pain and scooters - Carol

[Guest guest]

Hi Carol,

Doctors where I live seem to be REALLY uptight about the pain med thing.

Part of it is because of the location - we have a really high incidence of

drug production and use in our area (county is either #1 or #2 in the

country for both pot growers and methamphetemine labs), and so they view

ANY type of request for pain medication as drug seeking :-( Doesn't make

much sense does it - if I were just drug seeking I can walk out my front

door and buy it! I'm just so lucky that I found a pain clinic/doctor that

doesn't feel that way! It's only taken 12 yrs.....

Don't get me started about the scooter/wheelchair thing. I'm STILL trying

to get one prescribed - even though I haven't been able to walk more than a

few feet in over 4 years, none of the doctors would even talk about

prescribing one. (the best reason that I heard was that it would make me

stop TRYING to walk - what's up with that??) My current primary care

physician wouldn't prescribe one without a firm diagnosis, and then she

stopped my PT which is where she expected the diagnosis to come from! Well

- now I finally have a dx from the pain doctor, so I'm going to take it to

her next week, and if she still won't prescribe one, then I'll ask my new

PT (prescribed by the pain clinic) or the pain doc for one directly. I'm

tired of not being able to go anywhere except Walmart because they're the

only place that provides scooters! Good luck with getting yours, and I'll

be anxiously reading what models are recommended!

-

At 12:01 PM 9/30/01 EDT, you wrote:

>This whole thing is a nightmare, . My doctor has prescribed Darvocet,

>and I've been taking it since I injured by back 2,5 years ago. I've asked

>about trying other things, but he said the Darvocet is safer than a lot, and

>though habit-forming, is safe for me, long term. I've never heard of such a

>thing (the whole nurse practitioner-Darvocet-probation, etc.) thing. That's

>CRAZY. I sure hope the search for pain relief improves conditions. BTW, I

>think I'm getting an electric scooter from the workers comp insurance

>company. Any suggestions on make and model? Friends have suggested the

>Patriot, I think it's called.

>Carol