I hope Karen see this:
My main problem with not using a family doctor for my pain management is that I live in a rural area where the nearest specialist is about 200 miles away one way.
I do have to educated my doctor over and over again what I need. There is some discussions about the levels. The current levels that I am using were set by a specialist but I am without continual care by a specalist.
The other thing that has recently been happening in our area is that doctors are refusing to work wth pumps. Even doctors who had implanted these devices are starting to no long care for even the patients that they implanted.
Those of us in rural american have a real problem because of the mis-informaton and lack of knowledge by our doctors to really care for us. I worry about ObamaCare interferring with my care. Since there is a lack of doctors to see, they may intimidate my doctor into stopping care for this problem.
My pain will then become a quailty of life problem that I hope I can master.
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I've had two serious surgeries requiring fusions (lumbar). I was fine for a while but as aging takes its toll on top of the usual arthritic conditions that result with spurs, scar tissue, etc., its a real challenge to find the right treatment.
Ultrasound is not adviseable because it would heat up the rods in my back. So now I'm trying laser treatments. However, Medicare won't help pay for these AT ALL!!! They're supported by the FDA and used for many conditions and prove to be helpful. I can't imagine forcing people into using meds when something else might work better or as well.
But I've only had one treatment so far so we don't know yet if it will help me.
I use a cane a lot when I go out and if I know I have to do a lot of walking, I use my walker. I sure would like something that would help that wouldn't require taking "another" pill.