Pain Meds - Again

Hi Tammi,

I live west of Tacoma so we're like neighbors in this worldwide forum. Glad you're posting for hubby. I hope one day he feels comfortable posting also. But at least you've got the ball rolling.

One thing that's hard for us to remember is that WE are hiring the doctor. WE are paying him to provide a service for us. Most people don't really think about that and are intimidated by doctors and hope they will take us. NO, it's "will WE hire them"?

With that said, I believe all doctors, at least in WA state are being required to do this. They have a formula they go by to assess our level of pain med intake. <I only know about half of the rules off the top of my head but will look it up and post it here soon> The more medications you take the more the doctor has to provide either services and/or referrals to get you to lower you dose or live with pain. There are ways to have pain medication when it's appropriate and your husband sounds like one of these. I'm still on pain meds but I reduced a couple of years ago at MY request. I just was tired of the side effects and the nasty looks and comments from nurses and pharmacy techs. I'm not as comfortable but I'm making due. Your husband may have a harder time with this.

I do have a wonderful Doctor who will prescribe my meds. I'm like your husband and I don't abuse my meds. We have built a trust over the years. I don't think he's taking new patients but if you email me I can give you his name and number. It would be a long drive for you. We and the doctor are about a half hour west of Gig Harbor.

One thing I have tried is CBD oil. If you're like me you may not know what that is as first. It's one of the elements of cannabis. There are two sources of this oil..one from marijuana and with it legal in this state it's easy to get. CBD oil is NOT what gives you the high. That is THC. So what you have to do is buy something with maybe 2% or less of THC mixed in with the oil. Shop around and only from places that look reputable and decent. I've seen some pretty cruddy places from the Harbor to Shelton selling. My clue is if their large sign outside their business is a full sheet of plywood with their name painted using a can of spray paint, keep driving.

The other source of CBD oil is the hemp plant. The best of the hemp oil is derived from using the entire plant to produce the product. It's referred to as industrial hemp. My understanding is this is legal in all 50 states because of it's source. One of the common ways of using hemp CBD is in a lotion form that you massage into the painful area. When my doc told me about these products and said I should try rubbing them on the areas that hurt I started to laugh. I told him I'd need to bathe in the stuff to get everywhere I needed it...lol Some people get relief from one source and not the other, some get no relief, some get lots of relief. All you can do it try it.

I bought a tincture/oil and tried two of the most painful areas with rubbing it on the skin. I just took a small amount ,like a tablespoon or two, of very plain lotion I had in hand and mixed in a dose of the oil. Stir like crazy to try to incorporate it. The brand I had was near fluorescent yellow! I noticed a reduction in pain. But I needed all over relief so that's when I tried ingesting it. That gave me some relief all over. Not sure yet if it's enough to justify the cost. If you buy the oil you can make your own lotion, a little at a time. Then if you want to try ingesting it you already have it in it's purest form. That's the route I took. The brand I bought tasted like a mixture of kerosene, diesel mixed with skunk. Really! They suggest you hold it in your mouth for a couple of minutes to get the fastest results. They HAVE to be kidding. Since we had some flavorful commercial eggnog around the holidays I mixed it in there and after a lot of stirring I was able to get it down with minimal aftertaste. Other brands may taste different...maybe they will leave out the skunk. <yucky> It should only take 15-30 minutes to know if you are getting any relief.

You can buy the hemp base online but shop around. There's a new place in the north end of Tacoma, I think on 6th, that I'm going to check out soon. I've tried the cannabis form and I did get some all over relief but for me it lasted about 4 hours at taking what was considered a 1/2 dose. I now want to try the hemp base CBD and see if it's any better.

But, a couple things to remember - Using the cannabis source can be horrifically expensive. Our wonderful state government, greedy as they are, <ok, sorry for getting on my soapbox> put a tax on any form of marijuana at 37%! You read that right. Thirty seven percent tax! That is just heartless IMHO. BUT, your doctor can't prescribe it but he can fill out a state form that says you may benefit from it's use. Basically using it as medical marijuana then you don't have to pay the tax.

I do wish I knew someone closer to you for any of these suggestions. But I would look for a new doctor. YOU interview them first before taking them on as your primary provider. OK, I've babbled on way too much. I am glad you and your husband are here. We'll find him some relief some way. I have faith in it.

Anyone wanting to try this I would recommend talking to your doctor about it. Also, please do some reading and research of your own. We are all so unique that we need to be careful. I want you around for a long time.

Warmly,
Chutz

ps...It's late and I'm sleepy so I hope there are too many typos. ;-)

Hi Tammi
I believe what Chutz said is accurate about the formula. It also seems like they are more willing to perscribe when you are under more intense care of specialists for your pain conditions. That’s my experience

At times when I have not been going to regular apts with my specialists they have talked about decreasing. Now I see a whole slew of specialists and they increased my prescription last few months. I don’t even want more and only did a partial fill at the pharmacy and told them this month I want less.
So it does seem like their may be a relationship to your outside medical services. I wonder if with the Opioid epidemic they have been forced to follow certain criteria and regs. While I know it’s more costly to visit other specialists who can substantiate your husbands chronic pain maybe that may help the pain center be more willing to continue treatment.
The stigma associated with needing pain medication sucks. If I didn’t get the minimal amount I receive I would be bed ridden.

Other great advice about CDB oil above as well.
Best of luck to you and your husband.

Like Chutz I use CBD oil ingested. It does taste yucky but it really helps me. I only use a few drops under my tongue. I live in Ca. So it is easy to get. My sister lives in a state where pot is not legal but her doctor recommended that she try the hemp CBD oil, even gave her the website where she could buy it. It helps her also. It is worth a try.

I do feel like those of us with chronic pain are being punished because of the misuse of pain meds by others. I wish some compromise could be made.

I wanted to thank everybody for responding to my post. I know that we are not alone in this struggle. You see posts all over the internet from people with chronic pain who have been cut off of their pain meds. My husband's pain specialist informed him yesterday that the current standard of practice is to not give pain meds. He was told that he would just have to live with the pain. I am not entirely sure how that is considered good medicine to send a patient home saying that he would have to live with pain, knowing that people who are in constant pain actually live shorter lives, with the quality of their life much, much lower. I did ask if he had any other options for us, and he initially said no. He then indicated that we could try some expensive procedures, that may work, and also may make the conditions worse. Basically he wasn't making enough money off of our monthly appointments and wants to bill our insurance for some expensive procedures. I really don't know how it is good medicine to take away a known treatment that works for another treatment that might possibly work. I can understand trying those procedures with the hope that the pain meds can be reduced in the future, but that was not the scenario we were given. The pain meds, regardless of what procedures were done or not done, would be taken away. He called my husband bullish, which he then changed to stubborn. I am not certain how not wanting to be in pain is being stubborn. He then said that our appointment next month would be with his colleague who is equally as bullish or stubborn - maybe he could explain to my husband the reality of the situation. That sounds like a totally unproductive appointment and a complete waste of time for both us and the other doctor. This is supposedly a pain management clinic and they are unwilling to prescribe pain medications so who will? I am currently doing lots of research and putting out feelers as I really do not want my husband to go back to this clinic again.

As for the THC or CBD oil, we are uncertain as to how that works with the pain management contract that you have to sign with pain specialists. It is currently legal in our state, however the federal government still considers it an illegal drug and most doctors do the same. I have seen pain contracts stating that despite the fact that it is a legal drug in our state you still cannot try it if you want to continue receiving your pain meds.

Anyway, thanks for your responses and if anybody else has any suggestions we are completely open.

Tammi

Tammi, that Dr was out of line. You probably can only do better, as that was insulting and still going to result in the meds being terminated. When I made an appt to go to a new PM place, after my Dr sold his business, I was required to bring a note saying the previous place was no longer treating me. Nobody ended up asking for that letter but they may require one. It is hard to be a new pt and get pain medication but I think it sounds like a good time to consider it. If you start somewhere new and are already on the meds they are more likely to continue them. I believe. If your husband is off the meds I do not think a new place will be as likely to start narcotics.

I think it is helpful that your husband has a 'qualifying' condition/s. That should be a point towards medication.

Some of the Drs take advantage of patients but not all. Hopefully the next time will be better. Doesn't sound like it could be worse. I had asked my PM about the CBD oil before trying it, to be careful with the contract. He did not see it as any big deal which surprised me. I said what if it shows up in the next drug test? He said just let us know you tried CBD oil. That sound odd but such are my experiences with the PM drs. I think it might be something to ask when you are settled in the new Dr relationship I know is out there for you. Best wishes in the search. Not easy.

Call your husbands insurance company. Ask for a list of pain management doctors in your area that accept his insurance.

What primary and pain management doctors will and won't prescribe. Seems to depend on the individual doctor and patient. Some primary doctors still prescribe opiates for chronic pain. But they are selective which patients they do it for. The dosage the patient is on has,a,lot to do with primary and pain management doctors prescribing opiates. The higher the dosage. the less likely any doctor is to prescribe opiates.

It takes time and it is not pleasant. But after a while less opiates can work well. Although the patient probably will not be able to do certain things they could do in the high doses. Chronic pain patients have to adjust their lifestyle. This is true with any severe chronic illness. Unfortunately, most chronic pain patients got use to taking high doses of opiates and not adjusting their lifestyles. This was not good for the patient health wise.

Hi there- I am in the Seattle area and may have some suggestions for you. I'm not comfortable posting names of doctors on this site. Unfortunately there is no private message service on this site. It seems the only option is to allow your email address to be shown on your profile.

If you don't want to do that, let me know and I will create a disposable email address you can contact me at.

Sorry to sound all secretive... lol ... like I said, I just don't think its good to post doctor's names on open forums. I normally just read this forum as a guest but created an account tonight because I saw your post. best wishes.

Post Edited (BlueberryPie) : 1/19/2019 7:03:21 PM (GMT-7)

straydog said...
Welcome to Healing Well Blueberry Pie. Thank you for not posting information about drs in your area as the administrator does not allow us to do this. It sounds like you have a good dr taking care of you which is important.

Take care.

Thanks Straydog. Yes I am fortunate to have a doctor who prescribes pain medication. I know how stressful it is now for those of us who need these medications. I hope the OP will come back so I can pass some names on to them.

The admin does not allow us to list this type of information. You can put your email address in your profile & suggest the member contact you via email. Since we have not heard back from the member, she may or may not see your thread. Another member offered to exchange dr info via email too.

Oops, will put in profile