So many changes.....even though it's taking so much time to get settled, I am finally at the place where I am trying to get settled with all new Dr's here in KY.

One Dr lead to another which lead to another, which leads to others.

I started with the pain specialist....that was required because they wouldn't fill my California prescriptions for the narcotic here in KY any more without having a KY Dr prescribing the med. I had no idea how difficult it was to get a narcotic prescription in KY. I found out KY had the highest rate of narcotic prescriptions a few years ago, & the highest # of deaths because of that. They had an even higher rate of narcotic prescriptions than California...go figure. Well, wouldn't you know....the pain specialist I chose to go to had actually had his license taken away several years ago for prescribing narcotics.....it was only for 8 days, & they apologized for doing it, but wow....he makes sure that he has everything covered before getting involved with a patient that is on such a high dose of the med like I am & have been for 5 years. He also said he never prescribes a narcotic for migraine/headache pain because it never works....but I'm the exception to the rule like usual. I was surprised how kind he actually was about agreeing to take me on as his patient, but realized what position I was in also. However, in order to cover himself, he referred me to a pain psychologist who works with patients with chronic pain. It is very difficult to answer the questions because they never understand that while on the med, I just don't have the migraine pain at all....no breakthrough, no headache pain for the 5 years I have been on this dose.

The pain psychologist explained that I probably don't have the migraine pain like I had otherwise, I would have been building up a tolerance & needing a higher dose as the years have gone by.....THIS IS A GOOD THING. The catch is that over these 5 years, I have developed a very bad dental situation. When my teeth were developing as a child, I was sick...high temp, antibiotics....they explained that the enamel didn't form well & my teeth are all decaying, cracking, & breaking off......I need to have all my teeth removed. I was wanting to get the implants, but the dentist explained that I didn't have enough bone to hold the implants & it would require years of bone graphs...painful, expensive surgery what wouldn't probably work anyway.....so lucky me....that means dentures. Then come the rest of the oral surgery. Because I was grinding my teeth all my life, there developed what is called mandibular tori....a kind of boney growth that has to be removed so that dentures can even fit be fit into the mouth without rubbing very sore areas on the growth.

I am afraid to cut down on the pain med for the migraines....not because of the migraines now, but I have a feeling that there is a lot of tooth pain that is being controlled with the med. I discussed this with both the pain specialist & the pain psychologist....& they were in complete agreement. I am so wanting to try going off the med because it's costing me over $5000 a year even with prescription insurance. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to pay for the dental work. They suggested going to the dental school at the Univ of KY.....that would be a good solution, so as soon as there is time where I can have down time, that will be a priority. Unfortunately, my priority right now is to finish the house & get me & my horses moved here & I see that taking over 6 more months at this point. Have to get some financing out of my house in CA before I can finish the move also, so everything is dependent on everything else.

What seemed like a more simple move has turned into a complicated mess.

Another good thing that came from going to the pain psychologist is that he referred me to a therapist here in KY. I don't relate to women therapists very well, & it turned out that the man I was referred to turned out to be a great move. I had my first appointment with him yesterday & we talked about started my anxiety & depression.....& then we talked about the trauma I went through with my Mothers death & the abuse & ID theft that happened with that. At the end of the time, he went over what he thought the Dx was & came to the conclusion that PTSD is the primary DX. Strangely enough, he seems to think that PTSD is what my initial DX should have been when I lost my career, but was DX'ed with majoy anxiety & major depression recurrant. He seems to think that treating the PTSD help with the anxiety levels & nightmares I am continually haunted by.

I find it so interesting how the CA pdoc's were so hung up on the original DX's that they wouldn't treat the PTSD. It will be interesting to see how everything goes here. The first time I have. I am still very leary of starting with a new pdoc here because I really don't want to go to one that pushed meds which I can't use because of all the side effects I'v had. I'm sure I will find just the right pdoc, but that is last on my list of Dr's to find.

It is rather a comforting feeling to realize that I am finding competent Dr's & therapists here in KY. Only problem was that in CA, all my Dr's were willing to take what medicare paid....now I have all the co-pays....& that is getting to be more than I can handle....especially after getting a propane bill for $650 while I was back in CA & had only been in the house for 5 days during that time....with the water heater turned to "vacation" & the furnace set to 60.....I figure the bill during the winter will be at least $1200 /month. The cost of gas is horrible. The first thing I have to do in upgrading this house it to go all electric...new electric water heater & a new furnace ASAP. If I don't get the second on the CA house, I'm gonna be out of money in a few months. I should have known that with the price of gasoline for the cars being so high, that would translate into high propane.....I am just so used to the inexpensive gas bills in CA, that this has come as a huge shock & panic sets in. With the high price of the propane, changing over to electric will pay for itself very quickly....just gotta get the money to make the change so I can save the money.

And so continues my move to KY,
Debbie