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I recently tore a muscle in my back pretty badly. It was evident on the X-ray the ER doctor ordered and I was in a lot of pain--more pain than I can remember experiencing in 20 years. After consulting with the Dr I asked for some prescription pain pills to hold me over for a week or so while I recovered. He refused to give me anything prescription and told me to take NSAIDS. I told him I couldn't take Non-steroids because of an ulcer I'd had a few years ago. Still he was adamant. No pain pills.
What is happening in America when a doctor cannot prescribe even a few pain pills to help with a retiree's pain. I know there's a drug epidemic out there involving young kids abusing prescription pain meds but old people with chronic conditions are being cut off without even being weaned. All they hear from their Dr is "Sorry. I won't write any more prescription painkillers for you. Yes, I know you're in a lot of pain but I have the FDA and my license to worry about."
I cannot fathom what is becoming of America, I cannot begin to imagine the horror if I got cancer. Many terminally ill patients are being refused their pain meds right at the pharmacy by pharmacists who say, "I know it's a legitimate prescription but I just cannot fill it for you. I'm sorry." Anybody else having this kind of problem?
For what it is worth, one of the pharmacies in my area has a day when people can bring in their unused medications to drop in a box. In my experience there were 2 policemen sitting on either side of the box. Easy, no intimidation. No questions asked.
This is not true where it comes to Opiods and Narcotics, Every prescription for them a patient has had filled even in another state is available to health providers and pharmacies instantly in most states through something called the MAP program, and my state is one of those who participate.
Thanks for the info. It appears that Maryland is behind so that's probably why I haven't seen it actually used. But this site also indicates that Florida does not provide access to other states. I would have thought that Florida, out of all of the participating states, would be fully on board with this. PMP Maps
I can see where this would help a lot IF all of the states would fully participate.
For what it is worth, one of the pharmacies in my area has a day when people can bring in their unused medications to drop in a box. In my experience there were 2 policemen sitting on either side of the box. Easy, no intimidation. No questions asked.
Wonder why other places don't have this service.
I think we have the occasional pick up at the local pharmacies as well. I find it more convenient (because of my forgetfulness) to use the drop boxes that are located outside each police station. No police officers are standing guard but I figure you'd have to be an idiot to mug someone or try to steal from the box given its location.
What would be the advantage to me of returning them to the pharmacy or doctor for disposal? That would be a trip and standing in line for nothing. By keeping them, I had a supply of pain pills which lasted me a number of years (22 pills). I had already paid for them, why not use them? (It should be obvious that I was not abusing them if 22 pills lasted me a number of years. I can't remember how many years they lasted.)
Well, A and B. A: When they are expired, it gives one a means to dispose of them.
B: Differences in philosophies. I remember back in 1991 when I had an eye infection and they gave me Tylenol 3 for the pain. I only used two of them and after the infection passed, flushed the rest of them down the toilet (different way of seeing water pollution then). Why? To me, to keep them past the eye infection as a just in case was drug abuse, so down they went.
Why couldn't you return them to the pharmacy or doctor for disposal?
With so many things these days saying not to flush, that is my option for unused medicines and used pet pain syringes. In the case of the pets, I take it back to my Vet and let them dispose of them.
As far as pain goes, I've been fortunate for despite the meds they have given me here or there, I don't use them. I've developed various mind over matter techniques over the years, such as gate theory (either "turning everything on" so pain is just one more item to catalog or sending a counter pulse down the line to block).
If you have these meds in your possession and are not using them I would strongly suggest you hold onto them. Do not dispose of them and do not turn them in. Why? The day will come when you have to produce them as evidence you are not an addict. I have 9 left over from 12 prescribed for a molar I had extracted last Oct. I used 3 and I didn't need any more but I carefully tucked them away to show the Dr I am not an addict in the event I need something for pain.
Like I said, I believe the day is coming when these meds will be banned for all except for those in the last FEW DAYS of terminal cancer. The only MD's who will be brave enough to write them will be the old ones getting ready to retire who don't care about their licenses. Oncologists will not write them anymore for a few months before death even if the patient is in pain. They now usually only give them when the patient is a few days from death. Mileage may vary but this is now the commonly-accepted practice.
One poster is right when they say pharmacists are telling them, "We don't stock these." I needed cough syrup with hydro for a severe lung infection I brought back from Europe and I couldn't get it filled. When I called to see if it was in stock it was, "I'm sorry. We don't give out that information over the phone." They're afraid a druggie is calling to find out who has it so they can rob the store. I had to carry my prescription to about 4 pharmacies and finally one told me they'd order it and I should come back in 2 days and this was two years ago. The rules have only tightened since then. I was fortunate. I still have half a bottle in my cabinet to produce as evidence in case I need it again.
Research turns up Germany as the only country I can ID still willing to treat pain in a humane way with narcotics if they are warranted. Most countries in the poorer zones are not stocking them because they are too expensive and the majority patient population cannot afford them. Many are not realizing that in the US it's not that they are there but Dr's/Pharmacies are refusing to dispense; it's that FDA has mandated to the manufacturers sever cuts in actual supply.
Quote:
Under a Final Order being published in the Federal Register tomorrow, the DEA is reducing the amount of almost every Schedule II opiate and opioid medication by 25% or more next year. For instance, hydrocodone manufacturing in 2017 will be 66% of last year’s level.
Read: 25% the following year and further cuts after that. I believe that eventually the supply will completely dry up. Perdue, the maker of Oxycontin is not waiting around. They are moving their product overseas to worldwide distribution except the USA:
OxyContin is a dying business in America. Prescriptions for OxyContin have fallen nearly 40% since 2010, meaning billions in lost revenue for its Connecticut manufacturer, Purdue Pharma.
So the company’s owners, the Sackler family, are pursuing a new strategy: Put the painkiller that set off the U.S. opioid crisis into medicine cabinets around the world.
Seniors in severe pain will have to look for relief overseas. North America will not help them. Check the interactive map in the article above.
...I didn't want to get admitted because of the sheer inconvenience of having to stay overnight away from familiar surroundings. I mean I hadn't even packed my things (toiletries, comb, electric razor, etc.)
So you went to the ER complaining of a torn muscle in your back, with what you said was "more pain than I can remember experiencing in 20 years". You had an x-ray, although soft tissues such as muscles do not show up on x-rays. You refused to be admitted, because the inconvenience was apparently greater than the pain, and asked for enough prescription pain pills to last a week.
I'm truly sorry for your pain but please dont blame the doctor's age. My 50-year-old son is an ER doc for three hospitals and, if someone came in complaining of pain but refused to be admitted, he wouldnt prescribe prescription pain pills to that person. He says there are a lot of older drug addicts trying to get pain meds from ERs. And, while I believe that you really were in pain, your behavior was exactly what my son has described as drug-seeking.
Well, A and B. A: When they are expired, it gives one a means to dispose of them.
B: Differences in philosophies. I remember back in 1991 when I had an eye infection and they gave me Tylenol 3 for the pain. I only used two of them and after the infection passed, flushed the rest of them down the toilet (different way of seeing water pollution then). Why? To me, to keep them past the eye infection as a just in case was drug abuse, so down they went.
But, as I said, differences in philosophies.
That's the strangest definition of drug abuse I've ever heard. To me drug abuse means using pain pills to get high instead of for the relief of pain, or using more of the pills than the directions allow, for example if the directions say one pill every four to six hours, abuse would be taking one every three hours, or taking two instead of one. Or abuse would be asking for a refill when one is no longer suffering from serious pain.
You were prescribed the pills for the relief of pain. That is their legitimate use. I'll bet it didn't say "Only for use in relief of pain caused by eye infections".
I tried this, but the pain was too severe, I have a 12-part Mp3 for overcoming pain, I listened to it multiple times a day while I was lying on the floor in agony, but it't hard to imagine sunlight coming down your spine to make it stronger when it feels like someone is standing over you slamming a sledgehammer down on your ankle over and over and over. I really couldn't think too much beyond "Oh, God, please help me" over and over (at times it was "Please either help me or kill me", that's how unrelentingly agonizing it was). I do believe very much in healing through the mind, but there are degrees of pain and illness in which meds are absolutely necessary. You are fortunate indeed, I hope you continue to never need them.
My techniques are a little bit more imaginative and often pull from another's fiction.
Remember "Charlie X" on Star Trek? Where Kirk thought Charlie had taken on all he can handle and had Spock and McCoy turn on every thing? That is the source of one of my techniques. Or this, glowing like a living star, Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet , it's not quite sending a counter pulse down the line (it's more to increasing one's aura), but it is similar.
LONG STORY SHORT, I have a Very Powerful fantasy life, I don't deny it in my reality, and I find it rather useful.........even if it probably does exist in a degree of denial.
BUT.......... yes, I do consider myself fortunate for the way I can conduct my life without drugs.
why was there reference to the "FDA" in the title?
The FDA has recently adopted very restrictive regulations for pain killers. Your doctor can no longer call a Vicodin prescription in to a pharmacy. They have to have a paper prescription, and refills are no longer allowed. Physicians are now subject to audits of all their pain killer prescriptions, and if some bureaucrat decides they are prescribing too many they can be faced with a criminal investigation.
What this means is that if Granny breaks her hip and needs pain meds, she has to have somebody sling her and her body cast out of bed and go to the doctor to get a new prescription. If you start passing a kidney stone on Saturday afternoon, your urologist can't phone in a prescription for you. All you can do is suffer until you can get an emergency appointment on Monday.
So yeah, the FDA is the problem.
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I do believe very much in healing through the mind, but there are degrees of pain and illness in which meds are absolutely necessary. You are fortunate indeed, I hope you continue to never need them.
