Do i have any RIGHTS honestly?

[OGPowderPuffCakes]

I take:
Roxicodone 30mg x2-3 times a day (1800 mg)
Hydrocodone 10mg 3 times a day
Effexor 150 mg 1 time a day
Klonipine 1 mg 4 a day

now thats what the pain clinic gives me.

Now the story:

for the 1st time im really scared for whats too come.I had a appointment at 1:15 which i thought was 1:30 so i was late and i apologized cause i in all honestly thought it was 1:30.Ok so they rescheduled me.Then i got seriously ill i couldn't "hold down" water.and i was sick for the last 3 days.Which i missed the appointment again.so ive called the last 2 days and finally got a hold of them and they were "very rude" and told me i was "dismissed" what am i supposed too do? My Dr was like a friend and she even prescribes my Effexor and Klonipin..so not only am i worried about not getting my pain meds but i cant get ANY of my meds!

do i have any rights? how can somebody with a heart just cut somebody else from meds like these?

thank you too you all!!

[Tuckamore]

Hello and Welcome to the Pain Management Forum. First let me say how very sad I am to hear that your mom left this earth. My heart goes out to you!!

I am also so sorry to hear about your situation. I hope all those that read this...learn from your incident. No matter how sick you are...even if you have to vomit on the receptionist...keep your PM appointment.

There is a patient abandonment law. I am not sure it is in all states and the problem is by the time you enforce it the crisis has resolved, pr passed. The law says that the physician must prescribe your meds for 30 days or help you through detox, again only for 30 days. But how do you enforce that??? I don't honestly know. Appeal to your PMP and ask that they help you for that time period. If not contact your PCP as suggested above.

However please don't waste time. Sadly, your PMP probably isn't going to help you or take you back as a patient. Make an appointment with a new PMP asap.

Please let us know how you are doing. We offer you our support and are here to listen. I wish you the very best.

Take Care,
~Tuck

[geminigirl1963]

My suggestion would be to go to your primary care physician.  If they are unable or unwilling to prescribe your pain meds, they shoudl at least be able to prescribe you something to help you through any withdrawal symptoms.  If all else fails and the symptoms get really bad, you can always try the ER.

Best of luck.

[OGPowderPuffCakes]

Thank you all for any input!

the only thing is i have been very depressed as i lost my mother,and with this and my bad health i dont think i can take detox..anybody have any idea of where i can get help?

i have been very calm,and they have been very hateful...im lost :(

[inga511]

This happened to mr with my pain Doc who I really liked alot. First I typed a letter to him and told him how much, I appreciated his help over the years and explained the circumstances surrounding my missed appointments. Then I came in to the office and has a calm pleasant face to face conversation with the office manager. I asked her what she needed mr to do to return to good standing with the practice because I did not want to lose my Doctor and I showed her a copy of the letter. She said she would call mr back. She did not. So after three days I called her, she said she hadn't forgotten but it had been busy and the Doc needed me to get a new MRI, more test bf I could come back in. I completed all the request that she asked for(it took me a month). When I brought her the test results, she showed them to my Doc, then called me and scheduled an appointment for the following week. The whole entire time I had to be pleasant and rational while in pain.

Good luck, hope this helps!

Ingrid

[toocan]

We really need to get together with our complaints and bring it to the public and the congressmen of our different states. Pain management doctors think they are God. Very few care about their patients. We suffer and suffer and I am tired of the B.S. they giuve us.
Most doctors that are not pain management think we are just drug addicts. I have known people who could not get help and died or commited sucidide. can;t spell but anyway u get the meaning.  God Bless and Good Luck  Connie

[toocan]

Pain management doctors are the worse. My pain management dr. did not release me for not getting to the appointment even with a call saying I was in the hospital but he charged the insurance co.  then charged me $50.00 cash. he had me on a morphine pump implant
and on oxycotin,valium, and 30mg. of morphine {all oral} so when I wound up in Georgia and could not get back to him I called doctors within 2 hours of where I had to go and dr's said IF I DID NOT PUT IT IN I WONT MAINTAIN IT.   So I went into withdraw, almost died and finally a family doctor put me in the hopspitat and i was in there 10 days. I am now
having the pump taking out after 8 years. If you have to move you can;t find a doctor. The maker, medtronics does not tell you this. Self hypnosis by a teacher helped me more than the pump, rehabiliation, bio-feedback or accupuncture. Good Luck and God Bless Connie at ***@****

[judylabrador]

I am sorry about the person that has been dismissed.  My husband was dismissed as well for a bad urine test that was not true but, because of that and an arrest record his primary care Dr will not even help with ANY of his meds.  He has been in bed since Thanksgiving and has had horrible withdrawl from all of the narcotics he took for 5yrs.  They do not care about what people have to go through.  There seems to be a pattern with PM places.  They put all of the rules on the people that try to do their best to do what they want and in turn they give meds to people that go sell them on the street!  I am sick of the stigma that is put on people with REAL chronic pain.  They are just killing some of them because my husband is close to suicide because of his pain!  We can not get anyone to listen.  They just treat him like a drug addict!  Going through this with him for the last 25yrs is heartbreaking and hard.  I do not know what to do now....anyone have an idea?

[geminigirl1963]

Unfortunately, with pain management, when you miss apointments (or are late to them and have to reschedule), they can and quite often will dismiss you.  

Did you sign a contract with your PM doc?  If so, read over the contract and see exactly what it says about missed/rescheduled appointments.  This information would be especially important to know whether you have any legal rights or not with them regarding this.

Do you have a primary care doctor?  If so, you might want to check with them and see if they can at least prescribe your Effexor and Klonopin for you.  Be totally honest with your primary doc as to what happened - they may possibly be willing to prescribe your pain meds until you can find another pain mgmt doc.

Best of luck and I hope you feel better.

[mooksmom]

When you miss appts with Pain Mgmt practices, for whatever reasons, it send a red flag....when you miss more than one appt, they often dismiss you. Maybe find another PM doctor.