Devo day yesterday, horrendous day today

[FrannyFran13]

They ask you to fill a little booklet out to take with you to your 1st pain clinic appointment. So I get to my long awaited much needed appointment. Only for the doctor to ask you the same questions and write down the answers. She wasn't interested in their booklet I completed when I mentioned it to her. Took me ages to complete. She was cold as ice, reminded me of a strict head mistress.
She certainly doesn't like opioids to put it mildly. She wants me off all morphine AND Lyrica. With no intention of suggesting alternative painkillers. She told me "I'll have to learn how to live with the pain". She gave me a info sheet about Pain Management Centre to take home to read and said if I agree to be referred to the pain management team to call the number on the sheet. I left the appointment feeling stupid for giving my answers to her questions the way she spoke to me. 5 month's wait for a 10/15 minutes appointment of that! So now more waiting, to be contacted by the Pain Management team. What makes it worse everything she told me I found on the NHS website that was on the sheet she gave me, it actually gave more in-depth details.
Then to make matters not worse, actually horrendous in my life. This morning I phoned for an appointment with my GP. Only to be told "he's not there for the foreseeable future. The doctor dealing with his patients is not in until tomorrow" So that means he's left. He's been my GP for 18 year's he's been so supportive & been through a lot together. I'm sat here feeling a little lost.

 

[Not dead yet!]

She told me "I'll have to learn how to live with the pain".

This is absurd and abusive. She is abdicating her duty as a doctor. Since you're in the UK, you might try and see a specialist, very special specialist. Or he (or his staff) can tell you who would be helpful to you more honestly than some. He's kind of a famous maverick cardiologist so read a bit before being scared off. I think he makes tons of sense, but I respect your opinion, even if it differs. We all know ourselves best. So here he is:

His Website: https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/
His book, he has others but this is my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/Doctoring-Data-medical-advice-nonsense-ebook/dp/B00TCG3X4S

If it helps, I"ve had a neurologist for chronic pain since I was 26 when migraines finally became a daily event. I didn't know I should've gone sooner because everyone ignored it. What the doctor said was that my nervous system may never recover because I had tolerated the pain for so long. He said I should never tolerate pain again and if it takes 1000 visits to doctors, I should always find treatment. He said the deterioration of the nervous system proceeds faster when there is chronic pain.

The irony? He sent me to a sleep specialist who completely dismissed my pain and my insomnia and sent me to a shrink. The shrink tried to make me believe I had some repressed emotional trauma. Nope. All my traumas are on the surface. She pushed so hard she had me searching my memory for times my mom rightly punished me for things. And I kept explaining that my mom maybe punished me a total of 6 times because she believed in discussion, not punishment.

I don't think it's a coincidence that the nice doctor in my life was male and the cruel one was female. I think gender matters. When my husband goes to a male doctor he gets a "tape it up and play" response (with one or two rare exceptions). Ditto when I see a female doctor.

Right now the USA is going through what is being called an "opioid epidemic" and patients like me who understand pain are the tiny little voice in the corner saying... "but it's medical care, it improves lives, and scaring more people away from proper treatment is driving people into the hands of criminals for medical care." Nobody is listening to that yet, but the same thing happened with abortions. Women were scared and legislated into the arms of killers.

So what I would do is complain. I'd go to the administrator of that hospital/medical group or whatever administrative body supports that place. I'd ask to see a social worker and explain to them that this doctor wasted your time and has delayed needed medical care, putting your health and your function at risk. This is exactly the criticism that so called "quack" doctors receive so it will definitely get a response. You have a right to be treated for a medical condition. Healthy people don't go to doctors and ask for help.

You probably already have limited energy reserves, so take that advice with a grain of salt. It might be simpler to find another doctor. But I also think that, years from now, when you look back on the event, it will hurt less if you manage to speak out about it, or even provide a written complaint. This doctor just trampled your boundaries and ignored your needs. Whatever quality control they have in place, even minimal, is yours to exercise if you wish.

In the meantime, the best I can do is be encouraging. So ... the sun will come out tomorrow