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Things just keep getting worse for CP patients :(

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Posted 12/28/2014 8:49 PM (GMT 0)
My state just passed a law that worker's comp recipients can only receive coverage for opiate treatment for 90 days for non cancer patients.

How EFFED up is that? Hey, here we go, let's get you on opiates for 90 days then, oh, whoops, you'll not be able to pay for it anymore.

You can get it covered for longer if doctors jump through hoops for you. Yeah, how likely is THAT to happen? I feel so bad for the people that have already been receiving treatment that way. They're going to be left out in the cold. There's no grandfather clause or anything to keep coverage going for the people already on this type of therapy.

*sigh* what I really wish is that there were EFFECTIVE, affordable medications for CP patients.
Posted 12/29/2014 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
The states are cutting pain management and pain meds right and left. What is boils down to is if you can't afford it out of pocket, you won't get it. It's like if you aren't working and paying taxes, then you are of no use. BackToLife, what state are you in ?
Posted 12/29/2014 11:02 AM (GMT 0)
The new changes here have ended up costing me $30 a month just to get my script, still waiting for Humana to stop paying for PM or meds. Due to the availability of meds at the pharmacy level I now have to have 2 nurse visits a month to pick up script for 2 week fill, Humana won't pay.
Posted 12/29/2014 12:24 PM (GMT 0)
That's awful. And what's up with the special treatment for cancer patients? Even though I am one, not all cancers are relentlessly painful and there are alternative treatments like nerve blocks, just as not all non-cancer injuries/illnesses can be cured in 90 days or can be treated with alternatives to opiates. Seems like everyone should be in the same category, except maybe cancer patients with predicted lifespans of a few months where addiction doesn't matter. But even I have to plan ahead a couple years or so.
Posted 12/29/2014 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
I'm pretty sure there are a few reasons about the 'cancer patient' thing - the biggest of which is that most pain relievers have been studied and proven effective for use among cancer patients. Not to say they don't help others just as much, it's just that the research was all DONE on cancer patients so there's no 'proof' that these meds are effective for others, because they haven't been studied in others.

It's like when the arguments against medicinal marijuana come up and people cite the fact that there are very few studies to support the efficacy of MM. Well. Duh. There are no studies either way - that show it does or doesn't work - because there's no money to fund that type of research.

Once big drug companies figure out a way to make big money off of medical marijuana, they'll do (and skew, if needed) all the studies money can buy. which is a lot.
Posted 12/31/2014 12:20 AM (GMT 0)
My wife has CP and I have Cancer, mCRCP. The difference in treatment levels is is astounding and I'm not just talking about meds here. People with CP are treated like the dregs of the ward while I get all sorts of scans, blood tests, monthly oncologist visits, you name it. My wife has to wait 2-3 months for some of her Drs to have an opening while I can get a bone density check in 2 days time.

The reason, at least IMO, is that the med world is guaranteed full payment for Cancer patients, there's a sign in my Cancer center that says no Cancer patient can be turned away. Can you imagine that for CPs? . . . Q
Posted 12/31/2014 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
I also think there is a difference as to why you are seeking pain management. People with injuries-especially back, seem to constantly be fighting an uphill battle. It's not right, and it's not fair. Unfortunately, drug seekers are excellent at faking injuries. As they get better and find smarter ways to obtain meds, deserving people-those that suffer, those who really know pain-are left trying to prove to Drs that they deserve to live as painful as possible. Nobody should have to beg or bend over backwards to please a Dr just to have pain down to a tolerable level. Everybody on the board knows that life will never be pain-free but it should at least be pain-liveable.

I don't have cancer, but I do have progressive disorders, receive invasive treatments, and have both a port and a picc line. I look sick-even on my good days. Drs ask, "What works for you?" and say "You know your body the best, what meds help the most?". Im inpatient so often that I have nurses as FB friends. Obviously, I appreciate this fact, but it does make me think of so many on this board.

It shouldn't be a contest of whose got the worst injury or illness, who looks like they are in the most pain. Patients should be trusted until proven otherwise. Oh-you have cancer-meds! Oh-you were just in a severe car accident-meds! Wait-that accident was 90 days ago? You should be better-nothing for you! I learned in med school that that illness doesn't cause to much pain, that injury shouldn't hurt after so many weeks, that surgery should have solved the source of your pain.
Hopefully Drs will realize that patients are not textbooks. Not all of us follow the rule"If you hear hoofbeats, it's a horse". Some of us are zebras. My Drs call me an alpaca.

It's just not right and I know that many of you guys are just exhausted of the fight.
Posted 12/31/2014 2:50 AM (GMT 0)
Every pharmacist I've talked to lately(and I've talked to a LOT) here is blaming the dea with changing the rules that now have forced anything Norco-related to a Schedule II drug. Which means you must now have a new prescription every 30 days and NO refills are allowed. A couple pharmacist's have referenced being threatened with loss of license for disclosing certain related info but refused to go into any detail when questioned further.

Add to this mix there appears to be a MAJOR shortage of methadone 10mg tablets in the area. Took me traveling to 11 different stores before I could find one who was willing and able to come up with enough to fill my script. I've even called Humana's drugs-by-mail system: they say they're back-ordered until Jan.


This all began in early November. Then in December I was down to my last half dose (3 tablets-twice a day) when the pharmacist from November finally got in a shipment (3 days later than promised) and could fill my December script. None of the other pharmacies I've used in the past (and there were only 3-4) can get any! (I've since been only partaking of half dose a day, some days even less in an attempt to make it easier to wean off if forced to go that route).

The Norco situation isn't much better but thankfully I had some squirreled away.

And in about 12 more days I get to start the entire cycle all over again. Plus I have moved nearly 250 miles away and nobody here-quack or pharmacist-will touch me with a ten-foot-pole...

At least Humana isn't making me get scripts every 2 weeks...

...at least, not yet.
Posted 12/31/2014 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
Snuffy Smiff, drs can write 3 30 days rxs for Schedule II's without seeing the patient. They can give the patient the 3 rxs a the same visit. Few drs choose to do this, but federal law states they can. If they don't, it is the drs choice.

Drug Manufacturers are given a quota every yr of controlled substance that they are to use in that yrs to manufacture meds.Close to the end of the yr, they run out and have to wait until the next yr to make more. It is very common to have shortages of Schedule II pain meds and also ADD meds towards the end of the yr.
Posted 12/31/2014 5:00 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you Mercy&Grace-that helps explain some of it. But this is the first time since I was hurt in 1989 that I've had to deal with anything like this. My PCP (Thank you God!) has been dealing with my CP meds for going on 6 years now and does the 3/30days thing BUT he will only prescribe exactly what my old CP doc gave me-NO changes whatsoever(not for 6 years now!) and I can only get one month's script at a time and must pick it up in person (his rules). Plus random urine tests. He told me that should I ever need anything more than prescribed then I best have a police report stating I was a victim of burglary/robbery or don't bother.

I have complained once or twice that the meds weren't doing the needed job whenever I happened to over extend myself and he was adamant that what he was "allowing" me to have was ALL I was going to get-and learn to just deal with it! Yeah, that really stuck in my craw...

I must see him every 3 months for a cursory exam that does nothing much besides bill Medicare.
Yes, I hate it but it beats trying to start up with a new pain clinic(few and far between here) and jumping thru all those new hoops. I don't jump nearly as well as I used to.
Posted 12/31/2014 5:07 AM (GMT 0)
You might end up with a pain clinic since fewer and fewer Drs are prescribing pain meds. Ideally your current Dr will write the scripts until you can get an appointment. Maybe you'll be able to get your pain more under control with a different Dr?

I'm glad you are getting some relief now, I would just hate for you to be left hanging if you current Dr decided you have had enough.
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