PM DOC IN CENTRAL FL (ORLANDO)

Hello all!  I have been chatting back and forth with you all on this board about my forced medication change.  I was on methadone and forced to stop taking it because of some new fl law.  I took morphine right after the change with poor poor results and now opana.  The opana works a bit better but not how I would like it to.  I have made a decision to try to find a doctor who is still willing to prescribe methadone.  If you all do not know about why I was forced to stop taking the only medicine that has ever worked and worked very well for me look at my earlier posts.  I do not want to be repeating myself here as most of your time does not need to be wasted.  I really really like my PM doc alot now!  I hate to change.  I have talked with him and he understands.  He said he does not want to loose me as a patient but I need to do whats best for me.  And what is best for me is taking methadone as my long acting med.  Methadone has been the best treatment for me.  It works better than PT,  injections or any other medications.  I just hate the fact that the only treatment for my back pain has been taken away because others (legislators) think its best for me.  Well, news flash, ITS NOT!!!!!!!!  Anyway I am rambling.  The whole point of my post is to ask all of you (particullarly Central FL residents) if you know any PM docs in central fl still prescribing methadone.  Pete trips again said he may be able to help but citrus fl is just to far for me to travel every month.  I do want Pete to know that I really appreciate his efforts.  If any of you have any suggestions on how I should find a new PM doc who prescribes methadone let me know.  I am trying to avoid just calling a PM doc office and flat out asking if he/she prescribes methadone.  It sounds kinda bad.  My pain levels are up now so I need to stand and walk for a bit.  I thank all of you for your help.  Any input or advice would certainly be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sorry to hear about your problem, things like this happen...but have you asked your PM doctor if they know of anyone who is still prescribing it?? another thing you can try, if you have a good relationship with your pharmacist/s, ask them if they know of any doctors that are prescribing it, of course they can't tell you which patients are getting it and why, but they can tell you which doctors that they're still getting scripts from that are prescribing it (I had a pharmacist do this for me once a few years back when I was trying to find a new a PM doctor, and she wrote down a few names of doctors that she knew where treating chronic pain). These are the only things I can think of, but if this is becoming the law, then it's only a matter of time before they all quit prescribing it there in Florida. Have you really tried ALL the pain medications?? Maybe you need a combination of diffrent medications? I would recommend trying another one or two diffrent medications before giving up on your doctor, as you may end up with this same problem with another doctor sooner or later...

Also Methadone takes a LONG time to leave the body, for me it took several months, and eventhough I was taking another long acting pain medication, I was still have effects from stopping methadone (something about the chemestry of methadone is "just different" then any other pain medication that leaves long lasting effects after being stopped), and that caused me issues that included a raise in pain til the methadone was completly gone from my system, then the newer medication started working...so if you just recently stopped the methadone, then maybe it's just a little more time before you find out for sure if the new medication will work or not.

I hope things work out for you, good luck!!!

-kitty