I recently started the medical assisted treatment (MAT) center there for opiate dependancy. I had a typical scenario of a back injury that shortly turned from prescribed pain meds to a problem. I had procured suboxone on own for a while to try to treat myself, so when I started there, I simply needed a subscription and a taper schedule, which I got. Right at the start of my attendance to group meetings, I was having some health issues that I attributed to weather change or the Flu... but there was intense pain that I couldn't account for... and after my first week there, I went to the emergency room with intense pain which wound up being an inflamed gall bladder with possible stones. While I was under the doctors care at the hospital, I was prescribed opiates for the pain, which was at TEN and I explained that I was taking suboxone to the Dr, but was still prescribed this, because there was literally nothing that would work for this kind of pain. I CALLED the clinic repeatedly to explain my situation, and that I was in the hospital...AND they never called me back, but they DID CANCEL my subscription for suboxone, so when I was released, I had no choice but to keep taking the pain meds that I DID NOT want to take... I am now being forced to take opiates AGAIN that I HATE LIKE THE DEVIL, to merely function and tend to my work schedule. Today, I finally talked with someone from there, and found them to be completely devoid of compassion or even willing to admit that their system was flawed, because a person who is HIGHLY motivated to quit opiates is now being forced to continue with them and eventually likely to procure illicit opiates, or deal with weeks of painful withdrawals WHILE undergoing intense abdominal pain and SURGERY in the next week... I don't want to be on opiates and would gladly suffer the pain of my condition, and hand over any and all prescriptions for them if I could have my suboxone continued. I had no control over what the doctor did while in her care and I was literally laid up in the hospital and unable to function, walk upright or DRIVE on these days. Their stance at Gateway is that THREE group meetings a week are MANDATORY and that I will be cut off regardless of any reason. I was also told that my work schedule should be secondary to my meetings and perhaps I should QUIT MY JOB in order to attend???!!! I pleaded with them to not cut off my subscription, because I had only about a two week taper to being done with the stuff... to no avail. They don't care. They don't want to hear anyone with an opposing view. They don't want to acknowledge that they're leaving a great number of potentially curable people to die from their addictions. When I tried to point these things out and the fact that I would be dealing with very painful medical condition in ADDITION to intense withdrawals from PRESCRIBED medications... I was hung up on. There has to be SOMEbody doing this better. I'm now in intense pain and intense withdrawals with a full bottle of prescribed OPIOID pain killers that I'm scared shitless to take, because WITH the preconditioned state of dependence that my body already has I would be physically addicted in a few days time... I will likely have to start taking them to be fit to work, AND will continue taking them until I find a doctor or clinic that actually has a heart and a brain and will help me get this horrible experience behind me. To recap, they didn't return my calls, they cancelled my medications while I was in the hospital and refused to help me while I was immobile, wouldn't concede that I was a special case because of my chronic pain and illness, told me if necessary I should quit my job to attend meetings, and hung up on me when I called into question the lack of compassion and ethics of their clinic. read more
