I have heard of this happening all over the US- but I didn't think it would happen to me!
My old Dr. who was also a pain management specialist retired and my new Dr. who is not a Pain management doctor calls me in and tells me that the CDC has a new recommendation that no person be on long term opioid management and he plans to take me off my opioid by the end of the month. This is a regimen that my old Dr and I came to after trying every non-narcotic option and it's working. I only went to opioids when the pain became so excruciating that I couldn't get out of bed, was not sleeping and had reached a point of near suicidal depression. For the last year I've been as close to pain free as I have ever been with no issues what so-ever. But I agreed to try it his way and see if I could
Manage without the opioid
Caveat being he will send me to a pain management doctor if the pain returns. Then I find out the co-pay for the PM evaluation is a thousand dollars! I sent my doc an email stating that since going off an effective regimen was not my idea - I expected my insurance company to eat the cost of the eval.
Then I read the CDC recommendation which said nothing about opioid never being used for chronic pain but rather they should not be the first line treatment.
I feel totally defeated that I have to let this doctor who is half my age and probably has no experience with chronic unremitting pain. Tell me all this without even doing a proper history and physical.