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Suzetrigine - a novel drug for pain

Chronic Pain | Last Active: 1 day ago | Replies (258)

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@flyjim

Just asked my PCP about it two weeks ago. Never heard of it.
Asked my orthopedic surgeon and he said he wrote one script to someone that had a previous prescription from her previous home town. Ask my spinal pain interventionist and he said he won’t waste his time as of now because it’s to expensive, the company wants a letter from the Dr. as to why he is prescribing it as they might help out with the cost but his research indicates they usually decline it.
Also, not approved for chronic pain, only acute as in post op pain. Long story short,
America, best healthcare in the world if you’re wealthy.

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Replies to "Just asked my PCP about it two weeks ago. Never heard of it. Asked my orthopedic..."

There is a coupon for $30 on their site.

"Just asked my PCP about it two weeks ago. Never heard of it." - Yup. Classic.
Here's the rule of thumb: "Doctors all stop reading the minute they graduate." That's Thompson's Law (I claim credit).
EVERY MD I've said this to gets irritated, claims that's not true of them. Then they proceed to demonstrate it IS true of them. ALL so far - and I've seen a LOT of doctors in the past 20 years.
I know, I know: they put in unreasonable hours in med school, in Internship, as Residents. Being a doctor is demanding too: half the time they're not even WITH patients, they're doing paperwork for government or insurance companies. I get it.
Here's the thing: as a IT & business consultant I had to keep up with at least 17 different industries & functional areas, stay abreast of developments. I'd never claim I knew as much as my clients about their given functional area, but at very least I had to know enough to be able to vet whether THEY knew their field well. And as soon as I smelled an opportunity, I had to know a LOT more about the given problem than they did. Again: 17+ different industries & functional areas. I had to keep up on them all. So I don't have a lot of time for you if you can't keep up with YOUR sole specialty. And so far, every time I've run up against a life-altering or life-ending medical problem, I've quickly discovered I could know a LOT more about it than my doctors. EVERY TIME SO FAR.
That's irritating, and not just to my doctors.
I've had more than one doctor look at me sideways & say "You understand James, a doctor's worst nightmare is... a patient, with Google."
I'm sorry, you have my sympathy. Just NOT SO MUCH: for you this is irritating. For me, life-threatening!

Unfortunately, we need our doctors. But patients can & SHOULD push back! Demand that your MD keep up. Be humble, realize that they DO have a med degree - you don't - and patients generally can't understand all the stuff they read in medical journals, if they even try. And without an MD's education they can't fit such new stuff into a coherent pattern with the rest of general medical knowledge. Patients face a near-impossible handicap.

OTOH, most doctors aren't even trying. So if you're motivated & somewhat bright, willing to read deeply & research relentlessly, even a patient can often think rings around their specialist. At very least, ask questions & push to have something ruled in or out. Ask whether a given treatment possibility should be considered.
Worst case, you irritate the MD. Worst for you is you'll die, and the MD will... move on. "Oh well, so sad. I'll try to remember that next time I see it." You die; they get to carry on, live a very good lifestyle on a top-5% income.

BE skeptical. Try to be humble, try to be understanding of their plight (8 years+ & $250K in debt as a specialist being second-guessed by an amateur...!"). But be determined, stubborn. Advocate for yourself. Insist on understanding what their position is & why - without that, you can't give informed consent. And 'stick to your guns' (NOT literally) if you think something else is required, or will work better for you. You may not get to choose, but you sure as hell have the right of input, and you can demand they investigate on a best-efforts basis before you provide consent. I don't think that's unreasonable.