Anyone else end up going to the ER often because of severe pain?

kaki068, it is difficult to get adequate pain management because of the current attitude toward the medications. I'm sorry you are having this undeserved experience. It could be helpful if your pain physician made medication available for those times when the pain gets out of control. It may be that gets out of control because you are already (slightly) undermedicated. You may even be flagged at the local ER as "drug seeking."
In response to problems with drug addictions the tide turned against pain medications. instead of making reasonable guidelines for patients with painful conditions, those patients have been left to suffer. They aren't even great medications for pain. They are just better than nothing.
You might talk about this with your pain specialist. They might be able to give you something to reserve for use in extreme times of pain. But state and federal regulations are limiting their prescribing methods.
There isn't any excuse for the horrible doctors. I'm glad your husband is there to try and make them understand.

@gently Thank you, Gently. My husband goes with me to all my pain medicine appointments and we’ve told my doctor about instances of ER visits. I do feel so fortunate that he prescribes as much as he does but he will not prescribe anything else for me. He’s made that very clear. Even though my husband does let him know about my physical and mental state when I have horrible break through pain (think convulsing, hyperventilating, screaming, crying , begging for d**th, inability to respond to my husband…) Once I get that far, we can’t do anything at all to get control of it. It’s truly devastating what my pain has become over the years. I’ve wondered sometimes if my husband should just take a video of me whenever I get that bad so my doctors are able to witness it for themselves. I know that sounds awful and probably a bad idea but at least it would provide a concept of what I go through.

Hello, @kaki068, yes, I have had bad ER experiences, with one being a misdiagnosis (or a lie, not sure which is worse for the doctor), and another time I was scolded like a child (I'm retired, so not a child). Then even when they are trying to do the right thing at the ER, I still end up there many hours more than I should have been there.

It definitely seems they are very worried about getting in trouble for people that are just looking for drugs. Not a single medical professional I saw in that time frame even brought up pain management the entire 2 1/2 years from July 2023 until November 2025.

I had severe low back and flank pain on my right side that started in July of 2023, and the ER visits I've done were a couple of the worst experiences I've had in this medical nightmare I've been in for more than 2 1/2 years now.

Long story short, I just had spinal fusion surgery in November. A spine surgeon I found (I've found every doctor I've been to on my own, as no one volunteers anything these days) told me the disc at L5-S1 had collapsed on the right side, and I had been bone-on-bone this entire time. He removed the disc and performed the fusion at L5-S1.

@marcd2k Oh no! That’s horrible! I’m so sorry you’ve had such horrible experiences. I understand about being treated like a child at the ER which really only causes additional stress (and anger) to the already bad situation. Thank goodness you were able to find help (even if it was on your own!) I’ve been struggling and searching for help for my chronic, excruciating thoracic and lumbar spinal pain for almost eight years. Thank god I have a doctor who will prescribe enough pain medication for me (even if it doesn’t always alleviate all my pain.) It’s incredibly frustrating to be treated so poorly by a medical “professional” when I was one myself for about fifteen years. (Assistant to an ophthalmologist/surgeon) I understand what they are trying to say but I really believe some of them have chosen the wrong profession.

Yes. Sometimes once a week.

Here's the crazy part, every appointment, even those outside of the pain management clinic, you're always asked, what is your pain level.
Why ask if nothing is going to be done?
Chronic pain is no fun!

LasL2-3 and t summer I went to the ER several times because of pain. Spinal stenosis pain. I was on pain meds and taking the max limit but as soon as I moved the excruciating pain hit so bad I just could not live with it. I called my pain doctor in our home state as we were away for the summer months. Having the highest dose of meds the ER did give me Prednisone to help but nothing. Back to the ER where I already had been several times at home with this pain. I have pins in my sciatic joints. I have had several spine surgeries or procedures done. L 2-3 and L3-4 for a bony resection which exposed the nerve root L-3. Electrocautery was used. Injections several times. Last visit I was told nothing more? I lost weight. 20 lbs. No pain. NO meds. Still some issues in the left groin to back and right back sciatic areas and sometimes severe until I move, but prayers on top of prayers and more have helped me. I think the first surgery to cauterize severed a nerve to my left leg. It is totally numb, as is my right but not as severe. I pray you follow up with a pain specialist. See a surgeon and demand to have something done. No one can speak for you. Best of luck.

You need to change pain doctors! They’re supposed to help minimize your pain not make it worse especially if your current prescriptions aren’t effective. Can you offer us more info about your diagnoses and what pain meds you are prescribed if you feel comfortable?

I am so sorry - this has happened to me too. I broke several bones and had a pain pump with hydromorphone in it, had an allergic reaction, collapsed and broke my femur, blah, blah, blah...bottom line. When the hydromorphone finally was out of the pump I was put on low dose naltrexone (be careful, naltrexone is generally used to treat opiate addiction) but in the interim I had numerous EMS calls only to be labeled a '"drug seeker", in my case the pain was so severe I couldn't speak and was only able to curl up into a fetal position and moan incoherently. One EMT shouted commands to me, threatened me with narcan if I didn't jump to attention and respond to his commands. Yes, these are the heros who are allegedly here to help us, to serve and protect. ER people were unbelievably nasty to me because don't we all know - chronic pain isn't real - but yes it is, and all too often the ER isn't equipped to deal with situations that aren't obvious (like a broken bone or lack of heart beat) and use the default of drug seeker or attention seeker or other misnomer. Doctors are people like other people and are frequently in the business for the wrong reason. When they can't "fix" you they are no longer the Gods they purport to be they dismiss you as an entity they don't want to deal with. This is cruel but that's just the way the system is. I have a general mistrust of the medical system as it exists, which doesn't help you and your situation. I got lucky and found some providers that actually listened to me and treated me like a human being. As much as I hate to say this, your provider is an a**h**e and hopefully you can find someone who isn't. Naltreone, lots of PT with a good PT, and just plain stubbornness and determination combined with hatred helped for me. My new mantra is "hate when properly channeled is very cathartic". Someday the tide will turn and these a**h**es will experience pain themselves and realize the damage they have done to us. But I'm not holding my breath. Carry on by carrying on the best you can.

I am so sorry that you have had such experiences. I found that if I am in that kind of pain, there is something up with my meds. Talk to your pain Management folks. Depending on how often you are in the ER, they should be addressing this issue for you. It definitely sounds like you are undermedicated. The whole idea of pain management with meds is to keep you relatively pain-tolerant. If you are experiencing the 8/10 or 9/10, then your meds need to be addressed, or they need to give you, like I have, meds for breakthrough pain. I am taking morphine ER and have Hydrocodone for breakthrough. I also get injections every 4 months to help keep my level at a 4or 5/10. It took me being very proactive with my PCP. They want to cut back sometimes, and I need to tell them that what we are doing is working, so let's not poke the bear! Good luck with this! Mike