going private in the uk , is it worth it?

[bloodred1889]

Originally Posted by cz-one

Uk doctors are loathe to prescribe opiates for chronic pain for anything other than terminal illness,and if the back pains been investigated and not shown up as a degenerative disc,or disc prolpase,or trapped nerve,or anything demonstratable,than i doubt you'll get anything stronger than codeine. Uk doctors tend to learn from the usa's mistakes,and so thats why they dont dish out strong painkillers for anyone who goes in saying that they're in pain,as well as why you wont find oxycontin and hydromorphone and fentanyl patches widely available on uk streets,like they've become in the USA,and going private will probably result in you paying a lot of cash only to be told exactly what your own GP has told you,and as for going to NICE,the doctors seem to have probably followed their guidelines anyway regarding analgesia.,sorry to be a misery,but if you think you'll be able to go to a doctor,tell him you've bad back pain,and that he'll turn around and go"ooo,you poor thing,i'll write you a prescription for some morphine sulphate right away,and if it doesnt help,come back and we'll try diamorphine"(!!!!)....not gonna happen.

OK so what your saying is swim is basically screwed?
swim isnt going into the doctors hoping to come away with morphine, just some sort of relief.
and its not really a question of swim hoping if she crys or whatever she may get morphine or somthing.. if swim just wanted a good high, swim wouldnt be wasting her time with asshole doctors for 6 years.
Swim thinks and hopes that doctors dont just think everyone who comes in is lying and after drugs to get high, or even exacurating pain.
swim knows her back hurts, and that painkillers help a little, so why shouldnt a stronger painkiller help alot more?

[FuBai]

^^ that's why you have to seek experienced legal counsel first. However I'm still reasonably sure that it's not impossible to get proscribed strong analgesics, even in your position. If you have a real need then make sure you satisfy it.

[rocksmokinmachine]

It's not impossible to get prescribed strong analgesics in the UK but about the strongest it will get is dihydrodcodeine (for SWIY), which is very rarely prescribed.

Morphine sulphate is only ever prescribed to people who are terminally ill.

[Jatelka]

That's not the case rocksmokin. MST is sometimes prescribed to people with chronic pain who are not terminally ill, but that is almost always in the context of a specialist pain clinic.

[rocksmokinmachine]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

That's not the case rocksmokin. MST is sometimes prescribed to people with chronic pain who are not terminally ill, but that is almost always in the context of a specialist pain clinic.

What I meant is never by your normal GP, am i correct?

[Pondlife]

In my experience of the UK health system, I've found that:

1. Your GP can act as a gateway to specialists as well as direct treatment.
I've generally found that GPs are happy to refer, but sometimes the question has to be asked. Don't be afraid to ask to see a specialist.

2. The main advantage of private doctors and consultants doing private work is one of speed. You can generally get a consultation quicker, and procedures are generally faster too because they know the chap at the hospital and can "fit you in". Essentially you're paying to jump the queue.

My experience is not directly with pain control though, but I suspect that my general findings still apply.

If I suspected that I was being treated unfairly, one of the first things I'd do is to request a copy of my medical notes. You are entitled to do this in the UK, and you may find some entries that explain the doctor's reticence. If there are factual errors, you can get these corrected by adding a note.

[searchfunction]

Hope you got this sorted by now...

SWIM has had very irritating experiences with doctors in the past thinking they know better than SWIM about what's wrong with SWIM's body. SWIM has proven them wrong (eventually, painfully) on more than one account and now utterly lacks faith in doctors subjective judgement although holds their skills in high esteem. SWIM knows how frustrating it can be if nobody will help, SWIY sometimes has to help oneself.

If you still have problems here's some suggestions:

1) Jatelka seems to know something about how the UK medical system works here from this and a couple of other posts... Maybe you should take her up on the pain clinic thing? They are more likely to be able to fix your pain if they're pain people no? Even if the answer isn't necessarily opiates. You could try going to a private doctor. It will probably only cost about £50 and if you tell them about your pain, say your doctor is convinced it's because you're not exercising and doesn't believe you when you tell them you have been, it's upsetting you so much you really don't know what to do. You've heard about places called specialist pain clinics that may help but your doctor just said "not unless you exercise" to you, even though you have been exercising! Can you help me at all? I'm so unhappy please help me *silent tears stream down SWIY face*. You get the idea.

2) SWIY could get some heroin. This is expensive and less than great idea but it would work as a pain killer. Obviously don't do this if SWIY has an addictive personality that SWIY cannot control since heroin is rather addictive stuff. If SWIY didn't know about suppliers then if SWIY has a street-wise and tough-looking (genuinely tough too may prove necessary here too if they're really unlucky or perhaps not so wise) male friend (other types of friend or SWIY are likely to get ripped off) they could approach a homeless person who looks like a smack-head and offer them some money if they can hook SWIY up with some "b". This is obviously risky, but if the friend is clever it will go OK and they can get the dealers details... This is very not ideal. SWIY probably does not want heroin, but it will sort SWIY pain out. It's a last resort really. Obviously SWIY would clean up any street heroin using procedures found elsewhere on this forum and only ever smoke it, not inject it, ever, NEVER. There are two better options below...

3) The friend who could assist in step 2 could also approach people on the druggie estate in the area for DF's. They'd have to be a bit less blatant than with the homeless smack-heads as the people they are approaching won't be as desperate. I'll leave it to the friend to devise suitable approach vectors. You won't have to worry about getting hooked on something quite as hardcore as heroin. SWIY would obviously google for images of these pill's (DF-118s) first so they know and their friend knows what the pill looks like if they haven't seen them before, to make sure friend isn't fobbed off with aspirins. SWIM understands DF's are very common in certain circles.

4) There are international pharmacies where you can buy drugs from online. Most of these are con's but there are places on the internet specifically dedicated to discussing which ones are legit and not so legit, forums of people who discuss them. I don't know if mentioning any specific places or other forums would be breaking the rules here so I'll refrain from doing so but if SWIY google's for what it is SWIY wants to do then SWIY should find these places fairly soon. SWIY needs to use their head - SWIY needs to find people who are discussing their experiences with these places and not copy-written adverts or opinions written by con-artists shills.

5) I would presume SWIY has tried muscle relaxants like valium to see if these help? Perhaps a pain medication isn't what's needed. Chiropractor? Perhaps the pain clinic you get access to through step 1 will have a better idea. Search for another root cause... SWIM has even heard of someone with serious back pain of unknown origin related to a car accident who's pain can be cured with a big bear hug (!). Much clicking noises ensues, and then the pain goes. Experiment, google your symptoms. Post on those net doctor free advice medical forums (without moaning about how rubbish your doctor is, even if they are). Check out the risks of everything before you try it first. Good luck!

[Zaprenz]

Originally Posted by searchfunction

2) SWIY could get some heroin. This is expensive and less than great idea but it would work as a pain killer. Obviously don't do this if SWIY has an addictive personality that SWIY cannot control since heroin is rather addictive stuff. If SWIY didn't know about suppliers then if SWIY has a street-wise and tough-looking (genuinely tough too may prove necessary here too if they're really unlucky or perhaps not so wise) male friend (other types of friend or SWIY are likely to get ripped off) they could approach a homeless person who looks like a smack-head and offer them some money if they can hook SWIY up with some "b". This is obviously risky, but if the friend is clever it will go OK and they can get the dealers details... This is very not ideal. SWIY probably does not want heroin, but it will sort SWIY pain out. It's a last resort really. Obviously SWIY would clean up any street heroin using procedures found elsewhere on this forum and only ever smoke it, not inject it, ever, NEVER. There are two better options below...

This (option) is simply NOT good advice.

Yes there are many types of complete agonising horrific pain but then there are many types of complete agonising horrific pain WHILST also going through potent opioid withdrawal (from not being able to source or afford decent heroin/opioid). Assuming a reliable source has even been found, it is usually only a few busts away from resulting in no availability for a given area or super high prices (as with most drug busts the results are usually only temporary but a few weeks can mean serious & nasty withdrawals - in the meantime the chronic pain is not going to subside). [Of course there are also the major problems with street heroin, pure diamorphin itself etc but there are many thead on these topics on drugs-forum]

One of the key problems which agravates the seriousness of addictions is the unreliable nature of sources as well as support. A doctors prescription means if a patient goes through withdrawal (due to a reason the patient has no control over) then the doctors & medical staff have a duty of care to sort the situation out.

[searchfunction]

While SWIM appreciates Zaprenz disagrees with SWIM, SWIM did make it clear SWIM considered this option a last resort. SWIM takes SWIM's own medicine. SWIM has used this exact method of obtaining a heroin supply in the past a few times. Everyone knows heroin is addictive. In SWIMs opinion, it should be up to individuals to make those choices. SWIM was able to discontinue usage when SWIM perceived SWIM was beginning to become dependent, again on more than one occasion. SWIM isn't unique so there must be plenty of other characters in the world also perfectly able to regulate their behaviour like this.

There is far too much emphasis today on baby-sitting people (especially by the state) by controlling their behaviour as opposed to punishing people for their negative effects on others and providing help and advice (when sought or when being punished) for their self-correctional behaviour, individuals should be able to get the information and make their own choices.

SWIM only suggested this because due to the state's misguided baby-sitting it's usually easier to get the very strongest substances than more appropriate temperate ones. Well done war against drugs, truly an enlightened effort there.

Still, the fact two people immediately wrote decrying this should no doubt add weight to the argument for not doing this. I doubt most people people who actually are hooked on Heroin thought the would end up addicts. Now SWIM thinks more about it, perhaps it isn't a good option after all, although it should still be the individuals decision.

[yaba]

Swim is on tramadol for his back its not perfect but its better then the others swiy been on. Swim sometimes gets df118's 30mg without paracetamol and they are good for his back (not from his doc) Swim agrees with searchfunction but wouldn't advice on the heroine bit he's been an adict for 4 years from when he was 13 till he was 17. Not fun!!

Swim knows about point 4 from the above post, Do research before doing anything!