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hello, i am looking for a good doctor in the shoals area. i have chronic pain issues from a spinal disease. any info to steer me in the right direction would be appreciated. i have tried the doctor at the bone and joint clinic but have not been happy with him or his staff especially for some time. thank you very much.
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My family prefers Dr. Joshua Vacik. He's knowledgeable and appears to be sort of laid back, which we like. Also, he admits to Helen Keller. I'm not sure if he admits to Shoals, because he was part of the group that left Shoals Hospital a couple of years ago. I think some of them have gone back, but I don't know if he is one of them. I like Dr. Richard Deal, too. He is very professional and keeps his patient load small. He also admits to HKH and Shoals.
I can only relate my experiences with helping my mother who is almost eighty and is in chronic pain from degenerative arthritis and a close friend of mine who has had multiple surgeries to remove bone from his hip from several tumors and probably tell you who NOT to see. I agree with your statement about the pain doctor at the bone and joint clinic - his two nurses are like the nazi gestapo standing guard to the doctor - I would not want to deal with them either. Dr. Kiser in Muscle Shoals is a wonderful doctor and very thorough, but he will not treat any kind of pain issues. I'm not really sure why, since he is a family/geriatric specialist, but he makes his patients sign a waiver that they understand he does not prescribe pain medicine for any reason. Dr. Young in Florence (bone and joint clinic) did a knee replacement for my mother and is a VERY good surgeon, but, he also will not address her pain issues following her surgery - even though he has said that her other knee has now degenerated to the point of bone on bone and agrees that she is in severe pain. Dr. Bartmess, also in Florence, is not a good doctor to see for any kind of pain, either. He told my mother, who is almost eighty, that he would not prescribe any pain medicine for fear that she might become addicted. At her age, with no history of addiction, I would think that living her last years pain free would be more important than the negative impact on her quality of life that she is now enduring.

Hope you find someone who can help you - unless you have pain yourself or know someone who does, you do not understand how hard it can be to live with such a burden.

If you have good insurance and the means to get there, you might look to the Huntsville or Birmingham area if you cannot find a doctor locally.
Lynn blount is right about Dr. Kiser. He seems to be a good Dr. but either his staff is totally out of sync. or he is. They schedule sevsral patients at 15 minute intervals and Dr. Kiser spends 30 minutes or longer with a patient. Result is waiting room full of patients waiting and waiting and waiting. Old folks don't wait well. We have teken my aunt to his office once a week for past three weeks. First time appointment was for 9:15. Finally saw Dr. and left office at 11;45. Next appointment was for 1pm. Got out of office at 3:45. If you go there; be prepared to wait 2 or 3 hours. Better yet, do as i have threatened; if time set is 1 pm; i will bring her over about 3 and we won't have to wait so long!!
The problem that most of the physicians are getting into is the inability to seperate those who have "true" pain and those who are seeking drugs. The State Board looks at pharmacy records and takes a dim veiw of physicians with a big history of prescribing Class IV and V narcotics. No physician wants to get called before that board and stand a chance of losing their license.
The best advice you can get is to call the library and ask about the chronic pain meeting. Go frm there, since they people will be able to tell you who in the area may be the best suited for your problem. Chronic pain is a tough problem for the patient and for the doctor. And though sometimes they may seem uncaring, one would only have to see the number of times they are inundated with requests for pain medications and narcotics on a daily basis to understand that they have to be a little more cautious.
Do not confuse what I am saying and think I am dismissing that there are those out there who need help. There are clinics which can properly evaluate the patient, decide the best therapy for them, and administer that therapy with less likelihood of causing an addiction problem for you and them in the future.
[quote]The problem that most of the physicians are getting into is the inability to seperate those who have "true" pain and those who are seeking drugs. The State Board looks at pharmacy records and takes a dim veiw of physicians with a big history of prescribing Class IV and V narcotics. No physician wants to get called before that board and stand a chance of losing their license.
The best advice you can get is to call the library and ask about the chronic pain meeting. Go frm there, since they people will be able to tell you who in the area may be the best suited for your problem. Chronic pain is a tough problem for the patient and for the doctor. And though sometimes they may seem uncaring, one would only have to see the number of times they are inundated with requests for pain medications and narcotics on a daily basis to understand that they have to be a little more cautious.[/quote]


This post is very accurate. As a doc who sees many folks on a daily basis in my office, I don't go a day without being hit up for a narcotic prescription for all kinds of crazy reasons....some of which still suprise me and beleive me I think I have heard almost every one of them.

Do I prescribe them, yes. Do I have to have a compelling reason, you better believe it.

As to the schedules, they are interested in prescribing patters for all schedules, but class 2 and 3 are the most common for the pain killers, etc. Your benzos, like valium, xanax, ativan, etc. fall into class 4. If the physician is prescribing them for legitimate reasons in their practice they have nothing to worry about from that perspective, but many are getting gun-shy and for good reasons mentioned above.

As to the original poster, we have some good primary care docs in this area....several of which mentioned in this thread.
Thank you for your reply XYZ. The problem some people have in getting the needed pain relief is because of all the fakes trying to get whatever they can. The drug addicts have made it hard for people who are in need. I do not blame you doctors one bit! You have to be so careful with what you prescribe simply because of the drug addicts. It's a shame that honest people are the real victims in this mess.
I say if a Dr can not tell if someone is in pain he needs to get another job.It is sad to see people that need medicine for pain and these snooty DR's turn their backs on them.I would rather hurt than even tell a DR I was in pain and have him label me a dopehead.Just another example of the world going down the craper.Thats just what I think.
Not wanting to get into a shouting match over this, but you don't know what you don't know.

I take patient complaints of pain seriously. I see them every day as part of my practice. I also see folks who's sole goal is to represent themselves in a fraudulent manner to obtain narcotic prescriptions for less than noble reasons. It sounds like it would be easy to differentiate between the two, but not so fast. I have been at this for a number of years now and I still have times when I question if it is a legitimate request or not. Sometimes it is the little old lady who sits on the front row every time the church is open that is addicted to narcotics and knows exactly what to say and what to do to get a prescription...that is why we don't give them without an objective finding. Prescription and illegal drug abuse is a major problem not only in the country, but this area. Don't believe me, go and sit down at the courthouse and listen to the cases and see what the common link among many of them is.

If I cannot find an absolute cause of the pain, I will not just give a pain rx. just becuase. I know of very few who will. As to the previous posts of those who do not prescribe any narcotics, I would suggest there is either more to the story than presented. The docs are not being snooty as you say...most I interact wtih on a regular basis are very caring people who want and will do their absolute best for their patients. Yes, you always have a few that seem to be used as the sterotype, but get by those and you will see what the majority are really made of and it is good. Defensive medicine is here to stay unless something changes drastically....we are not the ones to address this issue with though - talk to your politicians who will not touch the subject.

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