I'm unhappy with my neuro. Yes, she did call me in something to help with this horrendous breakthrough pain. But it took ALL DAY to hear back, even after I had left the nurse a message that I was in severe pain and needed help. Neuro doesn't even take calls after hours, just refers everyone to the ER. I'm not even sure she has any other patients with this. I never even spoke with her, I dealt with the nurse. I asked do we need to change meds.....can I come in soon....answer was I Don't Know and the earliest available appointment is June 25th. On top of this I am in pain, and in the midst of trying to find affordable health coverage for my husband and I...we both have pre-existing conditions. Obviously I need to find a new dr. Anyone know a good one in Tennessee? I'm about 45 minutes from Chattanooga. At this point I'd be willing to go anywhere for a knowlegable, compassionate dr! My hope was the sinus surgery would ultimatley help the ATN. Not make it worse. I hope this is a temporary flare up and nothing more. I'm grateful for the pain med, it really is helping so far. I'm not 100% pain free, but it is MUCH more managable now. I feel like crying in frustration. And being in pain and no sleep has me in a bad state. Perhaps after some sleep and some suggestions from my fellow sufferers, I will feel better.
I feel the same way with my neuro sometimes… It’s impossible to get a call back. But then sometimes she will call me and have me just come in so she can see me without an appointment and write a script if needed - no copayment or anything. I do have to give her props though… She is part of a group of dr’s, does rotations at the hospital, and teaches at the medical school attached to the hospital. I try and remember that when I get frustrated with her.
I wish I had a helpful suggestion. I hope you get relief soon. There is almost nothing worse then being in pain and feeling helpless at the hands of dr’s.
There are several doctor recommendations for Tennessee in our Doctor List. See http://www.livingwithtn.org/page/find-a-doctor-for-chronic-facial-pain.
FYI, in national patient surveys, neurologists have the highest rate of patient complaints of any specialty. Much of that may have to do with significant under-treatment of pain that patients bring to neurologists. In a TN Association national conference several years ago, I understand there was quite a confrontation between a group of perhaps 100 patients and a panel of neurologists in a panel discussion. One of the panel made the verbal assertion that neurologists may have difficulty meeting the needs of patients because of their sheer numbers. But a member of the audience raised her hand, stood and asked aloud: "How many of us in the room have experienced attitude problems from a neurologist who won't prescribe meds that help?" (or words to that effect). Nearly every patient hand in the room went up.
Food for thought. Don't take crap from ANYBODY! Specifically, if a doctor is unavailable to respond to emergency requests for aid, then find out where they have hospital privileges, and file formal complaint with the Chief Resident of that hospital. They won't learn unless there are penalties for screwing up.
Regards, Red
I’m sorry to hear that you had to wait so long. I came in to the same problem after my MVD i could never seem to talk to a real person
Thankfully they have a number to call a resident on call for emergencies so I was able to express what was going in with me and they said
They couldn’t call anything in for me until they saw me so I made the hour trip to the ER and they were there waiting for me. It turned out I had an infection in the
Incision and they had to go back in and clean out the infection a
And put me on 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. Is there an after care number you can call to talk to a resident? I don’t know if it’s just different because
I live in Canada ? Good luck with everything !!
Richard A. “Red” Lawhern said:
There are several doctor recommendations for Tennessee in our Doctor List. See http://www.livingwithtn.org/page/find-a-doctor-for-chronic-facial-pain.
FYI, in national patient surveys, neurologists have the highest rate of patient complaints of any specialty. Much of that may have to do with significant under-treatment of pain that patients bring to neurologists. In a TN Association national conference several years ago, I understand there was quite a confrontation between a group of perhaps 100 patients and a panel of neurologists in a panel discussion. One of the panel made the verbal assertion that neurologists may have difficulty meeting the needs of patients because of their sheer numbers. But a member of the audience raised her hand, stood and asked aloud: “How many of us in the room have experienced attitude problems from a neurologist who won’t prescribe meds that help?” (or words to that effect). Nearly every patient hand in the room went up.
Food for thought. Don’t take crap from ANYBODY! Specifically, if a doctor is unavailable to respond to emergency requests for aid, then find out where they have hospital privileges, and file formal complaint with the Chief Resident of that hospital. They won’t learn unless there are penalties for screwing up.
Regards, Red
is there a "like" button for what Red just said!! do not tolerate being ignored!! I was shooshed away by an Emergency Room that I was a head case looking for narcotics, this was after my 4th trip to a different doctor, I finally put away my pride and called a friend that was an ER Trauma nurse, she pointed me in the right direction. Keep shopping doctors , so to speak , until one is good for you. wendy