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I 've been on Vicodin for yrs and have never experienced problems obtaining a filled prescription...perhaps it depends on where you live...
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Originally Posted by thrillobyte
Lack of opioid pills or preparations is rampant in my part of Los Angeles. When I needed hydrocodone cough syrup for a lung inflamation in nearby Eagle Rock a chain told me, "We simply don't carry it, sorry." If you call in to ask if it's in stock they won't even tell you because they're afraid they're being set up for a robbery. These stories of people having drive around to 12 pharmacies are true, at least here. If the FDA doesn't outright ban it they'll make the supply so small that 95% of people who need it will not be able to get it. That's a defacto ban.
I 've been on Vicodin for yrs and have never experienced problems obtaining a filled prescription...perhaps it depends on where you live...
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I think it must. No one around here has any trouble getting prescribed pain medications. I have no trouble at all getting Tramadol. I could get even more than I do, but I don't use much and don't ever even use all the refills before it's time to go back to the doc to get a new prescription.
I 've been on Vicodin for yrs and have never experienced problems obtaining a filled prescription...perhaps it depends on where you live...
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That has to be it--location--if so many get it as easily as they say while others get cut off by their long-term doctor for no reason at all. I think the larger cities are looked at more carefully by the FDA/DEA and their doctors threatened more than in a small town of 50,000. In theory it's much easier for the DEA to watch 20 large cities than it is to watch 200,000 small towns. I mean they just haven't got that kind of manpower even if everything is computerized. Small town pharmacies are not as threatened by the FDA as the large chains as well.
Sadly, if a person has a severe pain problem and finds him/herself cut off by their pain clinic they have to make the difficult decision to relocate somewhere where they won't be judged as a pill-seeking addict before they even walk through the door. This is a lot of work for someone crippled by pain but it's either being able to access the meds that make one's life bearable, or making the more difficult decision to either live with unbearable pain or do away with oneself, which thousands are doing every year
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Since there are 41,149 suicides every year in the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics, it’s possible that many of these suicides are driven by pain. Not proven fact, but plausible hypothesis. This would suggest that perhaps as many 20,000 or more Americans a year with chronic pain kill themselves,which would be more than the government’s tally of 16,235 deaths from prescription opioids every year.
I've never allowed myself to get addicted to painkillers even though I've been prescribed them on and off over the years for this injury or that. The last prescription I got was for hydrocodone 12 tabs a year ago for a molar extraction and four are still sitting in my cabinet. I keep them for an emergency. According to the tightened regulations I may be breaking the law simply for possessing them because the use for which they were given to me has lapsed. Who knows how these dunderheads in the DEA think?
CVS has just announced it is cutting back on opioid prescriptions and will limit prescriptions to 7 pills. So if you are a chronic pain sufferer that needs to have opioids this is not good news. I imagine other pharmacies might follow suit.
I no longer need to be on mine - but I was one them for about 3 months. I did not become addicted because I took a low dosage.
What I don't get is why pharmacies get to call the shots and not the doctors. Ultimately it is the doctor writing the prescription, not the pharmacy.
CVS has just announced it is cutting back on opioid prescriptions and will limit prescriptions to 7 pills. So if you are a chronic pain sufferer that needs to have opioids this is not good news. I imagine other pharmacies might follow suit.
I no longer need to be on mine - but I was one them for about 3 months. I did not become addicted because I took a low dosage.
What I don't get is why pharmacies get to call the shots and not the doctors. Ultimately it is the doctor writing the prescription, not the pharmacy.
I had an issue with CVS a couple years back when my state went to a "no refills" policy. You get a monthly supply, and then must go back to the doctor and get a new prescription. Doctors hate it, and it is a PIA for patients, but I understand how it might help abusers. My problem was that I had refills on my script which CVS would not fill. I also caught the cranky old lady pharmacist who made a crack about "this being dangerous medication". FU. I don't need your caustic comments about what my doctor has advised me to take.
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I moved to a private pharmacy where they "know me" and appreciate my business and the practical aspects of having on-going prescriptions. I see the doctor every month, get a script, and have it filled. We don't screw around over a couple of days one way or the other and they work with me over changes in quantity and strength.
It's all been fine since I got away from CVS. Life is difficult enough without them being in charge of my medicine. Quite frankly, if they have a problem with a legitimate script, make a call and verify it, or accept electronic scripts, which they won't do for controlled substances.
So, I use a private pharmacy and they have been outstanding in service, price and overall customer satisfaction.
I am so lucky to have a pain pump loaded with fentanyl and dilaudid. My Doc is with the Army and my medical history is well documented and I know that I am only still alive due to my meds. I would have killed myself decades ago because of the deep and never ending pain.
People think that being paralyzed means no pain. I have an incomplete break at T12 and along with the loss of my legs I have so much pain from T12 down. I have also had RA since I was 11 and with age I now also have OA. My Lupus is just a bonus as is my 2 strokes.
We use the Army pharmacy and as long as my Doc follows their rules there are no issues. The medical care and pharmacy are the reasons my DH stayed in the Army. So far, we are safe from the Charlie Foxtrot that is our healthcare in the US but, who knows what the future will bring.
Can't wrap my head around why some people so identify with particular diseases and maladies that they would consider whatever pain situation they are having as "life-long." That is just crazy to me.
If there is something wrong with you, either identify the core problem and remedy it, or deal with it in non-toxic ways (i.e., natural remedies).
These DRUGS you are taking are toxic and have toxic side-effects (especially long term).
How are your livers and kidneys?
I wouldn't be surprised at future cancers.
It's all very backwards - be curious and find other ways to deal with pain.
There are lots of articles written about HOW to do that (accept it, open to it).
Bunch of drug ADDICTS - and if you have been taking an addictive drug for ten years, you are an addict, period.
Edit: Not talking to people with actively broken bones or horrible, tragic acute diseases.
Last edited by nobodysbusiness; 09-21-2017 at 08:23 PM..
Can't wrap my head around why some people so identify with particular diseases and maladies that they would consider whatever pain situation they are having as "life-long." That is just crazy to me.
If there is something wrong with you, either identify the core problem and remedy it, or deal with it in non-toxic ways (i.e., natural remedies).
You do know that there are some diseases that have no cure, right? You do understand that for some diseases, there are no "natural remedies" that will help and in some cases, will do more harm than good, right? You do realize that some people would prefer ANY quality of life by taking substances that may do their body harm rather than be a non-participating member of society in constant pain with no quality of life, right?
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and not come right out and label you a troll, but if the shoe fits...
I believe that *most* chronic "diseases" have emotional components that are not being addressed (re: causation).
Fibromyalgia is one notorious disease that likely can be addressed via natural remedies and awareness of unprocessed negative emotions.
Most (not all, but most) people who campaign for addictive drugs seem to be very "attached" to "their" diseases. The disease becomes their identity.
Obviously, there are terrible acute accidents and ailments that require pain medication to manage - but anyone who has a chronic condition and is taking pain meds for ten years has probably not researched natural remedies that might be helpful (such as an alkaline diet, essential oils, acupuncture (which is proven to effectively decrease pain), etc.
Pain medication should be for horrible acute conditions and really terrible long-term diseases - not the everyday chronic pain that people complain about.
It has been proven that back surgeries do not improve most back problems! Yet people electively get these surgeries, over and over again sometimes and then "have to" take pain meds for the rest of their lives! It's over the top . . . why WOULDN'T you do some research first - educate yourself to see what other remedies might be less drastic?
And getting back to the premise of this thread: If you are taking opioids for ten years, you have to be addicted (otherwise, why wouldn't you quit taking them?!!! If you haven't quit taking them, how do you know how you would feel without them? And what OTHER remedies have you tried?
I really don't care if you call me a "troll." It makes no difference to me - if having a non-mainstream opinion makes one a troll, then I'm a troll. It isn't going to make me become a sheep and get addicted to pain meds for whatever might ail me now or in the future!
I don't understand why people EXPECT to be in pain for a lifetime. What a miserable, hopeless state of being that must be. How do you even get to that point of thinking? I honestly don't get it. It seems very lazy to me (in terms of thinking). Be a little more curious and try things that won't kill you down the road!
Last edited by nobodysbusiness; 09-21-2017 at 09:55 PM..
It is very easy for someone who is not in constant pain to judge those who live with pain every day, every hour and every minute.
As I said I have been living with RA since I was 11; I am now 51. Of course, I was in pain for around a year before a Dr. Dx'd me so, that means at least 40 years of constant, intense pain.
I had my first hip replacement at 25. At this moment I am recovering from surgery on my left hand ( for arthritis), 6 months ago my other hand had the same surgery. My shoulders are next in line. You obviously have never had the pleasure of having your joints grinding against each other. Never known the humiliation of not being able to hold your own toothbrush because you just cannot hold it without crying out.
Natural remedies? Well, moist heat helps but,
I cannot spend every minute in my hot tub, nor can I submerge my entire body in paraffin. Massage can ease the pain but, again once the massage is over the pain returns. What would you suggest for a spinal cord injury? Or the nerve pain from 2 strokes?
A person like you wants to judge me and call me an addict? Am
I supposed to care? I hope that you never feel even the tiniest bit of pain that I live with every moment of my life. I truly mean it. I hope that everyone is able to find some way to ease their pain. Opiods? Yup, sign me up.
Last edited by melaniej65; 09-21-2017 at 09:51 PM..
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