Vic,

I'm glad your grandmom got the attention she deserved. Out here in CA it is very common to not even get narcotics in the ER anymore, for fear of "repeat visitors seeking drugs".

I have TMD which results in very painful cluster headaches (its like a migraine that can last for days).

Whereas 5 years ago I used to arrive at the ER in the fetal position (I shut down when I'm at a 10+ migraine) - they used to give me a shot of morphine, or at least demerol, right away.

Now, they always make you try Imitrex first, a non-narcotic second (like Toradol, which is like tylenol x 100), and of course you have to wait 20 minutes in between each shot, then, and only then, will some ER's give you Demerol.

All the urgent care facilities around here aren't even allowed to dispense narcotics (ie in the form of a shot, not something you take home) and, like I said, more and more hospitals will stop at Toradol unless you've been laying in their prescence for over an hour - obviously this doesn't help when it feels like someone is gouging behind your eyeballs with an icepick while they continually tighten a vise clamp around your head!

I guess with migraines, people who don't have them don't actually see something physically wrong with you so it's a bit different than seeing a guy with a broken femur.

When I was in Taiwan (on vacation) I had a migraine once and was wisked to the ER - I didn't even sit down in a waiting room, they rushed me into a room, gave me nitrous right away, and then gave me a shot of morphine within 2 minutes of walking in the front door.

Here in the ER, I sit and listen to nurses joking about what's on Bachelor Bob that night, frolicking and gossiping like it's just another lacqadasical day at work, while I sit behind a curtain suffering every agonizing minute - an hour can seem like several, as I'm sure most of you pain patients are well aware ... it is amazing to me what the whole business of medicine has turned into - somthing that should be an oxymoron (ie medical-business).

Reagards,

fleshonbone, indecline