I live here in Arizona for 11 years with my husband but in the 3 1/2 years that I was gone over 99% of all Primary Care Physicians are not accepting new patients or if they are they are not accepting patients on any pain medication. They are farming them out to pain clinics... despite your diagnosis. This was not the case when I was in PA but probably because the doctor knew my family. I had to have my sister pick up the prescription every month for my pain medication but he had no problem with it. I am only taking 10 mg of methadone twice a day.
I finally found a physician here who writes out prescriptions for pain medications and I have been going to her. Today I went all the way down to her for my Medicare wellness visit and my prescription for methadone .[she will not allow my caregiver to pick up my pain prescription script despite me being bedridden]. After having me fill out a slew of regular Medicare wellness questions and then talking to me for a good 20 minutes about my current care [which is fine except for seeing my urologist which she knows about] before she finally said that she is discharging me and I have to find a new physician within 30 days on the basis of "I can't examine you." She has known that all along! Besides... with home healthcare nurses and me going to specialists like my urologist... all of that has been taking care of. I have not liked her from the beginning but she has been the ONLY physician I have been able to find in Tucson who will now accept a patient on a pain medication. Now I have 30 days to find a new doctor and I started calling them today but I'm given the same rhetoric like "No, he is not accepting new patients" or "No, he or she is not accepting patients who are on a pain medication. I am having so much stress in my life [caused by outsiders who should be helping me] that my body is responding by breaking out in rashes on occasion, etc. Of course I did not tell her that but did tell her that I was under a great deal of stress because of the results of my cystoscopy whereby my urethra and bladder were damaged by the first nurse who changed my catheter here. Any help from people here who live in Tucson and who are on a pain medication would be greatly appreciated! ~Lori I will be turning 52 on July 30. What a birthday present by going through all of this! -- "Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be soothing to the mind and heart and deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer." ~Dean Koontz
