Re: Moving question

[Guest guest]

>Becky (heldings@...) wrote:

> Now here's my question. To those of you who have had to move far away from

your pain doctor, did you move first and then try to find a doctor you liked and

whom would prescribe your meds or did you go find a doctor first and then move

to a near-by location? I am looking at a move in the near future but it scares

the daylights out of me as I cannot be in a place where I cannot get my pain

medicines. So do I go doctor hunting before I pick where I move or move and

then hope I like the available doctor?

Becky,

Go Doctor Hunting before as some pain doctors ask that your records be sent for

the Doctor to review beforehand and this gives you and idea of who and what

Doctor you wanted. Thank you for the BIG hug I know you would give and its okay,

I aint going anywhere : ) You are stuck with me and you have encouraged me and I

admire you for the challenges you have dealt with. Hey, I was going through the

American Pain Foundation website and they really have revamped it and there is a

Doctor relocate Guide and they have contact person, How to Find a Good Pain

Doctor, Give it a Look, it might help you out.

They have Physician Assistant's assigned to their staff so they are up front and

legitimate. They were the ones, one of many, but forefront in lobbying for the

Pain Patients Bill of Rights and the Pain Patient Act. I get their Pain

Community Newsletters and they are informative. Both my previous pain doctors

required my records and a " look see " before I was " accepted " as their patient.

It took about size weeks.

If you have to move, you know to get all your ducks in a row so it will be

stress. Since I don't move every three years being in the military, I have piled

up junk.

This is the longest we have been in one place, twelve years now, time to repaint

.. UGH I used to do all that inside and out, the yard,cook, clean and work.

If I get up and get my microwave lunch I am doing good, my husband sets out

three diet cokes and my Quakers Breakfast Cookie (good fiber to prevent

constipation and taste good, sound like a commercial, help me) and I am good to

go.

Let me know, I still have a contact that maintained the Doctor's list for the

National Foundation for the Treatment of Pain and they helped pain patients get

doctors in other locations. I don't mind contacting him when you are ready and

he is nice.

I agree, there are enough topics for everyone to share and I am not a Doctor and

do not mean to meddle and anyone is allowed to care for me and tell me to go to

the Doctor and the Doctors messed me up for hurting me : ( I am open to pity

parties this week, but just for a while. I am going to get the stuff out of my

back, it is telling me to and my neurosurgeon is agreeing stating my foot

swelling and not going down is not a good sign : )

Take care, I appreciate your hug and back at you, hug yourself big time as you

are worth it. Bennie

[Guest guest]

It was hard enough to find a primary care physician when I moved. At that time

I hadn't hooked up with a pain management doctor.

Certainly if I had to move and could go anywhere I wanted, I would be making my

calls in areas where I might move and hopefully be able to choose the right one,

making my appointment so the care I get would be continued smoothly.

You know when you go to a new pain doctor the first appointment can take months

to get.

The whole idea of having to find a new pain doctor makes me hurt all over and a

wave of fear washes over me. I'm scared to death of withdrawals and being in

horrible pain.

I wish for you an easy transferal to a great pain doctor, even better than the

one you have now.

Jennette

Becky wrote:

Now here's my question. To those of you who have had to move far away from your

pain doctor, did you move first and then try to find a doctor you liked and whom

would prescribe your meds or did you go find a doctor first and then move to a

near-by location? I am looking at a move in the near future but it scares the

daylights out of me as I cannot be in a place where I cannot get my pain

medicines. So do I go doctor hunting before I pick where I move or move and

then hope I like the available doctor?

[Guest guest]

Jennette wrote:

> The whole idea of having to find a new pain doctor makes me hurt all over and

a

> wave of fear washes over me. I'm scared to death of withdrawals and being in

> horrible pain.

Hi Jennette

Please don't be so afraid of withdrawals. All you need to do to

withdrawal comfortably, is to take a wee bit less of your pain

medications each day, until you're down to a ridiculously small amount.

Then you can stop without withdrawal discomfort.

Of course, if you are on an extended release medication, you have to

switch over to the regular version first.

I withdrawal completely from my medications twice a year, except for my

high blood pressure ones. That way, I get to give my body (especially

my liver) a little rest and time to rejuvenate. I also get to find

exactly where my pain levels are at without the meds.

It's hard to tell just whats going on with a body, when it's has pain

medications in it all the time. I was nervous the first time I withdrew

from my meds. That was back in the 1990's. The first time I did it with

the doctor keeping an eye on me. After that, he told me that I was

quite capable of supervising myself :-)

Lyndi

[Guest guest]

> **

> I withdrawal completely from my medications twice a year, except for my

> high blood pressure ones. That way, I get to give my body (especially

> my liver) a little rest and time to rejuvenate. I also get to find

> exactly where my pain levels are at without the meds.

>

> It's hard to tell just whats going on with a body, when it's has pain

> medications in it all the time. I was nervous the first time I withdrew

> from my meds. That was back in the 1990's. The first time I did it with

> the doctor keeping an eye on me. After that, he told me that I was

> quite capable of supervising myself :-)

>

> Lyndi

>

Lyndi,

I was happy to read this...I myself purposely go through withdrawal from my

pain medications maybe 1-3 times a year to allow my tolerance level to lower

out, as well as to check my pain levels. Glad to know I'm not the only

one. I definitely appreciate reading about other responsible pain

medication users.

-Crystal

[Guest guest]

What amount and type of pain medication are you taking? It would probably take

a couple of months to get off my medication. If I miss just one dose, out of 3

I take each day I begin to yawn excessively and my pain level becomes

unbearable. I had to go off 20mg oxycontin once fairly quickly and had the most

horrible withdrawal. For nearly 48 hours I writhed around feeling as if I were

going crazy. It was a weekend, my doctor's office closes on Friday and I forgot

to pick up my script on Thursday.

Right now I take 30 mg mscontin every 8 hours. I know I can come off of it. I

just have no wish to suffer with pain and withdrawal.

Jennette

[Guest guest]

Jennette wrote:

> What amount and type of pain medication are you taking? It would probably

take

> a couple of months to get off my medication. If I miss just one dose, out of

3

> I take each day I begin to yawn excessively and my pain level becomes

> unbearable.

Hi Jennette

Since we don't know exactly who in our membership reads our messages, I

prefer not to list my medications. Suffice it to say, after 55 years of

being in pain, my dosages vary depending on what's going on with me. On

good months, I have medications left over, on bad months, I am grateful

when my doctor's appointment rolls around.

Both of my main pain medications are ones that can only be prescribed

for a month at a time. Then I have to have a $200 appointment to get

refills for generic medications that are super cheap. I never take

medication combinations (like Vicoden etc), except for Fiorinal, which I

use only when my head pain gets so severe that I can't stand it any more.

I am super sensitive to medications, so there are very few I can

tolerate. In all the years that I've been in pain, I've tried pretty

much everything from the recent trends to the old standards. Savella,

Topamax, Lyrica, Imitrex, and on and on, were disasters. The worst was

the Topamax. Over half my hair fell out - from head to toe. I've had

chemotherapy that was less stressful.

If you are so sensitive to your pain medications that you yawn and hurt

that quickly, you would likely need a doctor to guide you through the

first time you start withdrawing from them. I had a doctor help me the

first time. He trusted me completely, so there was no hassle about it.

I follow what I did the first time. I cut out 1/4 of each tablet for

the first two or three days. The a 1/3, then 1/2 etc. The only thing I

never muck with is my high blood pressure medication. I've been on it

for more than 20 years now. When my pain level (especially my head

pain) is very high, my blood pressure (like Bennie's) can shoot over the

200/140 mark. When my head is just hurting, I can get my blood pressure

down to 140/90. That's about as good as it gets.

Anyhow, that's about the best I can tell you about cutting back on

medication. It's my personal experience, so your doctor may disagree.

Lyndi