Has anybody had anything close to this situation? Hypnotic diability

I became sick in 2005 with a severe pulmonary disorder that required a 30 day stay in my local hospital and during this time I had thoracic surgery and an unknown amount of invasive testing done on my lungs and G.I. system. when I came home within 2 weeks I was back in the hospital with pleurisy and pneumonia .This went on for almost 2 yr's. I was in and out of the hospital 20 plus times. I  do know that this was a big burden on my family. But it was  family and this is what family does. The problem started when I was approved for SSDI and received the maximum allowed. I worked for 25+yr's and every year I received a letter from Social Security that I had reached the maximum points needed for retirement or disability. To shorten the story I moved to North Carolina with my retired mother and older brother who stopped working and came down with his own disability (neuropathy of the feet)and on a daily basis I am told how much pain he is in and in the near future he won't be able walk if the doctors don't find a cure or help him out in some way. So in the meantime he uses 1/3 of my pain meds for his problem, Because no doctor will prescribe him a strong pain med. and now my mother is having back problems (bulging disks and stenosis) So my house has become a nursing facility that on a daily basis I have to listen to every bodies bad night and how much pain they are in. My mother is 70 and retired when she was 65 to help me when I was very sick. Then my brother stopped working because of his feet.. I do know he has Peripheral
 neuropathy and does have pain but not that bad to have to use a wheelchair, Because of this I am behind in my mortgage payments because he is not working at all and has used all of savings. It's a crazy situation.

I moved to North Carolina in 2007 to be near certain orthopedics and pulmonologists at Duke and UNC hospitals..

ANY HELP or INSIGHTS WOULD BE APPRECIATED...

SORRY FOR SUCH A LONG POST...Randy

Hello Randy,

I'd like to welcome you to Healing Well and to our chronic pain group, however, what you are doing is illegal.  You simply cannot give pain meds to those to whom they are not prescribed.  I know you are trying to help, but there is a reason that the Dr's won't give him any of his own......again, it is illegal to do this on your own and you could end up not only loosing your meds, but locked up!

I don't mean to be so very harsh, but I don't think the seriousness of this situation has really hit and believe me, it will hit when you tell him NO MORE!  He's gonna be mad!!  Stop giving this person meds immediately and tell him/her to go to a Dr for help!  If the person is already to the point of addiction, they will need medical intervention to stop using meds they were not supposed to have to start with and you may be named as the person who supplied it to them. 

Please take care of this situation this immediately!! 

As far as the other situation.....perhaps you should seek out mental health assistance to help you handle the stress of chronic pain and chronic illness.  You seem to feel guilty about having things they don't and to have difficulty removing yourself from this position.  You are not alone in this!  I think all of us feel some guilt sometimes and a very large number (including myself) use a psychologist or psychiatrist to help us deal with the stress of our conditions.

You may also want to go in to the rules and read about your post and then change few things.  You can make the changes by clicking on the pencil in the corner.  That way you can continue to post, but will be in compliance with the rules.

I hope you find the answers you seek.

       Good morning Randy!

             I don't have a lot more to add to what has already been advised here, but just wanted to mention that a friend and or family member that is using you will also rat you out. There are so many possibilities...of things that can go wrong with this situation. Bottom line is, that you need to take care of you!

    I understand family helping those with finanical hardships for various reasons....I have done the same for my family. However they were not users...and dishonest.

       Do the best you can to right the situation. Maybe a little tough love?

     I'm interested in a little more information about your brother....does he have insurance?...and is he now seeing a Dr since you all have moved? Is he on SSD? or other? Do you go to his Dr appointmenmts with him? ...could he possibly see your DR?

   ...also Thanks for the FDA update! Appreciated!

       Take care,

      SE

Thanks for the feedback. I think I just needed to see it in writing. The funny thing about the whole situation is that my brother holds onto my meds in a lock box and distributes my meds as the doctor ordered minus the 2 he takes,He has never taken more than the 2 a day.But I know he shouldn't be taking anything.I think I agreed to it because for several yr's I had to depend on him for everything outside of the house..Then in 2009 we both bought a new house in N.C. so my mother and I wouldn't have to worry about moving again.But in June 2011 his obsession with the nerve pain became so bad he stopped working. So now my mother and I have to use both of our monthly checks to support the house. It just seems to me that as my disability increases so does there's..

My mother has Medicare and my brother doesn't have insurance

Thanks again Randy

Hi Randy and welcome aboard. Wow, you have a mess on your hands. I am assuming the three of you live together, is that correct? If the three of you live together then that mortgage payment should be split three ways and same with the utilities. Everyone should pay their part because they will not be able to live anywhere rent free. Get in touch with the bank or who ever has the loan on the house and see what kind of arrangements can be made to keep you from losing the place.

As far as the brother goes, you need to know that pain medication has little effect on nerve pain. When a person has nerve pain then he/she needs to be on one of the medications that targets nerve pain, there are several out there. So your brother is taking your pain medication pretty much for nothing. Like someone else said, if you are under the care of pain mgt dr and he finds out about this brother taking your meds not only will the dr fire you as a patient but you will have a very difficult time finding another dr willing to take you on as a patient. The way the dr is going to see things is you are as guilty as your brother because you know he is not suppose to be taking your medication. Get yourself a lock box and don't let anyone know your combination to the lock and hide it. Have you witnessed the dr telling your brother he is not going to give him strong medication, the dr may have a good reason for not doing so. Apparently you have not been in PM very long or else you would know the great difficulty patients are having finding a dr that is willing to rx pain meds that work.

Take care of yourself and keep us posted on how you are doing.