Ms. Gina M.

Ms. Gina M. - Alabama - This is a very lovely 41 year old lady with Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and severe Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) pain - She had undergone multiple procedures and medications with no help before seeing me. She is a very sweet woman and still has those "Irish-Eyes Are Smiling" despite her years of suffering due to cook-book "expert" doctors afraid to practice medicine.

Here is her letter dated March 2, 2001:

"To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Gina M, I am 41 years old, and live in Haleyville, Alabama. I have been seeing Dr. Gatell since December 1999. Dr. Gatell has truly been a life saver to me.

I really believe if I had not found Dr. Gatell when I did I would have seriously considered suicide, because he was truly my last hope, and I thank God every day for bringing him to me.

I know you don't have the time to hear each every story so I will try to make mine as short as possible, but, that will not be easy.

I was crushed from my waist down when a tornado destroyed our house and buried us alive, as the walls of our basement caved in, at the age of 12. My pelvis was crushed, twisted, and knocked up 5 1\2 inches, which compressed my spine, both legs was broke multiple places - my right ankle was broken, and all the nerves in both legs was damaged.

I spent 3 months in the hospital, while they tried to level my pelvis and legs, with some success, getting one leg around 1 ½ inches shorter than the other. When released, I spent about 6 months, learning how to walk again.

Through the years, as my age increased, so did my pain. My arthritis got worse, and my bones hurt more and more.

Over the years I have developed Rheumatoid Arthritis, as well as a deteriorating disk in my back, degenerative disk disease, bone spurs on both heels - Fibromyalgia seems to be over my whole body, and makes me very fatigued, all the time, not to mention the pain it causes, and RSD (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy).

I've had around 26 surgeries, 100's of epidurals, every kind of drug they thought would help, experimental surgeries and several pain treatment programs.

I've been told everything from "...there is nothing we can do for your pain..." to "...maybe your pain is just in your mind and you could learn to control it if you wanted to..." to "...there is nothing we can to for you, just learn to live with it." I even went the route of "...you've been on narcotics so long you don't know any longer if you really have pain or your mind just thinks you do, and the reason you have pain is because you take pain medicine...".

I even believed that, and when into drug rehab, but they was wrong, I did still hurt, after getting off pain medicine. I just wanted to be out of pain so bad.

For years, I let the doctors convince me to try anything - I believed everything the doctors told me and tried everything they wanted me to and always in the end, after using me as their personal Guinea pig for 1-2 years they would always say “We are very sorry, but we have tried everything we can, and there is just nothing we can do for you, just learn to live with your pain."

I would then be passed on to the next doctor, with the same story. It never seemed to matter what the last one had done or tried, the next one always thought it would be different with him, because he could do better. I went on for years like that going from doctor to doctor, from state to state.

I have seen doctors in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, New York, and even Canada. All in the end with the same results: that is, they also experimented on me for a year or two. I went from doctors and specialists in Pain Clinics where I ran into the same problem of wanting to experiment on me also.

In 1982, I had my first epidural at the University XXX Pain Clinic. Then for 1 1\2 years, I had epidural’s 3-5 times a week with different experimental drugs - Actually, with the experimental drugs they used, I died on their table 3 times and had to be brought back to life, but it did not even make a difference to them, they just wanted me to continue with the epidural’s, until I got to the point where I was barely able to walk and then the Clinic agreed, they was not helping me, told me there was nothing else they could do.

From there, I tried a Chiropractor. I went everyday for treatment and therapy for almost 2 years, and seemed to get worse and worse, at the end he also told me he was hurting me more than he was helping me, and he believed it was best to stop seeing him.

So, once again I was back from drifting from doctor to doctor. Until one day a friend read an article about a Dr. W, that was implanting Pain Pumps to help chronic pain.

In 1991, I was implanted with a pain [Morphine] pump, which never seem to work either. They tried all kinds of different drugs in my pump, without much success, and continual trouble with the pump itself, which lead to surgery almost every month to repair the pump or something to do with the pump.

After Dr. W retired, he left his practice to an associate he brought in to learn the field. With Dr. M, I was still having nothing but trouble with the pump, and nothing Dr. M tried to correct the pumps problems worked either. I was staying in terrible pain even though they increased my medicine every week, and once again my pump catheter in my back became disconnected. And since then, I had never responded to the pump as others nor have I ever had the pain relief from it I should have gotten.

On May 95, Dr. M made the decision to turn my pump off and put me on oral Dilaudid, and even though I had no idea at the time that decision turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me: At that time, my RSD, had put me in a wheel chair for the last year, after developing RSD, (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy) in my left ankle. The RSD gave me such severe pain that I could not stand to put weight on my ankle, or continue to function as a normal human being - I had never experienced such severe pain as that of the RSD. The RSD completely took over my life, and left me many days not wanting to continue to live in such pain.

Over the next 2 years, the RSD spread to both ankles, the bottoms of my feet, to both knees, now it was also starting on the top of my right foot.

Sometimes, I think the RSD is worse than what the tornado did to me, because the RSD is the worse pain I have ever experienced. In fact, when I was in the wheelchair that the RSD was at its worse - the severe pain NEVER went away. The RSD is like being tortured 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At least, the pain from the tornado was scattered around, like one day it’s my pelvis hurting, the next it’s my back, or my legs, or my hip, etc. But, the RSD, is like someone has poured gasoline on your leg, ankle & feet, and set it on fire, and the fire never goes out, and at the same time it is like you just stepped down into a hole of Yellow Jacket Bees, and they are all stinging you at the same time.

I could not stand to wear a shoe, or a sock, there was even times when I could not even stand for the sheet on the bed to touch my leg. My feet and ankles never quit hurting, even when I sit most of the day with them elevated - they was the last thing on your mind at night before I would fall asleep, if I could sleep, and the first thing in the morning when I woke up, was “Oh God, my feet are hurting so bad.....the pain in my feet was always there."

That day Dr. M turned off my pump, and put me on the oral Dilaudid was my MIRACLE, actually I should say my first miracle, because Dr. Gatell, has been my second Miracle....Five days after I was on oral Dilaudid, it was as if the RSD disappeared, my leg had been swollen twice to three times it’s size for almost 2 years, the swelling, burning, stinging, throbbing, and constant severe pain, was almost gone - Dr. M said the Dilaudid had seem to put my RSD into remission.

I was out of my wheel chair walking again, sleeping again for more than 30 minutes, for the first time in 20 years. Dr. M agreed it was amazed at the difference in me, and agreed to leave the pump turned off and keep me on the oral Dilaudid. To me, that was the best news I had ever heard out of a doctor’s mouth. I for the first time in 21 years, I had my life back, my quality of life improved 100%. I started being able to do things, go places, and just live a life I had always dreamed about but thought I would never have. I could almost remember what it was like to be a normal person.

Dr M kept me on the Dilaudid for 2 years and then told me she was just a surgeon and since she didn’t see any need to operate or turn the pump back on - I needed to find another doctor to give me the Dilaudid. Which also turned out to be more a problem than I ever thought it would be.

I was once again in a position of finding a Dr. to agree with me, to see how my life had improved, and how I never wanted to go back to how my pain had been before the Dilaudid put my RSD in remission. once again I was in a battle to find a Dr. to give me oral Dilaudid and not want to start experimenting on me again. Dec. 97, I started going to the W Pain Clinic, seeing a Dr. S, which also experimented with my medicine some, and tried a couple of epidural’s, but he finally agreed with me that I did do the best when I was on the Dilaudid, but Jan. 99, Dr. S notified me he was moving back to Canada, leaving me at the mercy of his partner, who under no uncertain terms wanted me to continue on Dilaudid. He in my opinion, tortured me, always telling me just do this for me and this will make you good for a couple of years, before I'll have to worry about the DEA. Unfortunately, he never held up his end of the bargain, and always wanted more from me. He ended up taking me off the Dilaudid completely wanting me to have surgery again....a spinal simulator, I didn't want to but I agreed at the time, with more of his promises. I had already tried a spinal simulator once without any good results, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. It always seemed to be that way, the Dr. I was seeing at the time always had to see the results for himself, no matter what records I could show him, it was always the same answer, “Let’s just see what happens this time, maybe I can do better than the last Dr. that tried it.” I did agree to his spinal simulator because that the time I didn’t seem to have any other choice, and with his promise that if it didn’t work he would let me go back to the Dilaudid. But, one week before surgery, I had a serious family crisis, and called to ask his office if I could delay my surgery for a couple of months, until the 1st of Jan., I was told a decision would be made, and 4 hours later, I received a phone call from his nurse, that he was discontinuing me as a patient for not going along with his treatment, and my last prescription was less than ½ my normal dosage for a week, and that would be all I would receive, unless I changed my mind about the surgery. I was once left with the problem of finding a Dr. to help me. It was two days after that I found Dr. Gatell on the internet. Dr. Gatell has been caring and compassion enough to realize what I have been through for the last 25 years, and told me, in his opinion I have been put through enough, and has gave me the ability to KEEP MY MIRACLE! I never knew I could live the life I have lived the last 6 years taking the Dilaudid. God truly answered my prayers when he sent me to Dr. Gatell! I do realize that some Dr.’s think I take a lot of Dilaudid in one day, but even with the amount I take, believe it or not, I still live in a lot of pain. I do pretty good in the summer months, I have to say the Dilaudid gets rid of about 90% of my pain about 70% of the time, which is great to me, but I have a hard time in the winter, with only about 40% of my pain about 40% of the time. My Fibromygi pain and The pain from the tornado, is at it’s worse on cold and rainy days which is when my pain most severe, I hurt all over my body, and I don’t think I have a body part or a bone that does not hurt or feel as though your legs are going to bust. At times, my legs will seem like they weigh 100 pounds each, and it’s almost more than I can do to stand or to make a step, because each step creates more and more pain, and you feels like your trying to drag your body along, on these days, I have trouble just making it from the living room to the bathroom, and sit there forever just hating to get up, because you know what more pain you’ll be in just to move. These kind of days, are hard for other people in the medical profession to believe, but believe me it is the truth, my Husband could testify to that. He also lays many a nights and listens to me cry all night in pain. On those days, when I can get to sleep, my husband says I even cry, moan, and scream in my sleep. When I hurt that bad I even dream I’m hurting, and I dream of going from Dr. to Dr. begging them to help me. It is hard by the end of those cold winter months times, but it get through them just knowing that summer will be here soon and I will have good days again, when the weather is better, and my pain will not be so bad, there’s never a day that I don’t live in pain, but thank GOD, he does give me a good day every now and then, and when the pain is at it’s worse, I just have to try to think and remember that there will be a better day, soon, just hang on a little longer.....and since I have been in pain in one place or another, since that tornado, buried me alive, which has now been 25 years, soon 26, I think I have done a pretty good job of hanging on, but at times it has not been easy, I would not wish what I have been through, and what I do still live through everyday, even with the Dilaudid, on anyone. I only wish there was a Dr. Gatell and a medicine such as Dilaudid, out there for each and every person that has to live everyday in pain, because I know there are still many people out there that are still roaming from Dr. to Dr., and from medicines to medicines, trying everything out there they can for some relief, for me that relief came with the drug Dilaudid, and a Dr. That cares, Dr. Gatell.

Thank you,

Gina M"