Good morning good people!
I've got a meeting with my doctors this morning to discuss referral to a pain management clinic. I need this, but I'm getting the impression (could just be in my head) that my doctors don't think it's necessary. Trouble is, I think it most definitely IS. I've had 5 surgeries in the last three years, one of those being a total gastrectomy, and that has taken its toll. I'm in constant pain, at least a 6 but that goes to 8 or 9 (on a scale of 1-10) with ANY kind of exertion.
But my physicians are very, VERY reluctant to treat my pain. They want to get to the root of the problem (seems like its always something new) and fix that, which I DO agree with. But in the mean time, I'm very fed up with just hurting all the time. There is a general climate of distrust and disdain for pain medication in the South, no doubt due in large part to a minority of people who DO abuse such drugs. But I'm not one of them. I've tried my best to deal with the constant pain on my own for long enough, but it's well past the point of making my quality of life suffer.
I guess I'm just looking for sympathy, and there's probably a better, more appropriate place for it, but you folks are nice, and we share some common interests, so here I am.