What would you do? UPDATE 8/26/15

JP, good luck on your visits. Even if you need another fusion the odds of having the same fiasco happening again are pretty slim. Its natural to worry but don't let yourself get eaten up with the "what ifs".

When you mentioned laser surgery I do hope that you are not talking about the Laser Spine Institute. Those places should be shut down.

The crap that bothers me the most about all this is I too am in Florida and see the same battles every month at the pharmacy but have a Adult son and his gf that are addicts of the highest form and they don't have one dang minute of finding anything they want. You name it,got enough money to buy it,they can get it for you. Tell me how all this war on drugs has hurt anyone but legitimate patients? Well I will be perfectly honest here last year when the pharmacy I was with couldn't get meds for 2 months my son could! Tells me the pharmacy here fills for some one just not filling for real patients.

Same here Cary with CVS and I am much happier with a Mom and Pop place even though the hours are less convenient and it's further from my house I don't get the flak I was getting from the chains. I do believe that the number of an type of meds Jp is on though has played in to his troubles in filling. Most RPHs don't have a issue with a ER and bt at reasonable dosing but when you get into the higher ranges of meds and filling 3 different narcotics then throwing in a benzo or something like soma which has been controversial lately they start to get edgy and not wanting to risk the liability and they do in fact carry a certain amount of responsibility for what they dispense.

Lahaina,

Vickie is a long time HW CP moderator, wise and very experienced. She is also a former medical professional. The fact that she shares personal detail makes her even more valuable a resource to this forum. Show some respect.

Cary

Thank you Cary this is not my first issue with Lahaina by no means and bringing up a subject that's not even mentioned anywhere in this thread just shows she takes every opportunity to let me know she has a personal problem with me and I stopped being offended by misinformed people a long time ago....

Lahaina you really need to read my statement without your prejudice blinding you because nowhere did I say my son nor his girlfriend sold their prescription meds,they neither one get any from legitimate resources. What I said was the people who do sell theirs obviously don't have the same problems we do because they always are able to get their hands on them when we can't.

I am not responsible for my son or his girlfriend,they are both adults and have been for sometime. Now we are into why I felt experienced enough to say what I said about the clinics,as a nurse I have had the opportunity to work both the methadone clinic and the suboxen clinic and as a Mother to a longtime addict spent a great deal of time at both talking,listening,observing and most of all learning. So maybe before discounting what I offer you ask yourself why I know what I know.

UPDATE 8/26/15

So I received my MRI results in paper form a few days ago (had the disc) and looks the same as every year. Herniated disc in the C3-C4 area, has the size of the herniation but I forgot the number (it's in MM).

Now I never got my Nucynta filled as my insurance sent a letter claiming I shouldn't be even using this med even though I'm qualified for it. Instead of fighting with the insurance I had already kicked it, really didn't have any withdrawl symptoms. It's been 4 weeks since I've taken Nucynta, don't miss it, don't care, moving on.

He changed the Opana back to Percocet since that's what my pharmacy has. In fact I have to call my pharmacy to check stock the day of my PM appointment.

So I hand the Nucynta script back to my PM Dr with the letter from my insurance and he was livid. Apparently many patients have left Pain Management because they can't get meds filled so they leave (for drugs on the street), surgery, other Doctors. All I know is going to my PM appointment could take several hours and recently not so much.

So after we talk it over I decide to just take Percocet for BT pain, keep the Fentanyl 50mcg patch and Soma at nights so I can at least sleep. He gave me Nuvigil for Chronic Pain Sleep Apnea. Holy Crap, I turned into a total different person (for the better). I cannot sit still, I'm doing all this stuff over the house and my wife is telling me to slow down. He said it would make me hyper but OMG I can get so much done during the day now. Never take it at night, I take it at 6:30AM every day so by 9PM I can sleep. It doesn't taper off, full blown all day too.

I'm rambling, it's the Nuvigil so here is the plan. The MRI results don't show any broken disc's. I had C5 Fusion surgery in 2010 because my C5 was cracked and coming apart. He said I may be a candidate for laser surgery but I would have to ask neurosurgeon for better assessment. I was going to schedule appointments for this week but now have a hurricane coming and path shows it to hit my house Monday morning.

More to come. I keep updated the title with the day I post.

JP have you had a sleep study done, and have they tried CPAP or similar therapies on you to treat your sleep apnea before giving you the Nuvigil to keep you awake? I would be extremely cautious about taking that medication! I might also note, allot of people that use opioid based pain medications can suffer from sleep apnea, especially central apneas, and the treatment is slightly different in treating central apneas than it is treating normal obstructive sleep apnea. ( They often use a different machine called a ASV machine {Adaptive Servo Ventilator} to treat central and complex sleep apnea) Allot of doctors and sleep centers do not adequately treat of diagnose people suffering with central and complex sleep apnea, as the machines although similar to CPAP and BiPAP machines, are allot more expensive! But they do work and can make a world of difference in the individual suffering from this condition!

White Beard

When it comes to surgery only you can make that decisions. Weigh the options and even seek a second opinion if you are unsure. As a nurse I have seen a range of outcomes after surgery. Personally my odds that surgery would correct my lumbar issues were less than 40%. I personally will not bet on those odds. I also did not want a 50% chance of being worse off.

As a retired nurse I do have to say something about MRSA. It is not just a hospital acquired infection. People are walking around in society with MRSA and don't even know it. My neighbor, who has not been hospitalized in 30 plus years was diagnosed with MRSA 2 yrs ago. She has no idea how she contracted the infection. Unfortunately her MRSA is in her blood. Hospitals cannot test every single patient that is admitted for this infection. The cost would be astronomical and insurance companies would never pay for it. When I was working we had insurance companies scream at us for testing patients to rule out suspected MRSA in wounds and then yelled even louder when we tested sputum.

I also am experiencing difficulty getting my Norco filled and the problem started in January. My July prescription was 8 days late and in June it took 13 days. That is 3 weeks that I went without pain medication. The cashiers at Walmart told me to call to see if the order came in. According to my pharmacist they are not suppose to give people that advice as they are instructed not to discuss when shipments come in. I have left my RX at Walmart but that does not help because if they don't have the medication in to fill it, they put your script on hold and you have to call in to get it taken off hold. Of course they did not inform me of that little tidbit.

I have spoken to my pharmacist at Walmart (in CA) a few times. When the DEA really cracked down on narcotic use this year they limited the pharmacies in the amount of certain narcotics, like Norco, that could be ordered. Pharmacies now can only order on specific days. The other problem is my pharmacy is being shorted on the amount of drugs they received, getting far less than ordered.

In my small town, no pharmacy can receive their order for pain medications on the same day. None of the pharmacies are taking new customers who have narcotic pain med scripts. I don't know if this is a local, state or federal ruling but it is happening. In fact doctors will not accept new patients who are on pain medications.

Now there is the additional issue of insurance companies not wanting to cover pain medications. My PM doc told me that Workers Comp is refusing to cover the cost of pain medication and muscle relaxers. Last month my WC carrier refused to cover the meds even though I have been taking Norco and Zanaflex since March 2008. The computerized message Walmart received stated they would only cover the meds once a year. I did call my claims specialist and chewed them out. Per the settlement they are to cover medical for my injury. (Of course that is a whole other can of worms.) My PM doc attempted to change me to Hyslinga but the WC denied it. I personally can't afford it because it cost $472.00/mo for 30 tablets.

Just a warning. Be careful to not irritate the pharmacist or staff as they can red flag you. Once you are red flagged, good luck getting any narcotic script filled anywhere.

Retired nurse - injured in 2008
Multiple bulging discs in lumbar region
Sciatica
CRPS
Non healing neck and shoulder strain
Falls due to gait instability