So, I decided that I would make another quick effort to try for some help. I just called the Orlando
and Spine Institute. Unfortunately, once again, they do not take my insurance.
Honestly, I expected to get that answer. The receptionist once again told me to call my insurance company.
Sadly, as I have searched for doctors over the years, I have gotten this response many times
Unfortunately, this is what you have to do here in this country. You must first get your insurance company’s approval before you call a doctor. If they say no, then you call another doctor, and so on an so forth.
If they say yes, then you must call your primary care physician and make an appointment with him in order to get a piece of paper called a refferal. If the doctor isn’t able to help then you repeat the process over and over again.
Everytime i get turned down by an insurance company I feel so helpless.
I believe that I need a place that deals with the spine and facial pain. I believe they are all connected
The pain doctor, I finally found a few months back was misleading. I thought he could do something for facial pain. When I had my first appointment, he did not correct me when i asked. I asked if he injected botox for pain. He answered by saying “who offered you botox” He found out i had spinal stenosis (arthritis in my neck and back).
When he gave me my first injection I still had hope for my face. However, I was highly disappointed.
I received a second steroid injection 💉 (which are painful) about a week ago.
The two injections did absolutely nothing. (They didn’t help my arthritis much either)
There is no cure for arthritis injections are sometimes used but it isn’t a guarantee they will help.
Unfortunately 😔 he was again quite misleading because I hoped so much that he could help my face. So most likely I won’t be back.
As, I mention here in the video. I have done a lot of research on my own. I do take five psychiatric medications. I have read where certain medications are supposed to at least alleviate some of the agony.
Lamictal was one. Which I am already on a low dose, but I’ve been on it for years and if it was going to work..I think it should have by now.
Also a low dose of Cymbalta (30) mg However Cymbalta is one of the hardest drugs to come off of.. so I don’t need the medication. I just can’t get off of it. But it is one that is supposed to help also.
All of these doctors that I have seen over the years well some have pushed gabepentin on me. I have been on it before. But the dose you must take is greater that 700 milligrams and unfortunately everything hurts my face. Every psychiatric medication I take. So it would just be intolerable to try.
my psychiatrist has been very nice. She keeps wanting to try something that might work..but all I usually end up with is another bottle of pills that we have tried.
perhaps this isn’t Atypical face pain. Perhaps it’s some type of rare headache. I know there are cluster headaches that are supposed to cause the worst pain known to man. And there is also a rare headache that apparently never goes away.
if only the neurologist in the hospital could have told me something to try.
but I’m thinking I don’t know how many more psych meds I want to try. Especially if they aren’t the right medication for me.
i would like to say.
i am so sorry if you have chronic pain as well. I can’t even explain how excrusing the pain is. I really didn’t think pain like this could exist. I really didn’t
About two months ago, I was in the emergency room again. This time, i stayed overnight. It was quite frightening 🫣 being alone in the hospital 🏥
However, I had to gather my inner strength 💪 and fight the fear 😨
Dr. Jason Song “The only pain doctor I have ever been to) had me get an MRI of my brain. My neck and spine and my mouth.
Unfortunately, the previous couple of weeks, I had been in Dr. Songs office when he read the report on my 🧠 brain. The report showed that there was something on my brain called a menginoma. I was terrified 😨 and I started crying in his office.
Dr. Song offered no sympathy, only telling me to get another Mri. My mother died way back in November of 2000 of an incurable brain tumor. So I panicked 😪 all this and now a possible brain tumor.
I did not want to be rolling around in this bed thinking I had a brain tumor 😫 (you have to go to an outside lab called Simonmed for another scan) and Simonmed couldn’t take me for another couple of weeks. 😒
A few days later, I was so weak I decided to try and drink a little bit of ensure for some protein (as of today, June 8th)
I have had no meat for two years, and I am definitely suffering the effects. Unfortunately, the ensure has 10 percent salt 🧂 so I should have known I shouldn’t drink it. (But It was at a catch-22) 😬
Suddenly, the most excrusing pain came over me after I did so. I grabbed my head and hit the floor in agony. 😪
I had no desire to go to the ER, especially by ambulance, but I had no other way to get there. 😪 because I am horrified and frightened when I have to call an ambulance 🚑
I was afraid 😨 it was this legion on my brain, causing the pain. The pain seemed different.
When I got there, the doctor said that these legions were always non-cancerous. I can’t tell you how relieved I was.
He wanted me to stay overnight so that we would get another Mri, and then a neurologist would come see me in the morning 🌄
As soon as he left and I tried to explain what type of pain i had, no one knew what I was talking about as usual..
So, I was given medication for migraine and nausea, which only made my pain expanitally worse.😪, so I lay there on the gurney, silently crying to myself with the familiar ice bag I had brought from home 🏡 I felt like I was in the twilight zone
Before I went upstairs, a technician came into my room to ask me if I had brought any pills 💊 with me.
Unfortunately, I knew that I was going to have to tell a lie about this question 😕 I hesitated for a second, and then I said, “No.” I don’t particularly like to lie, but in this case, it was necessary.
The hospital 🏥 had a rule about this issue, but even so, I had all my psychiatric pills 💊 in my purse. The hospital staff would have taken all the pill bottles and would have never given them back to me, I could not risk that.
After several hours between wake and sleep and a racing mind, someone came to take me upstairs
When I entered , I sat in my wheelchair ♿️ with my icepack still on my face. I noticed that this was a double room, and I could hear a large family group laughing 😃 and carrying on. I felt a little sad 😔 and a bit lonely 🙁 but I knew like all my other appointments. If I just gathered my courage, I could do this by myself. However, I really missed Max and was worried about him.
As far as I could remember, we had never an entire night away from each other.
LIVING WITH CHRONIC PAIN WITH ANNA AND MAX 