I was in a car accident 15 years ago. I fractured my skull and there was hemorrhaging in 5 different areas on the brain, ruptured spleen and pancreas, I had to have 2 blood transfusions to save my spleen. I broke my shoulder and hip.
The doctor told my family to come in because they were not sure if I would make it through the night. I was in the hospital for a month with memory loss amongst other things. The last week I was there my memory started coming back, but I had to take speech therapy and sometimes I knew things a person my age should know, and other times I had the mentality of a child.
Needless to say I was addicted to Demerol due to having it for a month straight. I was thrown into the world without realizing I was addicted. I was red flagged as a drug seeker because I asked every specialist I had to see for pain medication.
When I was cut off I had no idea I was in detox. I thought I was DYING so I was driving to the hospital and almost got into another wreck. My 6 year old child was with me. I should have sued the medical field for negligence. they let me loose into the world with a child mentality most times for the first 3 months.
When I realized I was addicted, and I stopped seeking the pain medication even though I was in PAIN. I used way to much Advil and now I have Acid Reflux.
After 15 years of wear andplus pluse a hard fall on the ice last year I made my back worse than it already was. I'm in so much pain from it and so I tried to get pain medication. I went to the pain clinic for pain management and of course they said no. I had 3 epidurals in my back and I'm scheduled to have 3 in my neck next month. The don't care about the pain only that I was addictDemerolemeral for a short time 15 years ago WTF?
I feel this is very unfair for the medical field to deny me pain medication after I have proof of real pain in my back and neck (not to mention in 5 other places)
A friend of mine told me her sister is in a similar situation and can't get pain medication. She told her doctor she was an addict and he referred her to a rehab doctor and he prescribed her methadone and she told me to do the same.
This is what I did. I told the rehab center in my city I was addicted to pain medication and now I get methadone. My doctor would not refer me to a doctor like my friend's doctor did.
My insurance wont pay for the methadone if it's used for pain management ONLY FOR DRUG ABUSE (Isn't that crazy)? So I'm basically committing fraud now but in due time I will be addicted again if I continue to go the the methadone clinic because I have to take the medication everyday because they dispense the medication once a day in liquid form so there is no way I can pretend I didn't take it. If I don't show up on the days I don't need it I will get suspended from the clinic because they will think I'm using the methadone for pain management. (I had to sing a form there claiming I was not taking the methadone for pain management).
This is a big crazy mess the doctors put me in because I was addicted to a drug for 5 months (give or take) without realizing it and got red flagged.
This clinic I go to makes is not highly looked upon. It's probably going to be hard to get a good job when my back and neck get better, because everyone gives drug test. My reputation is ruined because I had to say I was an addict to get my insurance to pay for it.
I guess I have to have a broken finger to get vicodin for 6 months and the reason I say that is my friend broke her finger and got vicodin for 6 months. I can't believe this....Can you?
OK Doctors did I make the right decision with the methadone clinic because you are so afraid I might be addicted after all those injuries, all the while your colleagues are writing scripts for six months over a broken finger.
All comments welcome
Douglas B
You were doing what you had to do but that doesn't make it right. And it's not a way to live and I hope by now that you know the pain killers aren't getting rid of the pain. I'm saying that because if you really want to get away from the pills and pains you can. All you have to do is free up your back muscles to get rid of the pains there and your neck muscles to get rid of the pains there. Here's how to free those areas up for your relief:
Back:
(do from a sitting position)
Place your left hand on your left leg next to your body. Place your right hand over your left shoulder, fingers over the back and the palm in the front and firmly pull down on them and hold. After 30 seconds slowly lower your body forward and to the outside of your left leg, keeping your left arm fairly straight as you do. When you reach your lap remain there for another 10 seconds, release the pressure but rest there for another 30 seconds. Then reverse your hand positions and do your right side.
Neck
Put your hands alongside your head so your thumbs are on the front of the muscle under your ear and your fingers are on the back of the muscle behind your neck. Squeeze your thumb and fingers together and hold. Relax your body. When your fingers and thumb touch, about one minute, slowly lower your head as far as you can, release the pressure but hold your neck lowered for another 30 seconds. for both- for best results relax your body first by taking a deep breath and exhaling then remain this relaxed.
Taziketoro
It's a travesty what some pain patients have to go through to get treatment for their pain. So many get the wrongs meds or are under medicated just because doctors are so afraid of getting someone addicted.
I want to make this clear to you though - you are not an addict and you never were. When you were taking demerol 15 years ago you were physically dependent, not addicted. There is a big difference but unfortunately most people think that physical dependence is addiction but it's not.
Addiction is a brain disorder that has to do with behavior and thoughts like obsession and compulsion to get high. They will continue to use despite negative consequences and will relapse even after having been drug free for longer periods of time. Addicts that use opiates will also become physically dependent on the drug if they use it daily over a longer period of time. But it's not what keeps them addicted. Most opiate addicts will detox and get through withdrawal several times before they finally manage to get and stay clean.
A person who is only physically dependent, like you, do not have the mental and behavioral problems that an addict has. For them using the drug is not an obsession and compulsion. It's just a physical need. Once a dependent person goes through withdrawal they will stay drug free, not relapse. They don't have the brain disorder which is addiction. A true addict will have the brain disorder forever even if they are clean. A dependent person no longer has a problem once the drugs are out of their system.
If you would have to take a drug test for a job just make sure that you tell the place doing the test that you are prescribed methadone and get a note from the clinic doctor. As long as you do that they cannot legally disclose the fact that you are on methadone to the employer. That's a violation of HIPAA. They can only disclose the results of a positive drug test if the drugs are not prescribed.
As a patient of a methadone clinic you are also protected by the Americans with disabilities act and that makes it illegal for an employee to discriminate against you for going to a clinic. Addiction is considered a disability under the ADA if as you are in recovery.
Of course you don't have to tell an employer that you go to a clinic but if they find out they can't refuse to hire you or fire you, etc. That's illegal.
You won't have to go to the clinic every day forever. As long as do what you're supposed to do at the clinic you can get takehome medication after 90 days. You'll start with getting one dose to take home per week. After a few more weeks you get two doses a week and so on. After two years you only have to come to the clinic once a month to pick up your medication. Ask your counselor about when you will be able to get "takehomes".
Just FYI, doctors can't legally prescribe methadone for addiction outside of a methadone clinic. They can only prescribe it for pain. If you are an addict AND have pain a doctor can treat you in his office but he would be treating the pain, not the addiction. Federal law bans doctors from treating addiction with narcotics except for in methadone clinics.
I really hope that you won't give up in finding a doctor that will treat you properly. You may have to see 20 doctors before you find one but they are out there. You don't have to go to a pain clinic. A family doctor can treat you too. This is what I would tell the doctor; Tell him that you have the pain you have and that you have become physically dependent to your medication and therefore started to attend a methadone clinic. It is not uncommon at all that people that attend methadone clinics switch to a pain clinic or other doctor and start getting methadone from there instead. You have to be persistent and shop around but you will find a doctor that will treat you. You can obviously prove that you are in pain. Maybe you can see the doctor that gave your friend vicodin for six months for a broken finger.
Are you sure that your insurance really won't pay for pain treatment for you? That sounds very odd. With a pain doctor you will go to his office and get a prescription that you fill at the pharmacy. If your insurance cover doctor visits and presciptions they will cover the methadone scripts too. It's just like any medication. I would recommend that you call your insurance company back and see if they cover doctor visits to treat your back pain as well as the prescriptions your doctor gives you. It shouldn't matter if it's for vicodin, percocet, oxycontin or methadone as far as the insurance company is concerned.
Good luck!
Walama
Pain management in addicts is basically the most complicated issue in medicine. There are no right answers. Every doctor, clinic and insurance policy handles it differently. I would suggest at least a little gratitude that you have insurance at all, because many chronic pain patients don't.
Orignal From: Tips: Did I do the right thing doctor?
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