their paperwork. This is stated in the packet we sent you." Stunned, I look at her. I wonder, how could someone who works at a pain management office be so uncaring? I wouldn't want to be treated here if it was the last pain management clinic around. "I do not want to reschedule," I tell her. I turn to leave. My father had made the drive down to see me. He is concerned about how much pain I am in and wants to make sure that I am OK. He was looking forward to this appointment to decide on what a path of treatment could look like. When he came down I was loopy from a heavy dose of Lyrica. I could see that the way I talked was frightening him. It was going to be nice to have a meeting with a doctor who could treat me more effectively than a PCP and it was going to be nice for him to see that I could get better. I met him at the door of the doctor's office; I was heading out, he was coming in. "What's going on?" he asked. "They won't see me," I said. "They say I don't have paperwork filled out. I never received the paperwork they sent. But I can't go in." He is stunned and follows me back to his car. Right as I go to get in all of my troubles fill my mind. I am going to have to go through Opiate withdrawals tonight AND be in a tremendous amount of pain. The only other option is to go to an emergency room where I can sit for several hours, get treated like an addict trying to scam pills and maybe get a script, but feel like less than a human. I won't let that happen without a fight. I stop halfway into the car and reverse direction (not easy on crutches). I tell my pop, "I am going to go back in there," as I crutch my way back into the entrance. I pass through the doors and head to the admit window. "Is there an essay?" I question. "Excuse me?" "On the paperwork. I can't complete it in the fifteen minutes that I budgeted for exactly this type of problem. Is there an essay on this paperwork that makes it so difficult to complete? That forces a person to complete it at home?" I am speaking forcefully. I am not yelling. I am speaking in the tone of voice that people use when they want answers, when they want the status quo to change. "Hey, she is just a receptionist. I am the office manager. You can't talk to her that way. She doesn't know what is going on? We won't see you!" "Ma'am, I cannot get another script from my PCP. If I can't get in to see the doctor I cannot get a prescription for pain. If I don't get a prescription here I am either lying in agony at night or in the Emergency Room. I need help and you won't give it to me," as my voice raises. "You are refusing to see me and you are refusing me care." I have said all that I can. My best efforts to persuade these people are done and I have said all that I can think of to say. "We will call your doctor and we will get you the paperwork and we will reschedule you," the office manager says icily. "That is all we will do." "Fine," I say. "Now please have a seat. You are blocking other patients (no one is behind me)." "I will stand over here," I inform her. It hurts when I sit. She shuts the glass of the receptionist window After 5 minutes or so, someone who was sitting in the waiting room comes to the window. "Sorry man," I say to him. "No prob bro," he replies. "Feel bad for you." After another 10 minutes of waiting she comes back with a manila envelope. "I called your doctor, he said to come over (she does not give a time). Here is the paperwork," and she indicates what is in the envelope. Standing at the window I open the folder to look at the paperwork for the first time. "What are you doing?" she exclaims. "You can't do that here!" Again, no one is behind me. As I glance through the 17 pages, it quickly becomes clear that 6 or so are information, another 6 are waivers that need to be signed, 3 of the pages require a signature and initials and 2 pages actually require the person to fill something out. "This is what I couldn't fill out in the 15 minutes I specifically arrived early? This should take me 8 minutes tops!" "Sir, you did not have it done, you cannot do it here, the policy was mailed to you!" "Sure thing," I say as I walk through the doors for the second time that day. The rescheduled appointment; April 10. The most recent rating of the Doctor I was supposed to see on RateMDs.com: This is the most unprofessional doctor I have ever encountered. He dresses slovenly, has screamed at me in his office during visits, using obscenities, and will take sales reps over client visits, leaving you to wait in the waiting room during your appointment. He over-prescribes narcotics, and then accuses his patients of being addicts, then threatens to cut them off, bringing on withdrawal symptoms. He definitely blames the patient if they fail to respond to medications that he has given. He tends to try to push the drugs from the sales reps that give incentives, regardless of their effect on his patients. Requires an office visit for all prescription refills (as do all doctors) but will then force the patient to go without medication for several days because he refuses to see them. He has mocked patients behind their back, to me, which makes me think he would do the same to me. If you can possibly avoid him, DO SO!!!! My dad drives me to my PCP's office. There is no parking anywhere near the building, so he waits in the car while I run up to find out exactly when my doctor can see me. it is now 2:45. The entire fiasco, including the 15 minute drive back only lasted 30 minutes past when my appointment should have started. I go to the desk where they inform me that my appointment is at 4pm. Thanks for letting me know. I go back down and tell my dad that he should probably head home. It's a 1.5 hour drive home for him. So, I wait for a while and am finally called back to one of the rooms. The nurse comes in to take my blood pressure, pulse and temperature. Not surprising, all were elevated. The Dr comes into the room perhaps five minutes after she leaves. "What happened at the office today?" he asks me. "Well," I say. "The office required me to bring in some paperwork that they claimed they sent me. I had not received the paperwork. I had no notice there would be paperwork that I would need to bring in. Even though I arrived early I couldn't fill out the paperwork and see the doctor. Because of this..." "Dr O**** called me," he interrupts. "He won't see you again. You threatened and frightened his office staff. This makes me rethink our relationship." "Wait," I exclaim. "He said what? At no time was a threatening or frightening to anyone. I spoke forcefully, but I was upset. He wouldn't see me. At no time did I act threatening and at no time did I verbally state threats." "Well," the doctor said as he folded his hands on his belly, "I just know he said that the the staff felt threatened." "What exactly did he say I did," I questioned. "He said that you were impolite." "Huh? I realize I am a law student, not yet a lawyer, but no reasonable person would interpret impolite as threatening. Many people are rude, it would be ridiculous to say they were threatening me," amazed at what he just said. "They also said that you were unprofessional," the doctor claimed. "Unprofessional? I was not there in any professional capacity. I was there as a patient. A patient they wouldn't see." "Yes," said the general practitioner. "He also said that you announced to the waiting room that they refused to treat you." "I didn't say anything to the waiting room directly," I quickly said, denying his claim. "I said they were refusing me care and refusing to treat me because they were refusing to treat me. I may have said that loudly enough for the waiting room to hear, but I didn't speak directly to the waiting room. The only non-staff person I spoke to was one gentleman who came up to the window. I apologized for being in his way." Continuing, I questioned, "Did they claim any verbal threats? Did they claim any threatening actions? I am on crutches. I stayed on crutches the entire time I was speaking to someone. Dr. O**** came into the office area twice while this exchange occurred. He also left. If I had been acting in such a threatening manner, why would he leave? Wouldn't he have told me to shut up?" "I don't know," the doctor responded. "I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. What I do know is that this incident has changed our relationship. Coupled with your lack of sleep, I cannot help you anymore, unless you meet with a Mental Health Professional. I feel that you may be Bi-Polar and/or suffering from Delusions of Grandeur. Insisting on treatment in the way you did is not proper. I will write you a script for a week, which will give you a chance to talk to someone. If you do, I can see you again." Dumbfounded I pick out the easiest flaw in what he just said, "Doc, even if I do, we are on Spring Break next week. You won't be here." "Oh, then I guess I will write them for two." So, I then had to go into his office, call the mental health hotline for the school and set up an appointment for a "Triage Session." Tomorrow morning at 8:30, I can look forward to speaking with someone who will say I have problems even if I don't. Mental health people are like substance abuse people: You either admit that you have a problem or you're either in denial and have a problem. What a day.
Dam dude, that fucking sucks. I went to a new PM a few weeks ago and it took 5 minutes to fill all that paperwork out. I never heard of that before. Well at least you got 2 weeks worth of meds
thats seriously fucked up man. if you got any free time on your hands i would try n' get that guy fired or whatever. time to get a new doctor man, you need someone who is gonna be sympathetic if your in pain management. sorry to hear about your shitty day
I really have never had a high opinion on PM doctors or their clinics. What exactly caused your nerve pain? I suffer from very similiar pain. One thing you dont want to do when youre on narcotics is come off beligerent at a doctor office because they start to believe you are an addict who might be going through WD's which is causing your agitation. I know you didnt do anything like that, but what your doctor got from "word of mouth" might be giving him that impression. Is your neurosurgeon from a major hospital? Is this PM clinic based out of the same hospital?
That was a pretty rough story bro, when I fucked up my knee and saw my surgeon for the first time, there was a shit load of paperwork I had to do before hand too. I'm glad I did it, I could have been in your shoes, lol.
That bastard ought to have his license pulled. It is ashame that politics have doctors scared to help people in pain. I hope things trend back toward the Clinton years, it was much easier to recieved needed treatment. Best advice is to get on Hydrocodone, it is schedule III which has a lot less hassle for the doctors. I find it relieves pain just as good as oxycodone which is Schd II.
Well I'm not sure about the area you are in, but hopefully there are other pain management clinics around. I mean I'd imagine there would be. Even where I am we apparently have 4 (well 3 now as my current doctor is closing his PM practice) which is just a ridiculous number for the area. At least in my opinion. Still I suppose it is a good thing... for me anyway. I made a mistake at the first clinic (which apparently is 1-strike and you're out) and it wasn't even exactly what I'd consider a "large" mistake. My dentist called in a script for like 8 5mg (or maybe 7.5mg) hydrocodone. The pharmacy called to let me know I had a script ready to be picked up (didn't say what it was). I went there to get it and was told that I couldn't get it because my PM doc said I couldn't get it. Yet for that reason I was dropped. Now it would have been one thing if it was a huge script, or another PM doc or even if I had actually picked up the script. So I got dropped for a script I wasn't even able to get. Then the second doc I went to just didn't seem to want to treat me very well - at least not as well as the first doc. After a call from a pissy pharmacist who provided FALSE information he wanted to drop me too. So I brought in my pharmacy records to show him the truth. Well he still didn't really believe me but decided to continue to "treat" me. Until the last non-medication treatment he had was an implanted neuro-stimulator which I told him when I first started my treatment with him that I did NOT want as I had reviewed it with the first doctor. Finally he said if I didn't take the stimulator he would no longer prescribe me medication. Which got me to doc #3. He's a bit odd at times in that he'll tell me he'll do something next visit and then the next time he seems to have forgotten all about it. It happened a few times actually. But over the course of a little over a year I went from 5mg Opana ER twice a day to just recently 15mg Opana ER and finally as of early this week 5mg Opana IR (though it was written for up to 3 per day I'm not sure how many I'll actually get per month - my current prescription is partial as I pick up my monthly scrips next week). And of course at my last appointment last week he drops the bombshell that he is closing his practice and won't be able to prescribe my medication anymore. At most for a few more months. Luckily he did have a referral to another PM doctor that I'd never heard of before, so hopefully that will work out. Yeah so that's been my "fun" experiences with PM doctors. Like someone else said it looks really bad to even raise your voice in a PM clinic. You have to treat all the staff as nice if not nicer than the doctor himself as they will talk about you amongst themselves and to the doctor when you're not around. They shouldn't, but they do. And as with any gossip things get twisted and misunderstood. It's one thing I've learned over the years. You have to be so careful to not piss these people off...and it's a lot harder than it should be. Despite having breakthrough pain the entire time I've been with my current doc I never called in to complain... I wanted to, but I thought he was the last PM doc in town and I wasn't about to make myself look like a seeker. I mentioned it during most appointments hoping he'd offer something. I even asked occasionally for something at the appointments, but he didn't seem to want to give me anything. Finally after switching back to the Opana ER (I had been switched to OxyContin at some point) he seemed willing to re-evaluate things. I've babbled too much as it is. Sorry about how things worked out for you. Hopefully you can find another PM doc in your area. Depending on your insurance and the doctor you may not have to have a referral. Even without one the PM doc can get your records from your current doc so that wouldn't be a problem. Hope things get better for you though as getting completely cut off will likely drive you truly crazy - then you'll actually need that mental evaluation.
Thanks for the story kovus. It seems like Pain Management doctors draw the power trip folks, huh? I guess it makes sense. Most doctors aren't crazy about writing scripts for heavy meds over a long period of time, so you get referred to PM clinics. They are the only game in town, so you have to make sure that one foot doesn't get out of line or else they shut you out. I was given some advice to not press it. I can't afford to have a "frivolous" lawsuit on my record, especially not one that I would prosecute directly. As it is, what would my damages be, at least right now? The old doctor wrote the script, so its not like I went numerous days without any medication. Hopefully by the time this script is out, I will be to the point where Vicodin is all I need. Most docs seem to have much less of a problem with that, as someone posted. 2X 10mg Norco will keep me ok ATM, just not for the 8 hours I need. I had a nerve study done that showed regrowth in all but one spot in my calf/leg, so that is a step in the right direction. I think back to what was written about him on the Dr rating website. Holding prescriptions over people's heads? Little bit of a God complex there? That sounds awful. I realize there are two real problems; addiction and reselling, but a doctor is supposed to have patient concern first and foremost in his/her mind. Isn't a doctor supposed to err on the side of patient welfare? Just seems to be a hard deviation from what used to be practiced. Hell, what we see on TV medical shows.
