The only time you are going to get tested is at your appointment so like you said they can make sure you are taking your meds and that you aren’t on other drugs because then it would look like you were there for the drugs not for pain. The DEA is not going to pick you out to test you. They aren’t worried about the people going to the pain clinic as much as they are with the doctor and pain clinic itself. So most likely your doctor will always give you a heads up because it looks better for them.
Hello All,
I have been in chronic pain for about 6 years and was always using fentanyl and oxycodone and never once had a urine test. Recently my PCP passed away and my pain doc moved away so now I have to start with a set of new doctors who know nothing about what I’ve been through and the 12 months in a hospital bed, the infection I had and the treatment that took place. Wel enough about that. So I got a new PCP who seems ok and I think he wants to help. He reffered me to a pain doctor so I went to see him. The first thing I did was explain to him all about my health insurance and what the coverage was and how much money I had per year for pain management. He definately didn’t like that and I’m sure I ticked him off. The medications I got before were working ok and have many days on the roller coaster so he changed one of my important my meds to something alot less useful, aspirin would be better. I had to do the urine test my first visit. Next visit he doubles the fentanyl because I told him I was tired of the roller coaster ride, he asks me if my PCP would take care of my pain meds (because he can’t give me expensive treatments) now that I am stable. Well a few days later I start talking to my imaginary friends due to the fentanyl being dooubled. So I call him and go see him in a couple days and he he starts with the 10th degree because why aren’t I freaking out not having fentanyl patch on. All I said to him was “you have no idea where I’ve been and what I’ve been through, a couple days without a 25mg fentanyl patch is nothing”. So he gives me a script for just enough patches until my next visit and he wants me to bring in the larger fentanyl patches and give them to him…Hmmmmm isn’t that illegal? Knowing he doesn’t trust me and to prove him wrong I gave them to him. The next month I get a bill for $1,200.00 from the lab who did the tests. I call the insurance company and I was not happy, they tell me it’s not covered and it’s written in your policy and usually the doctors office calls to check if it’s covered and obviously they didn’t. I have one of the better insurance companies in my area Blue Cross Blue Shield. Now I have to get into it with his office about this and they knew they had to call my insurance because they wanted me to have an MRI and I told them I had to go to a certain place or it would cost me $200.00. Needless to say I won’t be seeing him any more and I’ll find another but I am thinking about the medical marijuana useage. Medical marijauna is legal here in MA and I do have a card so do I be my own doctor?
As I mentioned in another thread, Walgreens has upped the reporting/hoop-jumping for certain Sch II drugs - oxycodone being one. Your Percocet contains oxycodone, and, depending which amphetamine, it may also trip this new set of hoops.
I am on MS Contin (morphine sulphate E.R.) and dilaudid (Hydrocodone). Have not been advised to expect test. Due to kidney failure, I get blood work drawn every couple of months - no “pee in the bottle” test has been added.
Not sure if I am replying proper. My Doctor for the third time two weeks ago had my caregiver sign for me , like a contract for taking pain meds . It was actually printed out from some where in Illinois I live in Florida. It explain about going to one pharmacy ( though I was thinking of changing I called Walgreen they don’t do narcotics anymore. I did call my insurance and they said I am allowed to use two different pharmacies of I need to .)
Couple weeks ago my Doctor did not give me a copy just said we can check your urine without notice to see if you are taking your drugs correct. The Dr. that ordered the urine test is same Doctor that wrote my scripts three of more years ago. I am paralyzed. I think they want to do it for records .incase they ever had trouble , got audited , just to cover their backs a it seems a lot of Doctors do nor want to help people in pain. I suffer bad missing just one time. About two weeks after receiving my third paper the lady that comes to my home to do my blood was coming next morning to pick up urine. I take my meds the best I can I *( Caregivers must put them into my mouth ) and I would never sell any I would not even know how to do such a thing. I am trying not to feel bad that I am not trusted and my caregivers and that they are just doing the random urine test to cover their butt.
Las week I’ve was told 60 days to get the THC out of my system by the pain clinic I have been going to for over a year. They know I’m a state licensed Marijuana Card Holder, and I told them that I used from the start of our treatment. The Dr, who is a great guy said he was sorry but the DEA is cracking down on all of the pain clinics in AZ, and there was nothing he could do for me.
He also has no issue with Medical Marijuana (MM), saw a benefit for it’s us in my pain treatment plan.
I tried to go off the Oxycodone and just kill the pain with MM But it didn’t work, the pain won.
As others have said Where is it written!!! That the DEA can do this? Is it just the Fed flexing their muscles since they control controlled substances…
I don’t know if this is DEA mandated, or just a facility policy where I work, but I’m hearing that coming soon we will start requiring all patients on long term narcotic use to sign a Pain Contract. Part of that is random drug testing.
Most primary care providers manage their own patient’s pain meds, some do not.
I worked for one physician whose staff told me “S/he doesn’t prescribe narcotics.” Never? Never. Wow. Totally irresponsible, if true.
I have also heard that the narcotic schedule is being changed. In practical terms for me, it means drugs that currently can be e-scribed or faxed, will need to be hand carried by patients. For patients it adds one more layer of beaurocracy to their pain relief.
The doc may have a past hx of addiction/abuse and is not allowed to prescribe narcotics, at least for a while. In such cases, the practice should have arrangements so that needed narcotics can be prescribed for the patient by other practitioners.
I have been a public defender, representing mostly children, for 10 years. In the 8-9 years prior, I had exactly one kid charged with a heroin related offense.
In the last six months, I have had two kids overdose on heroin and die, three kids overdose but pull through, and several kids busted for possession and distribution. Why?
Because they all started taking mom and dad’s oxycotin and percocet, or stole grandma’s fentanyl patches. The problem is that on the street, oxy and Percocet and fentanyl are WAY WAY WAY more expensive than a bag of heroin. And so the 15yo kid who would have never dreamed of shooting up heroin, but really didn’t think taking one of those pills dad got for his wisdom teeth was such a big deal, is now a heroin addict. A dick sucking, train spotting, dead in the gutter heroin addict.
I practice in the richest county in the country. And yet my juvenile clientele is dying from heroin. This is directly a result of prescription med abuse. Period.
I fully agree that some of the laws with respect to drug testing and reporting, etc…, are stupid. But from my personal perspective, it is because it is too little, WAY too late, and WAY too subjective.
And it’s not just narcotics. I’ve taken Adderall XR for eight years now for my ADHD-PI. I tend to be frugal with it, partly because I don’t want to develop tolerance, and partly because it’s expensive as hell. When I moved from CA to TX two years ago and went in for an appointment with my old doctor, I found out that I would have to pee in a cup every six months to get my prescription. Her explanation was that they need to make sure I’m not taking any medications with contraindications for amphetamines (the only big one I could find was “other stimulants”), but she stressed marijuana for some reason.
I haven’t been able to find out if it’s state law or board regulations, but asking here, it seemed more about making sure I wasn’t selling my medication. Honestly, considering how much of a difference it makes in my ability to live like an actual adult, they can take my Adderall when they pry it out of my cold, dead hand. These things aren’t for sale.
And, the last time I was due to pee in a cup, no one at the office mentioned it, so I didn’t bring it up.
I was just kind of wondering about this. I don’t smoke weed, but I was thinking about trying it for insomnia. I’ve always had insomnia but the Adderall isn’t helping, and I think that marijuana would be a better option than Ambien or any other sleep medications I’ve tried. My doctor doesn’t really seem like he would make me take a drug test anyway (he seems pretty relaxed about the whole prescribing drugs thing) but if he did and I was positive for marijuana, it would look like I was a liar since I said I don’t use any drugs. Weed is legal here anyway, so it shouldn’t even be an issue but that doesn’t mean it wouldn’t.
On another note, it is absolutely insane that a person could legitimately be using medical marijuana for pain and then have that keep them from being able to get their other pain medications. Drug policy in this country needs to make up its fucking mind.
Hi Alley
I would think that you should stop feeling distrusted and welcome this testing. It’s more of a check on your caregivers than yourself. Caregivers are responsible for a lot of drug diversion and it would be incredibly easy for one of them to give you less than the prescribed dosage so they can keep or sell the extras.
The testing should help assure that you get the drugs that you need and you pay for without worrying about them being stolen out from under you in your home.
I thinks since the Feds trump state law, they are just flexing their muscles in this case. It’s unfair, as I pay taxes for MM, and it’s really none of there business.
So far no one has provided anyone or org to turn to for help.
Please do
I have seen this a few times. Dr. X signs off on all Dr. Y’s narcotics. Usually it has been with new doctors to the facility whose credentials are still being verified. Or at least that is the explanation to staff.
The VA hospitals are becoming more circumspect on their prescribing painkillers. In the 1990s and even into the early 2000s they’d write you an almost unlimited scrip for anything that would take the edge off. Now you have to go through an entire “pain management questionnaire” and at the end, they’ll either offer your high dosage Motrin (800mg) or one of the weak ass hydrocodone clones instead of the “good stuff.”
I do know that many vets are upset (read: pissed off) that they have to have urinalysis tests for the prescription to get filled. Some of them won’t take them and that puts the VA in a bad spot as they cannot fail to dispense needed medications without running the risk of being sued for failing to do so or having someone from a US senator or Congressperson’s office calling the head of the hospital and asking why their constituents aren’t being served.
Frankly, I think that the entire matter is ludicrous. People can travel to Mexico or Canada get refills or new scrips for almost anything that they want. You can sign up online and have a pharmacy in India or China send you a buttload of scrips ( whether or not they’ll be counterfeits is another matter) at the click of a mouse.
Drug testing patients only catches relatively honest and stupid people.
I had a motorcycle accident last year that broke my wrist, RSD, physical therapy, then required a second surgery several months later to fix. Needless to say, I’m on Hydrocodone. My doc tested me for that, plus a huge list of others (meth, thc, soma, etc). No prob. They want to be sure I take my meds, not sell them, and that I’m not smoking crack, Whatever. My problem is that AFTER insurance they charged me $250. Seriously. I don’t think it’s fair that we should have to PAY to prove we take our meds. Hell ya we take them. And its assholeish to assume we all take other drugs just because we are on pain meds! They said it was a “government thing” and I agreed to it in my pain contract, but my hand was swollen up like a softball. I would have agreed to anything!
This just happened to me the other day. I went in for my routine blood work and the phlebotomist sheepishly apologized for my having to pee in a cup. I figured it was normal but she went on to explain they have to make sure I’m taking their pain meds and not selling them. I told her I don’t take pain meds regularly and there probably isn’t any in my system right now but she said it’s no big deal. Probably.
After I thought about it, I realized I don’t currently have any active pain pill prescriptions anyway. I still have my old pills I haven’t used yet. Odd.
Hello everyone,
I’m new to this forum and I’m writing for my mother, a 70 year-old with chronic, severe pain, who has just had her pain medication cut off by a new doctor. We live in Illinois. She has been on pain meds for some 30+ years due to post polio syndrome, crippling arthritis, 3 back surgeries (discectomies and a fusion), lung (2/3 of 1 lung removed), gall bladder (removed), uterine (removed), rotator cuff torn, and she needs knee replacement(s). She was prescribed oxycontin 80mg x 3 daily, with percocet 10mg x 4 daily (the amounts built up to this level after 30 years). In the last 5 years 2 doctors have left, and the third told her she was a “legal drug addict,” and that she needed to get off these pain meds, then he gave her a urinalysis which she passed. Less than a month later he gave her another urine test, in which he found trace amounts of another pain med (methadone) prescribed by one of her previous doctors (she never throws pain meds away, just in case), and he told her he would not fill the pain meds and that she should “go to rehab!” She had taken the methadone (10mg) so she would not run out of the oxycontin early, which she explained, to no avail. So with no warning she had to go “cold turkey,” from a large prescription of addictive pain medication, with no guidance from a physician. Luckily, as I mentioned, she hadn’t thrown her old pain meds away and she was able to step down from the high-dosage without serious problems. After 3 weeks, and speaking to a hospital advocate she was able to see a new doctor, who gave her another urinalysis and prescription (cut in half), but as we were driving away from the hospital and discussing her visit, she said that she forgot to tell the doctor about a pain medication when he asked (she has taken several weaker pain meds in gradually lower doses to step down), so I told her to call when she got home. I picked up one of her prescriptions and was in the process of picking up the second when the pharmacist told me the doctor’s office had called and told him to hold the script. The doctor said that she lied to him and that he would not give her pain meds; she would have to see the pain clinic at the hospital for that.
She got an appointment and saw the pain clinic doctor, who told her he would not take care of her pain. She called and called and saw both doctors once again, but they will not take care of her pain. I also took her to an emergency room (same hospital) and they would do nothing for her pain. We called the state ombudsman, the agency on aging, and a pro-bono legal service but they can’t or won’t help. She even asked for a referral to see a pain clinic in another town, but after speaking with the doctors from her hospital, they told her they were not taking new patients from our county.
This all took about six weeks and she is out of all the pain medication she has saved (for such a time as this) through the years. She suffers daily, crippling pain and the doctors here will not help. I have tried and tried to help my mother, all to no avail. When I see her rocking back and forth late at night, weeping because her pain is severe, I feel so helpless and furious at those who will do nothing to help. It seems there is something going on behind the scenes (some board telling doctors to cut patients off to save money? To satisfy some other agency?), because I have talked to others in my town who have also had the same thing done to them by this same hospital. How long will this punishment last? There has to be something I can do to help my mom, I’m at the end of my rope.
needhelp70, is your mom on Medicare?
If yes, she can make an appointment at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago *without *a doctor’s referral. They will ask you if you have a referral, but if you say, “No, she’s on Medicare, and I was told that you don’t need a referral with Medicare,” they will complete the process.
They have 50 locations in Illinois and Indiana. My experience is with the one in downtown Chicago.
Be prepared - the first visit is a doozy. There’s a long (10 pages, I think?) health history form to fill out before you arrive. It can take as long as 4 hours to meet with a pain specialist (MD) and a nurse and a physical therapist and a psychiatrist and the chief cook and bottle washer. But you end up with a really great team of people who are truly devoted to listening to the patient and using every modality they have to get her pain under control with the least amount of side effects/addiction possible.
I don’t work for RIC, but I’ve helped several patients get seen there, some of them with doctors who wouldn’t sign a referral. The ones who are truly in pain all thank me with tears in their eyes because, “they actually listened to me!” The ones who are looking to score drugs to abuse or sell don’t go back, because the intake process took too long. :rolleyes:
I hope she gets the help she needs. (And please do help her go through her meds and get rid of anything that’s expired, for safety, and bring ALL of the things that aren’t expired to her first visit. Forget a list, just pop all the bottles in a bag and bring them.)
Something fairly common now is that oxy codone (spelling?) is being sold on the street and the sellers are using the money to buy heroin because it is cheaper.
Yes, she is on medicare. I’m looking into the RIC thing. Thanks