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I have been referred to pain management.

Posted , 9 users are following.

lisa04688
lisa04688

In January, i hadan appointment with the MCAS. The second time in 12 months. I suffer with Ostioathritis in Hip and Spine,i am in constant pain.

MCAS have reffered me to the pain management team for injection in my spine, I phoned the centre today to ask how long for an appointment, and was told approx 26 weeks. I am unable to sleep at night with the pain, i take Tramadol, Naproxen 500 , Amtriplatine 25mg, Co_codomol 30/500  i lost my job due to sickness and really am fed up, Has anyone in the swansea area been reffered? and how ong did they wait,? and do the injections help????

I have also been told that unless my hip is fractured they will just keep giving me pain relief as i am only 49 years old.....

I am at the end of my tether.......

0 likes, 38 replies

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  • Jan999
    Jan999 lisa04688

    Posted

    Hello lisa. I also have osteoarthritis and regularly have to take painkillers but the one thing that helped me was my GP increasing my dose of Amitriptyline gradually up to 50mgs on a night. That is the dose recommended by the Arthritis Research Council. I also take Nefopam if my other medication doesn't help however that is quite rare now.
    • lisa04688
      lisa04688 Jan999

      Posted

      Hello Matron.

      I have another appointment with my GP in a weeks time. so i will ask if i can go higher dose with the medication.

      I am so fed up with the pain, and wanted to know if anyone can give me information on Spinal pain relief..

  • Enna1
    Enna1 lisa04688

    Posted

    I am waiting to go to the pain clinic, what is MCAS? but I have only waited 11 weeks but have had a quicker appoointment if I had understood my request.  I thought she said I will take it into the hospital but she didn.t so I would have had it earlier if I had done it myself.   We have a system  where you put your SIP card (health card) into a machine and you tap into a machine, you get a piece of paper and take it to reception and they make the appointment. Its great if you know what you are doing lol.

    I think it depends on the person, I have had 5 spinal injections, 2 X ray lead none of them have lasted many weeks.   Even 1 I had privately and cost £1,000.  Tell you what you can do though.   if you go to out patients they will do it for you but here in Spain I have had to wait 7 hours!!!

    Crickey thats a lot of meds too.  Can't do anything for me I'm afraid, got bad scar tissue.

    • lisa04688
      lisa04688 Enna1

      Posted

      Hi Enna.

      MCAS - musculoskeletal cinical assesment team.They are there to keep the waiting list down at hospitals.

      as for meds i am taking so many, 

       

  • Jan999
    Jan999 lisa04688

    Posted

    Sorry lisa I also meant to say, ring the pain management team and ask them to let you know if someone cancels. That way you may get seen earlier.
  • Enna1
    Enna1 lisa04688

    Posted

    Thats a good idea too, but unfortunately never worked for me but its worth trying
  • EileenH
    EileenH lisa04688

    Posted

    I don't know who told you they will only give pain relief because of your age - that is rubbish. If your hip pain is due to osteoarthritis and the joint is gone then they will replace it if that is the answer. I had a 50 year old friend in the north of England who had one hip done - her younger brother had already had both his done. It is done on the basis of need not age - not least because doing it while the patient is still reasonably mobile makes the rehab easier post-op. Someone unable to walk for any length of time loses muscle mass and tone quickly and once the joint lining is destroyed it won't regenerate (yet), replacement is the only option.

    If you haven't already seen a hip specialist, start by telling - not asking - your GP to refer you to orthopaedics. You may be unlucky and find an unsympathetic surgeon but they are the experts - I wouldn't listen to a GP who told me I was too young if I couldn't move for pain.

    If that doesn't work and you can afford it, look around for a private surgeon who also works in the NHS. If you NEED a hip replacement, then often they will then put you on their NHS list. That happened to my 60-year old friend - the GP said she was far too young, the surgeon she saw privately stuck her on his NHS list. Even if you only see the private person once they will tell you whether a hip replacment is required. Then you can decide how to get it.

    And as Matron says - call and offer to take a cancelled appointment - but that MAY mean that if they call and say can you be here in an hour or 2 you must drop what you are doing and go. No ifs or buts - you get there!

    Good luck.

    • lisa04688
      lisa04688 EileenH

      Posted

      Hello Eileen.

      They did say that as i  am only showing a small sign of athritis in the hip i am not urgent, but the x ray was taken six months ago. The pain is getting worse over the weeks, my hip even locks in place and i have to unclick it and scream out in pain. I will call the pain managment back and ask for a cancellation.

      I will be firmer with my GP and request another x-ray and go from there.

    • Jan999
      Jan999 EileenH

      Posted

      Eileen you are absolutely correct when you mention about younger patients receiving joint replacements but I do know some Health Trusts are being very selective as to who gets a joint replacement due to cash restraints. Once again it is a postcode lottery and it also depends on the time of year as well believe it or not. So go to see a consultant in February and it is refused because he has used up his budget but see him in May or June and you just may be lucky. It's shocking I know but that's just how it is because hospitals are in the red financially.
    • EileenH
      EileenH Jan999

      Posted

      Tell me about it, it was ever thus, even years ago - but if they are being faced with a very young patient who can't work and is going to using their (obviously overstretched judging by the wait) budget in the pain clinic and physio for a long time they may be a bit more sensible. The beginning of April was good - but sometimes being there at the end of February worked if they'd not managed to buy a new piece of equipment as there is the use it or lose it factor in their budget!

      Lisa - you have to get through to your doctor how severe it is - the progression isn't necessarily related to time and while the x-ray may not have LOOKED bad, it is the symptoms and disability that matter. That's why I say request to be sent to a specialist for assessment - GPs are general practicioners not specialists. Don't ever reply "Fine" or "Good" - tell them clearly how bad it is and, if necessary, take a partner with you who can vouch for the disability and pain you experience. It seems to concentrate their minds - it shouldn't but there we are.

    • Jan999
      Jan999 EileenH

      Posted

      Eileen hospital budgets don't work like that ie not managing to buy hospital equipment, a lose it use it factor. That was the case 30-40 years ago but not now. All budgets are ring fenced and there's never money left over because all NHS trusts are in the red. I deal with budgets in the NHS so I know exactly how it works.
    • EileenH
      EileenH Jan999

      Posted

      My husband was still having to purchase in that way less than 10 years ago - he had a large NHS departmental budget too. He often found there was some money available at the end of the year for some reason and had to purchase something fast to use it up or it would be lost and he'd have less money the following year because he hadn't spent all the previous year's budget. That was one of the things that drove him out early in the end - he couldn't purchase in a sensible way and had to compromise on the device that could be delivered, not the one that was most suitable for purpose.

      I sit here watching the NHS going down the drain thanks to things way beyond your control and it breaks my heart. Whether there is Brexit or not I hope I can stay here. One daughter has already abandoned nursing. The other loves being a paramedic but the conditions she works under are appaling. 

    • Jan999
      Jan999 EileenH

      Posted

      The NHS is in a dreadful state and until hospitals are managed by nurses/doctors it will continue that way. You can't manage the NHS in the same way you manage another company such as M&S because it's very different but that's what's happening unfortunately. 
    • EileenH
      EileenH Jan999

      Posted

      Like it was when we started...

      Oh I know - we watched the introduction of "Tesco managers" and the damage they did. As I say, it was little things that built up until OH spent his evening with the spread sheets - not for work but could we afford to retire on a much reduced part pension just to get out. Best thing we ever did just over 6 years ago. 

      There was a guy on Sky News at lunchtime picking holes in Osborne's economics. Can't remember exactly what it was but it amounted to a parallel to you can't cut beds/staff to the bone assuming someone will be in hospital for 3 days post-op, will leave at 10.15am, their bed will be ready at 10.30am and the next patient takes their place coming back from theatre. People aren't tins to be delivered "just in time" - rarely worked perfectly in business either!

      Here is about 20 years behind the UK but they are messing the doctors about here now in much the same way. Austria already admits they can't get enough young doctors, especially in rural areas. Here they can't get enough German-speaking ones and the Italian ones can't speak enough German to cope so every appointment takes longer because a nurse has to translate. I had 2 hilarious appointments last year! I speak English and German and understand much of what I hear in Italian but don't speak it well enough to discuss medical matters. The nurse spoke German and Italian, the doctors spoke Italian and some English! We got there.

      JH says they will recruit 5,000 new GPs in this parliament - where from? They won't let refugees and migrants in they say - and young UK medics are already voting with their feet migrating to better working conditions. There are 6,000 medical students per year in the UK, if 5,000 were to be diverted to GP world over the next 4 years - who's going to be left to work in the hospitals? And they are all inexperienced. Then there are the nurses - again, no refugees and migrants unless they earn over £35K within 5 years. What on earth does he think most ward nurses earn? Top of a Band 6 isn't up there is it? Nuts!

      And now they are starting on the prisons...

      I feel better for that rant - doesn't help the NHS though does it?

    • Jan999
      Jan999 EileenH

      Posted

      It doesn't help the NHS Eileen but it will make you feel better (a little).
    • Enna1
      Enna1 EileenH

      Posted

      Did you miss out the NHS Managers salaries????
    • Enna1
      Enna1 Jan999

      Posted

      M & s isn't doing too good at the moment either !!
    • Enna1
      Enna1 EileenH

      Posted

      Didn't know that - about the joint lining - I am learning all sorts on this page.  and No I wouldn't listen to somewho told me I was too young, but then I was told I was seeing things or words similar and it was years before I actually got any treatment. 3 times I went to physio and in the end I think they told the dr I was putting it on. When I came to spain I asked for my records and they were very very careful what they said in their records, but reading between the lines..... When I go back to the UK I won't be seeing her as a dr. I did exactly that, I paid £100 to consult a surgeon for my spine unfortunately I picked one who said they could do the op and he couldn't - spoilt my spine with scar tissue so I can't have anything else done, so the Health system says in Spain. Privately I have been told I can. So don't know what to believe, money talks !!!

      Good luck

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