Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@shellywmf Getting medical records might also be as easy as finding out if your old Clinic and the New Clinic use "Epic"... Software and systems. Epic uses a Portal called "My Chart" They are an International Company headquartered in Wisconsin with over 10,000 employees ..Nearly 30% of Acute Hospitals and Clinics use that system.. Both Mayo and my local Hospital/Clinic use Epic and the Medical record transfer is as easy as giving the new place your social Security Number.. Good luck

Interesting, especially the last paragraph. I'M HERE AFTER BEING OFF FOR YEARS. MAY NOT EVEN CONNECT. SINCE NOV..2020 a mild cough turned into a nightmare of wheezing coughing up stuff, losing my breath. ER TOOK SAMPLES AND AN XRAY
LUNGS OK, BUT INFLAMED. GAVE ME BREATH TREATMENTS, PILLS AND PRESCRIPTIONS.
W/NURSES ALONG THE WAY/ AND A FULL REPORT.
SHE HAD THE TRAINING AS YOU DESCRIBED.
AND HER OFFICE IS CLOSE BY. SHE DOES HOME VIDEO VISITS AS WELL. SHE DID EVERYTHING IN the hours I waited and sent me home. She is taking new patients. Amazing completion for solving.
Which could have sent me to another one or to others.
My name should start with a Gerry.for a female
I'm looking forward to the to the revision of this program. If my experience gets read at all. Hoping to hear about it.

@jerry4info @hazelblumberg Our daughter-in-law is a nurse practitioner, and I concur with your assessment of them. My pcp told me yesterday that he will be retiring within the next twelve months, and finding a doctor who will agree to continue to prescribe the only pain medication that has done anything long term, morphine sulfate contin, may be difficult. And taking clonazepam for anxiety, along with a couple of antidepressants and an ongoing search for something that will slow down the progression of peripheral polyneuropathy. I take prednisone for that, and am taking Duloxetine, supposedly for the pain, but the pain just gets worse. At least, since I started taking Duloxetine, I've been doing things that were way overdue, because I actually feel like doing something. Being active does take my mind off the pain, until I quit for the day. Then it hits. I will certainly miss my doctor. He told me he'd ask around to see if there's a doctor willing to take me on. Maybe I'll be seeing a nurse practitioner. That would be fine with me.

Jim

@jimhd may I ask how long you have been taking prednisone? Do you have any of the degredation of bone and teeth that is often associated with prolonged taking of it? Do you take a lot of calcium supplements ? A friend who had a liver transplant was on prednisone for years but when taken off of it he had lost his teeth and his bone density was not so good...

I'm Sharon and suffer chronic migraine pain and pain from a pinched cervical nerve. I posted on the " old chronic pain" group occasionally, and liked to review it from time to time and see if there is any new drug etc that l should be considering. How do l find that " old group " that was full of information that l may benefit from reviewing?
Thank you for you assistance!

Hi @sharonrose1200 - I think you may be in the older largest Chronic Pain discussion now - Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself. If you scroll to the top you can change the order of the posts, go to the first page of posts, etc... If this is not the chronic pain discussion, you can find a list of all of the discussion in the Chronic Pain group by scrolling to the top of this discussion and click on "Chronic Pain" where you see the small house icon with Group / Chronic Pain / Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself. It will take you here - https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/pain/

If you want to see your previous posts, just click your member name at the top right of the page to go to your profile and settings. Then click Comments on the left side. You will see your posts and which discussions they appear in.

Hi Sharon, @johnbishop is right. You posted before in this discussion called "Chronic Pain members – Welcome, please introduce yourself"

You can see a history of your posts in your Profile. See here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/member/00-669aea27428bf2d6225847/activity/comments/

If morphine sulphate works to relieve your pain find a pain doc who will prescribe you buprenorphine. I had been on Tylenol w/Codeine then oxycodone and now buprenorphine. It works on different receptors in your brain and much more effective and much safer.

Sorry for the delayed response, @ken82

I'm learning how to get around in the new format.

I've been taking Prednisone for around 6 months, at 10mg. The neurologist hopes that it will slow down the progression of the neuropathy. He was alarmed by how much worse my numbers were when he did a nerve conduction test and punch biopsy and compared them with tests a year prior. I'm having a nerve conduction test in July, to track the progress. In the past month, I've begun feeling the pain of constriction in my calves. Until then it was only my feet and ankles.

I don't know how my bones are. I've fractured a few in fairly significant falls ribs in '96, lower back in '08, but those were because of how or where I landed. Most were on house painting jobs - retired now from that.

I eat and drink quite a bit of dairy products, and take a variety of vitamins, and eat a very well balanced diet - my wife enjoys cooking.

So, perhaps I should add the questions you raise to my list of things to discuss with the doctor. Thanks for mentioning them.

Jim

@jimhd Prednisone can have very bad side effects on bones and teeth.. particularly the jaw bone.. How does your primary care doctor see this usage in what is to be now long term usage. You might even check with your dentist.. The following quotes are from Mayo online when google Prednisone side effects......"even low doses interfere with healthy bone growth. Prednisone is a corticosteroid, a type of medication that's very effective in managing inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. Unfortunately, corticosteroids also can dramatically weaken bones and lead to osteoporosis." and "prednisone, and antiepileptic drugs, can lead to the loss of bone that supports your teeth. Bisphosphonates, drugs used to treat osteoporosis, can sometimes cause a rare condition called osteonecrosis of the jawbone, which results in destruction of the jawbone.." Be very watchful.. Check with a second opinion..