I'm not going to start with formalities, this is about the 50th place I have come to find help, but seems the most informatic....
So, will start with the bad...
I'm a former 'Terminal' cancer patient that had Nasopharyngeal and non hodgking lymphoma ok... I've had 30+ ops, the highest dose of Radiation and Chemo. As a result I have had half my jaw removed, my hip an flesh used to fill and another flap of my chest muscle for my neck.. I'm in severe pain, every minute of every GD day...
I was on 20mgs, doing awesome, putting weight back on.. I was 82kgs, went down to 49, on 20mgs Ox I went back up to 65kgs an was able to compete in a 220km charity ride for cancer raising 10k.. On my Dr's advice, I started tapering off thinking I would be ok, I was very very wrong.. I'm now 49kgs again and on deaths door.. I started seeing a new Dr, I asked to be put back on.. After jumping through all the pain management hoops an starting on 10mgs he was given authority to prescribe said medication.. On return, he still gave me 10mgs knowing full well I needed to be on 20 which is a fairly low dose, I'm no fool..
The minute I mentioned I have a lawyer, his attitude turned nasty, told me it was illegal (He has authority to prescribe) treating me like a junkie an a fool.. I had enough and I had a nervous breakdown on the spot, I do not want to die like this.. So, I end up in hospital, in mental health observation as I went in suicidal because I've been dealing with this rubbish for to long..
Today, I'm on my last dose of what the hospital has given me, pain management has literally said I can have 20mgs no problems... The last Dr I saw, even with the discharge sheet in his hand, when he seen what I was prescribe instantly said no and then started the same process of abusing me as a junkie.. I walked out before I had another break down.. I call my Original Dr I had a melt down on, told him he has a duty of care an to fax my script to my chemist until I can see a dr who pain man said they'll fax through everything needed for this.. He refuses, says I threatened staff, I honestly cannot remember this,..
BUT, is he allowed to punish me, via withdraw an chronic pain, or does the Code of conduct protect me from this? From what I gather a a law student an research I have done, he is letting a conflict of interest effect my health an well being as a punishment...
Also, where so I make a complaint about this Dr so he will be taught he cannot just punish ppl especially those on deaths door, like this?
Nice to meet you - I'm Paton but Pat to my friends..
Wow there is a huge amount of anger here in your post. Not sure where to start.
You say you have contacted 50 other2. Did you get any response at all? Hard to believe no one had any advice.
Your pain consultant is the one who decids, from a pain point of view, your course of meds. If as you say he has agreed to the course to take then your GP should give you the scrip. Does your consultant know and understand what is happening?
I would assume that it is not a good idea to stop takiing these meds without medical advice and you appear to have none.
Your GP is not punishing you. He presumably is doing what he feels is the best course of treatment. The fact that it conflicts with your comsultant is hard to understand.
Yes it is possiblle to put in a complaint and your surgery will advise but a breakdown with your GP is never a good thing.
I am sorry I don't know what to advise aart from find another outlet for your anger.
Counseling from a cancer specialist? From one of the pain team? There are many out there who are better placed to help you.
He is, he refused to up my dose as I was on, then kicked me out when I refused to accept that... Pain management wants me on this, I am seeing a Dr on Thursday and I am very much doing the right thing..
When I say he's punishing me, he was called an asked to fax a script to the pharmacy until I can see this new Dr.. His answer was no, simply because I'm "Black listed' from his surgery, not because I don't need it or that he cant give them to me.. 1, he simply doesn't want to take a risk, 2, he doesn't want to... Again, PM, have said I NEED to be o 20mg, he refused... So now I'm BL'd and he refused his duty of care.
After saying/writing this, I feel you're post is full of patronisim in a heavy undertone way... I don't like that, please don't communicate with me on that level..
Thanks for reading regardless, and yea I am very very very mad...
How rude !!! Pat has been a great ear for us all on this pain site, I don't feel that Pats comments were anything but helpful, I think that if you have tried at least 50 sites or people or sites before you don't want help with your meds you just want support to sue your doctor, I know in the Uk Drs don't just remove you from their books for no reason, you need to ask your health board to place you with another Dr, you then need to work with your Pain Management consultant and your GP to work out a plan, I have been told epidural steroid injections are not suitable for me as I have had 3 already, I am now in a lot of pain but am patiently waiting for a pain management course which I have been advised will help me in the long term, medication is not the only treatment for chronic pain, it can take years to get to a reasonable state of pain management.
Please do not bite the hand that is trying to give you long term help, it is known long term pain meds can actually start to 'feed' pain so in turn makes you worse.
I hope you get to the point of relative comfort with your pain but believe me the legal way is the wrong way, also remember the pain stress loop I.e. Pain = stress, stress = pain
sensible answer .. But some people are really in pain & not being treated i see it all the time , i have had it myself but i'm coming to terms with living in pain .. i have chronic pain every day , was on oramorph & tramadol they cut it down tried other drugs that didn't work & said there nothing else & we will not supply opiates .. some doctors will not spend on it .. thats a fact ... it's really hard , i do not know how i get by day to day ,in complete agony , i taught CBT myself , now i know it from the other side i really feel sorry for guys like us .. it's becoming a third world country on postcode lottery ..
There is no duty of care any more , this is all simply cutting back .. this country is in a complete mess , who pays ..the people , where ever they can cut back they will , expensive medicine was the first on the agenda !! no one will be getting anything soon .. paracetamol .. hold ya hats uk . keep well !!
Also I'll add, I have reported him the the Medical board an the Australian health practitioner regulation board..
As I stated, I am a law student an if I cant get advice, I find it.. Also, I have spent a good part of today studying the COde of conduct an he is absolutely doing the wrong thing....
if you complain about a Doctor in UK .. they will all close down on you .. go through pain team , ( i personally did not find it useful ) as i taught CBT and i was a yoga instructor ..
Sorry you found my response patronising. I was trying to give you the advice you'd asked for. I feel it was fair ro ask what the other 50 answers were.
Now you have said you have been blacklisted i can understand a lot better.
As you seem to have answered you oen questions
It may have helped too if you had said Australia when you posted. i am very know ledgable on their care of cancer patients having nursed my brother through his out ther.
Members on this forum are more than willing to respond to posts but not when you come in shouting, angry and not willing to listen.
Hi ya Tejai, I know it must be difficult for you and I understand more than you know, and I know just how Dr's can be in regards prescribing proper pain meds, and with addictive meds they are even more difficult, especially when you have a history and when it comes to protecting themselves over giving you what you may need, they will always choose protecting themselves, (or most will), and yes there will be the ones that will react badlly to personality clashes, and there will be vindictive doctors who may hide behind reasonable rules and things to push you away, but really they don't like you ,and yes they have the power and will use it to abuse it.
But those are difficult to prove, and anyway who will believe you, over and above a doctor's word, so your on a hiding to nothing raising their hackles needlessly, best to be polite, and if you're truthfull , then you have that on your side, and I can not believe if a pain clinic prescribes you pain meds and you can't get them to prescribe them, then there is a personality clash, or a misunderstanding, then go to another doctor, or get the pain clinic to give you the prescription themselves, but you have to be careful here because they are not above using subterfuge to get you to accept their view of what they think is best for you, so there are just so many ways to look at what is going on, because addiction is a dirty word in many places and in the minds of so many people.
But I know as I get angry myself at the loss of control that you loose when you have to go to doctors and chemist's, and the way it drives in to you that you don't have control over your own life, and the psychobabble from pain clinics when they don't believe your in bloody pain, so Tejai I know probably more than you know about the whole sorry business of living with an addiction, and an addiction that you hate, and they can twist that knife more than they really know, and that's before you start dealing with the day to day pain and the bloody looks you get, and have to put up with no matter what, and that's before the bloody day to day drudgery of living and trying to cope with chronic pain, oh and of course the assessors and the benefits people looking to call you a liar, oh sorry, forgot myself.
But as long as you treat people with decency and don't abuse them, and that you are telling the truth, then you have all you need, its just that you might have to wait till they believe you, and after you've apologised to all n sundry, then you'll have the moral high ground, and then you can't loose, unless of course you abuse people, then you'll never win, hope that does not sound pathetic advice, but I wish you well, best Alex
Thank you, you actually understand and I could feel your heat rising as you described what I've been going through.. I think at this point it'd be best to help you understand where I am at.. So, bare with me here ok, I shall come back to different points you have made.. But right now, I want you to understand why I cannot tolerate anymore.
At 11, I watched my mother get hit by a drunk driver, while walking on the footpath to go Xmas shopping.. This was 19th of December an buried the day before Xmas, the 24th. I was then institutionalized as a ward of the State, meaning the Gov was now my care giver..
After countless amounts of psychological/physical abuse, I ended up at a refuge where I was sexually abused.. After reporting it, I was confronted and made out to be a liar/trouble maker an sent to a detention Centre called "Ormond". Where I was stopped searched for the 1st time, and conditioned as a criminal to the extent I believed that's who I was. Many survivors are now facing the Royal commission, as I am.. It feels like our duty as survivors to rip open these wounds to help make sure kids in vulnerable conditions are not abused an have a voice to be heard.
I repressed my mothers death, she died in my arms an I literally bit and scratched the Ambulance as they tried dragging me from her.. This, had only just come flooding back.. Along with so much, there's just not enough time an space to explain this..
But, I'm at a point now, after losing half my jaw, my teeth, my chest muscle.. Where pain is just to much as I have both mental an psychological to deal with. Seeing the Dr treat me so vile, it disgusted me beyond belief and I refuse, utterly refuse to take anymore, off of anyone... I cant do it. I ended up in hospital begging for help as I am a cutter an have very deep scars I just knew this time would be it.. As I'm standing there waiting for the Dr to come back, who was absolutely terrific an empathetic (she was the one who got PM to give me 20mg authorisation), two nurses came up, told me I was getting put into the mental health clinic.. Asked to check my bags for drugs/dangerous weapons etc, I wholly agreed as I could see why.. Next minute, I'm being stripped searched, put in gown an had my laptop (Im currently writing a novel called "Amen, I speak the truth" about Institutional care).. Massive trigger as I told you memories are flooding back uncontrolled and seemed like I was right back in Ormond..
Spent the night bawling, was so bad the male nurse cried as well.. He didn't even know my story, but could see my pain.. So I spent 2 days here, released an told my medication would 100% be looked after.. I see a new Dr (Sic), he refuses again.. I walk knowing Im a breath away from death either way, via my hand or theres... Go back to hospital, get treated again like a junkie by the most condescending twat I have ever met.. Cocking her head like I was a child, to berating me for being deaf (Im 90% deaf, can read lips), caught her an another nurse cracking jokes about "Another junkie, they're all the same"..
I left, go to mental health wing to by pass the redtape, was given my medication just for a few days until I see a new Dr that would have all my info etc etc, so I will 100% be looked after..
My original Dr knows I'm suicidal, he also seen in my notes that I rode 220kms, was 68kgs, training everyday and happy... I was pain free, who wouldn't be.. So it should be somewhat understandable that I had a nervous breakdown, he knows damn well that Im protected via CoC and duty of care under his Hippocratic oath.. Today he knew all he had to do was fax a script, for a few more days as he has had all the authority paperwork done an knows damn well PM wants me on 20mgs..
Its obvious what he's doing is trying to make me regret my actions, I do not.. I study law, just to fight ppl like him who think they're above the law, above the LORE, and about us lil folks... I felt your pain, you described everything I feel, from the stares an glares, to the condescending and profiling/discrimination.....
I want to end this, and I will.. I beat 4 deaths, clinical deaths.. 2 cancers, Domestic violence and I now raise my kids.. I not just deserve the respect, demand it and will not be spoken down to.. I see your point, my point is I have been doing that for way to long and its this type of attitude thats given negligent Dr's the power an nerve to do these things just because, as you said, personality clashes...
Sorry for the long read buddy, I just think I needed to explain where I am at...
Complex situation, but I think the simplest thing to do is start with a copy of the letter from Pain Management stating the dose you need. Take it to the GP who is prescribing, and ask if they will prescribe exactly what is written by PM. If they say no, then ask very calmly why not. Make a note of their reasons, then without arguing, just leave. Then write a very simple and short letter to the relevant health authority in your area (use a patient advocacy service or cancer support and advocacy service if one exists as this will give more credibility and weight), stating in bullet points: 1. PM have recommended this level of pain meds. 2. your GP refuses to prescribe at that level for the following reasons.....(quote exactly what GP said) 3. Ask what you need to do in order to get prescribed the pain meds at the recommended levels. 4. enclose a copy of the pain management letter so they have the evidence.
Note that this letter isn't a complaint - its a request from you for help to get what you need. That should make it go down better and should get you resolution quicker.
Don't elaborate, don't give any additional background to confuse the issue. Keep it simple: The bare fact is that PM say you need these meds, but your prescribing doctor isn't supplying them. They don't need to know any of your medical history as long as you have that documentation from PM about your need for the meds.
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My Neck Pain is unbearable
