[0:00] Come in. [0:02] >> Hello. [0:02] >> Hey, doc. [0:03] >> Hi. [0:04] >> Hi. How are we doing? [0:05] >> Hi, Louis. Well, I hear things are [0:07] different now around the house. A [0:09] >> little bit. [0:11] >> It's a lot better. [0:12] >> Hopefully. [0:13] >> It's a lot better. We used to have a [0:14] sanitation company and I got crushed in [0:17] between a dumpster and the ground. I had [0:19] to go through four major surgeries and [0:21] two minor surgeries to even get my legs [0:24] to working where they are now. Yeah, it [0:27] it'd be sharp pain. It was sharp. It's [0:29] numb. Sometimes it's just hard to [0:31] explain it. It's so intense that it's [0:33] just you don't know how to explain it. [0:36] And it's been that way off and on for 25 [0:38] years. [0:41] >> At one time I was on 18 different pills [0:43] a day [0:44] >> at least. [0:44] >> At least. [0:46] >> So he's been on different doses of [0:50] Vicodin, Oxycodone, morphine, [0:52] >> oxycottton, [0:53] >> delotted, [0:55] fentanyl. [0:57] At one time they had me on oxycottton [0:59] and oxycodone. [1:02] >> He was an angry person. He didn't have [1:06] joy in anything he wanted to do. [1:08] >> And you just after a while you just you [1:10] care less if you're here or not cuz you [1:12] don't have a life [1:15] cuz even like being on them doses my [1:17] pain never got below a seven. [1:18] >> When opioids are taken over a long [1:21] period of time they can actually make [1:23] you more sensitive to pain. So in the [1:26] long run, opioids can make chronic pain [1:30] worse. So I would say our goal is to get [1:34] patients to a minimal dose of opioids. [1:39] >> This way, baby. [1:40] >> And we recently looked at about uh 140 [1:44] patients who went through our program [1:47] and twothirds of those came off opioids [1:49] entirely. And sometimes we can't [1:52] necessarily completely turn the brain [1:56] back to how it worked before it was on [1:58] opioids for a long period of time. So [2:00] there are definitely going to be [2:01] patients who do better on opioids. But [2:04] if that's the case, the best opioid for [2:06] that is an opioid called buprenorphine. [2:09] It is the opioid that's in Suboxone. [2:12] >> He got to start taking the suboxone and [2:15] >> and then over time it's become a [2:19] functional person again. But no [2:20] wheelchair today. [2:21] >> No, I haven't had to I haven't had to [2:22] use it for over a year. [2:23] >> I've had so many people uh come back to [2:26] me and say, "I did not think I would [2:29] ever be able to live my life with this [2:31] with this pain and their their [2:34] perception of the pain changes, but [2:35] their perception of what they can and [2:37] cannot do changes." You look wonderful. [2:40] >> Oh, things are a lot better. [2:42] >> Yeah, it it's a it's a Yeah, it's a big [2:44] difference. We really do comprehensive [2:47] medical management of chronic pain and [2:50] really try to do it in a way that's [2:53] integrated that the patient has one care [2:55] plan and that all their healthcare [2:57] providers are talking with each other. [3:00] So a number of patients [3:03] leave their first visit with me. They [3:06] will say to me, I'm leaving here with [3:09] some hope. And hope is something they [3:12] haven't experienced for a long time. [3:18] >> I mean, I never thought I'd get to this [3:19] point. I mean, I figured I'd die on [3:21] opiates. [3:23] It It makes life worth living again.