NoMore4Me, why don't you try and find a pain management dr now ? I know you said that you still have prescriptions, but don't wait until they are gone.

@ "ItsJustMe2012 "

"If you are, you have Medicare Part A, Part B and Part D. "


Negative. It doesn't work that way. I got Part A when I became eligible in 1996 which I didn't have to pay for.

By then I was paying child support and alimony, so I did not opt in to Part B. I did get Part D, when it first became available, because of the 1% per month for every month you could have had it but didn't, penalty.

I no longer pay alimony, but am still paying child support until this coming July. I have sent in the paper work to get Part B, which has a 10% per year penalty for every year I could have had it, but didn't.

20 years x 10%=200%

Take the going rate for Part D, for those who have to pay for it and add 200% to that and you get 300%. It doesn't become effective until July 1 of this year.

Next:

"why don't you try and find a pain management dr now ?"

I wrote:

"I have spent since Jan. 4 researching every option, online, and talking to any and everyone in the local medical community about options and people on the State level who could help with the Part D cost, but won't."

I have been looking for a pain Dr., but they all want a butt load of money upfront for the initial consult and the diagnostics to see IF they can or will try to do anything, so I am saving as much $$$ as I possibly can. Also, anything I have done before the Part B starts in July, I will have to pay in full out of pocket.

I am not just sitting here waiting until the pills run out doing nothing.

If you decline it when you become eligible for SSDI, there is a penalty later on, except in certain circumstances. I wasn't aware that you had declined it. Thanks for the clarification.

@"ChickenTikka"

I did not come here looking for support. My post was solely to let Willow know that she was not the only one facing what she is. I was not aware that I could have sent the post to her privately, when I first posted it, which I now wish I had done but I can't delete it now.

I am not looking for virtual hugs, etc., either. I haven't had a real hug from anyone in almost a year now and they are the ones that really matter. I am not looking for suggestions either, because I have been researching, calling providers in my area, etc., since Jan 4- in essence doing everything that I possibly can to try to find someone who will not only just take me as a new client, but also will work with me. It used to be that Dr.'s., clinics, etc., would work with a patient and the patient was part of the whole process. Now, they just dictate to the patient what they want to do and what they think and expect the patient to just accept that they are the 'authority', (Laugh, Laugh), and know what is best for the patient.

I have found that a lot of the Dr.'s and clinics around here will no longer accept Medicare, because they don't get what they want for their services, in which case they can demand whatever they want. Even with the Dr. I have been seeing for the last six years, at every appt., the first thing they ask, after confirming the appt., is for the co-pay or full payment. In my case, it has been for full payment for the visit, since I haven't had Part B.

I will not comment further on anything else posted to me. This thread was supposed to be for Willow and her issues, not mine. She stated that she knows that she isn't the only one in that boat and I made my post to let her know that she isn't and what I am faced with.

Oh, and just for the record, in the 22 years that I have needed pain meds, only two Dr's. have prescribed them- the Dr. I had for 29 years and his replacement. I have only used three pharmacies- Walmart in the city I used to live in, the Walmart in the city that I am now in and a second, non corporate pharmacy, since the Walmart here had trouble filling the scripts after the DEA action on Hydrocodone in Oct. 2014. They would tell me that they didn't have enough to fill the script, but that the truck would be in on either the next Wednesday or Friday. They rarely showed up on the truck and I would be left taking whatever they did have and then having to get another script for the remainder from the Dr. to get through the month. They never once bothered to tell me that the issue was that their corporate office dictated how many pain meds they would get and when. They would tell me the truck story just to get rid of me and out of their way. They couldn't have cared less about whether I had pain relief or not.

I finally found out that a private, non corporate pharmacy didn't have those rules. If they accept my script, then if they can't fill them all at the time that I go to get them, then they overnight the remainder and give them to me without my having to get a new script. Under Federal law, they have to and have to have the entire script filled within 72 hours, so I have not had a problem in the last five months.

So, only two Dr.'s and three pharmacies in 22 years and I still get cut off. I thought that keeping a clean record would preclude that, but I was dead wrong.

@"ItsJustMe2012"

I declined Part B because I was paying child support for eight kids plus alimony. The State takes all of my LTD. I don't get any help on rent, food, etc., so even after 22 years, I have very little left of my SSDI to put towards medical bills or anything else, except the bare essentials needed to survive.

Even in August, when I will start getting my LTD again, it won't be that much and will only be until I turn 65.

I had no choice except to go on disability. I was only 36 when the problems started and spent the next 2+ years going from specialist to specialist. They included a premiere teaching hospital and even the Mayo Clinic Jr. ,(Which I call it.), in Scottsdale, AZ.

Every one of them insisted on running their own tests, etc., even if the last one had been done only a month earlier by someone else. They all told me that they could see what the problem was- bone pinching the nerve roots in my lumbar spine, but that the liability of removing bone from around nerves was too risky and the liability was to high for them to even try. So, after those 2+ years I was left just as bad as I was when it first started. I was labeled and classified as being "Totally and Permanently Disabled" by the SSA. It only took me six weeks from the original application to get my Award Letter for the SSDI, which was virtually unheard of. When I first applied, I was told that I would be turned down and would have to have a judge OK the SSDI, which could take several years.

Now, all of these years later, I have permanent nerve damage that can't be repaired, along with the offending bone still being present, which most likely will still continue to cause even more damage.

As said, my SSDI and LTD wasn't all that much when this all first started because I had just recently finished my MSEE, (Working part time and going to school full time.), and had just started working as an engineer. The COLAs on the LTD stopped after ten years.

So much for that seven years of college education.

OK, shutting up now.

So how are you doing Willow?

Hi everyone. Thank you all SO MUCH for your support and caring. I'm basically off of my opiate pain med now. The withdrawal wasn't as bad as I feared. But my pain level is awful. I'm using plain Tylenol for pain now. I gave an appointment with a new PCP on Wednesday. At present I have no doctor. I'm having trouble functioning well because of the constant pain, which is causing me to feel more depressed. It's so good to know I can come here where y'all understand.

Just a thought....when using OTC pain meds like Tylenol or Advil they often work better if you alternate them. Using an Acetaminophen product with an NSAID product like Advil, Orudus KT, Naproxen. They often are more effective when they work in conjunction with each other on different pain receptors and muscle/tissue groups.

Might help a bit more until you get a Dr. appt.

Hi Willow,

I'm glad the withdrawals haven't been too bad but I'm so sorry that your pain is so bad. Wishing you luck at your appt. on Wednesday with the new PCP. Please keep us posted.

Big big hugs~

LMT

P.S. OCP, thanks for that advice. Since I'm off of pain meds and not getting much relief from OTC stuff , I'm gonna try alternating them.

LMT, hope they help.

So familiar. So sorry. In Florida your PCP cannot give you pain meds. The last one I had got his state certification to dispense pain meds, then I called one day to make an appointment, and he was gone. New PCP, not with pain med privileges. Pain med doc sent my pee to a non-aopproved lab and they charged me $900.00. For pee. And no pain meds. I'm still going around in circles. No pain meds in some years now. I am completely and totally disabled by pain more often than not. I sweat with pain, shake with pain, my brain chemistry goes way off the roof. Can't function, can't think straight. I hope you are doing better now.

oh my gosh Milla.... That's so unfair! I'm so sorry . :((

This is all just unfair.

With the way the laws are now, you need to see a Pain Management Doctor for pain medications. Look for a local Pain Management Doctor near you.

@"MillaSofia"

I will soon be in the same shape as you, pain wise. I am half way from what I was taking to zero pain meds. (Dr. told me out of the blue on Jan 4th. that he would not prescribe me anymore after that day, when I got my last three scripts for my last three months worth.)

If your pain Dr. does not do anything for your pain, including no pain meds, then what do you get out of it while the Dr. squeezes as much $$$ out of your insurance, (If you have it.), and you as is possible?

$900 for a piss test? What happened to "Affordable Care"?

I get the feeling, after all of the articles, etc. I have read, that those of us who are disabled and on SSI/SSDI are just supposed to do society a favor and remove ourselves from it. I paid into Social Security, beginning at age eight, when I was living with a foster family on a farm. I didn't bitch then or during the rest of my working life about paying into the fund. People nowadays are just selfish, IMHO.

I hope that you can get some sort of relief soon. Severe pain can really mess with and consume a person's life and body. Too bad all of these jerk Dr's don't realize that nor have experienced it.

@"Willow"

I think about and empathize with you and what you are enduring, and not just pain wise, each and every day now.

I am happy that you have an appt. with a possible new PCP tomorrow and I really do hope that it all goes well and that you will come away with a good plan of action and hope for the future, as far as getting your pain controlled.

We share a lot in common, life experience wise, not just the pain issue(s) and I really do hope for the best for you. You have asked for friends and I would like to be one in any manner that I can and not just by wishing you well and leaving it at that. If there is anything, and I do mean anything, that I can possibly do to help you or be of assistance then please do not hesitate to ask me, even if it is just to talk or have a shoulder to cry on, etc. Helping you will help me just as much, if not more.

I hope that your day is tolerable and you are not too stressed about tomorrow. Meeting a prospective new Dr. can be intimidating. My turn will be coming up soon.