You are the typical pain patient....your story is our story....we go from doctor to doctor....often have multiple painful procedures (that line their pockets, when writing scripts doesnt pay well)....I went to a pain managment doctor that only did epidurals...course reimbursement for each epidural by my insurance was $1200.00...he didn't "believe" in narcotics...and why would he...he would stand to lose a LOT of money if his patients no longer needed the useless epidurals he was pushing...I myself had 3 ever 4 months...to the point where now I have so much scar tissue & adhesions later therapies have been difficult...the surgery just prior to my last spinal cord stimulator revision was 12 hours of agonzing surgery, and I had to be awake for the whole thing...it was a nightmare...just because of all the epidurals I've had....I'm fortunate to have a compassionate group of pain management doctors and an excellent spinal surgeon now...but I have to fly to see them every two months....and they've informed me if the DEA gets down on them, I may have to fly monthly to continue to get my meds....that's enough to make me CRAZY...but before I found them, my life wasn't worth living and I was quite suicidal.
I've been through hell this year with three scary hospitalizations, the last one I spent 3 days in ICU...and while there I had to fight to get my pain treated effectively...even when there were ordered meds for me...the nurses wanted to "control" how & when I got them...I actually had to get the nursing supervisor to my bedside to get my scheduled dose of morpine one night...it's just crazy...I'll pray for you that you too find a compassionate doctor...no one should have to live with excruciating pain on a daily basis...and I believe no one can for any extended period of time...it takes too much out of you....