Getting the pain doc to believe you

[SyntheticInsanity]

I have a history of depression and some not-so-great evidence of it's effects (old scars) on my arms. I currently am having major hip pain which is preventing me from working more than 1-2 days a week since I'm on my feet for almost the whole 9-hr shift. I've had an MRI and they couldn't tell me more than I had some degenerative hip problems and potentially a disk was pinching a nerve in my back. Nothing conclusive, however.

My doc is giving me a minimal script of 30 5mg oxycodone which is supposed to last me 30 days. Well, considering I spend most of my time laying down due to pain when I'm not at work, needless to say that's not cutting it.

To make a long story short, I had to make a last min appt with a person I hadn't met at the pain clinic. She decided to look on the MN pain med database and decided that 30 oxy from the pain clinic and 20 vicodin from my primary constitutes doctor shopping and she thinks I'm scamming the system. I know it's really because of the mental health issues and my age - I don't look like someone who should be having hip probs so therefore I'm a druggie, right?
She wouldn't even give me a methylprednisolone injection to help my hip area. Trust me, no one NOT in pain would get that shot.

I'm curious, anyone have any ideas for getting the damn docs to stop jumping to conclusions without even spending 5 seconds with me?? How do I get them to believe that I really am in pain when there's no way to verify it? All I am looking for is adequate pain relief. I go to PT and do their psychologist thing but I'm still miserable. Any ideas would be helpful!

 

[volp]

imo you made a mistake by going to another doctor hoping to get pain meds, without being completely honest. You let her find out on her own that you were getting meds from another doc, so yea maybe it would look like doc shopping.

You should have been upfront. Tell her you came to see her because your current pain treatment is not adequate and you hope for a better plan. Too late to go back and correct that mistake but either the next time you see your current doc or if you get an appt with someone new, let them know straight up that you're in daily chronic pain and the current medication isn't doing enough. If you've already done that with your current doc, then seek another doc. And when you do, tell that doc that you already have / had a doc and you didn't like their treatment of your pain.

The worst thing to do is be shady or not upfront and then have them find out on their own that you take pain meds already or have other doctors on the side.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Man once you get flagged, you're fucked. You should've explored all possible avenues and solutions with your primary doc. But hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. There's not a whole lot you can do from this point on man. When docs think they're being fucked with a little they retreat inside their shell and they're exceedingly hard to reach, and they send the word around so to speak. It's shitty how people who do go shopping around for this shit ruin it for people who are in legitimate pain. Just keep trucking being honest with the professionals you see, and hopefully you'll receive some providence.

 

[Violenza666]

You can get this cleared up IF your primary referred you to pain management and was treating you before you got scripted meds from the pain clinic. That's not dr shopping it's basically standard. If you took the vicodin from your primary after you were in pain management then you shouldn't have done that. Did you sign a pain management contract?

Also those injections aren't all they're cracked up to be. They can cause brittle bones, more degeneration, high blood sugar, headaches more prone to infections ect... I have had 6 in the last 6 months and I am laid up in bed with a kidney infection that I think I got because of the damn steroids.

My old primary dropped me for getting medication from the pain management dr he reffered me too and going to see my psychiatrist who has been treating my panic disorder for the last 3 years. It was total bullshit, even my psycho pain management dr believed me. My first pain management appointment I tried to surrender all the pain meds I had to her, she told me to keep them. She still thinks Im a piece of shit yet she told me I would be in pain for the rest of my life and is willing to treat me.

So you can call the medical board in your state. Demand to speak with the dr. Call a lawyer as you have a right to face your accuser. Basically you CAN get this taken care of but you have to act fast. Good luck!