I'm a 58 year old male, who became disabled 6 years ago as a result of numerous conditions, including kyphoscoliosis, an exaggerated lordosis, numerous disk defects in my spine, and a hemangioma pressing against my spine. Under the insurance coverage my wife and I had a limited number of physicians we could see and most weren't taking new patients. However, there was a female doctor covered by the plan whose office wasn't too far from my home. So, I made an appointment to see her. After examining me, she prescribed Norco 10/325, but told me she would not give me any further medications as she was afraid of law enforcement and losing her license. However, she did refer me to a pain management specialist (a joker), who saw me and didn't review my medical records or examine me. He simply called me a liar, and I took off after him throwing one of his nurses who made the mistake of grabbing from the rear across a room and into a desk. I went after the doctor in his office, but couldn't catch him because he kept running around a very large desk.
I went back to the physician who referred me to this idiot, and she prescribed some muscle relaxers which did no good as my pain was getting worse. Thereafter, I started to go to the emergency room of a hospital not far from my home. The ER physicians were life saver as they began to prescribe me morphine sulfate, fentanyl and oxycodone in addition to administering morphine injections. This shows how obviously painful my condition was because ER physicians usually won't treat a patient for a month, which is how long they treated me. They also referred me to another family physician covered by my insurance plan, who accepted me as a chronic pain patient and began prescribing morphine sulfate ER tablets and MSIR for BTP on a regular basis. He also titrated the doses upward until I finally achieved good control of my chronic pain. The dose he settled upon was 100 mg of morphine sulfate ER tablets 3 X per day and 90 MSIR 30 mg tablets for BTP.
My wife and I moved from that town back to a city we had previously resided in, and where I had a doctor I used while living there. I made an appointment with this doctor, showed him my medications, gave him a release to get all my medical records, and he has been treating me for the last 2 and 1/2 years. Right now, I take 160 mg. of morphine sulfate ER tablets 3 X per day and Oxycodone HCL Oral Concentrate Solution 20 mg/ml for BTP. I'm also on medications for, among other things, depression, high blood pressure, asthma (well controlled). Recently, my pharmacist informed me that she was having difficulty obtaining the Oxycodone HCL Oral Concentrate Solution. So I contacted Lannett Company and Cody Pharmaceuticals to get an idea of the nature of the problem. I was told by a representative of Cody Pharmaceuticals that they were awaiting receipt of their new quota for the medication from the DEA, and they expected to receive it in October 2010.
So, becoming concerned because this medication works so well for me, I contacted a number of pharmacies, and was told by one that they can get it and will get 3 bottles to set aside for me. Additionally, I contacted a compounding pharmacy down the street where the pharmacist told me should would have no problem compounding the medicine for me. So, it looks like I've solved the problem until more medication is put in the pipeline.
I have never had problems with my pain medications, which have allowed me to lead a much improved quality of life compared to when I was being under treated or not treated at all. I had a number of specialist try other medications and treatments on me, but none worked. In fact, it came down to two choices given me by the heads of the neurology and orthopedic clinics at Stanford University, i.e., either undergo an "adult long rod" procedure and fuse 10 or 11 levels of my spine or remain on potent opioids as long as my kyphoscoliosis doesn't affect my breathing, which it has never done. Well, since I don't feel like being a tin soldier, I've chosen to be treated with potent opioids and I'm happy with that decision.