SINCE THEN I HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL FOR 3 DAYS THEY GAVE ME IV MORPHINE EVERY 4 HRS…THEY THEN WROTE A 2 WEEK SCRIPT …I HAVE A CHEAP MEDICAL HMO STATE INSURANCE CALLED LA CARE…THEY FINALLY GOT ME A CASE WORKER…WE HAD A BIG PHONE MEETING 3 WEEKS AGO WITH A BUNCH OF DRS THEY HAD PRIMARY DR WRITE BRIDGE SCRIPT TILL I GET SEEN BY PAIN MANAGEMENT…I AM FRUSTRATED CAUSE AT MOMENT I TAKE 1 15 MG IR MS CONTIN 4 TIMES A DAY AND THEN 2 OR 1 .5 5MG DIAZAPAM FOR HEMI FACIAL SPASM…NOW MY INUSRANCE INSTRUCTED PCP TO WRITE BRIDGE SCRIPT WHICH HE HAS DONE…AND THEN I GET CALLED TODAY SAYING THAT USC WILL SEE ME MAY 4…BUT THEY DONT PRESCRIBE OPIATES I AM TOLD …I HAVE TRIED EVERY OTHER MEDICATION…NONE TOUCH IT …I HAVE TEMPORAL BONE PAIN OR INNER OCCITAL BONE PAIN OR FRONTAL LOBE LEFT PAIN ALWAYS LEFT AND OR LEFT SIDE HEAD OR LEFT TMJ SO ITS IN LIKE 8 PLACES THE PAIN COMES IN ON THE 5TH 6TH AND 7TH CRANIAL NERVES TOO…SO NOT ONLY NERVE PAIN BUT BONE PAIN TOO…WORSE IS WHEN INNER EAR FEEL LIKE IT IS BEING CAVED IN BY OCCITAL BONES…I ALSO HAVE A LOT OF DEVIATED SEPTUM PAIN…I AM FRUSTRATED INSURANCE IS TRYING TO SEND ME TO A PLACE WHERE THEY WONT BE ABLE TO TRAT THE PAIN…I READ THE REVIEWS OF THE DR AND ALL ARE BAD …IVE TRIED NUERONTIN, CARBAEZAPINE, ZOLOFT, CYMBATLA, BACLOFEN, TRIZIDAN, AMITRYTYLENE NONE OF THEM WORK …ONLY OPIATES PROVIDE RELIEF OR HIGH GRADE MEDICAL COLD WATER HASHISH…PLEASE ANY HELP WILL HELP…I WAS TOLD TO GO BACK TO CEDARS CAUSE THEY TREAT TN2 WITH OPIATES…BUT I AM REALLY FRUSTREATED I DEALT WITH STANFORD 7 YEARS AGO WITH SAME BS AND UCLA THEY ALWAYS TELL COLLEGES DONT PRESRIBE OPIATES…THATS THE PICKLE I AM IN ANYONE CAN HELP PLEASE DO …I HATE US POOR POEPLE WITH CHEAP HMOS HAVE TO GO TO THESE FAKE SCHOOL PAIN MANAGEMENTS WHO LIE ABOUT OPIATES A LOT…I KNOW THIS SOUNDS DRUG SEEKING BUT IS ONLY MEDICATIONS THAT WORK…PLEASE ANY FEEDBACK WILL HELP
i talked to usc pain center today and they said they do precribe opites to some patienets but its after the drs first consultation to decide…they are gonna have dr look at record before they schedule a concultation to make sure dr can handle it…will keep you updated
I am sorry you are in so much pain. I don’t have the same experience. Regular opiates don’t do anything for my TN. They even gave me fentanyl once and it didn’t touch it but that’s just how my neuropathic pain works. However, strangely methadone does work for me but I’m on a big cocktail of things: carbamazepine, topamax, baclofen, gabapentin, Methadone and recently started trying to try medical marijuana. However it makes me quite anxious so I need to take it slow. I read your other thread. It sounds like you have two problems going on. One: you have pain management needs Two: You are running out of a medication that will make you very sick if you don’t get it and your pain worse. So, I don’t understand who was initially in charge of your care but isn’t it their responsibility to make sure you are covered until you can get to a new doctor since you’ve been taking a certain medication for ten years that cannot just be stopped? I am so sorry for all you are going through. I don’t know how they did it it. But they made it a worst time to be a bad patient. This is a horrific time in history to be a pain patient.
Yes you are right currently LA Care my HMO Medical since I’m unemployed had a big meeting with my primary doctor and had him write the script Bridge while we find a new pain management place the pain management place I was going to before was called synovation Medical Group in in about last October they started harassing me talking about I’m at risk for overdose and then they ended up just discharging me saying they don’t treat facial pain and mainly treat back pain so my insurance had a big meeting with five doctors in my primary doctor and they had the primary doctor write the bridge script while they’re working on getting me with the proper pain management people so USC is supposed to call me back tomorrow and let me know what the doctor says after they see my notes my records but you’re right I can’t just be stopped all of a sudden and right now is the worst time to be a pain patient medical marijuana does help some but mainly only cold water Clean Indoor medical marijuana hash works the best for me but it’s hard to find since so many people do it recreationally is made it more difficult for people who need it medically
The troubling part is I’m not at risk for an overdose and they just discharged me because of the fake news they were riding my script for three years since I’ve been in Los Angeles I have 90 mg of MS Contin a month and before that I lived in the Bay Area and the county hospital Santa Clara County Hospital put me through the wringer and finally started writing the script again the Denver started writing so Santa Clara wrote the script for four years from 2010 to 2014 La has written it from 2014 to present Denver had written it from 2007 to 2009 and I didn’t go back to the doctors after my reconstructive surgery cuz they didn’t tell me that they could be permanent damage until I was 27 that I go back and the reconstruction happened in 1995 when I was 15
To you all. I bless your strength each and every day. Have severe ATN for 7 years now. After 10 Drs, pain clinics, hospitals, and yes even dentists and every drug listed above, and more, had a great neurologist put me on low dose oxycodone. I WAS NORMAL for 4 years! Only side effect-constipation which was fixed in 10 days taking Miralax.
Then it happened:the fake opioid crisis. You all propably know the rest:Legitimate narcotic patients were made out to look like junkies and many of us had our medication taken away. Reality check-less than 2% of pain patients actually become addicted, dependent yes, addicted no. Personally I also was not addicted. Dr. sent me to rehab cause he stopped prescribing any opiates due to the new regs.
Guess what, this junkie took all of 4 days to come off oxy.
Addicted, Not. Then in 1 week the ATN returned in full. Had to quit working, take 4000mg tylenol 3000mg advil. Not a dent. Working on getting something that works. Here is the thing folks-When these new laws (regs) passed the hippocratic oath was thrown in the garbage.
“First do no harm” “I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.” Doesn’t mean, “Oh this office no longer prescribes opiates.”
Never give up fighting our “Suicide Disease”.
.
Worse thing is trumps brother drank himself and abused drugs then killed himself or died thats why evil trump thinks he understands how the other poor sick poeple live. When last time u seen him with a picture of someone suffering or sick. Hes a bad man for attacking sick poeples medcine. As for those who abuse it i understand but this guy is such a gemini devil and angel he hasnt become one with the poor and sick yet just rich poeple who dr shop. He doesnt understand poor poeples insurance.
Trump has nothing to do with medicaid. Trump also has nothing to do with the (very fake) opiod crisis, issues with both of those things have been going on for many, many years.
Also, there are not laws restricting or stopping the prescribing of naroctics (I work in a pharmacy). There have been several uptraining courses for doctors and best practice guidelines released. There have not been laws to stop the availability of prescriptions. The only law that has changed is that in some states you can’t get a 90 day supply of a naroctic any longer (home delivery). That’s in New York, New Jersery, and I think Washington.
Some insurance plans have started requiring prior auths for long acting naroctics to help make sure proper treatment guidelines are being followed, but, this is no different than requiring a prior auth for acid reflux meds or certain acne meds or meds for Hep C. All meds have treatment protocols. Unfortunately not all doctors follow them (ex: a ENT trying to prescribe a Hep C med) and it creates problems for the rest of us.
The problem is many good doctors are running scared. They don’t understand the guidelines and are treating them as some sort of law, I’ve had to explain to many, many doctors that the can write a 90 day prescription for a naroctic, it’s perfectly legal. Also, doctors with debatable prescribing histories are running scared (as they should be). Any one of us could get caught in that as we don’t know what our doctors are doing with other patients. I’m lucky, my doctor has chronic pain and has said “I’m doing nothing wrong, let them come after me.”
We all need to hang tough and keep fighting for ourselves, our doctors, and our therapies. We also need to be well informed and not point fingers as randomly pointing fingers based on the most recent news story isn’t going to help anyone.
Shamus, this is a nation-wide change. New guidelines for all opiates. They are intimidating doctors into forcing them to take all of their patients off opiates, and to taper their doses down quickly. Some just say “I won’t deal with these meds anymore” and patients often have to go off cold turkey. There have been a LOT of suicides due to these changes that came recently, doctors offices being raided, doctors who want to help are being arrested, losing their practice. There have been a lot of people fighting this, and advocating for pain sufferers, and last I heard, the FDA is changing the guidelines. Whether the law officials will get the message and stop the intimidation, I don’t know. We just have to keep writing to our leaders about how they are torturing people who have been very good about their meds and have never abused them. It needs to be called “The Fentanyl and Heroin Crisis” rather than “The Opiate Crisis”. Hoping you can find a Dr. to help you now that laws seem to be changing pretty quickly. It might take a bit of time for the doctors to get the new info, though. Recently the CDC admitted to lying about all the overdoses, that’s a huge step. Here’s one link that is good news, that hopefully will lead to other changes. http://www.pharmaciststeve.com/?p=25268
Sheila
Great link Sheila! I have that info on internal documents, I hadn’t found it readily available publically, I’m so glad you posted it.
One of the admittedly bitchie points I like to make is that automobiles kill more people than the “Opiate Crisis” and yet no one is trying to ban those.
We all just need to hang tough, support our doctors, and fight against random guidelines that do more harm than good. I do believe people who want to “do something” about this “crisis” are coming from a good place in their hearts, unfortunately they have yet to engage their brains and get the facts straight.
Like you said, Shamus, when treating real pain addiction is basically not possible. It’s been proven over and over again and yet all the media talks about is addiction. sigh Yet more fake news. We just need to keep talking facts and trying to educate people.
that is so true about the heroin crisis all the overdose numbers that they give also include people that have done heroin and died from heroin which is sad and so misleading to the public
So I still haven’t heard back from USC pain management if they are going to be able to treat my pain but I did get a letter from them which says welcome to the USC Pain Management Center and we look forward to assisting you with your pain condition we would like to inform you that we will follow the guidelines set forth by the CDC and the Surgeon General and we do not provide opiates for the treatment of chronic pain as in most situations opioids have very little efficiency get my post serious side effects and risks and those rare situations where opioids are necessary they will need to be prescribed by your primary care doctor or your surgeon we are happy to provide guidance to you and your doctor we specializing in providing treatment as indicated with non opiate medications physical and occupational therapy paying psychology and pain procedures are interventions thank you the USC pain center so I still don’t know if they’re going to be able to see me but very happy the way they make it sound so scary cuz I know I tried every single other medication and it doesn’t work and I’m just really scared my face was so permanently damaged and beat before I was 15 years old all the nerves didn’t get to develop as what the Facial Pain Association told me and then there might be arthritis in the ausa Tillery jaw joints the bones that were broken when my cheekbone and four spots my eye socket bones and three spots two of my teeth and my job and my cheek bone in three spots where they had to put a metal plate on under my cheek and then they had to wire the jaw for 2 weeks and I did eat out of draw. When I read the Reconstruction report it seems like they had to also decompress and nerve and again I was only 15 I’m 38 now I didn’t start pain managing until I was 27 did I go back to doctors but I feel it’s just so severe on the Spectrum that’s why none of the other medications even touch it I’m going to go prepare myself diet I’m just very very overwhelmed any words of advice or encouragement very appreciated
Hi Shamus! I do have a suggestion for you. I also have severe ATN in my sinus regions. I have tried over 30 medications, MVD surgery, a stim implant in my face and a host of other treatments. None have helped control my pain…except oxycodone. My problem is that my doctor would only give me 2 per day, which was not enough. I have kept searching and found Kratom. It is a ground plant that works on your opioid receptors. It has been a God-send for me. In fact, I am now off of all my oxycodone pills! It works that well. Plus it does not have the side effects that opioids have. It does cause constipation (same as opioids) and you need to drink a lot of water since it can dehydrate you. You must buy it from a reputable vendor who laboratory tests their products for safety. There is a lot of bad product out there being sold at gas stations and smoke shops. I am on a Facebook group that has several vetted vendors. There are many good ones out there. Kratom is legal in most states, although the government (aka Big Pharma) is attempting to ban reschedule it (think the marijuana debacle). I still cannot believe that I found this and that it helps my pain. I have been using it for over a year. It does not stop my pain, but it brings it down to a 4-5 most days. On flare days it still does not do much. Best of luck to you.