I have abnormally high pain responses. How do I learn more about how/why my body responds this way and get support when being treated by doctors for surgeries/major injuries etc
36F
tl;dr I have an abnormally high pain response. Are there pain specialists who could help me understand why and provide consultative support when I go in for procedures to make sure I get an appropriate level of medication for my body?
===
I have an abnormal reaction to pain, especially related to medical procedures. For every procedure I've ever had my pain level is consistently much higher and lasts much longer than is expected.
I also seem to be resistant to various pain medications. Dental procedures have required 3-5 times more doses, Rx NSAIDs for injuries have sometimes required max doses fairly quickly, and I tend to need stronger narcotics and for a bit longer than typical.
When I try to explain this to medical professionals my pain is often dismissed (particularly by men), is met with skepticism that I'm just drug seeking, or panic about potentially saddling me with withdrawal symptoms etc. (and I do get that there is a genuine problem with opiates in the US but the medical field has kinda overreacted to the point where doctors are too conservative in many cases. but I digress)
Typically as things progress the doctors finally start to believe me and increase my dosages but by that point my pain has been going on longer and at a higher level than necessary.
I get so frustrated because opiates are just not a problem for me. I don't like taking them because they make me too dizzy to read and really drops my mood level- except when I'm in pain and the pain relief outweighs the downsides. I have always had several doses left of a prescription because when my pain level gets low enough I just naturally lose interest in taking them and I stop.
I even get pushback when asking for non-narcotics like NSAIDs etc.
What I'm hoping for is to work with some doctor who can work with me to do whatever tests/evaluations needed to validate (and verify for other doctors) whatever combination of low pain tolerance/special needs around prescribing I have. I'd also love to have this person available as a consult to my other doctors as needed to help manage my pain a little more aggressively than the other doctor is comfortable with.
Is this a thing? How would I go about finding a doctor who could do this?