Update on how Chronic Pain Patients are Treated
It is the Monday after the incidents. I called my Pain Clinic to report that I went to the ER Friday afternoon due to pain and muscle weakness from the procedure the day before. They told me to come in in about 45 minutes to an hour. I said ok. Maybe they realize how much pain I am in now and can finally give me some meds for when it gets this bad. Or at least some trigger point injections for my back muscles that are affected by my Myofascial Pain Disorder and a neck brace would be nice to wear on and off for the next few days until my muscles stop spasming and causing all of my issues. I told the nurse practitioner this. She said she wasn't going to give me a neck brace and that the Occipital Nerve Block doesn't do what I said- muscle pain, headache, nerve pain, pretty bad muscle weakness in the neck and right side of my back. She didn't know why this was happening. She can give me the trigger point injections. She wants to put me on a steroid pack. I don't do well after about the third or fourth day. It starts making me sick. But those two things were all she had to offer me. So I cried because of the pain and the joke of my options FROM A PAIN CLINIC. They just aren't going to help me. What do I do?
On top of all of this, last week I was given a summons to court for jury duty in LITTLE ROCK. I'm having a SEVERE flair-up of my Chronic Pain Disorders, my disabilities. I can't drive to Little Rock every day for a month! I can barely drive there when I HAVE to. I explained that I got the summons and I registered as disabled and could not participate in driving to Little Rock for a month or sitting there in a chair for hours and hours. I just can't do it. I have already served my time on Jury Duty in a High-Level Court that dealt with horrible cases. It was the last stop before leaving the State level and going to the Federal level. She said you don't need that. You told them you are disabled. I said back that they needed proof in the form of this particular form that I printed out and brought, along with the Summons. She said to me that I was not understanding. If I am disabled, that is all I need. I told her again about the proof/form that they needed. I finally gave up arguing back and forth and, again, just said ok. I cried a little for being treated this way. Two years ago, when I finally gave in and asked for a handicapped tag for my car, they said that they did not label people disabled. So they do not fill out any forms that say that they said you were disabled. None. Not even disability paperwork. They wouldn't even take a copy of the letter I had typed out to explain what happened at the hospital- remember that they did the procedure that caused this to happen.
I left, with my head held low, a couple of trigger point injections that helped a tiny fraction of the pain and then only for a few minutes. It was so hard to drive. It's not far. Pretty much anything in Conway is 5-20 minutes away from anything. I drove to my Neurologist's office on the way home and told them that the Pain Center would not sign the Jury Duty Disability Excuse for me and my Doctor had signed papers for me before. I have 1 TINY GLIMMER OF HOPE. This afternoon I am attempting to drive myself to Little Rock to see a brand new Pain Clinic that my neurologist referred me to for Botox for my migraines. Since they are partially under control, I am going to see if we can start on my back and neck muscles, where most of my pain is centered at this moment. It is a more holistic clinic and offers things like Acupuncture, Botox, Massage Therapy, etc. in addition to the injections and procedures and prescriptions that my current clinic has to offer. I am hoping that this afternoon it will be better news.
