[jbug]

What a crock. I wasted my time and gas going to him. All he did was feel of my knees and tell me that my regular doctor will have to prescribe my pain meds for me.

The doctor I went to today doesn't even prescribe medications. I don't even know why I went. He gave me some cream to rub on my knees.

I am so discouraged. No one in my health team seems to understand how badly I am hurting either that or they just don't care. I don't know what I have to do to get them to understand how badly it hurts every day just to walk. Heck it even hurts to lay on the couch. I do my exercises but it doesn't help. I am just so frustrated.

Jan

[shezbut]

jbug,

I'm sorry. Sounds like a very frustrating appointment! Was this regular doctor an MD?? Was his/her point that this area isn't their specialty and they don't feel comfortable prescribing pain medication (like, narcotics)? Are you working with a physical therapist with specific exercises?

Physical therapists can help identify specific areas to work on and exercises to relieve pain & increase strength. They work at different paces, depending upon their schedules, insurance coverage, and your abilities. Perhaps the physical therapist needs to work with you more slowly and/or more often.

I hope that you get some pain relief very soon ~ take care!

Shez

[VickiesPath]

Originally Posted by jbug

What a crock. I wasted my time and gas going to him. All he did was feel of my knees and tell me that my regular doctor will have to prescribe my pain meds for me.

The doctor I went to today doesn't even prescribe medications. I don't even know why I went. He gave me some cream to rub on my knees.

I am so discouraged. No one in my health team seems to understand how badly I am hurting either that or they just don't care. I don't know what I have to do to get them to understand how badly it hurts every day just to walk. Heck it even hurts to lay on the couch. I do my exercises but it doesn't help. I am just so frustrated.

Jan

I'm so sorry you are having such pain with your knees, Jan. I have been where you are. I have one knee replacement and I won't bore you with all the details about how much titanium I have in my left leg due to a fall.

I have that Voltarin (sp) gel that they gave me to rub on my joints. It's actually a form of Ibuprofen that soaks into the joint. I had no cartilage left in my left knee before they replaced it. The right knee has no ACL joint and has a failed ACL reconstruction, so there's two screws in it, one in the shin and one in the thigh. But there's still plenty of cartilage, thank goodness.

I don't understand why the doctor at the pain clinic didn't give you pain meds. Our pain clinic guys here prescribe them. I know exactly what you mean about being in pain even lying down. Sometimes I wake up in the mornings and my replaced knee hurts so bad I can't move it for a few seconds.

Some orthopedists are simply that way, though. They are really spooky about prescribing opiates because the insurance companies have come down on them hard about getting people hooked on them. So, some of them have decided to just let the GP's prescribe them.

The only thing that might help your knees is strengthening the lateral muscles on the sides of your legs. X-rays might show whether or not the cartilage is thinning.

The only other choice is getting really firm with your GP and demanding some strong pain meds because it is no fun walking around in pain. The knees carry the most stress of any joint in the body. I had to end up using a wheel chair 1/2 the time until someone finally paid attention to me.

Take care of yourself and I wish you luck with your GP. Hugs.

[(JD)]

It may be a good thing that that doctor didn't make you sign a form saying you wouldn't obtain pain medication from anyone but him... because he wasn't going to give you any and you could have been stuck.
It is a crock often with these guys/gals. Unfortunately, too many ppl are drug seeking and the doctors have become hardened to real pain cases.