Pain management failing patients
My wife Erin, suffers from Fibromyalgia, Lupus, and extreme back pain due to a car wreck a decade ago, plus other medical issues. As a result of these conditions, she needs a pain management doctor to prescribe her Hydrocodone, after her primary care doctor at Ascension Via Christi dropped her due to missed appointments, which was a miscommunication, after regular trips to the ER for Lupus/Fibro flares, and having to make an appointment to see her primary care doctor sooner than her regular visit, and the later appointment was never canceled by the Ascension Via Christi admin staff as requested, which they counted as a missed appointment, and after 3 missed appointments they drop you.
Initially, Erin went to Advanced Pain Medicine located at the corner of N Oliver and E 37th St N in Wichita, which was fine at first, before Erin’s pain started to spike to a point where her Hydrocodone was ineffective. Erin’s pain management doctor increased the strength of her Hydrocodone, which helped, but ultimately became ineffective with the combination of Fibro, Lupus, and multiple herniated discs.
As Erin’s pain increased, she found herself bouncing between her rheumatologist, who said that pain management needed to help her with her increased pain, only for pain management to send her back to her rheumatologist to help with her pain, while her primary care doctor, refuses to prescribe narcotic based pain medication. As Erin’s doctors passed the buck, in regard to Erin’s growing pain, this led to more frequent visits to the ER for pain relief, and for the most part, Wesley Woodlawn ER was amazing.
The one time that Wesley Woodlawn ER failed was because of one doctor, Dr. Brian L Debrot, who said Erin was using the ER for pain management, instead of going to a pain management doctor, and he put a block on further treatment. In a way, Erin was using the ER for pain management, as her pain management doctor would not help. When your doctors refuse to help, what option do you have other than to turn to the Emergency Room when your pain is so bad that killing yourself is a viable option?
In an effort to reduce the number of visits to the ER, Erin started taking Delta 8 in the evenings to help manage the pain and allow her to sleep. Delta 8 in combination with Hydrocodone, and infusions from her rheumatologist, kept her pain to a level where she could tolerate it better, although every 3 to 6 weeks, her pain would get out of control and we would end up in the ER for further pain relief.
Erin’s consumption of Delta 8, led to her being dropped by Advanced Pain Medicine because they found traces of Marijuana in her system. Let’s be clear, Delta 8 is 100% legal in the state of Kansas, and Erin does not smoke Marijuana, but that does not matter to pain management doctors, they drop you like you’re abortion in a red state, instead of having empathy, suggesting alternative pain medication options.
After being dropped by Advanced Pain Medicine, Erin was referred to ICT Internal Medicine & Pain Management, located at K-96 and N Ridge Rd, by her primary care doctor. And after her first visit there with Dr. Baoluan Nguyen, she did not want to return to their office, he was very aggressive, dismissing her pain, and lorded it over Erin that he had the power over whether she was in pain or not.
I did some research on Dr. Baoluan Nguyen, and his reviews online are very mixed, most women gave 1-star or 2-star reviews, explaining that they were treated as my wife was, while men often gave 4-star or 5-star reviews. Which, this is my opinion, not a statement of fact, indicates that Dr. Baoluan Nguyen is a misogynist, Erin’s friend had the same experience with this doctor, so much so, that neither Erin nor her friend wanted to visit him alone, so, they attended each other’s visits together for their own safety.
ICT Internal Medicine & Pain Management ended up dropping Erin, for a minimal amount of THC in her system when she did the pee test at her last visit. This is despite being open about her Delta 8 use, and asking about a different pain medication after the last visit when they told her that they had found THC in her system, they ignored her request, instead electing to drop her, rather than have empathy, and find another drug that would help. Any doctor that is content to see people in pain is not a doctor in my book.
The person in the shop where Erin gets her Delta 8, explained that he and his partner gave up on pain management, having gone to the same pain management doctors, instead deciding to rely solely on THC-based products to manage their pain, basically getting high as fuck to manage pain. What an absolutely fucked up system the US has where doctors lack empathy and drop patients in a heartbeat.
So, now, Erin has found a third pain management doctor, but this one is in Lawrence, Kansas, which is 161 miles from where we live in Wichita, which will use up a tank of gas for the round trip, at a cost of around $70. This is because all closer pain management doctors don’t take our medical insurance, which is crazy, as we have Blue Cross, Blue Shield, one of the larger insurance companies in the country.
As Erin’s husband, the person who sees what pain she suffers every single day, it has me feeling incredibly angry and ready to start punching people in the face. I understand that there are tight controls on narcotic-based drugs, but this is out of control, these doctors, the ones we have visited so far, never take the time to fully assess and listen to what their patients are saying, prescribe different drugs, to find something that works for the patient, and drop patients without giving it a second thought.