New NHS Guidelines and Pain Clinic Experience

MJoanna

Some of you may have read about today's news in the Daily Mail or NHS website about the drive to take people off pain medications and benzos as part of a wider initiative. 

It seems like there was a campaign by the Daily Mail that was a part of this drive. 

This is very scary to me, as though I am dependent on dihydrocodeine, it does help enough for me to not be without it, though I am open to reducing. 

Additionally, I was under the care of a particular pain clinic in London. 

After the first terrible physio session, where no physio was offered and no discussion of my symptoms or daily life took place, and where the main focus of the ongoing physio was to 'strategically manage' my symptoms, I asked to speak the person who I initially spoke to, so as to discuss what I felt we the inadequacies of that first appointment. 

In that first appointment, I had to ask for a walking aid, and if I had not, it would not have been given to me. 

In the subsequent discussion, where a psychologist was on the call with the first practitioner I spoke to, I had a very civil and honest conversation suggesting that there was a kind of defeatism in their approach. I wanted to try physio, as my body is so atrophied. Here and elsewhere patients report benefits of physio and although the thought of it terrifies me, it's worth trying. 

At the end of this hour long appointment, it was agreed that we would negotiate next steps and perhaps augment what they offered with more traditional physiotherapy. 

Since then, I registered with a new GP in a new borough, where I had been living for 4 months already. 

That GP said that I should stay with this pain clinic, because wait times in this borough are a year and a half.

I just found out that the pain clinic is discharging me, cancelling my up coming pain medication review and referring me to traditional physiotherapy. 

This is just terrible in so many ways. My former GP was happy to see me out of borough, yet they are using this as an excuse not to have to deal with me, presumably because I was critical of them. 

Then, looking at the below, where the NHS wants to move people off medications onto more holistic therapies, I can't help but be in a state of disbelief that the supposedly holistic pain clinic has discharged me, leaving me at the mercy of my GP service and a year and a half waiting list to start all over again. 

How does the NHS expect to replace pain medications if they are so poor at continuity of care and adapting to patient needs?

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11810013/NHS-slashes-opioid-prescriptions-500-000-Mail-campaign.html 

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/optimising-personalised-care-for-adults-prescribed-medicines-associated-with-dependence-or-withdrawal-symptoms/

2oldcodgers

I used to be under my local Pain Clinic. I say used to, I refused to go to any further appointments.
I was prescribed MST, Oramorph and Pregbalin. They suggested that there was no need for these drugs as pain is not a real thing it is a perception in the mind. Having lessons in learning to accept the pain through meditation and whale music would give better results

UrbanPigeon

2oldcodgers said:

I used to be under my local Pain Clinic. I say used to, I refused to go to any further appointments.
I was prescribed MST, Oramorph and Pregbalin. They suggested that there was no need for these drugs as pain is not a real thing it is a perception in the mind. Having lessons in learning to accept the pain through meditation and whale music would give better results

I can understand MJoannas concerns, I need dihydrocodeine for pain relief myself. I find all this talk about taking people off addictive painkillers such as opioids pointless in some respects because they have no viable alternative to replace it. You cant take someone off opioids and just expect them to cope with severe or moderate pain even with physio. I myself cannot take NSAIDS for pain relief because of serious kidney problems as a child where they literally failed, so any attempt to use NSAIDS could cause them further damage. So opioid based pain relief is my only option at this time until they come up with a viable alternative. As for the comments from your local pain clinic suggesting that pain is not a real thing and its a perception of the mind is a complete joke. I honestly dont think whales and dolphins squeaking will do alot for my pain, although the sounds they make can be therapeutic in other ways.

durhamjaide2001

This is extremely scary for me as after all my operations I have needed morthean along with over strong painkillers and I would not had coped very well without them. 

2oldcodgers

Oh I forgot to mention what one of the alternatives it was suggested would do away with pills and potions - the Alexandra Technique.
Alexander technique - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Barney63

One for the grown ups...Scary stuff if you are in genuine need of these drugs, meditation and whale sounds would be torment for true sufferers of pain its no joke, if you experience such you do know this, as for the daily mail to be taken seriously is a big worry, yes like everything in life there will be liberty takers but we can't let those who genuinely do suffer to be denied life allowing pain relief.