Yes, another post about pain.  The epidural shot that I got at the base of the back of my neck and that caused me so much more pain (see Pain Part Two ) has been of no help in the long run.  And the pain clinic that I talked about in that post took my money and then turned me away because I had gotten that epidural from another provider.

Then the same thing happened with a second pain clinic:  they took my expensive specialist co-pay and then canceled my treatment appointment because of the epidural I had gotten elsewhere.  To top it off, they didn’t even tell me of the cancellation.  I found out about it when I called to confirm the time of the appointment.  This sucks.

So I sent a pleading message to the doctor who gave me the epidural, who is part of another pain clinic, this one at a large university, where I’m trying to consolidate all my medical care since most of my specialists are affiliated with it.  The week following the epidural my pain was at a 9.  Since then, my base pain level is an 8.  Before the injection it was a 7.

pain assessment tool

But the epidural doctor once again turned me down for medication management through that program, saying that it was mostly for terminal cancer patients.  OK.  That’s not me, thank God!  But she forwarded our correspondence to my spine doctor there at the university who had ordered the epidural in the first place.

He wrote to me with the name of a pain doctor in private practice. He’s gotten positive feedback about her from other patients of his.  So I called her office and found out that she accepts my insurance and is also accepting new patients.  Plus, my epidural at the university doesn’t disqualify me from getting medication management through her.  But I need a referral in order to become her patient.  My spine doctor said that he would provide one.

The doctor who gave me the epidural said there was no use in me having any more of them since my reaction was so bad.  And my spine doctor said that I should discontinue physical therapy because it wasn’t helping me either.

WILL ANYTHING EVER HELP?  I’m getting desperate. 😦

I called my family doctor last week to ask for an increase in the Lyrica.  It’s not helping, yet, but I’m on a very low dose to start with. And at least I’m not getting any bad side effects!  My family doctor has to send the new script to Pfizer, who is providing the Lyrica to me since I can’t otherwise afford it, even with insurance.  Pfizer told me that after they receive the new script from my family doctor, it would take five days or so for them to send it to me.

So now, once again, I’m just waiting.  Waiting for a call from the new pain doctor’s office and hoping that she will actually treat me.  Waiting to receive the increased dose of Lyrica and hoping that it will help the pain and that I won’t get bad side effects from the higher dose.

Waiting and hoping and praying….and suffering.

chronic-pain-arthritis

I'm tired of this pain