Doctors In Pittsburgh,pa Who Will Take Over My 8 Year History With Pain Medications (Top voted first)

I have chronic lower bak pan and have for 20 years. MRI's show buldging discs,stenosis&Degenerative Disc Disease. Been on the same pain meds for 8 years now-MS Contin 30mg 2Xday and Vicodin 7.5/750mg 2-3 X day. Now, Primary Doctor suddeny is recommending weening me off ad has started the process aainst my will. My pain continues. Ive not been "cured". The meds make it so that I can liveon ad move. There has been no options suggested to me except getting my pain back. Im afraid and need help finding a Doctor who iswilling to writethe scripts. I have not asked for any increase in my meds for 6 years now and am not looking to do this now either.I tow the line and play no games. I just need help please.Thak you sincerely.

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I go to pain management in Pittsburgh where I receive a small amount of Vicodin. I have to see the doctor every month and get drug panels. I have a 15 year old injury. I have already had surgery years ago, but now that arthritis set in and as I get older, the pain gets worse and worse. In order to get these Vicodin, I had to agree to go through more rounds of injections again. Even though I have had these in the past without any pain reduction, I did what my Pain Management wanted and went through the treatments again. After multiple epidural and facet injections, with no improvement at all, my doctor has finally agreed for my suggestion of trying PT again to strengthen the muscles. I still am under a pain contract, and have to see the doctor monthly. I really jump through hoops and pay top dollar to continue to get a small amount of Vicodin. Unfortunately, this is what you have to do in the US. You have to go to pain management and do whatever they say just to prove you aren't a junkie. It's terrible.

I understand the war on drugs and why prescriptions need to be monitored, but they are taking it entirely too far in the US. Illegal drug use is higher than ever, and the people who suffer the most in this war are people like me with REAL pain who are just trying to get to work another day in order to pay bills. With the deductibles and copays so high in the US now, I have spent about $5000 out of pocket this year and that is with insurance! I think this war on drugs is actually creating MORE junkies! I pay thousands to get a 60 vicodin a month. That barely takes the edge off the pain and two a day only last 8 hours. It would be much easier and cheaper just to use illicit drugs! The only reason I haven't gone that route is fear of jail, but I totally understand why people use illegal drugs for chronic pain.

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why you say your pcp will refer you he could wait days for that to happen, mine would not prescribe any percoset to get me by till I found a pain management doctor, which is crap!!! they can help you until you get another doctor, but most of them won't help COWARDS.......

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Hello, Darren! How are you doing? Sorry about the problem you're having.

What your doctor didn't inform you of is that there have been new regulations put in place that severely restrict what PCP's can prescribe, why they can prescribe it, how much they can prescribe and how long they can prescribe it. Thus, your doctor really has no choice in the matter, they can't keep prescribing them for you.

If you require such medications on a long-term ongoing basis for chronic pain, you'll need to see a pain management specialist.

Do you think your PCP could refer you to someone? That would be the easiest way to find the help you need.

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i hear u girl same boat NO PADDLES i have upmc and have been to 5 chronic pain mgt centers all to be treated like a criminal drug seeiing junkie. i am looking for help as well in pitt pa area

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Like many others who have posted on this site I too am experiencing new difficulties getting my pain meds. I have been on Fentany patches for the last 20 years or so, all without any problems and significant relief. The patches are in fact nothing short of a Godsend for me. But every time they wear off on the second or third day my pain comes right back and I am bed-ridden in agony and boredom once again, often for two or three days at a time. Before going onto the patches I was given oral opioids like Oxycontin, but those drugs had bad side effects, never knocked the pain back much, and had to be taken three times per day. The patches on the other hand have no side effects, are easy to use and usually last at least two or so days before my blood levels of the drug drop and the deep aching and throbing pain returns, quite literally making it impossible for me to do any kind of work - I have thus had to retire early from my enjoyable and well-paid job --or even just sit up in a chair and read, or watch a movie etc. The Fentanyl patches are the only thing I have found in 20 years of searching that really help with my intractable severe chronic pain which is one symptom of my unusually severe case -- one of the three worst my former PCP has ever tried to treat -- of M.E. Unfortunately my PCP, who had been treating me successfully since I first became ill at the end of 1990, recently retired.

I was thus referred by him to another doctor who has begrudgingly continued my treatment for the last year or so but who is now forever pushing me to greatly reduce my meds, probably because of the new and thoroughly cruel prescribing laws.. Like some of the others on this site I too have been to the main UPMC pain management center which was nothing but a complete waste of time as they showed no sympathy whatsoever, treated me like a dope seeking addict, and wanted me to drop the meds to go onto an "exercise regime," which is a simple impossibility for someone in my kind of pain, imbalance, exhaustion, sleep disorders, and extreme fatigue. I am thus desperate to find both a new PCP, and even more so, a new pain management specialist. PLEASE let me know where I can find a physician who will once again treat my disabling condition with the one medication that actually works for me, and makes a truly miserable condition bearable. Going off the pain meds altogether, as so many folks who have no severe chronic pain have advocated, is simply NO solution for me as I have tried that successfully three times now and each time the pain has merely come back quickly again as devastating as ever. Thanks so much for reading my plea for help, and feel free to contact me even if all you have to offer is the name of a physician that you have heard is supposed to treat sever chronic pain with the seriousness it requires!!

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Darren, Did you ask why the doctor why he wants to stop your medication? While each state is different the DEA does not limit any MD from prescribing pain medications for extended period of time. Doctor will tell you this for a excuse. Check the DEA web site for the current reg. You can also check your state policy on there web site for prescribing pain meds. I wonder if doctors who are cutting pain meds from there pain patients are doing it because they are not informed and listening to rumors (like what you here on this site over and over) or have they done there homework. Maybe your doctor will change his mine when you show him what the reg really say about what he legally can do as a MD. By the way, I take MS Contin 100mg 3 x day and get my medications from my family doctor.

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I have Upmc and the doctor sucks for pain management. I need a doctor in Pittsburgh who will write Norco or Percocet for pain. Please let me know if you have any ideas. Thanks

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Need a pain management that prescribes oxycodone o have chronic pain for 6 years now and my quality of life is limited in the Pittsburgh pa area please help

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Re: Chronic pain (# 3)

I was on pain meds for 3 years. My pain seemed to get worse and my memory was shot. My doctor cut me off when the new regulations started. I weened off and now completley off hydrocodone. I can feel and think again. My agression is gone. I do have pain however being off them it is less. I do take savella and it helps.

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Pain meds used over a long period of time will mask pain and make you think you actually have pain or its getting worse. Only way to find out is to be weened off of pain meds. My doctor just put me on suboxone. This will take away any withdrawal symptoms and tell you if the pain is real or has actually gone away. You need to seek a doctor in Pittsburgh who will help you. And prescribe suboxone for you. If your pain is real then the doctor will work with you. Do a google search for suboxone doctors in Pittsburgh. This will help you greatly. Do not fear the loss of pain meds. The suboxone takes away all withdrawal symptoms.

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