Just who is calling the shots?????????

This is crazy, I have depression and am allergic to drugs but have been offered drugs for pain. In fact, they gave me a shot of morphine after my total knee replacement which landed me up taking oxygen and being transferred to rehab on oxygen. It was very scary for me. I went to a pre-surgery meeting with a PA and told her I was allergic to drugs.

I told her about my codeine and other allergies. The doctor who put me out was good and gave me a spinal but nobody came up to see me though I TOLD THEM I WAS ALLERGIC to drugs. Docs could not be bothered, I guess or too busy.

From what I understand NY is very against drugs and you have to go and pick up a controlled substance script in person. They also do a count on the docs who prescribed controlled substances.

On the other hand, I had a wonderful person in my life who only wanted valium for nerve pain due to his diabetis. Well he couldn't get that for love nor money from the va. He had no history of mental illness, no history of drug abuse. This was in the 1990's and they just would not allow him to have this though they gave him tons of other stuff.

I am sorry for us all...I guess in this case it is political but I do not know for sure.

best wishes to all

the doctor who did the total knee replacement visited me two days later...he did not care about anything...I am so sick of the so-called medical professions.

I went to a meeting with a PA and TOLD HER that I was allergic to drugs. There should have been a follow up but no such luck.

All docs are interested in is making $$$$ and blaming everything on patients.

I have the some of the same issues as the OP. The problem is my doctor looks at me like a junkie because I ask or suggest for increasing my dose or changing my pain medicine because I am in severe pain. And like the OP said I am sick and tired of having to methodically find ways to bring this topic up without seeming like some junkie because as soon as I do my PM doctor looks at me like I'm a junkie or gets really mad and says " there is no 100% pain relief" . Well I happen to know he is wrong because I have been on medications namely dilauded, methadone or MS Contin which have helped me enough to the point where I can get pretty close to 100% pain relief so I can work and finish up college but this new pain doctor is under-prescribing me and has no idea how much pain I'm in. He says things like " well you can walk and seem to be functioning" and I say " well now I am because it took all my strength just to get here today but when I get home all I do is lie in bed in agony all day and night, everyday until our next appointment . Oh and have you noticed the cane right next to me you idiot " well I didn't say idiot but I said the rest. Sorry I'm just angry at the entire system of government, the merry-go-round of doctors I have to go and see just for pain relief , and the DEA ..just the who thing makes me want to put all of them in severe chronic pain and just throw some aspirin or acetaminophen, or some non-narcotic pain medicine at them and say " here take this you told us this and meditation should be enough for our pain rather then opiate pain killers and now soon you will find out what its really like you DEA jerks. Soon you will be begging me for a pain killer but I won't give it to you because you won't give it to us. Its time you learn a lesson DEA scum". Venting again sorry...crying here. ;-(

Another problem I have is that junkies are undistinguishable from pain patients. They beg for opiates for their fix , pain patients like me beg for them for them because our pain is unbearable. I can't sleep, move, get out of bed, function, work, etc. So its hard for my new pain doctor to know if I'm telling the truth or not I guess. How do I make him see I'm in more pain then he is prescribing me? These pain doctors are not with us at home watching us cry all the time, get really painful cramps while trying to sleep and wake me up in the worst way, the sleep deprivation, my no quality of life. I feel like just giving up and putting a gun to my head to be honest guys. For four years now I have been dealing with horrible pain and the severe sleep deprivation that comes with it. This is no way to live, in ones bed all the time.

Here's a great example of that M&G. Month before last I was getting weighed and the scales in the hall. In the waiting room there was this lady, 30 something, dressed like 20 something, 4 inch heels, hair perfect, far more make-up then anyone needed and carrying a purse bigger then my carry-on!! They had just put her in a room and the intake nurse asked her to rate her pain and smack me if she didn't give it a 8-9 rating!!! I quickly glanced up at my nurse and she just shook her head.

Now I have spent close to 15 years on this CP ride and I can honestly tell you that on my Very Best day I couldn't wear heels, carry that luggage, and squeeze my behind into those skinny leg jeans that take some bending over to get your feet into and some jumping around to pull them up and zip!! Nor do I ever have the strength to stand in front of the mirror for hours applying makeup and curling hair!

The bizarre fact is some folks come in that office in their PJ's!! I can say I've not had to go that far yet but close! Do people dressed like that honestly believe their pains a 9 or do they think someone else believes it?

Vickie, I think the example of that patient & others like her is an indicator in what part of the problem might be. There are patients who don't want to feel the least bit of pain because they don't want to change anything in their life style, even temporarily. These patients feel they have a "right" to be pain free. They don't make any changes that would help them manage their pain or prevent more pain from occurring. They are demanding and want the pain meds they want and they want them when they want them. In other words, they think they are the ones that tell the dr what, how much and when to prescribe. They don't want to be bothered with all the things other CP patients are use to doing. But, they are the ones that cause the most disruption when things don't go their way at the drs.

Then there are other CP patients. The ones who know that the meds are to help manage the pain, not be the only source of managing the pain. They change how they do the majority of things in their life & their families life. They know that being pain free, when you have health problems that cause pain just isn't reality. If they can't change the way they do things to prevent more pain, they stop doing it. They realize that the pain meds are a vital part in managing their pain, but not the only part. They are willing to try whatever the dr suggest to help manage the pain. That includes, a change of meds or things like counseling, PT, acupuncture, etc. These CP patients realize that compromise is part of life, although they may not like it. They also are thinking about their future and not just the right now. If they take more & more stronger pain meds now, what happens on down the road, if other health conditions occur and where strong pain management is needed ? They tend to be more settled and realistic and know they can't always get things their way. So when things don't go their way their just accept it as part of living.

I may not have phrased everything correctly. But, I know exactly the type of patient Vicki referred to. And they are the ones who others think of when they say a persons pain can't be bad enough to need certain meds. Those patients are the ones everyone sees & remembers. When the other patients are seen, it is obvious that there is something wrong, but they are trying and doing the best they can. The fact those are in pain rarely crosses someone mind because those patients put their time and energy into being able to function, not being noticed.

Rant over. Thanks for letting me vent.

From reading some of these posts, I kind of feel like a newbe around here. I've been jumping around and reading a lot of posts regarding pain and my eye's have been opened. I've only been dealing with CP for seven years now, but from reading how others deal with their pain, I feel right at home. Of particular interest to me is the stories of pain description. The one of the woman in her thirties, dressed like a twenty year old, the four inch heels. She described her pain level as 8 or 9. I know for a fact, that in my case, if my pain was at 8 or 9, I'd be home flat on my back on the couch. I would not be sitting in a doctors office, hell I couldn't even get to a doctors office. I'm 54 years old but sometimes the cloths I'm forced to wear makes me look 80. I have to wear jeans with especially wide legs, because not only don't my feet bend, just looking at them wrong causes extreme pain. I would love to know what the doctor thought of her response, not what he said, what he "thought". I have the same reaction to seeing these people on TV commercials claiming the have "serious pain", then claim one of the otc pain pills takes the pain away. All I can think of is that what I feel at my best with my pain meds working, would probably have Mr. Serious pain in the ICU. Sometimes I want to just print out some business cards with my name and an in depth description of my pain symptoms. So I can just hand one to the next fool who asks me where I hurt. The problem is my nerve pain changes so frequently, I couldn't keep the cards up to date.
Well hope everyone has a pain free night, I'm going to check out "drugwarfacts.org, Later........

M&G I have seen that commercial too, it is a form of a TENs unit, it gives out electric stimulus, and is built into a patch! Yeah like that is going to really work for really bad back pain!

You know it just cracks me up, if these law makers really cared about these people that abuse substances and other things, and then die, why are they not going after the really big killers?? I bet more people die in automobiles while driving either under the influence of alcohol, or just being to tired and sleep deprived, or just being reckless and careless while driving, than just about any other thing!! So my question is, why haven't they went after the auto makers and banned the automobile? Or gone back to prohibition and banned all alcoholic beverages? I am sure the number of deaths by these two things alone far exceed any and all of the deaths from all prescription pain meds put together! Probably many times over! I don't see them taking peoples booze away or their wheels!

The hypocrisy of it all and the absurdity is what really gets me. Scary times a head I am afraid!

White Beard

I got to reading some literature on medical marijuana, I had to laugh at the leading excuse politicians used to try and block it. DUI, I guess it's acceptable for people to drive under the influence of alcohol, but a little pain relieving marijuana is a disaster waiting to happen. I don't drive while taking some of my other medications like new doses of Oxycontin, mostly due to the very first reaction I got from it. They never mention those types of possible influences. Just what the general public can understand....................

Talk about medical personnel not being able to be bothered by a patient's history, especially their drug allergies.

about a year ago I was in the hospital and in a great deal of pain so the nurse calls the on call doctor to try tp get me something. about a half an hour later she returns with some pills. I ask her what they were and she tells me they are Aleve. Well I am very allergic to Aleve and I told her this. The nurse then spends the next 30 minutes trying to talk me into taking them, which I refused.

All of this is in my medical records which the hospital has not to mention that I always list my allergies every and any time I am admitted in the hospital. What really made things worse is that it was the same nurse who did my admission work up not an hour before hand too.

I think a lot of the confusion is because RN's & LPN's aren't always the ones administering medications in hospitals any longer. There are Medication Aides. These are people who are trained and certified to be Nurses Aides who receive additional training and are also certified to become Medication Aides.

Vickie, what was taught and what was expected 30 yrs ago is worlds apart from now, unfortunately.

A dr can still fax a Schedule II rx & a pharmacy can still receive & fill it. .if they have the correct software. It sounds like either the drs office or the pharmacy doesn't have the proper software.

about getting all of the rxs at one time. Have you tried talking to your dr & asking him to give you enough of the none narcotic meds to get you from when they run out to the new date you want to get all of them filled ? Have you checked to see if your insurance company has mail order ?

Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS)-
www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/ecomm/e_rx/faq/faq.htm

This is very interesting. When I got out of the hospital after my total knee replacement, I could get all my drugs (darvon) at the time on the phone.

My neighbor on the other hand had to pick up her script (codeine I think) and then bring it to the drugstore. NY state is very much against drugs, lyrica was considered "controlled" here but maybe not as much as the opiates. Mass. State mails scripts and lyrica is not controlled at all by other states. There is this class 1 and class 2 mumbo jumbo lingo.

Tens unit is good when you have nerve pain. Anyway it was very good for me after I had shingles.

With docs and medical people, I don't want it to be an us and them situation. But sometimes I think I have a black mark on me with all the bad things that have happened to me. MY MEDICAL WORLD IS NOT GOOD.

Hope everybody has a good night and best wishes to all.