New Prescription Rules for Hydrocodone Set to Start in October.

I don't understand how people get addicted to these drugs, they never worked for me, as far as pain relief goes.

Arthritis strength Tylenol works best.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
I don't understand how people get addicted to these drugs, they never worked for me, as far as pain relief goes.

Arthritis strength Tylenol works best.

You've never had an L-Cystine kidney stone.

I have to chime in! I have had 23 major surgeries from being shot by a 12ga 00 Mag buckshot in the neck and chest, to broken pelvis, femur, and tibia, as well as a broken back from a car accident L1-L2 compression fracture, L3-L4 & T11-T12 herniated into the nerve. I suffer severe chronic pain every waking moment. It flat out pisses me off that we get all the negative BS at the pharmacies as anyone else. And it is due to doctors giving out tons of pills to people that don't have a true need for it. I have medical records in my possession that assures me I can go anywhere and be treated. I do go to a pain management doc and the way it is, yes piss test and all, I get a 3 month supply. On any meds that can't have refills like Morphine, Methadone and Dilaudid I get 3 scripts that are post-dated for each of those. I just have to carry them to the pharmacy each month.

Now, every time I go to a large chain pharmacy I get the typical BS of the acting like I have no reason for them, having to check supplies, check computer, have a conference with the other pharmacists and techs, etc.. I use a hospital pharmacy as long as the date isn't on the weekend to be filled. I found out some time ago, (23 years on opiate pain management), that I sent a synopsis of my records to the pharmacy with the surgeons, injuries, etc. and they completely changed their attitude. My doctor has told me, and I had 4 pain management doctors die on me over the last 23 years, that they have zero problem writing me what I need with what I have been through. I have had doctors give me meds until I can get the scripts filled, which was a little more than they needed to do. I did not ask for them to do it either.

I would not have a problem with getting some type of certification and ID to show that I am a legitimate chronic pain patient and they could be reviewed by any pain doctors. If it would keep the pharmacists, doctors, and law enforcement from automatically thinking I am out abusing drugs. I can't carry my meds with me or if I got pulled over and they find them I would get arrested for DUI. You must realize that after 23 years these drugs only lower my pain to a tolerable level. That is one of the problems with pain meds. People think you should be flat on the ground because of what your on, but after so many years of taking them the tolerance is so high that it does not have the same effect it would on a person not used to them. I had a new being trained surgeon shoot 10 grams of Morphine in my IV at once a few years ago. The chief suspended his drug dispensing rights because it was meant for 12 hours, not all at once. He said, "You could have killed him, even though it hasn't effected him". That is my luck because my tolerance is so high to opiates. Law enforcement and government agencies don't or can't seem to understand that simple fact. By putting limits on drugs they cause people with life altering problems that have been under care for years, gainfully employed, etc. all kinds of problems including them not being able to work. Or missing so many days they get fired anyway.

Here is an example. I have been on 40mg of methadone 2x a day for over 15 years. The DEA suddenly in their infinite wisdom decided pain patients can have 40mg tablets any longer and only clinics for heroin addiction can have 40 mg tabs. So, doc gives me 8 10mg tabs a day. Same exact thing except instead of getting 60 40mg tablets a month, I now have to get 240 10mg tablets every month. This is big government run amuk and screwing up peoples lives with their blanket edicts. It really does tick me off. And people that need their meds for real, surely are not going to be affording street prices for the drugs. What choice do they have?

Now their is a new illegal drug on the streets called acetyl fentanyl. It is not the fentanyl you get in patches, etc. One grain of pure fentanyl can kill 10 men. So, if you don't have hyper-accurate pill manufacturing methods, these street pills of acetyl-fentanyl will be killing folks.These are going to be taking a lot of people out. Remember, the cartels will be glad to supply what is in prohibition, no matter what it is. How in the world is pushing people out on the street going to reduce crime and problems. It won't. In order to get pain relief they will have to deal, steal, or whatever to get meds due to prices on the street being so expensive. And then the tragedy's from street drugs not being standardized.

PAIN SUX! I hate it every day. Every day I wake up and think I can't take another 30 years of this. If I was suddenly not able to get pain relief I would check out of this ride. I don't forsee having that issue though. As for the changes, I don't know why they put an opiate pain med in Class III in the first place. All of them are Class II except Tramadol or Ultracet, which I believe is a non-opiate. So, it will depend on your state, country, and what laws your subject to. Trust me, I have thought of moving to Mexico where I wouldn't have any problem getting meds and my money would go way further as well. But, a third world country isn't in my cards any time soon.

I have a friend who is a drug counselor with a Masters Degree. He has said the pendulum had swung way in favor of giving out pain meds to pain patients and of course the market ran with it. Now it is swinging back the other way. It will be tougher on people. It is the state of government and until we can get some people in there with actual experience of the day to day lives of Americans, we will have these people that are basically above the law getting what they need, but denying it to those of us 'normal' people if you will.

a reply to: Restricted

no, but they don't work for me so it wouldn't matter

originally posted by: Tusks

originally posted by: applesthateatpeople
a reply to: CardiffGiant

As I said, I work for a methadone clinic.

And the only people I have ever heard say "motrin doesn't work for me" are ADDICTS.

Your post reminds me of some of our patients.

I have had a few surgeries... opiates never helped.

After my hand surgery, I bought some Advil. Worked great.

Seriously, you sound hooked.

Look into treatment. Opiates will only harm and enslave you.

I have been working with opiate addicts for 17 years. I know what I am talking about.

Anyone who is taking opiates daily will become a full blown addict.

A hell of a lot quicker than you know.

Motrin can cause gastric ulcers and renal failure, and aggravates heart failure. People with broken bones--particularly multiple rib fractures-- can frequently take a couple of months to heal. People with cancer in their bones can hurt like Hell for what time they have left. The majority of people with bad fractures that take opiates daily do not become addicted.

So, you know the majority of people?

At the clinic I work for we have many, many patients that started their descent with a simple vicodin prescription for a knee sprain, a toothache, simple headaches...

Thr finish the script and seek out more.

I've seen countless people ruin their lives from treatment for an oral surgery (common one).

One of the hardest things to do is to convince someone they are an addict.

"The Doctor prescribed it to me, so I am not an addict. I have to take it."

Opiates are not the answer.

By the way, you forgot to mention that some people are allergic to ibuprofen. Even still, there are many substitutes for opiates.

I know a few Doctors who NEVER PRESCRIBE OPIATES... for any reason... thrse are usually the best Doctors.

Doctors who prescribe a lot of narcotics can end up in serious trouble... FAST!

Why?

BECAUSE OPIATE MEDICATIONS ARE ALL ABOUT MONEY!

Quax make a fortune from it.

Marijuana is a safer alternative if you're not able to take motrin.

a reply to: applesthateatpeople

i dont care where you work or what happened to you or your mother.

i sound like someone who is trying to cope with chronic pain. pain has taken away my life and the meds give me a little bit of it back.
i know different meds work differently for everyone but thinking that motrin is all people need is pretty idiotic.

so it didnt help your mom... so what?

narocos help a lot of cancer patients. are they pain free? no but they can manage better with the meds.

just cause you work in a methadone clinic does not mean you are an authority on this.

a reply to: applesthateatpeople

i dont care where you work or what happened to you or your mother.

i sound like someone who is trying to cope with chronic pain. pain has taken away my life and the meds give me a little bit of it back.
i know different meds work differently for everyone but thinking that motrin is all people need is pretty idiotic.

so it didnt help your mom... so what?

narocos help a lot of cancer patients. are they pain free? no but they can manage better with the meds.

just cause you work in a methadone clinic does not mean you are an authority on this.

a reply to: applesthateatpeople

i agree that people with tooth aches and knee sprains can probably manage without the narcs.

i think those meds get over prescribed a lot by family type docs. general practitioners.

my mom had an ankle sprain or something one time and went to the doc and they gave her a bunch of vike 10's... i couldnt believe it.
i think vike 10's for an akle sprain are a bit much.

im talking about people in chronic pain. extreme pain, every day....all day...for months and years.

people that dont get relief from motrin or ultram or tylenol 3's.

that is a whole different ball game versus people that get a narc script for something like a tooth ache.

you should know the difference from all your years at the clinic and dealing with your mom...

i still say you have no idea what you are talking about.

5 pages of us talking about how people with chronic pain need these meds and you come in with your talk of methadone clinics and tooth aches...

a reply to: marg6043

I can only imagine how people that deal with pain in a daily basic can even function without pain killers

Some of us find it hard to the point that being physically addicted is a fair price to pay.
After 15 surgeries [ I think... I lost count ] all of them bone reconstruction or back surgery and the always fun arthritis to go along with it, I live with constant, deep pain. I live a normal as possible life, but some days it gets to the point that all I do is try to find ways to relieve some of it. Hot baths/showers, cold packs, hot packs, inversion, you name it I've tried it. Acupuncture, acupressure, etc, etc..... [ I've even tried some of the birthing techniques like breathing ] So far, there is nothing as effective as narcotics. I've had people judge me as "weak" or "a wussy"....[ a REAL MAN could take it, dontcha know ] till I go in to detail about Why I take these. For those who don't live with chronic pain, try constantly tapping your joints or spine with a hammer. Fairly hard, every minute of Every Day. All Day. FOR YEARS. Or just try it for 5 minutes, see what it would be like to live with that.
This seems like a useless gesture. Drug seekers won't change their habits just because it just got a little tougher and Drs are already too scared to treat chronic pain. Treating addiction is only successful when you find the cause.

a reply to: DAVID64

my father in law is like that. he is 65. still in good shape but has a lot of various pain. he will not take any meds....
he is one of those types that think 'real men live with it' and 'real men dont take pain meds'

whats funny is all he does is whimper and moan and groan every time he moves cause he is in pain and he drinks quite a bit cause he is in pain.

a reply to: applesthateatpeople


Motrin. Seriously.
If you ever break a leg, make DAMN SURE you tell the Dr you want nothing but Motrin. Even after they set the bone and apply the cast, you just take your Motrin and skip right out of the ER. I mean, that'll be no problem, since Motrin is the best pain killer ever invented. Right? That's why they give nothing but that to cancer patients and folks who've had major surgeries. I'll be sure to pass that info along to my Drs. I bet they just hate themselves for doing it wrong all these years.
Motrin.

a reply to: DAVID64

hahahah, right

who needs invasive surgeries and narco's and neuro stimulator implants and pain pumps when you can just go to wal mart and get a bottle of motrin...

hahahahahahah..... thats a hoot

anyone who truly believes that motrin crap honestly has no comprehension or idea what real chronic pain is all about. if they did they wouldnt think that way..

like i said in an earlier post though....i know there are docs out there that over prescribe and prescribe it to people that really dont need it. the usual sprains/strains/aches dont call for those kind of meds.
its the people that take them for that and the docs that prescribe narcos for stuff like that that give chronic pain sufferers who depend on narco's a bad name.
there is now a stigma attached to it...

am i addicted? i suppose. i think there are different levels of addiction.

you know the addict that will steal and scheme to get his next fix...im not like that
the 'patient' that does not take their meds as prescribed. the patients whos month supply lasts them a week. im not like that

i take my meds as prescribed. i dont run out early....

now if i were to stop taking my meds right now without tapering off will i get sick? yes
will i go through the dt's? yes

it will last 3-5 days and i will feel real ill. so i guess i could say i am addicted in that sense of it.

i dont think of that as an addiction though.

if i were taking a 30 day supply in 10 days and trying to score other meds on the street and crushing my oxy and snorting them, then i would say thats an addiction.

i dont do that.

i take them as prescribed always.

now if i feel for example that the strength of my oxy is not cutting it anymore then i make a sooner appt or wait till my next one and tell my doc. she decides with my input if she should raise the mg's.....if they are raised then i take those as prescribed. i dont pop an extra oxy cause i feel like this strength does not work anymore.

all medications come with side effects. theyre putting less acetomenophin in vikes now because that can mess up your liver.

if opiates and other narco's are taken properly, as prescribed then there is a fairly low risk of liver damage and such..

sure, there is a risk of side effects, as with all meds. the thing is the benefits of those meds are worth the possible risks....

thats why people that dont experience chronic pain rarely understand....i suppose its not their fault. they cant possibly know

to say all a person needs is motrin is just silly.


there are a lot of cancer patients out there that take oxy or opana or fentanyl and are still in pain.....there is relief though. i couldnt imagine how much more pain they would be in without the meds.......

my step dad had a kidney stone once. had to go to the er....he was doubled over crying like a baby. they gave him dilaudid and it cut through it and made the pain tolerable...
to think a feew motrin would have helped that is an utter joke.....

originally posted by: applesthateatpeople


Ohhhh, and NOTHING ever helped her pain...

She tried to switch to marijuana... but died before she could.

i suspect that some of those meds helped the pain. im sure she was still in pain but i am also sure some of those meds dulled that pain a little bit. im sure they made the pain a little more tolerable...

i think for whatever reason you have a biased against these meds....

and one more thing about the motrin....if it really worked like you say. if it was the bad ass be all end all of pain meds then it would NOT be super cheap and available at every corner store.
big pharm and/or insurance companies would have the lock on motrin.
it would be prescription only and/or it would cost $200 a bottle.

the money is always in the medicine...
that alone should tell you right there that it does not work like you say.

does it get you loopy like an oxy would? no

so an addict would lean towards the oxy...i get it

however, if motrin did work then all of us in chronic pain would not be taking all the meds we do.

i would not be taking oxy and roxi and lyrica. i would not be considering this neuro stimulator. i wouldnt be doing any of that.
i dont take oxy for the buzz. i take oxy cause it helps.
if motrin worked as well or better then thats what i would take

its all pretty simple really

all the hoops we chronic pain patients have to go through. all the trial and error meds. the surgeries and therapy. all the consults. all the monthly visits to the doc and the pharmacy.

if all that could be avoided by hitting wal mart once a month for the bottle of motrin then thats what we would all do...

why dont they just give motrin to women in labor? why do they give them epidurals and demeral?
why dont they give motrin to people with bone cancer? why give them fentanyl patches/lozenges/pumps
why dont they give motrin to people with nerve pain? why give them lyrica instead of motrin?

.www.webmd.com...

^^^^^^none of that works like motrin?

yeah, ok

a reply to: Restricted

Had one and yes it gives a new meaning to pain.

a reply to: Sremmos80

You have a very valid point. I have often wondered just how many people actually use the info on the prescriptions they receive to call in meds themselves, and I am assuming that is a high number and the main reason that you have to now get the hand written prescription straight from your doctor.
As a chronic pain patient, I have been living with severe pain for a very ling time, but these rules are already in effect where I am from and they have been for a long time. It might help with the problematic addicts who make it much harder for those of us suffering to obtain these medications that we need to be able to have even the least amount of "quality of life", but that's better than nothing at all. I went through a three year period where the pain was so bad, it eventually made me feel suicidal. I really didn't want to go on existing with more pain than I could bear, and at the time it was because of a pain clinic. I had herniated discs in my cervical spine, as well as my lumbar spine, and both of my knees needed replaced (I am working on that now). I honestly don't think it will help as much as they try to convince us it will, I agree with others who believe it's more of a financial gain for the government, and to drive up medical costs. As someone already said, addicts will find a way no matter what kind of walls they run up against, most of them, not all, are also criminals such as thieves, etc... and yes I have actually known a few of those. It seemed like they could get out of any legal situation they got into very easily and they sure seemed to live a higher standard of life than mine (financially) . It infuriates me that people can do that and it makes it harder for those of us who can barely even walk, let alone do other things for ourselves, and we sure aren't able to run to the doctors office every two weeks (that's common here) or every month. *** Sorry didn't mean to rattle on, I'm new and in a lot of pain this morning.

a reply to: CardiffGiant

I understand exactly what you are saying and I often end up explaining the very same points you are making here to other people who do not understand what it's like to suffer with chronic pain that is severely unbearable every moment of your life. The pain meds are supposed to help make the pain more bearable not eliminate it completely but a lot of the people who are suffering don't understand that and they end up doing the the things you were talking about, for example taking more that they were prescribed and running out early, and then they go looking for more to last them until their next appointment. That doesn't help the stigma we face about taking these medications, it makes it much worse. Then there are those people that have no chronic pain and get them for the wrong reasons. There are many things that attribute to people misunderstanding what we live with each and every moment when we have conditions that cause pain around the clock, pain that never goes away, never eases on it's own. A lot of doctors don't understand that our bodies build up a tolerance to these meds over time and the dose needs to be adjusted or the medication changed. I know this because I was told by a specialist that that is in fact one of the biggest problems in the medical field when it comes to doctors treating chronic pain patients. They are however working on educating doctors that this is a problem. He didn't say all doctors didn't understand this, just that there are doctors who do not realize this is an issue. I am sorry that you seem to suffer from chronic pain, but I am thankful I am not the only one who feels the frustration of not only dealing with the chronic pain, but feeling like I have to justify why I take the medicines that I do to so many other people just because they have never experienced how horrible that this pain is. Most days it sucks to even get out of bed, that assuming I sleep at all the night before anyway.

a reply to: thesaneone

That's why doctors taper down pain medications once someone doesn't need them anymore. I have an ongoing conversation with my doctor about after my knee replacements, we have a plan in place.

I think you're confusing dependence with addiction. Of course someone who has been taking opiates for years will "feel the burn" when they stop taking them, it's normal. My doctor told me what to expect and how we are going to deal with it.

Luckily I never run out because I take them exactly as prescribed. So yes, I am dependent and no I am not addicted. I look forward to the day I can stop taking them and live a pain free life. As I've told my doctors, if I could trade in all my pain pills for a pain free life, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

a reply to: Mrs.Peony

I will and continue to deal with pain then living like a zombie.

To each their own.