..did you by any chance tick the box that said 'Volunteer for medical experiments'..?

wow...

I'm sorry to hear you're going through so much Po. My father suffered with back pains so bad he could barely walk. He had to go once every three months for spinal taps to draw excess fluid out of his back. Not something you'd want to look forward to. As he explained it the pain from the tap was excruciating. I have a bad back but nowhere near that severe. Mine derived from a pinched sciatic nerve on my left side. That in itself was bad enough. Hope it gets better for you and starkers...I feel you dude. No one should have to put up with such nonsense. Feel better you guys.

I like the blind as it's coming along. I agree that the brown boxes should be inverted. Sort of like a repository for...ahem...barks lol

I like the idea of bowls. I have to experiment and see how it would work.

Bowls or Bowels?

Tim strikes from the sea!

@syd...Truth? Every attempt at a treatment is, in effect, an experiment....hopefully based on knowledge and experience.

I'm hoping Po' sees more success than he has in the past. At least they're trying...

@ starkers:

Best treatment? Mirapex or Ropinarole....starts really low dose at supper, then increasing until symptoms disappear....or you turn into a radish.

My doctor told me I had Restless Legs Syndrome waaaaaayyyyy back and I'd never heard of it then and actually thought he was kidding me! It sounded so made up, you know? Then, about 15 years later they told me I have Degenerative Disc Disease (the ole DDD) and as it got worse I noticed the tingle went from my back down my legs. So, now I'm wondering if the two might be connected. I don't take anything for it. Aleave once in awhile. I used to have a lot of artheritis in my hip from a fall. It got to the point I couldn't walk all the way through the grocery store. But then, five years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and let me tell you, it was everywhere, even in my bone marrow. And one of the drugs they gave me in chemo was called Rituxin and you know, it got rid of the pain! It hardly ever hurts now and nowhere near as bad. And I see they have ads now for using it for artheritis. They must have had a lot of cancer patients saying how it helped.

...............

Heck, I forgot what the point of this post was now! Damn!

'Trying'???????

Sigh.

I called them when the stuttering started. I 'stuttered' the problem to a 'nurse practitioner' who put me on hold to relay it to the doctor. She then told me told me to come by (it was 4:15pm) to get a 'free' sample of lyrica. I got there at 5:55. The sample was a 'card' for a free sample. I get to the pharmacy. They can't fill it because there is no perscription to go with it. I call the now 'closed' doctors office. The answering service listens to me stutter out the problem. They say the will have the doctor on call contact me. 20 minutes later MY doc calls. The one who has been giving me the shots every three months for three years and perscribed vicodin, oxycontin, toradol, avinza, and neurontin...and now lyrica.

'What's the problem?'

stutter stutter

"Excuse me..have you always had this stutter?"

stutter stutter stutter

"I see. And what are you taking again?"

stutter

"How many times a day?"

stutter

"Are you taking anything else?"

stutter = 'No, because you told me NOT to. That the other meds you had me on were not for my pain"

"Oh. Well, you should take them if you're in pain."

stutter

"Well, I'm in my car. Stop the neurontin.."

stutter stutter

"You shouldn't stop it cold turkey, you're right. But that stutter isn't good."

stutter

"I will phone the lyricas in to the pharmacy in the morning."

stutter

I get the lyrica the next day. I take it that night. I don't sleep. All the pain is back. And now there is new pain. The doc's office calls. Tammy, the N.P. wants me to come in a week from yesterday.

I go in. The stutter is gone. The pain is back and surreal. Tammy comes in. "How are you?"

"I've lost 20 pounds in the past week. All I want to do is sleep. I hurt.."

"Where?"

"Look at the little pictures you had me mark."

"There are X's every where>"

"Right. I also ran two red lights yesterday and I can't sleep or concentrate."

"Maybe we need to double the dose on the lyrica'"

"I can't. I won't. I can't."

"Well, you're chart says you had your last shot in January. Maybe it's time..."

"April. I had it in April."

Waving the page in my face. "It says here it was January."

"April."

She leaves and the doctor comes in. Wearing his lead apron cause he has the conveyor belt of pain going today. We go over it all again. Tammy comes back.

"I need pain meds that work. I have a friend who tried this patch..."

"No."

Tammy says, again, it's been since January...I say April. The doc confirms April. Tammy waves the chart at him. Tammy must die.

I ask about an implant that 2..TWO people I know have had success with. Now, I am alreay being told I am too young for surgery. After my last visit in April, when I was told this again, it occured to me...I have 20 MORE YEARS of this shit to look forward to.

The doc says...of the implant..."It's not a cure. You could never get another MRI once it's in. AND...to be blunt, it costs $20,000 and the insurance company will never approve it until you have tried everything else....

wait for it....

including surgery..which you are too young to have"

"I see. So what do I do about this pain I am in."

"Tell you what.." he looks at Tammy..."Let's get him in here next week." Turns to me "And we'll do a double nerve block."

I bite my tongue to keep the tears from rolling out my eyeballs. The thought of the needles...the 'bee stings'..now there will be multiple...and then the cramps and aches as he injects me and I feel it in my groin, legs, toes..the pressure..all doubled this time. Not being ablke to walk for two days because it will all hurt and ache and not want to move..all doubled. He also adds that he will start me on topomax and tramidol..one for the pain and one for the headaches. He leaves with Tammy. A minute later someone new comes in with my instructions for the double nerve block. As she reads them, Tammy comes back with the headache script. I ask 'What about the pain medicine?"

"This is for pain."

"No, this is for the migraines."

"It's for both."

"No, he said one for the headaches and one for the pain."

"Have you ever tried something or other"

"What is that?"

"It's for depression."

"No."

"Have you taken anything for depression?"

"No."

"Never?"

"No"

"Maybe.."

"No. You see, the last doctor that went that route said there was nothing wrong with me. A month later I was having an emergency spinal fusion when I became suddenly paralized TWICE from the waist down.. A year later, a second doctor ..a pain management doctor said there was nothing wrong with me. When I begged for a mylogram he rolled his eyes and said fine but it will show nothing and I will be on anti-depressants."

"What happened with that?"

"It showed severe stinosis at the other end of my spine and he rolled his eyes and sent me here where I have been coming for the past three years to get nerve blocks and epidorals. So do not try to give me anti depressants. Get rid of my pain and I won't be depresed."

"I will have the doctor phone something in before he goes."

"Thank you"

Thing is, are those prescription drugs or can they be bought over the counter??  You see, all the doctors locally are (and this is not a racial gripe/slur) Indians who are most reluctant to prescribe anything... unless it's an antibiotic for a persistent infection or something.  Dunno if it's a cultural thing (natural healing and all that) but it's nigh on impossible to get one to write a prescription these days.

I have tried numerous times to get an appointment with other doctors slightly outside my local area, but that has been a waste of my time and money (phone calls) because none have been taking on new patients... not unless they're loaded/cashed up, which I'm not. And let's not go there with medical insurance... because of pre-existing conditions, the premiums would price me out of a roof over my head and food on the table. 

I am dependent on a more public system that's in total disarray and has specialists waiting lists in public hospitals running into years.  If it were not so serious it'd be laughable... for example; I have been waiting 3 years to see a urologist, and last week I got a letter from 'outpatients' to say that I had been taken off the list, as per my request.  I requested no such thing... it was a damned pencil pusher who decided to smudge the figures and shorten the list to show the hospital is coping well and doesn't need more doctors and/or nurses.  And with the harshest state budget in history being handed down this afternoon, things are going to get a lot worse before they get any better... if they ever do.

Faith in the system... what effing system???  If whacky tobaccy didn't make me ill, I'd resort to that for pain relief and forget about it. 

Anyhow, enough of that.... it's time for a bowl of curried cabbage.  Hehe, maybe if I close up all the windows and doors I can remain in a constant state of euphoria from the bi-product and feel pain free...

or at least not notice/care as much.

Po'...check your pm...sorry...had to lie down for a min...and just woke up. I have a rather large herniated disk and after 3 plus hrs trip to see another group of patients and supper, I fell asleep... . Thankfully, I don't require pain meds. Just a little rest.

starkers-  

"Dunno if it's a cultural thing (natural healing and all that) but it's nigh on impossible to get one to write a prescription these days."

At the risk of sounding culturally insensitive....rubbish. They're supposed to treat your pain. You are the patient. The one who's suffering. If they refuse to do so, inquiries should be made as to the propriety of their practice. As for the rest? Well, we've spoken in the past, and if people weren't getting hurt, I'd think it was a Laurel and Hardy routine. Same with Po'. Sounds like Abbot and Costello's "Who's on first..." routine. Again...I'm not laughing. Not at all. Quite the opposite.

I can only wish either I was there, or you here. Both of you.

As bad as our system is, that crap wouldn't have happened to you...never has to any of my patients. And I've never let a patient go with Tylenol and transcendental meditation. What utter tripe.

From my point of view, you are totally correct.  However, I get the argument: "But I am the doctor here, and I know what is best for you... and I am telling you that those drugs will do you more harm than good."  Or words to that effect.  One time, I showed one of these doctors an X-ray of my neck showing 5 vertebrae with no disc between them, just bone rubbing on bone, and he had the audacity to tell me that I need to stop thinking about it, that if I focus on other things it will almost completely go away.

Needless to say, it was a once only visit and I didn't go back to him... not that the next one was any better.  He kept telling me that the government had cracked down and placed restrictions on various medications I had asked for, that he would get into trouble with the health authorities for prescription abuse if he prescribed them to me.  They are drugs for which I have a Federal Government authority for, but he argued that the state law applied and refused treatment.  Instead he offered me a referral to counseling... end of story.

Trouble is, there are only 3 local doctors surgeries/clinics, and all 3 are manned by Indians who refuse to prescribe medication, it seems, other than anti-boitics. A coincidence?  Perhaps not! Upon consulting the 3rd doctor, he told me told that he'd only prescribe medications if I'd had them before and could provide a medical history to substantiate it.  Well I did that, but he still argued that I would be better off using natural remedies... that he would teach me pain management.  Yeah, right!

I can get medication through the ER at the public hospital about an hours travel away, but that is an all-day venture and most times I feel far worse for going when I get home.  What I need is a good practice not so far from home, but like I said before, I've been ringing for months now, and those I've called are not taking on new patients.  What little medication I had has just about run out, so I'll have to find a decent doctor soon.  

Trouble is, a lot of our home-grown doctors have buggered off overseas to where the money is, and we're left with culturally different immigrant doctors with entirely different medical perspectives to those most practiced here... and to complicate matters further, many of them are quite difficult to understand.  Do I blame these doctors?  No, certainly not, I blame the government for forcing many of our GP's/MD's overseas through poor conditions and less than rewarding remuneration, then advertising overseas for doctors, many just out of medical school, to replace them, often in less than ideal circumstances.

Unfortunately opiods can have longer range effects...but it's his job to explain them and inform you so that you can make the choice. You aren't a minor and he/she isn't your guardian.

I'd ask to see that directive/law. This is yet another reason to keep the uninformed out of our lives.

As you told me, your docs headed out to better/less intrusive pastures...som that left the new immigrants to fill the slots. They probably fear the government.

And that situation is rotten! I can't fathom such a heartless, self defeating and mean system...but I'll probably get real experience soon. Not that the Insurance companies run a better system. They don't. Their system is corrupt as well.

Precisely. I only wish I could help.

     I wish like hell I could do something for both of you. This situation is not only intolerable it's downright criminal. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath or don't they believe in it any more. All about money...who can pay and to hell with those who can't. The health care systems in place just about everywhere these days is, in my opinion, a farce...a joke. Here in the U.S. health care reform is an issue Obama is trying to push through and is urging doctors to support. I wonder how many will actually do that once they realize their wallets won't get as big. It's a real damn shame. Back in the day this sort of thing never would have happened. I pray you guys get the help you need. Feel better.

     Oh...before I forget. Maybe a chuckle or two will help.

CHUCKLE...CHUCKLE AND MAYBE A YUCK-OR-TOO

Not that simple... Among MD's the $ tends to go to the subspecialists (Cardiology, Gastroenterology) and surgeons (just about all) LINK

Also, LINK Here income has remained flat from 1999 to 2009. Primary care sees the most and gets the least.

Unfortunately, cognitive skills rate less than procedural ie...thinking pays less than cutting/scoping/etc.

The entire reimbursement system has to be redone.

Also,  No one has given an exact analysis of where the money in healthcare is going. It's not going to the MD's.

Take a look at BCBS CEO salary....Hospital CEO salary and Pharmaceuticals...that's where the bucks are going...and, of course to the politicians to keep things unequal.

I sincerely wonder what motivated George W. Bush to forbid Medicare to bargain down meds prices for Medicare Part D recipients?

Also: Why isn't there means testing in place for entitlement program enrollees? Why isn't there a scale of benefits and degree of reimbursement by income/age ?

Because we have a system which has a 'professional' political caste, a system where money reaches them from PACS, Companies and the rich.

No one's going to change that. Not until they are forced.

I may not be as knowledgable as you are in the health care field, having no experience in that respect but I do now this...those with the money get the best there is and those who don't get the shaft. I've seen it. Back in the mid 80's I drove for a private ambulance company and my boss once had a fit because I took the patient, who had had a heart attack, to the nearest emergency room without collecting the fee 'first'. I have this thing about putting life ahead of money. Call me a radical because I don't worship the 'Almighty' Dollar. I quit soon after that.

I have Medicaid since I can no longer work with the cancer, and I have to say, at least here in Arizona, I haven't missed a bit of care. I get the same chemo, hospital stays, tests (oh, all the TESTS!) and everything as someone with lots of money. I can't complain, so far.