Ah, but that’s just it. Your boyfriend IS a drug-seeker if he has expressed a desire for the “two stupid Vicodin.” You have sympathy for him but not the “drug-seekers.” I guarantee you that many of the labelled “drug-seekers” are just regular people in his boat. I am one. I have degenerative spinal issues, pituitary adenoma, polyarthritis, sclerosis, heel spurs, several autoimmune disorders not otherwise specified (heh), and more, and I am issued pain medication (Norco–very light, comparatively) equivalent to one week of relief per month. (Seriously. Indication is to take 4x/daily, and the supply is 30, for the month…) That is a short trip to forming an addictive response to the pain medication. The system is fucked. I look forward to my one week per month of being able to function a bit more normally…I guess I crave it. I am a narcotic-seeker. :dubious:
This is such frustrating BS. I went to get my Rx refilled (now schedule II so I have to physically pick up the prescription) and the pharmacists (new to the store) lectured me about long term use and how they are “cracking down” on this stuff as if I’m doing something bad/wrong by trying to get through a goddamned day and be able to move with less pain. I’m so over it all, honest to god. I never get my prescription filled “on time” (always later because I don’t use as much as they prescribe in a month) and I pay cash because guess what? NO INSURANCE again- I don’t qualify for medicaid, my state decided not to cover people who don’t work but aren’t poor enough for medicaid and I"m awaiting my disability hearing. And this guy has to give me shit when all I am trying to do is fill a legit (same as the OP) Rx for a needed medication.
Oh, I don’t know, could it be because accidental drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death? Maybe it’s, just a little, because according to the CDC:
Now, you may say “One can’t get a prescription for heroin, that’s different and shouldn’t affect prescribed meds”. The CDC further states:
So, opiods (including heroin) are the main drivers of accidental overdose and opiods “requiring” a prescription are the main driver within the category.
One can argue what is the right way to handle the issue, but to write it off as ‘who cares’ in the face of the rising number of dead is way far off the track. I certainly don’t have the answer, but I know the status quo wasn’t it.
Yeah -,drug seekers are evil people who deserve what they get - wow
Did it ever occur to you that people are different?
I have zero willpower - and I haven’t become an alcoholic - and took benzos for years and got off no problem. They just don’t do it for me. Opiates - on the other hand - I love.
Withdrawal isn’t the only thing addicts have to deal with. If you think people just have to go through 3 days of pain and then they are done - you are seriously misinformed.
Plenty of people - that have lots of willpower in other areas of their life - have an extremely hard time.
Are you surrounded by drugs? You have three people selling pills in one block of eight townhouses where you live? I know people like this and the temptation is enormous and hope just isn’t there.
Geeze - even the republicans have wised up that this tough on drug users mentality doesn’t work.
And FYI - studies show that opiates aren’t superior to other painkillers for back pain. I know that is hard to believe - as opiates are so powerful - and yeah you’ll feel good, but your back will hurt just as much (group wise) to other drugs.
Plus then people get opiate induced algesia - people don’t seem to realize this, but I think WhyNot alluded to it earlier. When many people go off opiates their pain returns. They think it is cause they stopped taking the opiates (which is a totally logical thought), but if you give 1000 people opiates and 1000 people some Cox 2 whatever - the people with opiates will report pain at day x more than those with other drugs.
Other than cancer - there is equally a first line treatment superior to opiates.
So why you feel sorry for your boyfriend - I’ll hold out some compassion and believe that at least some women don’t enjoy having to sell themselves for money to support their drug habit after they got addicted during treatment from a doctor and lead truly miserable lives.
so who has more will power - a person that probably has no propensity for addiction to opiates and probably isn’t even in an area where they are available like cigarettes - or the girl that takes is up the ass from a guy she can’t stand cause she needs $60 for her next fix?
I know a girl who was physically restrained with handcuffs and one put in a dog cage so guys could have their way with them. And they didn’t report it - and went back to doing it.
Willpower isn’t everything - just like with eating - you think Oprah has no willpower? Obama and his nicotine addiction?
As far as the OP goes - it’s obviously due to it being an “opiate” - I think tramadol is a pretty weak opiate, but have heard of people becoming addicted/dependent on them. The addict I know - it doesn’t do it for them, but they are all addicted to stronger opiates so I’m guessing if you started out opiate naive - it probably would have that effect.
If you were trying to fill it “early” - that would suggest to the pharmacist you were using it more than prescribed. You seemed to suggest that it wasn’t early - and hey - if you need to go on a trip or something - maybe you need it a week early - or whatever - if they are setting it for 30 days - and there is 31 in a month - then that is silly.
Anyway - he/she may have not looked into the details other than the “early” - you say your profile was available to him, but that doesn’t mean they read or thought a bought it. You said you didn’t hit any of the “red flags”, but there are other ones such as paying with cash and other things that people might not be aware of.
I think it’s a little ridiculous if you are a regular customer for you to be treated like this. If anything - the pharmacist should have talked to the doctor. Obama just announced new opiate treatment programs - so maybe that scared him.
Pharmacists and doctors have been getting stingy with opiates - some with good reason, but of course others get caught up in the crackdown.
I e heard these stories fairly often and my advice is always what you did - find another pharmacy (well you used a different branch - and that worked for you).
Also - for anyone that just thinks this is going to easy from now on - I’d highly recommend that you don’t try to fill an opiate or maybe even stimulant or benzo at your first visit at a new pharmacy by itself.
I’ve developed a great relationship with the two pharmacists that work at my local pharmacy. Good pharmacists are true professionals that actually know a decent amount. I ask them advice on OTC stuff, get my flu shots there, and ask what they’ve heard about drug xyz. They have a different perspective cause they work with customers from different doctors.
Anyway - this stuff is going to happen to some people that are on opiates, benzos, or stimulants. The only real choice is to do what you did. Each pharmacist needs to be able to use their discretion - and this person is doing that. Not saying it was proper in this case - and this ignores the problem another poster mentioned about people that only have one pharmacy around.
Most pharmacies have their own official “red flags” and some aren’t very logical - like straight pill counts (some pharmacies will have a problem with 180 5mg oxycodone, but no problem with 60 30mg)
Some doctors know about these - and avoid triggering them, but some do not.
Other pharmacists have their own internal red flags - which could be based on logic or prejudices.
You said he doesn’t know your medical file, but many doctors due to insurance requirements write ICD9/10/whatever codes on the script which lets them know what you are being treated for.
Ironically, if the OP didn’t have a red flag last week, he does now. Switching pharmacies is a flag, and starting your relationship with a new pharmacy with a scheduled drug is another. Not that I have any better advice, but be prepared for your next refill to be a challenge. This is how people get erroneously labeled as “demonstrating drug seeking behaviors.” It’s impossible not to act like a drug seeker once one cog in the wheel suspects you might be a drug seeker. Anything you can do to get your medication, someone else has done to get their fix.
No, this is the exact same pharmacy, just a different location. They have the identical records, one store is about 3 minutes from my home while the other is about 10 min from me. I’ve been using both locations for years, sometimes it’s more convenient to use one over the other (the farther rite aid is right by my parents house). No red flags at all.
First of all, he did look at my history, because I requested that he do it. He also was given my empty bottle, which showed the date filled, proving I wasn’t trying to get it early.
I’m just baffled at what that “red flag” might have been. I did not have multiple doctors writing scrips, I did not pay in cash (my insurance paid for it, further ensuring it wasn’t too early), I did not have any contraindications with any of my other meds and I’ve never had my tramadol scrips filled anywhere besides Rite Aid.
Norco is just the generic name for vicodin. It’s the exact same drug.
I’m an emergency room RN. I’ve worked in ERs for the past 15 years. I have seen this problem appear and now I deal with the repercussions.
Around thirty years ago([cite](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3712997/)), two ideas began to gain traction. The first idea was that opiates were a safe drug and long term use of them was no different than long term use of any drug. Several flawed and since debunked studies under reported the incidence of addiction. [Newspaper article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2012/12/30/014205a6-4bc3-11e2-b709-667035ff9029_story.html). I am talking about chronic or acute **non cancer** pain. (Malignant pain from cancer is another subject).
Second, studies were done which showed that pain was frequently under treated, particularly in women and minorities. The idea that "pain is whatever the patient says it is" became universally taught. Physicians responded, appropriately,but based on biased studies, by prescribing narcotics at a record rate. Four times as many narcotics were prescribed in 2014 than in 1999 [cite](http://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/).
Now, we have many, many people taking narcotics long term. Most of these patients are now physically dependent on opioids. So, in addition to their original problem, pain, now they have an addiction. Some of them accidentally overdose and die, some of them turn to heroin when legal narcotics become unavailable for whatever reason. It is much easier to overdose on the variable that is street heroin, used intravenously.
What to do?
And of course I am not talking about any Dopers (Straight).
This is a generalization not aimed at any posters. Just an explanation of why getting narcotics from a pharmacy can be troublesome.
Actually, while what you say is true, I was talking about another problem: opioid induced hyperalgesia. Some people who take opioids begin to feel more pain, feel it more intensely, and the pain spreads beyond the original site of pain without additional damage to the tissues. They can become hypersensitive to stimulus, to the point where a gentle touch causes pain. The opioid use actually causes *more *pain to develop, it’s not just the original pain returning when the opioid is stopped. This, of course, often causes them to take more of their medication to try to treat the pain, which makes the pain worse, which causes them to take more medication. Eventually, they overdose, or their doctor or pharmacist says no more pain medication.
http://healthcare.utah.edu/paincenter/treatments-conditions/opioid-induced-hyperalgesia.php
While OIH is predicted to be less common with tramadol than with other opioids (because tramadol has much lower affinity for mu receptors), and that’s one reason doctors prefer tramadol to other opioids, OIH has been documented in users of tramadol. Tramadol induced paradoxical hyperalgesia - PubMed
But nobody overdoses from taking the prescribed dosage of narcotic pain medication. The problems arise when a physician decides (due to the “new” way of thinking) that a particular patient has been on a certain drug long enough and no longer will write a script. Then the patient buys those drugs (or worse, heroin) on the streets to treat the pain.
Unfortunately, that’s not true. It’s widely believed, but it’s not true.
- See more at: Pain Management | Drug Policy Facts
Even people who are taking opioids - even at low doses - as prescribed by the doctor have a frighteningly high rate of overdose.
That part is definitely true, though. In some studies, 94% of heroin users report that they started buying heroin because they it is cheaper and more readily available than prescription opioids, and 75% of opioid users started with prescription opioids. http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1874575
I switched from the Rite Aid I had used for years when a new pharm manager began acting as a very rude Demigod of All Drugs (details too boring to go into). I switched to a local family-owned pharmacy; once they knew me we formed a “spirit of the law” relationship, ex: I’ve needed to fill an RX early a few times due to vacation plans and it hasn’t been an issue.
As previous poster(s) have so eloquently expressed: no one wants to be a drug addict and the pathology of addiction is incredibly complex.
To the poster who said they take their extra, unused pain meds and stash them in the freezer, just in case they can’t get some when needed, I have learned to do something similar. I have occasional (sadly not enough of them anymore) really good days when I don’t need any meds at all. On those days, I count out the meds I would have taken, put them in dark glass bottle to retain their efficacy, and hide them in my linen closet between sets of sheets. Once a quarter, I count out whatever is in that spare bottle and swap that amount of tabs out with my current, fresh, prescription, so that my stash doesn’t get old.
I’ve been very grateful for it twice since the prescription changes. I had a vehicle break down when it was time to pick up my new 30-day scrip from the doctor and was unable to drive over and pick it up. They were kind enough to mail it to me, but it took several days to arrive and I ran out. The other time involved simply misplacing my bottle at my house for a couple of days. I believe the cat may have knocked it over and it rolled under the bed. It eventually showed up on the floor of my bedroom, sitting on the cold air register grate.
It is sad that we have to go to these kinds of lengths to protect ourselves. I’m completely functional with my meds, but often miserable and dysfunctional without them. Four years ago I could get a 90 day supply mailed to me by Express Scripts, where it would sit, plainly marked as medication, in my mailbox - sometimes for several days if I was traveling. What a crazy, extreme, change this has been.
Are there any statistics at all showing that the new laws have reduced unauthorized medication use? I know I’d feel just a tiny bit better while jumping through all of these hoops if I knew there were such statistics.
I recently had my doctor prescribe me Tussionex syrup for a bad cough. It’s about the strongest cough syrup out there. Anyway, I went to Target to get it filled. They could only fill half the order due to supply and advised me that I could only fill the remainder after the proper time had elapsed according to dr’s directions. I agreed. Upon requesting the the rest of my prescription, they told me that by accepting the half filled prescription, I forfeited the the remainder and I would have to call my doctor to have the balance filled. They claimed that this is a new federal law. I asked my regular pharmacist about this and he said “that’s bullshit.” Bottom line, that’s been mentioned before, some companies are more concerned with getting cross with the Feds than they are with their customers. I suggest people patronize pharmacists that hold their customers concerns paramount.
Even sometimes with nonprescription medications. I developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in infancy and in the mid-1960’s even the experts thought that arthritis was an old-person’s disease. They didn’t know what to do with me. At the time the only thing they could think of to treat me was aspirin. By the time I was 4, the doctor had me on 6 baby aspirin twice a day. When I started hallucinating, my mom was smart enough to stop giving them to me.
To nitpick, “Norco” is a brand name for the drug sold by Actavis (formerly Watson), as are Vicodin (AbbVie) and Lortab (UCB).
Your point is correct, though, as they all contain the same hydrocodone/APAP combination in various dosages, as do their generic equivalents, which is what almost everyone gets nowadays.
Nitpick. Lortab is a thing of the past. To my knowledge, there is no longer any hydrocodone combination with more than 350 mgs of acetaminophen. Lortab had 500.
My grandparents have had a lot of this sort of problem with medication refills ever since Obamacare started changing the rules. There’s always some new hoop to jump through that takes forever meanwhile you’ve got octo and nonagenarians who really can’t afford to risk going off their meds like that even for a short time lest they just start falling apart.