You keep seeing the media go on an on about how there is an epidemic of RX narcotic addiction, OD deaths, black market full of them in the USA etc.
Yet in every single case I know of from family and friends in the USA it is DAMN HARD to convince a doctor to take pain seriously or RX anything close to a narcotic.
Elderly father with kidney stones recurrent year after year, this guy didn’t want to take anything so to see him on all fours and vomiting from pain and to say yes I want to go to the ER during a bad episode meant it was bad. It was 50/50 whether he would get anything other than 800mg ibuprofen.(:rolleyes: could have taken 4 OTC ones).
Elderly mom with stage four cancer, she had to fight to get I think 15mg morphine tablets.
Someone I know with multiple back surgeries said they have to go from doctor to doctor because the one they are currently at will announce he is no longer treating pain, they are on a couple vicodin a day or used to be.
I’ve been dismissed myself and been told pneumonia isn’t usually painful while I am almost delirious with pain from breathing. It is hard not to look like a drug seeker when this doctor visit means you’re going to be eating nothing but beans and rice for weeks, advising OTC drugs is a laugh you could save your money.
All I can think is that it varies by region or state, most of all of these experiences were in TX. Or there are some small number of basically criminal doctors writing scripts solely for sale or something. But wouldn’t that show up in records?
Or you have to cry and plead pathetically to doctors?
Like I said my experiences do not match the media picture at all.
Many MD’s will flat out refuse to prescribe narcotics.
That fact is constant enough that pharmacists will question any script which purports to be one of these docs prescribing a controlled substance.
About a year ago, the DEA got nasty about all the opioids being dispensed - in my case, that got my morphine cut to 1/3 of what I had been using.
My doc now wants me to try Physical Therapy - which will create pain that she will not provide the required drugs to control.
I hear that the current head of DEA (who actually called a press conference to denounce the President’s policy of Fed hands-off marijuana enforcement in areas with legal weed) is leaving.
She will not be missed.
When looking for a doc, I inform them of my condition and specifically state I will see only docs willing to write Sch. II.
Vicodin used to be Sch III (can be filled by phone, refilled, etc) even though it contains hydrocodone, a Sch II drug.
This is where a lot of docs got off the Vicodin/Percocet (?) train - they now have to write a Sch II script for them, and they don’t do Sch II.
The experiences I related happened long before this recent witch hunt, so like I said it doesn’t make sense where all these drugs are supposedly coming from.
I’ve never had a problem getting pain treated, and in fact have returned opiate meds as being too strong, and have told a couple of physician to not bother prescribing pain meds, since I already take opiates on a schedule, and have a few “extra” for any unexpected increases in pain.
The ortho surgeon who did my knee surgery prescribed ten pills for post-op care (same brand and dose that I normally take, with instructions to take up to 2 tablets at once if needed, instead of my normal 1 tablet) after talking to the pain management doc.
Never had a problem in the ER, either. That said, the last time I was in the ER, I was in Florida, and you know the reputation that state has.
I haven’t had a problem with pain medication, but my mom had. It may be the setting, and I also think, unfortunately, the biases involved.
When I was a graduate student, I had to be given some Percocet (or Darvocet) for pre-op and minor post-op pain following some biopsy taking at the student health care center. It was a nice thing, but didn’t do much except give me a good long nice deep sleep that night. I didn’t want or need it past the 1-2 pills given.
When I fractured my arm, in the same college town, I was given morphine quite a lot after the horrific fracture and on my way to the hospital (did zilch). I was also given dilaudid that made me puke, so I didn’t want it anymore. They put me on Percocet, and gave me a one-month script for it. I used it only at night. When I had to return to the orthopedist, he asked if I wanted another script. I refused, as I wanted to drink and my pain by that time was manageable with just OTC meds.
But when my mom underwent surgery, she woke up in pain and was in pain for hours before they put her on a fentanyl patch (mind you, she was still in the hospital). I was actually mad at my dad for not being more proactive and ask for better pain meds for mom (I was in another country at the time). By the time she was discharged, they gave her Tylenol 3, but without an option to refill it.
When I had surgery to install a metal plate in a broken ankle (actually, the fibula) they set me home with 50 vicodin. Fifty. All fifty are still in my medical cabinet since I never felt enough pain to even want one.
I have RA which is accompanied by chronic pain. The pain moves and shifts, sometimes in one place, sometimes another, sometimes everywhere at once. But it’s always there and I need pain meds. Vicodin low dose is the least strong medication that will allow me to be functional on a bad day. It used to be no problem to get Vicodin from my doctor. But since they upgraded it to a Schedule II narcotic, suddenly my doctor started suggesting joint replacement surgery. Not really an option with me, since I never know which joint is going to hurt and I can’t really have them all done at once. My gen prac then referred me to my rheumatologist. She is willing to prescribe them for me, but only 30 days at a time. I have to make a trip clear across town once a month to get a new scrip.
I understand drugs are being abused, blah blah blah, but why does the entire class have to stay after school because a few were unruly? I’ve had RA for 30 years and never abused a scrip. Everything is kept on record now, why can’t they treat proven responsible chronic pain patients as adults?
I’m a chronic pain patient and fortunately I have a very understanding doctor. Bit finding a doctor is only half the problem, next you have to find a pharmacy willing to fill your narcotic prescriptions. Many around here will not. Imagine being in pain, having a valid prescription and finding the drug store won’t sell your them.
I had this issue at a local Walgreens that I had been filling my narcotic prescriptions for 6 years. They got a new pharmacist and he began giving me a hard time. I eventually told him that I have a valid prescription and the only reason not to fill it was if they had reason to believe that it was fraudulent. If they had that suspicion I told them to call the police, I would wait. They gave in, filled it and I would go somewhere else but none of the other pharmacies will fill. Sorry for the rant
Unfortunately, the anti-sex (Hi, Pope!) have now gotten the laws changed so pharmacists can legally refuse to fill a prescription (at first, it was contraception; guess what happened when RU486 (morning after pill) came along?
The same law that allows the moron to refuse contraception also allows morons to refuse any old drug they decide they don’'t like.
