HALF MY BATTLE WAS WON!!
From: Hchalm@aol.com
Sat Apr 22 16:12:29 2000
I wanted to let everyone know that I won half of my battle, and that was
finding a doctor to treat my pain for adhesions. Not more than 4 weeks ago I
too sent my message of needing help, feeling alone, depressed, scared and not
knowing how to help myself, to the Adhesion message board. In finding The
International Adhesion Society, I found everything I needed. I found
knowledge, courage and the strength through all the wonderful people here to
do battle for myself and I won. In finding the site ASAP American Society
for Action of Pain <A
HREF="http://www.widomaker.com/~skipb/skiphome.htm.html">Click here:
skiphome.htm</A> and sending my plea for a doctor I was contacted by a
representative for Maryland and given a name of a doctor in Virginia who is a
pain management specialist. I saw him Tuesday, 4/18, and he was wonderful.
He new and understood about adhesions. I did not have to prove myself, beg
or plead. He put me on a pain management program, and I am now able to be
more active and enjoy my life more until I can have my surgery. Below are
e-mails from the state placement rep for Maryland to myself and also from
Skip Baker, the President of ASAP.
Dear Helen,
I'm so sorry to hear of your pain. You are not alone and I hope I will be
able to help you. I suffer from FMS (Fibromyalgia) which is a muscle
syndrome if you don't already know about the condition. I believe that
chronic pain is chronic pain and all chronic pain needs to be taken seriously
and treated the same by DR's. Unfortunately there are too many DR's out
there that don't agree.
Anyway, I am going to give you the name of a WONDERFUL, caring Dr. He has
been my Doc for over 2 yrs now and without him, I would either be in bed
screaming in pain or not here at all. I truly owe him my life. He is
located in Centerville, VA. I know that may sound like it is far from you
but for the relief you will get, I'm sure you will find that it's not far at
all. From Baltimore I think it would take you no more than an hr. He will
need a referral from another doc before an appt will be made but if you
absolutely cannot get a referral, Iet me know and I may be able to help you.
I have a wonderful relationship with him and have sent him many many patients.
Below you will find the information you need to know.
Dulles Pain Management Center
DR Joseph Statkus
Dr. Stephen Whittman
13890 Braddock Rd
Suite 106
Centerville, VA 20121
Tel # 703-449-8720
Fax 703-449-8745
Best of luck and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Terri Clayton
ASAP
MD State Placement Rep
This is from myself to Skip Baker at widowmaker: ASAP
Dear Skip:
I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart. I suffer from adhesions
that have placed me in the category of chronic pain. I too sat here for
days crying and trying to figure out what I was going to do because I could
not find help from my OB/GYN with proper pain management. I was being
allowed to take one tylox per day for chronic pelvic pain due to adhesions,
and being scolded for that. I was also told this was my last prescription
and I would have to go to a pain clinic. After finding your site and being
contacted by Terri Clayton and getting in touch with Dr. Statkus in VA I have
hope that I will not have to suffer in unmanageable pain.
I just wanted to let you know that I posted your website in the
International Adhesion Society website, for those people (and there are many)
experiencing the helplessness that I felt in trying to find adequate pain
management and dealing with doctors that tell us to take 4 advil and deal
with it.
Thank you, thank you once again for your campaign on finding caring doctors
to treat chronic pain.
Helen Chalmers
Baltimore, Maryland >>
From Skip Baker to Helen Chalmers:
Thanks Helen. You can give them either of these URLs to get to my web
page if you will:
http://www.widomaker.com/~skipb/skiphome.htm.html OR:
http://www.actiononpain.org may be the best one as long as the link is
always in place. There will be Lord willing, a special program this
summer on TV about this awful "Pain Crisis" caused by the DEA. Check the
web page for the time and channel. I don't know how long it will take
them to put it all together but they spent all day here filming
Saturday. I'd like to use your statement about "One Pill a Day" next to
my pointing that out on my page. So many doctors write for exactly that
amount: "30 pills per month" and I used to get those too. What torture!
To everyone out there that is suffering with pain and cannot find a decent
doctor to help you please, go to the above website; there is help!!! If I
can assist anyone in anyway, please feel free to e-mail me. Thanks to Bev
and Helen again for assisting me and giving me the strength I needed in this
journey, that unfortunately, we have all found ourselves in.
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