Pain Management In-House...

[rpowell01]

The Tampa VA has a in-house pain management program they want to go to and I decided to go in January 2014. As anybody here attended this program before and if so what should I expect. The surgeon told me today that because I have Osteoarthritis he doesn't feel that surgery will help and he thinks this program will help me deal with the pain. Basically what he is saying is that unless I totally screw up my spine after today that I will have to live with this pain for the rest of my life....

Just wondering about it...

[jbasser]

Methadone.

It works but dangerous.

J

[Vync]

I tried the VA pain management clinic and they were so screwed up they forgot about me in the waiting room - twice.

My VA PCP doc did set me up with some alternatives. I got a heating pad, tens unit, back brace, and some ice packs. I would not necessarily call it a robust pain management plan, but it was better than getting shafted by the pain management clinic.

[rpowell01]

Vync was this in Tampa?

They gave me a schedule and it was stuff like heated pool, walking, PT (which I can tell you this will be out of the question for me), classes, Rec Therapy, Adaptive ADL....

I will attend it, if I don't like it in the first week I will withdraw from it. Unless I get left in the waiting room then I will say no from that point forward...