News & Blog

Recent Posts

Archives

Categories

Victory for Me and Others

I have had IC for 45 years and do what I can to further our cause. In 2014, I was losing my family doctor and also the doctor who prescribed my pain meds. So I went through the directory looking for a new family doctor. Every single family practice group in the area REFUSED to even take patients who were taking pain medications, even if they received them from a pain doctor.

Actually, one group asked me to send a list of my meds and then they would let me know if I could enroll. I had heard of other IC patients being unable to find a family doctor, but was shocked that it extended to every single group. Not knowing where to turn, I called the local newspaper and asked to speak to the health reporter. I told her my findings and a bit later friends called me to say I got the full front page in the local newspaper as well as an inside page.

The article was printed in the Asheville Citizen Times (North Carolina) May 1, 2014 and is titled “Easing pain, or prescribing problem.” A short time after that I called my preferred family practice group and was no longer told I could not be taking pain meds! Victory for me and others. I have been in that group for 2 years now and my family doctor now even prescribes my pain meds and stays up to date on IC literature.

So my advice if you encounter these problems, call your newspaper and report your stories. I have always found that most writers are looking for important stories to tell. I hope the article helped many others in all kinds of pain in my area. It gave important current information to doctors about how to safely prescribe pain meds.

Nancy Williams

Share: