I want to thank all of you for sharing your thoughts and experiences on my post about my doc reducing my meds because of government mandates. I just wanted to share a very positive update from my appointment yesterday.
My doctor is a wonderful man who treats the whole person. Like I read in several of your posts, many of you are frustrated because all your doc wants to do is give you meds and send you out the door. As I had stated, my pain doubled when he reduced both my meds by 25%, which he did state (as did my pharmacist) that that may have been too much, too soon. The very first he said to me was “I am not going to give you any more pain meds until you deal with your depression”. That got my attention. I had a “serotonin storm” from Cymbalta, so I cannot take any SSRIs or SSNIs. My PCP started me on Wellbutrin which gave me horrific migraines and sweats; so I stopped. He said, “I’m not talking about pills, I want you to get counseling”. I really thought I had dealt with my depression as I had been feeling so good and was thriving except for when my meds were changed. I always thought that of course I am depressed because I am in so much pain and I am a very active person however, I never understood that depression can cause pain; he was very adamant about this. I know that my issues revolve around my mother (she was a former patient of his, but is a pain pill addict and he found out she was getting meds from many other doctors, so he fired her). Needless to say, when he first started seeing me, he was a bit nervous as he said addiction can be genetic. Thankfully over the 5+ years I have seen him, he knows I follow the rules! ,As soon as I got home, I did some research and am going for an evaluation on Tuesday to see which of the 17 counselors will best suit my specific issues. My doc did raise my pain patch back to where it was, as he trusts me and knows I follow the rules. I did let him know right away that I did this. He is also going to set me up with the doctor who specializes in the dorsal spinal implant (he thought this was a very good idea) and he also thought getting acupuncture was a positive step as well - in fact, he knows that doctor and spoke highly of her. So after my husband and I left, we both felt much more optimistic. I do have to wait until next Saturday to get my patches, so for another week, I am going to be in more pain however, I feel good about the future today on my 53rd birthday!
Thank you all so much! Please keep in mind that while pain makes us depressed, depression can make the pain worse; pills don’t always help or may help better in conjunction with therapy. I hope all goes well and am looking forward now to the future!
Deborah