Insurance change, horrid doctor, never felt so small

[jrasted]

I have suffered with severe pain since December 2010, I remember because it seemingly happened over night. My pain and other symptoms were not confined to my lower body and are still not confined to just my lower body but my legs to give me a big problem. I was 31 when it all started. I have DDD, fractured vertebrae, an extra lumbar vertebrae, disc protrusion, born with slondylethesis, stenosis, and scoliosis. But remember my symptoms are not just limited to pain and not just my lower body. After seeing doctor after doctor and insurance changes happening right before major tests were being ordered, I finally found a doc, pain management, that treated me like a human being. I tried all alternative treatments and even lowered my pain meds when I was actually in more pain just to prove that I’d try anything. And he trusted me…. I never misused my meds. I had been with that doctor for 4 years. So I go to my scheduled appointment a week ago and they say that they can’t see me because my insurance IPA changed. So at this point I’m 3 hours away from home on a vacation to help my grandfather, so not a vacation really, just helping, and I’ve run out of my meds. So I needed to go to my primary care to get a new referral. My pain doc appointment where they couldn’t see me was on a Thursday and I couldn’t get into my primary care clinic until that Monday, and my usual physician is booked out a few months so I needed to just see another provider in the practice. Since I had a few days I decided to be proactive and look up what pain management doctors would take my new IPA. There were 3, so I called them all. One was almost an hour away, could get me in the soonest, and had alternative therapy in the same building. The other 2 were 2 hours away and couldn’t get me in as quick, so I had decided on the first one and got all the information to give them at my appointment. I use my last $40 to get home to go to the clinic where I see my primary care, Dr. John, but he was booked so I saw another PA, she said that I would need to come back the next day and see the head doctor there. I’m thinking ok, no problem, I just need the new referral and help with my medications until I get into the specialist. I thought that’s what primary care docs do for their patients and according to my insurance that is exactly what they were suppose to do cuz the insurance change was not the patients fault and I never received notice of this until 4 days after being turned away at pain management.

So I show up the next day with a years worth of prescription printouts, my bottles, a recent Mri I just happened to have on me. I did all I could to be as transparent as possible. He looks at my stuff and starts chuckling. He then interrogates me. Why are you on these meds, I said cuz I’m just following doctors orders. He then tells me my Mri shows that all my conditions are mild and I should not be on any pain meds at all. I told him there was more than just that Mri but he didn’t care to look, he walked out and I could hear him laughing with others. At first he refused to give me a referral, then he says he will. So I start to tell him who I want to see, and he cuts me off and yells at me, YOU DONT GET TO PICK WHO YOU SEE. I’m almost positive he wrote something in my record and referral to give the docs the wrong impression of me. I’m trying so hard not to cry at this point, and he then proceeds to tell p to me that I can no longer see Dr. John. So the first two doctors I ever really trusted have been taken from me. He said you are my patient now and if you don’t like it you can go somewhere else. He told me to come back in two weeks and I’m going to just because I think he expects me to be a no show. I take quite a few other meds and I’m scared he’s gonna screw it all up when I had finally reached a mix that worked. He was so accusatory towards me. He passed judgement on me in the first 2 minutes. And he of all people should know just because you don’t look like you’re dying doesn’t mean you aren’t on the inside. I cried for 3 hours straight. I have worked so hard to find a way to do things different as not to cause too much pain, I have to plan everything so if I have a busy day I have a few days to recover. I feel like shit every time I have to cancel plans, miss class, or miss my daughters events. My pain is severe, sometimes I can’t move for days and crawling to the bathroom hurts. He has no clue how bad it is, and he just assumed I was a drug seeker and is going as far as to ruin my medical record. I hope my new pain docs will understand. And if he sends me to one of the doctors I hadn’t picked I know he would have done it for spite since the other two are so far away. I was as prepared, upfront, and honest as one could be and I still got judged. Thanks for awakening my depression and ptsd with doctors, doctor a hole.

[Noki4]

Hi Jrasted, I am so sorry for what has happened to you. One thing I do not understand is how that doctor can tell you that you cannot see your primary care provider again. I just cannot see how the other doctors in the practice would be accepting of this guy taking their patients. Even though I would be scared, worried and so much more, I would reach out to your Dr. John and find out if he agrees with this.

I see a primary care provider where there are multiple doctors in the practice and I have seen them all over the past 20+ years but have never been told by one of them that I cannot continue to see my Dr. Brian even if they disagree with the medications and treatments he gives me.

I wish you the best and hope that you will come back and let me know how things go.

I also want to share with you something that has helped me greatly and that The Pain Community offers to support us. Every Tuesday there is a support conference call. The calls are free, but please check your long distance calling plan to see if any standard long distance rates apply.

The calls are laid back and everyone can share what they want too and if you just want to listen or share just a little that is okay too. Here is the link and the schedule of the calls. I do hope you will think about giving the calls a try. The next call is August 21st at 1:00pm ET, 12:00pm CT, 11:00am MT and 10:00am PT.

Take care,
Noki4

TPC Outreach Support Conference Calls

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