Re: Digest Number 775

[Guest guest]

Hi, Penny!

I hope you're feeling better. I'm not sure I understand what your Dr

was giving you a hard time about. You were way behind.....do you mean

that you haven't been filling all your prescriptions? Because you can't

afford the medication? ....Maybe you'll be able to pay for it now that

you've taken care of the paperwork. I sure hope so!

You said that none of the medications are helping with the pain.....

When you take them regularly, as the Dr prescribes, you still don't get

pain relief? .....Does your Dr ask you how much pain you're in before

you take the medication, and how much pain you're in afterward?

........You know, when you go to see a Dr, you're hiring him to give you

good health care. If you don't think he's performing his job adequately,

you can replace him with a Dr that will prescribe stronger pain

medications, if that's what you want.

The first Dr I saw after the flare that gave me fibromyalgia, wouldn't

give me anything stronger than plain generic Tylenol for the pain. We

didn't know what I had then, and he thought my only problem was

depression. I don't think he believed a word I told him, about having

some kind of arthritis for most of my life. He was a real jerk. But I

told him that he was making me depressed because he didn't believe me,

and that I wanted to see a rheumatologist. His nurse set up an

appointment for me. And I told him that I couldn't stand the pain, and

asked him to refer me to another local doctor that would be more likely

to prescribe stronger pain medications. He gave me the name of two

other Drs, I think he was glad to hand me off to someone else! I know I

was glad to get a good Dr, instead of him.

The Dr I have now doesn't know very much about fibromyalgia, but he

cares about my pain. We tried a few different pain meds that didn't do

very much for me, and I've been on morphine now for over a year. It

doesn't take away the pain completely, but it takes away enough of it

that I can have a life. I was taking a bunch of other medication to, but

I decided that they weren't helping, and I stopped them. Penny, if

there's any medication that you don't believe is helping you, talk to

your Dr about it, and TELL him you don't want to take it any longer. If

he is a good Dr, he will help you stop it--some medications have to be

stopped very carefully. If he isn't a good Dr, fire his ass! You are

his boss. You are the one that he gets paid to help. If YOU decide that

he isn't helping you enough, YOU need to replace him with another Dr.

You have the right to have medication that will relieve your pain.

Sometimes there is no medication that will stop pain completely, but your

Dr won't know that unless he tries you on some. You do have a legal

right to pain relief.

Hang in there, Penny! Use your heating pad.

Wishing You Well, Betty K.

" Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the

quiet voice at the end of the day saying,

'I will try again tomorrow'. "

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