Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We have online medical records now so they have my history (nevermind that the 'emergency' room is just another room in the same health centre as the normal doctors and its the same doctors, just one takes a shift in the emergency area at a time. I was prescribed the codeine in the emergency area (and got it renewed), and got it renewed. But I checked my records today and the doctor has written in my notes that I can request the tramadol from the normal doctor area if needed and as its written there I should hopefully be able to do it by phone, will try tomorrow anyway as I bloody well need them right now! But they've always been a bit funny about tramadol here, when we had paper prescriptions the pharmacy would take the paper away from you so you couldn't forge a renewal, and now its only allowed as a e-prescription.
and this is the EXACT same medication I give my senior dog for her arthritic knees..... all I have to do is call the vet's office and I have a refill in about half an hour.....
Several days ago in Southern California a female doctor was sentenced to life in prision for second degree murder; several of her patients had died from overdoses of drugs she had prescribed for them. One patient travelled from Arizona in order to get drugs from her.
Is it too easy, too hard, or about right to get drugs through legal channels? Obviously doctors who abuse their prescribing privileges are in the minority, but should standards be tightened or left where they are?
Is there concern that patients needing pain medication for legitimate, medical reasons will have trouble getting it?
A personal case in point: Four or five years ago I had hernia surgery and was sent home with a bottle of 30 pills of a narcotic pain reliever. I took eight of the pills over a two-day period after which I didn't need them anymore, leaving 22 pills left. The door was open for me to sell them illegally or use them recreationally myself. Since I wasn't interested in either, I just kept them. It took years for me to use the 22 pills - for the odd headache here, a dental procedure there, and so forth. In my view that was over-prescribing, leaving the door open for abuse.
I wonder if things have changed, or perhpas will soon change? Should they change?
I can tell you from experience as a pharmacist that narcotic drugs are hard for the people that need them to get and easy for the people who sell them/abuse them to get. I'm not sure why that is, so I can only speculate that the people who sell or abuse them know what tricks to use to get physicians to write them (or know physicians who write them easily from people in their "circle"). The people who actually need them don't know anything about that, so they go to a doctor asking for something for pain and many of them (around here at least) are really tight when writing for narcotic pain meds because they automatically think that the person is a drug-seeker (it's easy to do since pain is subjective and you really don't know who is in pain or not).
Honestly, the only way I see of fixing this is to make the penalty for these parasites really hard. Instead of a slap on the wrist for selling narcotic drugs, using fraudulent prescriptions or whatnot, have them serve a life-sentence or something. These people are really ruining a lot of other people's lives by making good, useful drugs something doctors are paranoid to write for. They are, in my mind, one of the most abusive citizens of this country and should pay for the destruction their actions cause to other people's lives.
Either that or get rid of the DEA, the reason for why doctors are afraid to write for narcotic drugs. Because people who need these drugs find it difficult to get and it really irritates me that losers who abuse them are the cause for this problem in their lives.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider
A personal case in point: Four or five years ago I had hernia surgery and was sent home with a bottle of 30 pills of a narcotic pain reliever. I took eight of the pills over a two-day period after which I didn't need them anymore, leaving 22 pills left. The door was open for me to sell them illegally or use them recreationally myself. Since I wasn't interested in either, I just kept them. It took years for me to use the 22 pills - for the odd headache here, a dental procedure there, and so forth. In my view that was over-prescribing, leaving the door open for abuse.
In your example, that's the problem with pain being subjective. For some people with hernia surgery, they would have needed more than those 30 tablets. You just seem to have a higher tolerance for pain. The doctors don't know that and instead of spending some time to find out if you're more tolerated to pain than others, they'll just write for a larger amount instead of risking that you'll call back asking for more. Around here, most of the emergency room doctors at least write for really small amounts of paid meds. I think the doctors should take the time to try to find out your pain tolerance, but of course that's asking a lot from an already overly-worked profession. Some things should probably change in that area so things like what happened with you won't happen all the time.
I can tell you from experience as a pharmacist that narcotic drugs are hard for the people that need them to get and easy for the people who sell them/abuse them to get. I'm not sure why that is, so I can only speculate that the people who sell or abuse them know what tricks to use to get physicians to write them (or know physicians who write them easily from people in their "circle"). The people who actually need them don't know anything about that, so they go to a doctor asking for something for pain and many of them (around here at least) are really tight when writing for narcotic pain meds because they automatically think that the person is a drug-seeker (it's easy to do since pain is subjective and you really don't know who is in pain or not).
Honestly, the only way I see of fixing this is to make the penalty for these parasites really hard. Instead of a slap on the wrist for selling narcotic drugs, using fraudulent prescriptions or whatnot, have them serve a life-sentence or something. These people are really ruining a lot of other people's lives by making good, useful drugs something doctors are paranoid to write for. They are, in my mind, one of the most abusive citizens of this country and should pay for the destruction their actions cause to other people's lives.
Either that or get rid of the DEA, the reason for why doctors are afraid to write for narcotic drugs. Because people who need these drugs find it difficult to get and it really irritates me that losers who abuse them are the cause for this problem in their lives.
In your example, that's the problem with pain being subjective. For some people with hernia surgery, they would have needed more than those 30 tablets. You just seem to have a higher tolerance for pain. The doctors don't know that and instead of spending some time to find out if you're more tolerated to pain than others, they'll just write for a larger amount instead of risking that you'll call back asking for more. Around here, most of the emergency room doctors at least write for really small amounts of paid meds. I think the doctors should take the time to try to find out your pain tolerance, but of course that's asking a lot from an already overly-worked profession. Some things should probably change in that area so things like what happened with you won't happen all the time.
The part about pain being subjective... yes, quite true. There are lots of "back injuries" getting narcotics prescribed for them, I guess back/spine problems are hard to prove/diagnose as illegitimate or not without extensive testing. I'm a pain patient, and the cause of my pain is more than obvious. Its quite visible, and its quite painful. From a crush injury to my leg. I have osteomyulytus , the fibula has been removed, and the fusion in the ankle is shot. I was with two different pain clinics, the first had to refer me out when my insurance changed. I wish that had never happened, because the second clinic put me on an insane dose of ms contin. That stuff is evil. Oh, it works, don't get me wrong, but I've since gotten myself off it, and it was tough. I get pain meds from my primary now. 3 10 mg oxycodones per day, (allowed 4) and its working acceptably. However, I have had issues because of the provider changes. Regardless of reason, DEA flags you for it. So I've jumped through some hoops. Pain, is a pain. For sure. Yet , I've known more than one person who has no issue doctor shopping with a "back injury". How do they not get flagged? That is a mystery to me.
A personal case in point: Four or five years ago I had hernia surgery and was sent home with a bottle of 30 pills of a narcotic pain reliever. I took eight of the pills over a two-day period after which I didn't need them anymore, leaving 22 pills left. The door was open for me to sell them illegally or use them recreationally myself. Since I wasn't interested in either, I just kept them. It took years for me to use the 22 pills - for the odd headache here, a dental procedure there, and so forth. In my view that was over-prescribing, leaving the door open for abuse.
I wonder if things have changed, or perhpas will soon change? Should they change?
I just had a hernia surgery last week. Things haven't changed at all. I received 45 pills of which I used zero. I came in for the 1 week followup and the doctor was prepared to prescribe another supply of the Vicodin knockoff pills for a total of 90. I declined. In my case, I decided to suffer through the pain rather than take the pills, and although it was indeed painful, it was manageable.
Yeah, apparently they have street value and had I taken the second prescription it would a tidy little sum of money. I already have a friend who wants to buy them...I'm not selling them though...the pills may wind up in the toilet,or as fertilizer for my grass.. Or maybe I could feed them to the red ants and see how they react, a science experiment of sorts.
I can tell you from experience as a pharmacist that narcotic drugs are hard for the people that need them to get and easy for the people who sell them/abuse them to get. I'm not sure why that is, so I can only speculate that the people who sell or abuse them know what tricks to use to get physicians to write them (or know physicians who write them easily from people in their "circle"). The people who actually need them don't know anything about that, so they go to a doctor asking for something for pain and many of them (around here at least) are really tight when writing for narcotic pain meds because they automatically think that the person is a drug-seeker (it's easy to do since pain is subjective and you really don't know who is in pain or not).
Honestly, the only way I see of fixing this is to make the penalty for these parasites really hard. Instead of a slap on the wrist for selling narcotic drugs, using fraudulent prescriptions or whatnot, have them serve a life-sentence or something. These people are really ruining a lot of other people's lives by making good, useful drugs something doctors are paranoid to write for. They are, in my mind, one of the most abusive citizens of this country and should pay for the destruction their actions cause to other people's lives.
Either that or get rid of the DEA, the reason for why doctors are afraid to write for narcotic drugs. Because people who need these drugs find it difficult to get and it really irritates me that losers who abuse them are the cause for this problem in their lives.
In your example, that's the problem with pain being subjective. For some people with hernia surgery, they would have needed more than those 30 tablets. You just seem to have a higher tolerance for pain. The doctors don't know that and instead of spending some time to find out if you're more tolerated to pain than others, they'll just write for a larger amount instead of risking that you'll call back asking for more. Around here, most of the emergency room doctors at least write for really small amounts of paid meds. I think the doctors should take the time to try to find out your pain tolerance, but of course that's asking a lot from an already overly-worked profession. Some things should probably change in that area so things like what happened with you won't happen all the time.
RIGHT! And pain isby it's very nature, subjective. It is the PATIENT who should determine what pain is severe enough to warrant a narcotic. Not the doctor, pharmisist or nurse.
And an increase in sith is dong patients, especially the elderly, living with unrelenting pain whose doctors have turned their backs on them.
true. and at a certain point of life, habituation - (which is different from addiction) may be a better alternative to persistent and pervasive pain.
Being alone and in pain must be a horrific way to live - and to eventually die.
I can tell you this: I lit my mothers doctor up like an old Christmas tree for prescribing her such vast amounts of Percocet's and in such high doses. I told him I'd sue his ass and report him to the medical boards. He stopped immediately. She was a complete f-ing zombie.
true. and at a certain point of life, habituation - (which is different from addiction) may be a better alternative to persistent and pervasive pain.
Being alone and in pain must be a horrific way to live - and to eventually die.
In many countries where opium has been legal in the past, it was considered mainly a comfort for the elderly. Before it was completely banned in Iran, opium was legal only for people over 50 years old, for example.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
