Pain Management Clinics -Worth It?

[PrimeTimer]

I'd like to hear from anyone about their experience with a pain management clinic. My husband has Diabetic Neuropathy and has random nerve pain thru out his body but mostly in his feet and legs. His neph prescribes him pain killers but seems reluctant to at times. We think it's because "pain" and "pain pills" are not her specialty and of course the DEA is really clamping down and monitoring doctors for writing prescriptions for opioids. I was thinking perhaps he should see a doctor at a pain clinic but really have no idea what would be expected...weekly/monthly appointments? Physical or Physio Therapy? Do they listen and willing to treat with meds? Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[kristina]

Hello PrimeTimer,
I am very sorry to read of this and I want to answer straight away. Many years ago I "went on the same road of research" whilst suffering terrible pain during SLE/MCTD-flare-ups and I went from one pain-management-doctor to another for help without achieving any success, because these so-called pain-clinics are "only there" and appear to be "better" specialised, which pain medication to prescribe and how much of it and so, generally speaking, for me it was a total waste of time to try my best there because any of these pain-killer-medications would have had a negative effect on my kidney-function...

But : what I did find out was that there are "certain government departments" who "educate certain people" and  "these certain people" are also educated to withstand all sorts of difficulties under "administered pain" etc., so I continued my research by writing to all sorts of government-departments, but sadly I never received any reply.

I wish you good luck and please let me know if any of these pain-management-clinics these days have developed and as a result have become more patient-friendly? ... And if by any chance there is some government department able to help and is "allowed" to let us know about their own research and one is "allowed" to write to them and receive an answer about how to learn real pain-management/physio-therapy etc.?

Best wishes from Kristina.

P.S. In case you wonder : The reason why I went to such great lengths to find out about positive pain-management is because I urgently needed to preserve my kidney-function as much as possible and, as "we all know", pain-medication can have a devastating negative effect on preserving the kidney-function... and so I felt it very important to find out as much as was possible in order to preserve my little kidney-function as much as I possibly could ...

[PrimeTimer]

kristina:  Thank you so much for replying. Unfortunately, it seems only prescription strength pain killers help my husband's pain but there are side effects. A lot of the stronger pain medications (opioids) are addictive whereas, instead of a small dose easing the pain your body builds up a tolerance and requires a larger dose and the cycle keeps repeating itself. Also, a lot of pain meds cause digestive issues, such as constipation or heartburn (gerd).

Many years ago a rheumatologist had me on a prescription strength Ibuprofen. She said I would need to learn or realize when my body had built up a tolerance to it so that I could be switched over to another medication. The idea was that through time I would learn when to alternate between the medications in order to avoid needing larger and larger doses. I don't know if that would work for someone needing opioids but who knows. And then because my husband's nephrologist sometimes seems a little reluctant to renew his prescriptions for pain meds got me wondering about pain clinics. Perhaps those doctors are a little more comfortable with writing prescriptions because they are afterall, operating a "pain management" clinic. I don't know...I just feel bad for my husband when he is in pain. Just isn't right that he has to suffer like that. He suffers enough just being on dialysis.

[cassandra]

Although I have been (virtually) to a pain management clinic I found it utter nonsense. They were not allowed to prescribe any medicines. Some kind of talking therapy. Like: do you think you are getting scared of getting pain when you do that?


I’m convinced there are good clinics. You could ring one and ask to send you some info.


Good luck, Cas

[kristina]

Although I have been (virtually) to a pain management clinic I found it utter nonsense. They were not allowed to prescribe any medicines. Some kind of talking therapy. Like: do you think you are getting scared of getting pain when you do that?


I’m convinced there are good clinics. You could ring one and ask to send you some info.


Good luck, Cas

Hello Cas and ... your input made me just remember that I met "such one's" as well. "They" were expecting me to "discuss" with them the "particular psychological moment" of my experiences with pain and the meeting turned out to be extremely short when "I suddenly remembered an important appointment I had forgotten and had to go to straight away" ... and understandably I "cut" this sad experience instantly out of my memory ...