My pain specialist is not listening. At first he/they were open and willing. Now, for some reason, they seem to be suspicious and uncaring..... almost scared, sometimes. They have insisted- and I MEAN inSISted!!- that I reduce my pain meds. I have been forced to reduce my oral meds by more than 70% over the past two months. Complaints that this is just too much have been met with deaf indifference. The catch is that they required that I sign something at the start agreeing NOT to see any other doctor for pain or they would terminate treatment immediately. I don't feel I can even ASK for a second opinion.
I don't sleep enough anymore. In fact, most nights I am afraid to go to sleep because it means waking up in agony a few hours later.
The pain is legit. I have had over 50 surgeries- yes, FIFTY- throughout my life. In fact, I have never known a day without pain. Until I married a woman who had a normal life, I thought EVERYONE had pain every day, every week, of their life. Some parts have been through surgery so many times they should have just put in a zipper... and they HURT!!
I have NEVER taken illegal drugs or drugs illegally. I have never even tasted alcohol. Yes, I have, on occasion, exceeded prescribed dosing. When the pain is so bad that you have just heard a tooth crack from the force of clenching your jaw so hard, you take the drugs at hand!! It would be ridiculous to expect someone to do otherwise!! Yes, I take Oxycontin. But why and when did that suddenly make me a person of suspicion, distrust, or an outright criminal? I do not understand why this change. I DO understand the paradox of opiate-induced hyperalgesia- or at least accept that it happens. But if I am being scaled-back in order to prevent that, where does it stop? And how is the doctor supposed to make that determination? Telling him that the pain is WORSE does not seem to make any difference....
Am I missing something???? Is there some new government crackdown that is the reason that the pain clinic is afraid of treating me anymore???
It is strange that there would be such a change in attitude. On a federal level, the FDA is considering measures to tighten the restrictions on opioid medications to help curb abuse, but they haven't made any decisions yet. (Read: URGENT: FDA May Remove or Limit Access to Opioid Pain Medications)
It's possible that your state's medical board may be suspending or revoking more doctor's licenses because they are prescribing opioids inappropriately or its drug enforcement agency may be making more arrests of doctors. That would certainly cause pain specialists to be very hesitant about prescribing opioids.
Have you asked your doctor about the change in attitude? If it were me, I think I would probably tell him I noticed a significant change in his approach to treating me and ask if I had done something to bring that about or if there was some other reason that was concerning him.
If the potential for abusing oral medications is his concern, you might want to talk to him about an intrathecal pain pump. A pump provides better pain relief with only a fraction of the dosage of oral meds and there is very little, if any, possibility for abuse. You can learn more about pain pumps here: http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/neurostimulation-and-pain-pumps.html
Good luck! I hope you're able to find out what is causing the change in attitude and find a resolution that provides you with adequate pain relief.