scripts for pain medcine

about the helping thing...

Pete your offer to help me on that earlier thread touched my heart deeply. I want you to clearly know that in no way do I think you're some internet oddball that I'd have to fear. No way that's true - I can feel your heart. Yours and LL's and everyone here. In my case, it's sort of a number of things. First, the worst isn't here - yet. I don't know exactly how or when it's going to hit, but when it does and if I can't keep a roof over my head or as I said especially keep connected with all of you I will ask and pass the hat around, so to speak. My pride is being striipped away layer by layer. But there still is some there and that's the other piece. It hurts so much to have to be asking for help in EVERY area of my life. To have life as I knew it collapsing all around me, and having to grieve (I think this is the hardest part) that I can't get it back. It's not like I'm going to be able to go back to work, but I still haven't accepted that 100%. And it's not all about money. So many of you have spouses and children in your life, but I don't, so when I declined your offer it's also because it's so hard to see where I'm headed. It never ever has been because I don't trust you.

Ok, I don't want to hijack Kara's thread, but I did want to share my perspective on that. Kara might just have been overwhelmed. Even more than I am, if that's possible!

But I still want to thank you Pete, for your offer and LL even though you're new for such generosity. This group is really family.

PaLady

It seems like there is some confusion about the term "post-dating". Post-dating means that the doctor did not write the current date on the script. Depending on state law, it is sometimes permissible for a doctor to write multiple scripts on the same date. Each script must be medically justifiable, so doctors sometimes will write on them "Do not fill until" or similar language. That is not the same as post-dating. The doctor can put the current date on the script & then just write on there when s/he wants the pharmacy to fill it. However, it is up to each state to decide how long a script will be valid for. In some cases it is 48 hours, in other cases it up to 60 days. Some states make exceptions to that rule & will allow certain C2 meds (like methadone) to expire later than other C2 meds (like fentanyl). So there are a lot of different rules & really the best way to find out what's allowed is to check with a pharmacist in your state.

My only point in bringing up the "post-dating" issue (where a doctor seeing their patient on April 15th would write a later date on the date line, for example, April 25th or May 15th) is that it is applicable in all 50 states & that I have seen people get in trouble even for asking. Certainly, some doctors take a more lenient stance on that law. I'm not here to judge those doctors. We all have seen that the DEA has plenty of personnel out there looking for any doctors who don't follow the laws perfectly & they end up shutting down their practices. Like everyone else here, I struggle to afford my co-insurance & am constantly on the phone with my insurance company, my doctor, the pharmacy & the state hotline for controlled substance regulations. It is a nightmare that none of us should have to endure. Then once I figure out how to pay for it, I need to actually find a pharmacy that will get it for me. Almost none of them stock it & now some pharmacies won't even order Actiq anymore b/c there have been so many people who break into the pharmacies & steal them that the pharmacy managers refuse to have it in their store even for a single day. So I do understand why getting any sort of a break seems like a small mercy amidst a sea of pain & hardship.

Perhaps it hits a little closer to home for me than for some since one of the pharmacies I used to go to believed in "helping" their patients out by doing partial-fills of C2 scripts if they didn't have the whole amount & mailing the remainder of the doses to the patient when it came in. Since the pharmacy was 3 hours away (my doctor practiced in another state), I thought it was a great plan. Well, it was a great plan until one day they stopped answering the phones. I drove out there to find out what happened & to get the rest of my script & found out that the DEA has permanently shut them down b/c it wasn't legal (at least in IN) for them to do that. So I had to scramble. Now I make a point to know what the laws say & to run the other direction if a doctor or pharmacy doesn't follow those laws to the letter. It just isn't worth the risk to me. But we all have to make our own decisions. I just think that people should be aware of the risks they are taking so that each one of us can make fully informed decisions about our medical care.

peace,
frances

Also on narcotics like percocet that im on the pharmacy wont fill some of the prescription and fill the rest later. I tried before because i couldnt afford all of the script before. if you fill some of it you cant get the rest of the script later. If you just fill some of the script thats all you can fill is what you can afford you will not get the leftover pills later. Its a mute point since I wont have the money til thursday to get the percocet.

Kara I know it is difficult to ask for help and sometimes more so from friends then strangers.

Here is a suggestion that may work for you. Do or someone you know like a close friend or relative attend a church regularly? I have seen these folks come thru many times with offers to pay the pharmacy when someone needs a med that they have to have and as a CPer this is certainly the case here.

They do not have to know what med your filling so it wont violate your privacy as most generally want to know if it something that you need or is going to effect your health if you dont get it.

Almost all churches have benevelont funds for doing this kind of thing and if you do attend or belong to one please call them and ask them if they have funds to assist with you with this,if you dont ask someone you know who attends somewhere regularly if their church has such a thing and go from there. You certainly do not need to have to go thru w/ds as pain due to the inability to pay for your meds.

Most of the organizations based locally have the need to know what it is your filling and they almost all will not fill pain meds nor nerve meds for some reason.

Good luck to you!

Do any of you live in Florida? Where PM is everywhere?

Kara, I'm happy for you> You're almost there! It must be awful to not have any meds! Every time I have run out of percocet although it hasn't happened in years and never w/ methadone, I felt like I had the flu. Did that happen to you?
Your Friend,
Pete