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Anyone have a GOOD PM Doc?

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Chronic Pain
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Posted 12/21/2008 4:38 PM (GMT -5)
Hi everyone, it's been a while since i posted.

I read the board often and am so sad for those of you who have had horrible experiences w/ bad PM docs.

I just wanted to share that there are some good ones out there to. You may need to see more than one to find that good one, but keep looking. It will be well worth it's weight in gold!

I had a accident w/ a lawnmower at the age of 5. I lost a toe to gangreen, had several compound fractures, some metal in my leg and serious nerve damage. Over the yrs, i had issues with it,but it really went down hill about 8 yrs ago. I ended up in a wheelchair for about 3months while the doctors were trying to figure out what to do with me....

I was eventually diagnosed with RSD and sent to a PM doc.  I have been seeing him now for 8 yrs. I take percocet 3x a day, and use a few different patches, creams and also get lumbar sympathetic blocks to help.  As a result i am walking and while in pain, i can function and take care of my family.

I have NEVER been made to feel bad about taking meds, and I actually have NEVER been asked to take a urine test (which so many of you are made to).  I see then once a month for appt and med scripts and every few months for my blocks.  They did tell me once that i was their most compicated case as they mostly deal with neck/back injuries and have not had a complex injury like mine before (which i find difficult to believe as there must be people who were severly injured in car accidents, or burned, or whatever who would seek PM....???).  But I know that there is a trust both ways. I have NEVER asked for meds early, or lost meds (thankfully) and I am SOOOOOO thankful that i found this doctor.  I live in a Major City and i have talked to other patients in the waiting room who come from hours away to see him.

Anyways, i just wanted to share that it is possible to have a good doc who cares about how you are feeling, who is willing to help and who will go the extra mile to help you be able to function.  I hope that everyone of you will be able to find one!  And i hope that if you are reading this and you currently have a BAD doctor, that you go out tomarrow and try to find a new one!   Good luck, and happy holidays everyone!

Posted 12/21/2008 8:41 PM (GMT -5)
Hi Shannon,

Welcome back! So glad to hear that you have found a really excellent doctor & are getting some relief! You are right, too often we hear about all the bad docs out there (it unfortunately seems that there are way too many of them!), and not the truly good ones. I'm lucky that I too have recently found wonderful doc, although I've had my share of bad docs. Thanks for sharing your story.

Skeye
Posted 12/22/2008 5:09 PM (GMT -5)
Hi,

I do have to say that I think I have a pretty good PM, as well as a PA. I usually see the PA and he is the absolute best. He listens to everything I say and always asks questions about my pain & symptoms. He really worked with me to find a combo of meds to at least lessen my pain & symptoms. I even told him I was appreciative that he was working with me and seemed to care about my symptoms. The practice I go to has 3 doctors and I have seen all of them. If I made appt's ahead of time for follow-ups, I usually see the PA. If I need to get in quickly, I see whomever is available the earliest. However, the office does have a strict drug screen policy and I did have to sign a contract, etc. I also get random drug tests, which I have no problem  with, except that they are expensive and I have the most basic insurance, that only pays a max of $500/year for ANY kinds of tests (drug, paps, mri's, x-rays, other blood tests...all of it). Thankfully right now, I am only seeing them about every 4 months, unless I have a severe exacerbation. Actually i had one last month and called them and they called something in to my pharmacy for me instead of making me come in again. So that was good. But the PA there really seems to have a good reperatoire with patients.

Posted 12/22/2008 10:48 PM (GMT -5)
I have a great pain management doctor. She sees me once a month and gives me adequate medication. As a matter of fact, I tell her that some days I only take four pills a day instead of five, but she always prescribes five pills a day in case I need them. I usually end up with a surplus. She knows I don't abuse the system and I don't have these problems that some of the folks on here complain about. It makes me darn mad to hear that people are suffering between doses because their doctor will think they are abusing the system to ask for adequate medication. That is so wrong on so many levels, I just can't believe it. People shouldn't be made to suffer.

JCAHO is an accredidation process that hospitals and home care agencies to name a few, seek for their establishments. JCAHO is very clear that the patient should not be in pain and the instituion is cited if the patient is found to not have had his or her pain managed adequately. Maybe these doctors need to be reported to the American Medical Association in not treating their patients adequately with regard to pain. I don't know if JCAHO monitors doctors. I don't think they do. But there has to be some counterpart that can have some governing ability over physician's practices.

Anyone have an opinion on this??

Lindaloo
Posted 12/22/2008 10:55 PM (GMT -5)
I think it's the American Academy of Pain Medicine that may certify pm docs. Not sure if that's the precise name. There are a couple of organizations and one of them does more advocacy, I think. I need to get the details straight one of these days when I've got more energy. Someone here may know off the top. I think the strongest advocacy we could have is by joining forces with a medical group that advocates for adequate pain management. There is power in numbers, plus if we join with doctors it carries more weight - and here I'm referring to doctors who support full pain management for CPP's.

PaLady
p.s. Sorry about some of the content of this post. Advocating issues isn't the purpose of this particular forum and is against one of the rules. I can see why, as it can get out of hand.

Post Edited (PAlady) : 12/22/2008 9:32:03 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/22/2008 11:51 PM (GMT -5)
Hi Shannon- great name, mines the same. welcome back...... i happened to have my monthly appointment today & there was an older gentleman who had an amputated leg... walked out with one rx when i walked out with 8. lol. i'm sorry for your loss, but bless you for your courage. i'm blessed to have a fantastic PM dr, i have a good relationship with them. i try not to act all pitiful when i am in there, granted some days i can't help it- i haven't slept in 2 days from the pain. but they have commented before its nice to see a friendly face. my PM dr is a little older than me (mid to late 30s) & he suffers from chronic back pain as well, and he's overweight too. so he gets it. its a neverending circle we face. i have recommended my drs office to the BBB. but if you guys are ready to REALLY spill your guts- i had an email invite from AARP (even though i am 31) to get a letter to our upcoming president. i seriously doubt it was a special invite- so go check out the divided we fail from them, they are on a hotbox on medical issues. i have written several letters to goverment officials. they need to know what its like to live in hell. eating pills from sun-up well, to sun-up! just some info..... maybe one of the forum peeps could consider us following AARPs example by getting a mass letter to governement about our individual cases & healthcare issues. maybe we should start our own site about this..... h-e-double-hockey sticks we don't sleep anyways...... lol. just thinking aloud....
Posted 12/23/2008 4:34 AM (GMT -5)
I was very luck and had a great PM dr, however, he decided to go back into asnesthesiology and quit PM. He was tired of jumping thru all the hoops basically of keeping patients happy, keeping the DEA happy was the number one reason he decided to quit. These guys are watch dogged so much, after thinking about things after I calmed down after being told he was quitting, I see his side totally. The legal issues involved with being a PM dr are incredible. He did ref me to another PM dr and fortunately she loves patients with the pain pump. I learned that getting another dr to take me on as a patient with an existing pain pump is nearly next to impossbie. Of course no one ever discussed this problem with me prior to having the pump put in.

No one should settle for bad care at the hands of any dr as far as I am concerned. I have no problem kicking one to the curb and finding someone else to see me and this does not apply just to CP, its any dr we may have to see. There are many drs out there willing to see patients. If a patient keeps treating with a dr they are unhappy with, they have no one but themselves to blame. None of us like going thru the hoops of finding a new dr, but its very important to have a decent relationship with your dr and I don't want to waste my time with someone I am unhappy with. I drove 60 miles RT to see the my PM dr, I could have gone 10 min from my house to see another one. The drive was worth it. Hugs to all Susie
Posted 12/23/2008 9:27 AM (GMT -5)
starydog, I think I would go into panic mode if my PM dr left his practice..... especially with us now considering my going on a pain pump. Luckily its a large practice with several drs, but I love mine to death... he's such a fantastic person. So kind & understanding.... I'm so glad you have found another person... what a shame this is happening to good drs.
Posted 12/23/2008 2:18 PM (GMT -5)
Kttn this is why I posted right away about the problems for pump people once their dr leaves or closes his practice down. Like I said before MedTronics has a list of drs but that list is so outdated its worthless to a pump patient. There was 3 pain drs in the clinic and they would not take on pump patients. Susie
Posted 12/23/2008 4:32 PM (GMT -5)

I think I have a great PM too...I only hope that he stays around.  I found out that he has only been at the office I go to for about 6 weeks and he might not even stay.  He was the first Dr. that actually listened to me when I told him the Lortab 10's had stopped working very well.  He listened and changed my script right then.  I had mentioned this to my previous Dr. and all she did was tell me to hang in there. 

 

Good Dr.'s are hard to find anyway, but a good PM is even harder to find.  So when you get one you'd better do whatever you can to keep them...

 

Merry Christmas

 

Me.

Posted 12/28/2008 3:11 PM (GMT -5)
I've had the nightmare docs and the nightmare treatments at the ER. I thank the heavens above that I have the best GI and PM ever...my PCP used to be but alas, he too has health issues, and cannot keep up his practice as he once did.

Thanks for this post. So many times, and it is natural, to focus on the bad, but it helps me to focus on the good. I am grateful for a great set of doctors. Living with a roof over my head, plenty to eat, access to health care (even if it may be poor), a great husband, and wonderful father...I am thankful for the birdies that hang out around my house (and chase away the pigeons) and the smile I get when they fluff up in the cold.

Okay, maybe a little too saccharine, but I want to focus on positive, it helps a little with the pain...and it ain't doing so good today...
Posted 12/29/2008 11:02 AM (GMT -5)
I have had the good fortune to have a couple of great PM's. I had RSD in my right arm and shoulder from a botched shoulder surgery and the PM that I saw was incredible. He did everything he could and then some to manage the pain of RSD. I never had a drug screen, never was questioned on the authenticity of the pain that I was in. I was very fortunate after almost 8 years of suffering, the RSD went into a kind of remission of sorts, and I was able to stop meds. Now, after my failed back surgeries, CES and the resulting permanent nerve damage, I have two more great PM's. The first one treated me for the first two years, and he moved to Puerto Rico. He still calls my new PM and talks to him about me, and how I am doing. My new PM is a good guy too. He treats the pain as best he can, and he takes what I tell him into how things are going. Luckily , by the time he came along, my former PM and I had gotten my meds to a point where they were working as well as they seem to be able to for me, and he manages things pretty well. He agrees with me, no more injections, no more PT, it only makes the nerve problems flare even more, so we make do as best we can.
I have never had a urine screen but would do it if asked without hesitation. I don't have a contract, never have in fact.
I guess I look at it this way, if that is what it takes to make my doctor comfortable enough to continue to prescribe the meds that I need to function as best I can, so be it. I don't ask for meds early, even on my worst time periods, if I need an adjustment, I call him and tell him.
PM is a two way street, you have to work with the doctor, and the doctor has to work with you. If there is mistrust on either side, the relationship isn't going to work. Pain management is not a race to the finish line, it is a marathon, and you have to work with the protocals to find a combination of meds and whatever else that is going to work best for you. However, you have to understand that patience along the way, and time are essential in building a good pm relationship.
Just my thoughts,
Sandi
Posted 12/29/2008 8:15 PM (GMT -5)
I'm so glad to see that there are some of you here who have good doctors to. It just breaks my heart for those who do not like their doctor!

I sure went through my share of bad doctors, but have a great set of doctors (including a GI, Hematologist, OB/gyn, Rhumatologist and PM)

I hope that everyone here eventually finds the doctors they deserve. If you don't like who ur seeing now, do soething about it!
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