Re: Fear, anxiety or pure terror!!!Help!

[Guest guest]

Hey sweet Sharon, I know you are sweet and kind or you wouldn't offer to

take me from Memphis to Batesville!!!! However, I am moving, hopefully, April

1st (hope the April Fool Day is not an omen). I have sold my home in Forrest

City and have a nice condo in Batesville. My daughter lives there and it is a

pretty place.

Dr. Snaupp has refused to see me because I refused to go to a schrink. He is

supposed to send me 1 more perscription of Duragesic and I had recently had the

others refilled. So I have about a month's reprieve

I think he is trying to weed as many patients as he can and so much as said so

" You need a pschiatrist to manage your meds " . Now, in relation to many other

people I know who have chronic pain, I don't take a hugh amount of pain meds and

had just reached the point where I felt my pain was being managed (not

completely resolved, but managed at a bearable level.) I didn't realized until

I called to refill the Duragesic that he was planning on booting me one way or

the other. I've worked as medical secretary for many years in a hospital and

didn't just fall off the turnip truck. I know docs and meds pretty well.

I didn't see Dr. Czerwinski in Batesville yellow pages, or any other

psychiatrist. Seems like it would be hard to miss a name like that! Right? I

didn't see any pain management doc either. I'd like to find someone up there

but it won't be easy. Especially since my daughter ( or any of my adult

children) do not believe in psychiatrists or pain med for long term use. I

know, excepting for a miracle, I will need pain meds the rest of my life to live

a anyway near comfortable, productive life. If you think of why I can't find

Dr. " C " and what the pain docs name is, please let me know. Hope you are ok.

Forgive me for being so self absorbed right now.....

Thank you for caring. I love you and all my fellow sufferers (Is that a

word?)

Joan

Re: Fear, anxiety or pure

terror!!!Help!

Dear Joan,

This is twice I have tried this reply... the first time I hit a wrong

key and totally wiped my message out, so will start from scratch.

I can't remember if you told me when you are moving to Batesville or

not, but why don't you consider making an appt. with Dr. Czerwinski,

since Dr. Schnapp wants you to see a psychiatrist. I know that Dr. C

(as his patients call him) would not rx the Duragesic patch, but he

could probably help you with the Ativan and maybe even some of the

others. And he could call or write Dr. Schnapp on your behalf about the

Duragesic patches, so that maybe he would consider continuing to rx

them. If you do not have transportation to Batesville, I will ask Elwyn

if he would be willing for us to take you. I just worry about our poor

old truck, since it has 185,000 miles on it, but hey... it made a

roundtrip to Orlando, FL last month, so it would probably make

Batesville with no problem. Those Toyota trucks are noted for just keep

on keepin' on.

Another suggestion would be to make an appointment to see my internist,

Dr. Cary Finn, and let him evaluate you and see if he will rx the meds

that you are on. The only problem there would be that at one time, his

office stopped accepting new Medicare patients, but that sign is no

longer up in his office, so maybe that has changed. If you do decide to

see him, his # is 767-3321. He is the doc who dx'd my fibro and has

rx'd all my pain meds to date with the exception of 1997 when I had an

HMO that he wasn't on.

Those are about the only two suggestions I can come up with right now.

But please know that I am here for you, and if you need to talk, my home

phone is 683-1253, and I am usually here. If not, I do have voice mail.

Take care, and know that I am thinking of you and praying for you.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

Attitude is everything-so pick a good one!

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[Guest guest]

Dear Joan,

I no longer had my Batesville phone directory so had to call information

to get Dr. Czerwinski's office #. It is . I bet if you

called and just asked the receptionist for the name and phone # of the

pain doc in Batesville, she could give it to you. Or if you went to Dr.

C, he could probably help you on some of the medications that you take.

I do not feel that I am, or was, depressed, but I have a long history of

anxiety attacks, and they were getting more frequent when we still lived

in Arkansas. That is the reason I first went to see him, and liked him

so much that I continued seeing him. He helped me better understand my

disease and deal with its limitations. Depending on whether my

internist is willing to change my Tranxene that he rx's for my panic

attacks to either Xanax or Valium on Monday, both of which help control

the anxiety better and also helps the pain more, I may have to start

once again making the drive to Batesville myself to see Dr. C. Woud not

want to have to start over with a new shrink here in Memphis who may not

be as knowledgeable about chronic pain as Dr. C is. I think that living

with chronic pain makes all of us at least a little depressed,

especially when we know it is from something that there is no cure for.

I know I get that way and throw myself one hellacious pity party when I

do. It just sometimes helps to have an unbiased doctor who is willing

to listen and judge us for ourselves, not what they think we should be.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

[Guest guest]

Dear Joan,

P.S. I had actually thought about going to see Dr. Snaupp myself, but

after the way he has treated you, there is no way that I would refer my

dog to him!! Wonder if he knows how many patients he lost with your one

bad experience with him. Seems like I read somewhere once that for

every patient who is pleased with a doctor, they will tell 3 people, for

every person who is DISPLEASED with a doctor, they will tell 20 people.

I am just sorry that my knowledge of this doctor had to come about in

such a bad way.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

[Guest guest]

Sharon,

I have been trying to get to you but what with selling and closing my house

and getting ready to move after living 23 years in the same : " hugh " house,

moving is a real mess! Anyway, thanks so much for the info on Dr. " C " and I did

find out the name of the pain specialist in Batesville. Dr. Mohammanad Ismil is

a pain specialist in Batesvillle. The name kinda scares me. Hope I can

understand him.

This part is going to sound unbelievable....I got my last supply of Duragesic

and the first patch did not have any medication on it. I sunk into the

horrible, constant pain in my rectal/vaginal area. I called the company,

Jannsen and they said this had happened in trials and told me to call Dr. Snaupp

see if he wanted me to use another patch of call in hydrocodone as a

breakthrough pain med. He did not return my call. I was crying and wringing my

hands. I called my GP ( who originally referred me to Snaupp) and he said he

would refill all my meds when needed until I got settled in Batesville. He told

his nurse, in my presence, that when I called from Batesville in about two

weeks, to mail all my scrips to me. He said to check on the pain specialist and

would copy my history of constant pain for about 2 1/2 years. It is good for me

to know someone believes me!

On the matter of you going to Snaupp......I guess I still think he is a good

doctor. I've gone there for about 2 years and only in the last couple of months

I've seen this side of him. I frankly believe the ruckus over the abuse of

hydrocodone, etc has made him paranoid. He does like to give the back

injections pretty often (even if they don't help much) Also, I know how to talk

to doctors and you don't start by refusing to go to a psychiatrist. Did you

ever had a day when you sensed the doc was in a foul mood and just did'nt feel

like catering to him.That particular day I was in a foul mood also ( after

waiting 2 hours to see him) There is a Dr. Mays in the same clinic but I've no

info regardling him. I do know they have been in business a long time.

Love to you and prayers for you and husband ,

Joan

Re: Fear, anxiety or pure

terror!!!Help!

Dear Joan,

I know for a fact that Dr. Czerwinski would have no problem keeping you

on Neurontin.... he increased my dose from 900 mg. per day to a total of

2100 mg. per day (1 in a.m., 1 at noon, 1 in p.m., and 4 at bedtime).

Also put my on Zyprexa, which DEFINITELY helps with the restorative

sleep, and he probably would be able to continue you on Ativan or switch

you to something else for anxiety, such Klonopid, which I took when I

was still seeing him. Even if you have never even thought of seeing a

shrink, I would suggest giving Dr. C a try to see how many of your

medications he is willing to manage. You can even tell him that Sharon

Thronberry referred you to him.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!

Attitude is everything-so pick a good one!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Dear Joan,

The minute I saw the name of the pain specialist in Batesville, I

remembered that was who Dr. C had mentioned to me. As I said, we were

in the process of moving to Memphis, so I never did actually go thim so

I cannot say how good he is, but Dr. C thought highly of him. They told

me that Dr. C was hard to understand when he first came to Batesville,

but by the time I saw him, his English was good! If I had not already

been planning the move back to Memphis, I would probably have gone to

see the pain doc in Batesville.

I am going to pass for right now on seeing Dr. Snaupp for my pain. I

have never met Dr. Kit Mays, who is in the office with him... only know

of him by reputation, which is excellent. But given your experience

with Dr. Snaupp, along with Elwyn's, I think I may have to use another

pain doc if Dr. Finn will not rx the medications that I need (not

necessarily pain meds...I want to try, for example, the Entex LA). I

see Dr. Finn tomorrow so will know more byu then.

hugs and prayers,

Sharon - Memphis, TN

Faith...with it, miracles *CAN* and *DO* happen!