There Is Hope

[Guest guest]

Hello to everyone and prayers for you all.

My name is Steve. I live in Glitter Gulch (fastest growing city in

the U.S., Las Vegas). I am responding to Rob's post, but what I have

to say, I hope, will help everyone.

Like Rob, I have been involved in not one, but two car accidents where I was

either braking or completely stopped and was hit by the car behind me. The

accidents were about a year apart, and just as I thought I was beginning to heal

from the first one, here comes the second (and worse) one.

Some of the bad stuff I've been through; Doctors scheduling

patients " on top " of one another so if they do all show up, you

wait. One clinic I " fired " I waited on a regular basis for over an

hour on each visit only to see a Physician's Assistant for all of 10

minutes just to get refills for my meds.

I was sent for an MRI. I am very claustrophobic and told the tech. as soon as

she put me in the tube to please take me right back out again. I found a new

kind of MRI machine in town that will allow you to sit with the works on either

side of you, but my insurance won't pay for it.

The lawyer handling my second accident would never return my phone calls when I

inquired about the status of my case. I thank God that I do have pretty good

insurance.

I figure if I didn't have it, I'd be out somewhere around $80,000.00 in

procedures and meds. I had 4 epidural injections for the pain in my left neck

and shoulder; they each helped for about 5 months until they wore off.

In the last couple of years, I have been on every prescription pain killer that

I've seen mentioned in the group here. They all wear off after awhile so you

have to either up the dose or change meds periodically.

I consider myself very fortunate because for all this bad, there is a lot more

good; my current PMD (pain management doctor) is the best. I know she cares

because she listens and helps me cope.

I've also seen a neurologist who was very arrogant so I dropped him, but found

another one who was very caring and supportive.

Bottom line is from a cat scan and x-rays they think I have a pinched nerve

between C4 & C5. Long about July, I was " at the end of my rope. " I sought out

an M.D. psychiatrist who discovered that as a result of stopping some

antidepressants I was prescribed shortly after the first accident, I was in

major withdrawal.

I recall one afternoon in particular where traffic was gridlocked and I wanted

to just get out of my car, leave it right in the middle of the street and run

home. After I was put back on my anti-depressants and anti-anxiety meds, I felt

100% better.

Now here's the real kicker. Since I kept waking up around 4

every morning and had a hard time getting back to sleep, I decided to

just try staying in my recliner for the whole night. After about a

month, I started sleeping longer and later, and, my neck and shoulder

pain is almost gone.

I still have bouts some days so continue with

Oxy for breakthrough and morphine when I need it plus my anti-

depressants and anti-anxiety meds, but finally, I can function again

most of the time.

I guess if there's a moral to my story, it's don't give up. Feel free to

contact me off group at Keavan@... if I can help further. Thank all the

moderators for this wonderful place to get the badly needed support we all

appreciate.

Steve

Las Vegas, NV