Wow! I think that most of us who are chronic pain patients for a substantial length of time could write a book. I alreay have a title and I've asked my pain management doctor about making a presentation to his staff. It's called, "the indignities of being a chronic pain patient".
Having said that... Lisa, your story is really bad. There is no excuse for this type of treatment. I would consider writing the doctor a letter that expresses your concerns BRIEFLY. But, the letter would contain the threats and the fact that they changed your medications WITHOUT YOU HAVING A DISCUSSION WITH YOUR DOCTOR, and for no medical reason; seemingly in retaliation for the offence of insisting on seeing the doctor and for talking about seeking a second opinion.
If you have a change in symptoms and there is no doctor to consider the new symptoms and diagnose them appropriately, that is dangerous. It's possible that the new symptoms could be related to a problem separate from your source of chronic pain. (eg. diabetic neuropathy?)
Good luck... please keep us posted. If you don't get any appropriate response, I would switch to a new doctor AND file a complaint with the state medical board.
All the best,
Mark
PS... Eddie, IMHO we should be with a pain management doc when we get into the mode of maintenance meds instead of investigating procedure options. The only problem is that they are skewed to meds and procedure and don't have enough 'balance'. We are all in such a tough spot.
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