Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself

@daxel79 Try a “teaching” hospital. I contacted Mayo Clinic in Florida and they sent me to UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. Covid was in full swing at that moment. You must be your own advocate. I found an excellent pain management doctor in Charlotte. I went through 17 doctors. In my case, it is CRPS. Most physicians are clueless and won't investigate. I also found an excellent PCP in my hometown. Do you have any friends who are nurses? Ask them where they go. Don’t quit! I will not take meds because that leads to more meds. Stop sugar; red meats; processed foods; carbohydrates; alchol-these are inflammatory. MOVE-Swim, walk, tread mill, stationary bike…keep moving. Keep searching! Stay away from a pain management doctor that herds folks in like cattle where they “brand” you with Botox and tell you to come back in two weeks. They are making money and could care less about you. The dead give away is when 15 people arrive for the same time appointment.

@grannyzoo

Thank you very much for your advice. I really appreciate it. I have an appointment on the 29th with the doctor that dropped me but it’s his nurse practitioner. She’s not able to help me then I’ll be sending my records to rush Hospital in Chicago. Can you tell me is there a form I can sign at the current Pain management clinic? I’m at That will release records whenever I want to whomever I want? Because every time I go to get my records sent somewhere they say I have to come all the way in which is 45 minutes away and sign a release form for each record sent. I asked the person I spoke to at rush if I could get a copy of my own and email it to them? They said that that is possible but that they usually need the records sent directly from the Clinic anyways because when you get your own health records not everything is included. Any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

@grannyzoo I hear you...loud and clear! My PM doc has so many exam rooms it's crazy. I know why he ushers patients in and out like an assembly line, careful to try and take no more than ten minutes per appointment. I had a private practice neurologist back in PA who spent an hour and a half with me on my first appointment. Can you imagine that?

Yes I can imagine an hour and a half. My pain management doctor does the same thing. He even picks up the phone and calls. He has never given me a med to take. We work with PT; I have a spinal cord implant ( Boston Scientific) and have had epidurals. Recently I had ten pounds traction on my neck from a fall and am amazed that the CRPS had left my legs. Diet and exercise are the answers along with a good Pain Managemenent doc, PT and a PCP that listens. I have seen 27 doctors and finally found three that are excellent! Find an anesthesiologist that specializes in pain management.

@grannyzoo Happy the above works for you. Your post makes it sound easy to dispell severe pain.
Some of us might not be able to move easily, and in my case eating causes excruciating pain...so those avenues don't offer me much hope presently.
How I wish...also my SCS was a horror story. For me presently im getting greatest relief from Meditating, my options are sadly very limited. I hope one day to be well enough to incorporate exercises into my life.

@grannyzoo That's really great that you have found these doctors who are willing to spend the time necessary to find solutions for your pain. My current PM doc is an anesthesiologist, but he is not empathetic or willing to look deeper into my pain except to manage my pain pump which has not done much for my pain. He finally told me that he would bring my case to some sort of panel he will be attending. I'll believe it when I see it. I guess after almost ten years I am becoming a skeptic.

I am a 78 year old woman and I have had a lot of medical issues my whole life. I am writing now about a pain in my right arm and hand. I guess it is a spinal nerve. I have had it off and on for 35 years. I have taken gabapentin, lyrica and tegretol (at that time I also had trigeminal neuralgia). Right now I am taking nothing. The pain starts in my shoulder and ends in my thumb under the nail bed. I have dealt with neurologists off and on over the years about it. I have found that slathering Voltaren on my nerve from my thumb to my elbow and leaving it for at least 30 minutes really helped lessen the pain. The neurologist said to not do that again but it was a lot more helpful than anything else I have taken. Has anyone used Voltaren in this way? Why did the neurologist tell me not to do that? Thanks.

@anniesezu812 well, I hope you feel better. I'm very pleased with my outcome and my positive attitude about it. I left no stone unturned. I am not interested in loading my body with medications or CBD. I would much rather work with diet, exercise, and I'm so thrilled for the search I did to find my three excellent physicians.

@grannyzoo
Happy you have an excellent team . Its what we all strive for, but aren't all necessarily that luck. I wish this for us all. Its encouraging when you can get a handle on your pain , im at a point I know and understand my body much better than the Drs. in many respects. Some accept this but still cant help, others are arrogant and I move on....NEXT !