Dr Barnwell only accepts patients who want to control their pain without opioids (narcotics) or who want help in reducing and stopping their current opioids usage. She will accept patients who are currently taking opioids but are committed to decreasing their use of opioids. She has chosen this style of practice because she has learned from 30 years of experience that opioids make it harder to control chronic pain.
Instead of using just medications and procedures to dull the sensation of pain, Dr Barnwell takes the time to do a very thorough history and examination of your problem to find the cause of your pain and then educate you on how to manage the cause. This approach takes more time by Dr Barnwell and more patience and diligence on your part but can result in management of your pain without the side effects, costs and risks of medications and procedures. She may temporarily use medications and procedures but only to the extent that will support you in learning how to manage your pain. .
Drug detection tests are performed before providing prescriptions for DEA controlled medications and periodically at the sole discretion of Dr Barnwell. All drug tests will be at your expense for any amount not covered by your insurance. Please be very careful to tell Dr Barnwell ALL the controlled medications that you are taking before the test. If you are not sure if a medication is controlled, ASK.
Opioids will temporarily be prescribed if necessary only if you are following her recommendations and only if you are showing objective improvement in your pain control. If you want to or need to control your pain by the use of opioid medications, we recommend that you find a physician whose practice more closely matches your needs. A list of pain management physicians in Northern Arizona can be found on our website at: www.barnwellmd.com/paindocs.html. (Being included on this list is not a referral and does not imply that a physician will prescribe opioids for you.)
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