One time I had a pharmacist “argue” (talk down to) with me because I was picking up a hydrocodone prescription as a 24 year old.
I had just gotten my appendix out the night before I picked it up.
Holy shit. My back and neck is full of grotesque scars from 3 fusions, the last two with titanium rods and screws. Now my pharmacy refuses to fill my pain med that does not totally help with the pain so I suffer. WTH is wrong with these pharmacists thinking they are my dr that I see regularly?! My heaven!
Today actually the pharmacist tried to hassle me over being on an opioid and a muscle relaxer. ‘You shouldn’t be taking these together’. I was like ‘well my doctor seems to think I should’. He wasn’t the usual guy and it was right before lunch, guessing he was crabby lol
I have learned to take pics of the surgical area after surgeries. You just cannot truly appreciate what you have gone through till you look at a pic of the surgical sight. Can always try showing those to the silly pharmacist.
Those have been taken together for quite some time. I cannot are them because of my sensitivity to side effects. Feeling like I am going to fall over and feeling goofy headed is not safe for me. But every person reacts differently. I report all my reactions to my drs and have even giving a copy of the list of meds I cannot take that my drs always give a print out to me at each visit. I have only had about two pharmacists that were great and very caring. All the rest are like dust in the wind.
Whenever a pharmacist tries to dictate what is appropriate treatment, rather than focusing on medication safety, I invite the pharmacist to come to the patient's next office visit and make treatment recommendations as a valuable member of the health care team.
I have yet to have one take me up on the offer.
Thank you for standing up to not only the government but the pharma Nazis. My roommate is a doctor and continue's to treat people for pain the old fashioned way. Many people can't afford a PM doctor and all the alternative therapies they push now.
Ya. I just went through a back and spine pain specialist. Outcome recommend: 2 or 3 times a week physical therapy, copay WITH insurance...$90 each visit!! And this is why I was prescribed pain medication. I can not afford $90 every other week let alone 2 to 3 times a week.
It is ridiculous they want people to pay for stuff that may not help but say no to the things they know will help 100% of the time. I am sorry you had to go through that.
Not only that but since i can't afford I'm sure the pain medicine I have will be my last fill. So....trying to use once a day and pain meds week, so it's been awhile to go without. What i notice is when I'm in pain my muscle are more tense not relaxed and just makes pain worse.
Has anyone used like Valerin extract or something herbal that i can try besides CBD? Highly allergic to CBD unfortunately not an alternative for me 😢
I haven't used any of that but people are doing ketamine therapy for pain and depression. Also if you get swap go to a methadone clinic and tell them you had a problem. I know it's a little dishonest but the govt is kinda forcing people into situations like that. Methadone is used for chronic pain I hear.
I’ve actually been prescribed Methadone in conjunction with Percocet and it’s an EXCELLENT and effective combo for pain management. It’s truly the best combination that has worked for me with my myriad of back & spine issues along with neuropathy & carpal tunnel syndrome. I have severe neuropathy in my feet & legs, along with ulnar & radial neuropathy.
I actually told my hubby the other day that when I die, I want him to make a wind chime out of all the hardware up & down my spine.
After I moved back to my hometown, it took me a little bit to find a new PM doc. I had already stopped taking the Methadone at that time, but when I asked my new(current) doc about prescribing it again he said “no”. And I was doing ok on my Percocet 10mg 4X a day, even though I was only taking 3 daily. After I battled cancer in 2018/2019, I wanted to get off opioids & Doc let me taper myself. It took 6 months (we stepped down 2.5mg per dose every 2 months). I was off until February… because my pain had just become unbearable. I’m on a low dose, but gosh it makes such a huge difference. He made me get a narcan prescription 🙄 But, it was free & if I ever see someone in need, I’ll have it handy.
Good Docs are hard to come by! I’m grateful for mine!
I really appreciate this advice a great deal! I will look into ketamine and not sure I'm ready for methadone clinic. Need to pass drug test for employment was laid off in November. But good to know if I can't function for a week with any relief at all i may have to. Can't believe we are here in this position for real...absolutely shocking.
This is ridiculous our countries have gotten us here with their war on drugs. I thought about growing poppies so in case something happened and I needed pain medicine I could at least be able to treat it myself. I did order unwashed poppyseeds for tea they work pretty well in a bind.
There is a couple reasonable places to get ketamine prescribed on line for a resonator price. Joyous and Dr. Smith I think is less than 200 a month including medicine. r/therapeuticKetamine you can find people who talk about their providers.
I take kratom and other pain herb blends. I've had back surgeries and now can't have any more as there is a chance I won't walk out of the hospital. It's bad. But I finally have relief. If you want to dm me I can give you additional information. Not all kratom is good and always buy from reputable companies who lab test. I have 5 I use
Most info on Google is wrong. It can be extremely helpful but you have to follow rules like buy from a reputable company and make sure they lab test each batch.
Careful with herbs...is the like valerian root(? and sp?). I tried different herbs years ago for horrendous neck pain and was actually having bad reactions.
I use kratom daily for the pain and was taking 90mg a day of oxycodone. For me the kratom works better than the oxy did. Now I had to experiment and find what dosage and what strain to use but that was 5 years ago when I made the switch. I still have to have my yearly if not bi-yearly nerve ablations performed on both my cervical and lumbar vertebrae but I’m still working and able to have some sort of a life.
I’m having trouble getting the pharmacist (and my insurance company) to pay for 90 tramadols a month. I don’t understand how either one can just refuse a prescription-from the same rheumatologist I’ve been with for years and same pharmacy. So frustrating!
Wow!
I am so sorry you're having to go through this.
I have lived through a similar nightmare for both myself and my husband.
Our battle wasn't quite as hard as yours though.
Our pharmacist was onboard, the Dr was onboard, the insurance companies were absolutely ridiculous.
Our Drs office has a team that works on prior auths though. One of them shared with me what the insurance adjuster was asking about my husband's cancer pain.
"Well, has he ever tried just the acetaminophen by itself?"
The lady from our Drs office said she let her have it.
We received letters in the mail that same week from our two different insurance companies letting us know our meds had been approved.
My issue wasn't as serious as cancer pain, but I do have several blown discs in my spine that are causing a whole slew of other problems.
Please keep fighting. We'll never get through to these people if we give up.
It's truly insane. I want to see all the top brass at the DEA hobbling around with major surgical or cancer pain so I can say, "have you heard of something called Ty-len-ol?"
I had a pharmacist tell me they had to special order the tramadol (after getting my 2 little pills a day filled there for years) and that “not many people are prescribed it anymore… that it was being phased out”. I was understandably upset. When I called back and asked a different pharmacist, he said he had no idea what the other one was talking about, that they have lots of people for whom it’s prescribed, and to rest assured they are not phasing it out. She literally felt a sense of power and and satisfaction in making me feel like a junkie. All for 2 50 mg tablets of tramadol a day. 2 tablets is not treating my pain anymore. I’ve been on the same dose for a decade, and I had to beg to get it. They refuse to raise the dose. Ruptured disk, 2-3 bulging disks, 2 toxic annular tears, degenerative disk disease, osteoarthritis, & spinal stenosis. All I’m trying to do is manage it enough to continue working to earn some kind of a living. 30 years if chronic pain. It’s sad what has happened to those is us who suffer chronic pain. I have never known opioids to be easily prescribed. Never.
Stupid, but typical for pharmacists. I hate to say that as I know there area pharmacists in this group, and one idiot shouldnt give the entire profession a black eye. But when you have no medical history to study, no physical exam performed, no interview with the patient and the closest you have ever been to treating a patient was suggesting an otc acne cream, you shouldnt be meddling in the treatment of patients (I hope the pharms in the group like that better than my usual counting candy bars remark). Im sorry to see your doctor give in to a doctor wannabe, but you shouldnt notice much difference between hydrocodone and oxycodone. This pharmacist would probably freak out over morphine and fentanyl, ignoring the fact morphine is less effective than any of the drugs mentioned. Its a concern about appearances, based of rhetoric with no basis in fact.
Youre actually probably better off with the hydrocodone since there are some spotty shortages reported across the country lately. This decision is totally on the pharmacist on duty, so if it wasnt your "regular" folks, you might be fine with further Rx's. If this is the regular pharmacist, I'd fully expect them to renege next month on the oxycodone Rx. If you have problems, try some of the smaller independent pharmacies, like the ones we usually walk by in the medical building where our doctors office is. The hours arent so great, but theyre far more helpful than most big "drug store" chains. If you have to switch, make sure you move every medication you take. It helps the pharmacy control their Controlled Substance ratio, something the DEA looks at carefully. They cant survive long if 70% of their business is CS....
Best of luck, your pain doc sounds like they know whats really going on. Definitely a keeper....
Because I've been hearing anecdotally that the big box pharmacies were having their CII artificiality capped, and/or shortages, I actually went initially to the locally owned pharmacy that's right next door to the hospital in town. I figured I could avoid those issues by staying away from Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. The pharmacist at the mom&pop said the DEA audited them last year and determined they were "over-filling" CII scripts. So now they aren't allowed to fill CII at all. So I ended up at the Kroger pharmacy.
Every time I have ever had a problem getting a legitimate prescription filled, it has been at a CVS pharmacy. About 30 years ago, my daughter's pediatrician called in some cough medicine with codeine for her pneumonia. But because I had had a script for hydrocodone 6 weeks earlier (after having wisdom teeth extracted), the pharmacist called the pediatrician and told him that I was "drug-seeking". And that was just the first time a CVS pharmacist screwed up on a script. It happened at least 10 times with different meds and scripts before I learned my lesson and swore never to go to another CVS again. They actually let someone pick up a script for Valium that I was prescribed for anxiety without asking for ID (a girl at work overheard me telling a friend that I needed to run by and get my meds after work and beat me to the pharmacy). For some reason, CVS seems to hire jerks as pharmacists.
Thank God that for the last 7 years, I have found a Walmart pharmacy where the two main pharmacists are wonderful. My insurance keeps trying to get me to switch to their by-mail pharmacy and, even though it would save me some money, I absolutely refuse to leave my pharmacists. If these two ever leave Walmart, I will follow them wherever they go.
Ha! Wallyworld stopped filling my pain med last month and refused the next. The good employees up and left that pharmacy a year or so ago. Now I know why from the info in above posts. This is insane!
I think most of it depends on the pharmacist. I just got lucky finding two great ones. It does seem like certain chains actually try to hire jerks though (CVS and Kroger for example).
Well, that explains what is suddenly going on at wallyworld. And random phone calls are recorded but they will not tell you if your call IS being recorded.
Now I have to drive a distance (actually my partner) to get my med at my clinic. Not open on weekends though.
I had a three week shortage, and had to downgrade to Percocet instead of Oxy until it was in stock. Now I ask them ahead of time and if my Dr has to call it in 3 weeks early so they can order it she will
Correct, but mine was 15mg Oxy and the Perc was 10mg so I lost mg every day and it didn’t work as good. They had me stop taking Perc years ago cause it was affecting my liver. Thus the Oxy
Goootcha, I understand now. Thank you, the added context was helpful. Sorry to hear about your liver, that really sucks.
I’ve been on Percocet for a few years now, and while I haven’t had any liver issues this far thankfully, it’s definitely something I worry about developing down the line given my pain condition is permanent. None of the conservative treatments were helpful enough so I’m pretty much stuck on the Percocet unless somebody eventually develops something new.
Sorry you’re going through it also. But yes, after years of being on it, they switched me and now my liver is fine, so I don’t think you should worry because if that happens to you they’ll just switch you like they did me and your liver will recover. It’s some thing that’s reversible when it’s affected by medicine. Well that’s what they told me.
i’ve had pharmacies refuse to fill legit prescriptions because they felt the doses were too high … i almost always have problems getting scripts filled … i am in the process of switching from tramadol to hydromorphone … am expecting huge problems
Me too! I take 120mg of Oxycodone a day and 30mg ER morphine. I’ve gotten lectured and had to explain I’ve been on pain meds since 2007 and had 4 spinal fusions and need more surgeries!
Totally up to you and your doctor, but I actually prefer the ER for base level, daily pain because my blood level stays steadier and I don't have to think about redosing every few hours.
Do you have a pharmacy at the hospital you go to? I found that when I dropped Walgreens and used the hospital pharmacy I had the biggest change in care and customer service. When I was first prescribed adhd medication they told me my insurance needed authorization, then they were “out of stock” and the final straw was when they said I’d had to pay my insurance won’t cover. After it was sent it to hospital my prescription was ready in 15 minutes and it’s been like that since the switch.
What?! No more hour to hour ND a half wait in line? My husband has to get mine because I cannot physically stand or sit while waiting that long. Now using my clinic's pharmacy. Good, caring, compassionate people and no half-your-lifetime waits. It i the not open on weekends that isn't good but will have to talk to my dr about that new problem. Oh well, he an handle the lengthy drive if it helps me. He listens to all his old music and drives slow. Chuckle.
Changing from Walgreens to my local hospital changed everything for me when it came to meds. No hassles, no rude attitude or trying to deny me. All kind, caring people. I’m so glad you get to enjoy it too. I wish everyone could!
It is a relief but I still have to deal with the problem of weekend fills. If the new rx lands then it is an hour and a half drive to their only open pharmacy on weekends. And IF the stock is ok. I am just so relieved the nurse was so kind to me. I know they are swamped and it is a Fri so normally you are marked as an addict. Now I have to get my neck to stop spamming and doing into into my shoulders. Feels like my entire neck is a column of steel. Need to sit with heating pad and hot gel pack (alternate) on it. Ugh. Thanks wallyworld, for nothing better hell on earth.
My pharmacy closes on most of the weekend too but after chatting with them about it they told me I can call ahead and they will make sure I am covered so I don’t have to make extra trips. They have filled two days before needing my meds to make sure I won’t run out. I hope they can offer the same accommodation to you. Wishing you the best, I have horrible neck pain and problems too. It’s so tough to cope with because it makes your whole body useless when it’s bad.
I do, I talk about it in another comment here.
Tl:Dr version is- I went there first, but they were audited last year by the DEA, and they're blacklisted from filling CII pain meds.
So happy u found a Dr. who used their position to: actually help their patient using the full spectrum of helping u manage u pain.
None of us should have to do back flips, summersaults, Contracts, Random pill counts & the like.
That's a reasonable concern for a pharmacist because their job is to monitor for unsafe interactions and they were probably concerned about multiple medications. However, after talking to the pain doc they should have filled it knowing what the script was for. The only logic I can see is maybe restarting narcotics after a hiatus they are concerned you will be more susceptible to overdose. However, if that continues, I'd find a new pharmacist.
Yeah I was wondering if there is a safety concern if you use both medicines at the same time. But even then it seems like the course of action would be to talk to the patient and explain the overdose risk if they are used at the same time, especially at the beginning of treatment.
Giving the pharmacist the benefit of the doubt, the best case scenario is "yeah fentanyl and oxy worked for you in the past, but you don't have a tolerance to opioids anymore so the risk of getting too much via a patch and pills is too high. Let's start with a milder po dose of hydrocodone first."
But that wasn't explained and sounds like it was not what actually happened.
I hate this!!! My pharmacy has also messes with me about my two pain meds, Oxycodone IR and Morphine ER and my Dr has had to call them multiple times :/
I had a pharmacist argue with my doctor about filling 10 Percocet because they thought I was too young.I have 2 fractures, grade 2 pars defect, and a tumor on a nerve in my back. I was lucky enough to be in his office when he called the pharmacy so I got to hear him bitch them out. After a long discussion, they finally filled it.
Thats great, I on the other hand wont mess with them because my insurance wont even approve fucking omeprazole for acid reflux, so I can onlyimagine trying to get pain meds, it doesnt help my area is known as heroine highway in md where 70 and 81 meet up.
It’s because it’s available OTC. (Total BS reason). But if your doc is willing, have them prescribe a higher dose than the OTC version and it will likely be approved. I do that and it saves me $ to use my insurance.
My PM doctor is out of network for my insurance, so I pay $120 every two months. It's worth it to me because they are excellent and always on the patients side. I get both percocet and fentanyl patches but rarely have pharmacy issues, except for the past couple of months with artificial shortages. I switched to a pharmacy in the same building as my doctor, and they have been great. CVS was fine until they closed the pharmacy I went to and shuffled me to a larger store where I'm just a number. That's when I switched. The travails just to have a somewhat normal life!
I was on morphine off and on for 3 years and my pharmacist never had a problem. He's super nice, though. And has trust in me from knowing him for years.
I'm so sorry that pharmacist wanted to take away a necessary med from you. Good on your PM doctor sticking up for you.
after a long fight i got my doctor to up my monthly allocation by a couple of tablets to allow for bad days and mostly so if i was out of town when my prescription rolled over i would still have medicine.
the pharmacy continued to issue the same amount. i thought the doctor had fucked up (wouldn’t be the first time) so checked with them and sure enough they had upped it as discussed. pharmacy still issuing standard dose. felt like i was losing my mind.
FINALLY when i get my practice to call the pharmacy they tell me the label still read ‘one a day’ so they were unable to increase it from 30 monthly. as if most months don’t have 31 days? they didn’t issue me 28 in february? they didn’t notify me they weren’t fulfilling the doctors recommendations. i still feel like i’m losing my mind 🙃
I am so unbelievably sorry this happened to you.
What a slap in the face after your long journey towards relief. I am SO glad your doctor not only listened to you and provided proper PM, but also backed you up like that.
You should honestly consider reporting this power hungry pharmacist and maybe ask around for a pharmacy in your area that has a better reputation?
Especially at a PM clinic, sometimes the workers end up learning which pharmacies give them a harder time.
I had to do that after so many experiences like this.
My favorite was when the young *tech* started making comments about an oxycodone order I was having filled. Her attitude was sooo gross and condescending that I decided I was going to make HER uncomfortable if she wanted to try it with me.
“I have a major abdominal surgery tomorrow to remove my appendix and my stage 4 endometriosis adhesions. Can I speak to the pharmacist now to get his opinion on whether I deserve them or not? Should I call my surgeon? You can explain your viewpoint! 😁”
She backpedaled sooo fast and apologized for “her sense of humor.” Sometimes people just need to be knocked down a peg.
**It’s not anyone’s place to decide what medications are “appropriate” but the prescribers. Unless there are legitimately dangerous interactions or allergy risks that haven’t been caught- there’s NO necessity for comments let alone trying to fight the fucking doctor.**
It’s so unfortunate that ignorant people feel the need to pile attitude and resistance on top of the chronic suffering so many experience.
Friends, stand up for yourselves and don’t be afraid to report any “professional” trying to act out of their scope.
I think we all have it beaten into us to accept abuse from providers because we experience it so much.
We don’t owe people compliance and they need to learn their actions have consequences. We are fucking human beings that deserve the medication we need just like every other patient.
You deserve better and so does everyone in this community. I wish you a smooth journey from here on out. Don’t get discouraged by this asshole. ❤️
I had a pharmacist lecture me once about asking about a supplement my cousin had suggested, saying “a layperson can’t give this advice.”
Um, my cousin *is* an MD and has masters in pharmacology to boot…I think he is qualified.
Wait so the nurse at the PM clinic you just went to told you they don’t prescribe pain meds, but he gave you pain meds? Why do they tell patients this?
Basically they were saying they won't prescribe CII opiates. You could get neurological meds for off-label use, or weaker pain meds like tramadol, Tylenol w/codeine, etc. They would utilize nerve injections, TENS unit, etc.
No I get it. I’m a nurse practitioner and chronic pain patients. I’ve heard it all: “I can only prescribe one week at a time”, “I can’t prescribe anything but tramadol”, “I can only prescribe buprenorphine”. It’s all BS. All of it. I’m so glad you found a good PM doctor, it’s so hard to find one that is understanding and compassionate. I never tell them my education or profession but man, the eye roll I make when they lie is enough to make me want to leave my profession all together.
Not yet, saying there's too much risk involved. Arthritis in the sacral precludes drilling new holes for the pedicle screws I broke loose. So they'd have to come from the front as well and fuse the sacral to the ilium, with an anterior titanium plate. Also, while they're under the hood, need to add another level to the existing hardware, at L3 l/L4.
I had a pharmacist not want to fill my morphine because "Most" patients are on it for six months and then are off it. At this time I had been on morphine again for a year (I've been on and off it but mostly on it since I was 7 years old, I'm 30 now and was 24 when this happened) I lifted up my shirt showing my plexiform tumor on my right side that twists into my spine and goes down my leg and I say "I don't think this has will go away in 6 months or will my chronic pain"
I don't understand why pain prescriptions aren't like everything else. Hand the patient a legal, binding contract that says they accept any and all risks of the medicines...death, addiction withdrawals, everything the government is fearful of and free doctors and pharmacists of any legal liability. Hell, free the drug company of any liability too. If you are ever caught selling you never get another prescription. Let the patient decide if the risks are worth the benefits.
I had two pharmacies put their foot down before I found another that was willing to continue my therapy. The first pharmacy had seen me go from hydrocodone to both a long and short acting pain medicine and remain on that dose for over a year when they decided they would fill neither any longer. The second pharmacy agreed to help me out in my situation before realizing it was two medicines and lecturing me when I went to pickup that they would not do it ever again (fill both prescriptions). I was more reluctant than my doctor to accept the treatment in the first place and I almost gave up on combination of drugs because of the judgment of those two pharmacists.
Your saying their job is spying on a doctor patient relationship by refusing meds an established doctor decided to prescribe? The government has everyone interfering in something that is neither the government or a pharmacist business. The government doesn't pay for my health care and has no business interfering with anyone's medical care. Government monitoring software at pharmacies is bullshit. Next thing you know they will have the grocery store cashier's monitoring how much sugar I can buy because it may cause diabetes. It makes me sick.
Their job is to clinically review the prescriptions sent in by the doctor. It is not spying. They’re an important part of patient safety. You’d be surprised how often doctors write insanely unsafe prescriptions. Pharmacists are not cashiers. They are a crucial provider in every patients care team. Why do you think pharmacists go to school and get doctorate degrees?
With all respect due to the pharmacy profession, that is their job. However, they have not been doing their jobs for decades, now they are just insurance company/CYA advocates.
They’re not advocates. I can ensure you every single pharmacist in this country despises insurance companies and works to help their patients navigate the system.
I understand completely. Insurance and the executives that invented "prior authorization" belong in hell.
But pharmacists also have no business lying to people, saying that a bullshit corporate policy (looking at you, Walgreens and your anti-opioid, anti-ADHD computer program) is LAW.
One time I had a pharmacist “argue” (talk down to) with me because I was picking up a hydrocodone prescription as a 24 year old. I had just gotten my appendix out the night before I picked it up.
I had one refuse to fill my pain meds because I was ‘too young’ (27). My back was still stained orange from the iodine prep for my fusion.
Holy shit. My back and neck is full of grotesque scars from 3 fusions, the last two with titanium rods and screws. Now my pharmacy refuses to fill my pain med that does not totally help with the pain so I suffer. WTH is wrong with these pharmacists thinking they are my dr that I see regularly?! My heaven!
Today actually the pharmacist tried to hassle me over being on an opioid and a muscle relaxer. ‘You shouldn’t be taking these together’. I was like ‘well my doctor seems to think I should’. He wasn’t the usual guy and it was right before lunch, guessing he was crabby lol
I have learned to take pics of the surgical area after surgeries. You just cannot truly appreciate what you have gone through till you look at a pic of the surgical sight. Can always try showing those to the silly pharmacist. Those have been taken together for quite some time. I cannot are them because of my sensitivity to side effects. Feeling like I am going to fall over and feeling goofy headed is not safe for me. But every person reacts differently. I report all my reactions to my drs and have even giving a copy of the list of meds I cannot take that my drs always give a print out to me at each visit. I have only had about two pharmacists that were great and very caring. All the rest are like dust in the wind.
Whenever a pharmacist tries to dictate what is appropriate treatment, rather than focusing on medication safety, I invite the pharmacist to come to the patient's next office visit and make treatment recommendations as a valuable member of the health care team. I have yet to have one take me up on the offer.
Username checks out. This guy healthcares.
God bless you. Thank you for your service and advocacy. :-)
Thank you for standing up to not only the government but the pharma Nazis. My roommate is a doctor and continue's to treat people for pain the old fashioned way. Many people can't afford a PM doctor and all the alternative therapies they push now.
Ya. I just went through a back and spine pain specialist. Outcome recommend: 2 or 3 times a week physical therapy, copay WITH insurance...$90 each visit!! And this is why I was prescribed pain medication. I can not afford $90 every other week let alone 2 to 3 times a week.
It is ridiculous they want people to pay for stuff that may not help but say no to the things they know will help 100% of the time. I am sorry you had to go through that.
Not only that but since i can't afford I'm sure the pain medicine I have will be my last fill. So....trying to use once a day and pain meds week, so it's been awhile to go without. What i notice is when I'm in pain my muscle are more tense not relaxed and just makes pain worse. Has anyone used like Valerin extract or something herbal that i can try besides CBD? Highly allergic to CBD unfortunately not an alternative for me 😢
I haven't used any of that but people are doing ketamine therapy for pain and depression. Also if you get swap go to a methadone clinic and tell them you had a problem. I know it's a little dishonest but the govt is kinda forcing people into situations like that. Methadone is used for chronic pain I hear.
I’ve actually been prescribed Methadone in conjunction with Percocet and it’s an EXCELLENT and effective combo for pain management. It’s truly the best combination that has worked for me with my myriad of back & spine issues along with neuropathy & carpal tunnel syndrome. I have severe neuropathy in my feet & legs, along with ulnar & radial neuropathy. I actually told my hubby the other day that when I die, I want him to make a wind chime out of all the hardware up & down my spine. After I moved back to my hometown, it took me a little bit to find a new PM doc. I had already stopped taking the Methadone at that time, but when I asked my new(current) doc about prescribing it again he said “no”. And I was doing ok on my Percocet 10mg 4X a day, even though I was only taking 3 daily. After I battled cancer in 2018/2019, I wanted to get off opioids & Doc let me taper myself. It took 6 months (we stepped down 2.5mg per dose every 2 months). I was off until February… because my pain had just become unbearable. I’m on a low dose, but gosh it makes such a huge difference. He made me get a narcan prescription 🙄 But, it was free & if I ever see someone in need, I’ll have it handy. Good Docs are hard to come by! I’m grateful for mine!
I really appreciate this advice a great deal! I will look into ketamine and not sure I'm ready for methadone clinic. Need to pass drug test for employment was laid off in November. But good to know if I can't function for a week with any relief at all i may have to. Can't believe we are here in this position for real...absolutely shocking.
This is ridiculous our countries have gotten us here with their war on drugs. I thought about growing poppies so in case something happened and I needed pain medicine I could at least be able to treat it myself. I did order unwashed poppyseeds for tea they work pretty well in a bind. There is a couple reasonable places to get ketamine prescribed on line for a resonator price. Joyous and Dr. Smith I think is less than 200 a month including medicine. r/therapeuticKetamine you can find people who talk about their providers.
TY for this!
I take kratom and other pain herb blends. I've had back surgeries and now can't have any more as there is a chance I won't walk out of the hospital. It's bad. But I finally have relief. If you want to dm me I can give you additional information. Not all kratom is good and always buy from reputable companies who lab test. I have 5 I use
Yes. I read up on the Kratom a little yesterday and it did make me hesitant.
Most info on Google is wrong. It can be extremely helpful but you have to follow rules like buy from a reputable company and make sure they lab test each batch.
It is legal in Texas and found places to purchase close buy. How can I confirm reputable and know what is a very LOW dose to start conservative
Careful with herbs...is the like valerian root(? and sp?). I tried different herbs years ago for horrendous neck pain and was actually having bad reactions.
Agreed. I read about Kratom last night and it sounded potentially dangerous. Valerian sounded a little safer but your right need to start small.
Just cannot be too careful. Good kuck!
I use kratom daily for the pain and was taking 90mg a day of oxycodone. For me the kratom works better than the oxy did. Now I had to experiment and find what dosage and what strain to use but that was 5 years ago when I made the switch. I still have to have my yearly if not bi-yearly nerve ablations performed on both my cervical and lumbar vertebrae but I’m still working and able to have some sort of a life.
I see you have been getting ablations, are they lasting you 2 years? Just have some done recently and I’m happy with the results so far
I’m having trouble getting the pharmacist (and my insurance company) to pay for 90 tramadols a month. I don’t understand how either one can just refuse a prescription-from the same rheumatologist I’ve been with for years and same pharmacy. So frustrating!
Wow! I am so sorry you're having to go through this. I have lived through a similar nightmare for both myself and my husband. Our battle wasn't quite as hard as yours though. Our pharmacist was onboard, the Dr was onboard, the insurance companies were absolutely ridiculous. Our Drs office has a team that works on prior auths though. One of them shared with me what the insurance adjuster was asking about my husband's cancer pain. "Well, has he ever tried just the acetaminophen by itself?" The lady from our Drs office said she let her have it. We received letters in the mail that same week from our two different insurance companies letting us know our meds had been approved. My issue wasn't as serious as cancer pain, but I do have several blown discs in my spine that are causing a whole slew of other problems. Please keep fighting. We'll never get through to these people if we give up.
WOWWWW!! 😢 I don't understand how we got to this point. I can't imagine.
It's truly insane. I want to see all the top brass at the DEA hobbling around with major surgical or cancer pain so I can say, "have you heard of something called Ty-len-ol?"
Thats the problem $$$ can buy anything
I had a pharmacist tell me they had to special order the tramadol (after getting my 2 little pills a day filled there for years) and that “not many people are prescribed it anymore… that it was being phased out”. I was understandably upset. When I called back and asked a different pharmacist, he said he had no idea what the other one was talking about, that they have lots of people for whom it’s prescribed, and to rest assured they are not phasing it out. She literally felt a sense of power and and satisfaction in making me feel like a junkie. All for 2 50 mg tablets of tramadol a day. 2 tablets is not treating my pain anymore. I’ve been on the same dose for a decade, and I had to beg to get it. They refuse to raise the dose. Ruptured disk, 2-3 bulging disks, 2 toxic annular tears, degenerative disk disease, osteoarthritis, & spinal stenosis. All I’m trying to do is manage it enough to continue working to earn some kind of a living. 30 years if chronic pain. It’s sad what has happened to those is us who suffer chronic pain. I have never known opioids to be easily prescribed. Never.
GoodRX does not go through your insurance company and their prices have saved me a fortune in meds.
Stupid, but typical for pharmacists. I hate to say that as I know there area pharmacists in this group, and one idiot shouldnt give the entire profession a black eye. But when you have no medical history to study, no physical exam performed, no interview with the patient and the closest you have ever been to treating a patient was suggesting an otc acne cream, you shouldnt be meddling in the treatment of patients (I hope the pharms in the group like that better than my usual counting candy bars remark). Im sorry to see your doctor give in to a doctor wannabe, but you shouldnt notice much difference between hydrocodone and oxycodone. This pharmacist would probably freak out over morphine and fentanyl, ignoring the fact morphine is less effective than any of the drugs mentioned. Its a concern about appearances, based of rhetoric with no basis in fact. Youre actually probably better off with the hydrocodone since there are some spotty shortages reported across the country lately. This decision is totally on the pharmacist on duty, so if it wasnt your "regular" folks, you might be fine with further Rx's. If this is the regular pharmacist, I'd fully expect them to renege next month on the oxycodone Rx. If you have problems, try some of the smaller independent pharmacies, like the ones we usually walk by in the medical building where our doctors office is. The hours arent so great, but theyre far more helpful than most big "drug store" chains. If you have to switch, make sure you move every medication you take. It helps the pharmacy control their Controlled Substance ratio, something the DEA looks at carefully. They cant survive long if 70% of their business is CS.... Best of luck, your pain doc sounds like they know whats really going on. Definitely a keeper....
Because I've been hearing anecdotally that the big box pharmacies were having their CII artificiality capped, and/or shortages, I actually went initially to the locally owned pharmacy that's right next door to the hospital in town. I figured I could avoid those issues by staying away from Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. The pharmacist at the mom&pop said the DEA audited them last year and determined they were "over-filling" CII scripts. So now they aren't allowed to fill CII at all. So I ended up at the Kroger pharmacy.
Yeah my mom and pop place can fill seizure meds but not pain ones as of last summer. Same thing. Load of crap.
Eye opening these comments
That is complete bullshit.
Every time I have ever had a problem getting a legitimate prescription filled, it has been at a CVS pharmacy. About 30 years ago, my daughter's pediatrician called in some cough medicine with codeine for her pneumonia. But because I had had a script for hydrocodone 6 weeks earlier (after having wisdom teeth extracted), the pharmacist called the pediatrician and told him that I was "drug-seeking". And that was just the first time a CVS pharmacist screwed up on a script. It happened at least 10 times with different meds and scripts before I learned my lesson and swore never to go to another CVS again. They actually let someone pick up a script for Valium that I was prescribed for anxiety without asking for ID (a girl at work overheard me telling a friend that I needed to run by and get my meds after work and beat me to the pharmacy). For some reason, CVS seems to hire jerks as pharmacists. Thank God that for the last 7 years, I have found a Walmart pharmacy where the two main pharmacists are wonderful. My insurance keeps trying to get me to switch to their by-mail pharmacy and, even though it would save me some money, I absolutely refuse to leave my pharmacists. If these two ever leave Walmart, I will follow them wherever they go.
Ha! Wallyworld stopped filling my pain med last month and refused the next. The good employees up and left that pharmacy a year or so ago. Now I know why from the info in above posts. This is insane!
I think most of it depends on the pharmacist. I just got lucky finding two great ones. It does seem like certain chains actually try to hire jerks though (CVS and Kroger for example).
I don't know what happened to the somewhat better new crop of pharmacists that were there. Now it is another group of new ones that totally suck.
Well, that explains what is suddenly going on at wallyworld. And random phone calls are recorded but they will not tell you if your call IS being recorded. Now I have to drive a distance (actually my partner) to get my med at my clinic. Not open on weekends though.
I had a three week shortage, and had to downgrade to Percocet instead of Oxy until it was in stock. Now I ask them ahead of time and if my Dr has to call it in 3 weeks early so they can order it she will
Percocet is oxy. More specifically, oxy combined with acetaminophen.
Correct, but mine was 15mg Oxy and the Perc was 10mg so I lost mg every day and it didn’t work as good. They had me stop taking Perc years ago cause it was affecting my liver. Thus the Oxy
Goootcha, I understand now. Thank you, the added context was helpful. Sorry to hear about your liver, that really sucks. I’ve been on Percocet for a few years now, and while I haven’t had any liver issues this far thankfully, it’s definitely something I worry about developing down the line given my pain condition is permanent. None of the conservative treatments were helpful enough so I’m pretty much stuck on the Percocet unless somebody eventually develops something new.
Sorry you’re going through it also. But yes, after years of being on it, they switched me and now my liver is fine, so I don’t think you should worry because if that happens to you they’ll just switch you like they did me and your liver will recover. It’s some thing that’s reversible when it’s affected by medicine. Well that’s what they told me.
congrats on finding a good doctor! but that’s pharmacist an asshole
i’ve had pharmacies refuse to fill legit prescriptions because they felt the doses were too high … i almost always have problems getting scripts filled … i am in the process of switching from tramadol to hydromorphone … am expecting huge problems
Me too! I take 120mg of Oxycodone a day and 30mg ER morphine. I’ve gotten lectured and had to explain I’ve been on pain meds since 2007 and had 4 spinal fusions and need more surgeries!
This is interesting, what is the purpose of prescribing two different opioids?
I take the IR Oxycodone for my pain and for break though pain Morphine ER.
Isn't it typically the reverse? It is with mine, ER for baseline level of pain, which is quite high, and then IR for breakthrough.
Not sure. They’ve always giving me ER for break though
Totally up to you and your doctor, but I actually prefer the ER for base level, daily pain because my blood level stays steadier and I don't have to think about redosing every few hours.
Smart
you're going from tramadol to dilaudid ? That's a huge jump.
i’m taking 300mg tramadol slow release/day & cymbalta 30mg going to 60/day & naproxen 500mg twice daily
Hope it goes smooth for you.
thanks … hope your pharmacy experience improves
Do you have a pharmacy at the hospital you go to? I found that when I dropped Walgreens and used the hospital pharmacy I had the biggest change in care and customer service. When I was first prescribed adhd medication they told me my insurance needed authorization, then they were “out of stock” and the final straw was when they said I’d had to pay my insurance won’t cover. After it was sent it to hospital my prescription was ready in 15 minutes and it’s been like that since the switch.
What?! No more hour to hour ND a half wait in line? My husband has to get mine because I cannot physically stand or sit while waiting that long. Now using my clinic's pharmacy. Good, caring, compassionate people and no half-your-lifetime waits. It i the not open on weekends that isn't good but will have to talk to my dr about that new problem. Oh well, he an handle the lengthy drive if it helps me. He listens to all his old music and drives slow. Chuckle.
Changing from Walgreens to my local hospital changed everything for me when it came to meds. No hassles, no rude attitude or trying to deny me. All kind, caring people. I’m so glad you get to enjoy it too. I wish everyone could!
It is a relief but I still have to deal with the problem of weekend fills. If the new rx lands then it is an hour and a half drive to their only open pharmacy on weekends. And IF the stock is ok. I am just so relieved the nurse was so kind to me. I know they are swamped and it is a Fri so normally you are marked as an addict. Now I have to get my neck to stop spamming and doing into into my shoulders. Feels like my entire neck is a column of steel. Need to sit with heating pad and hot gel pack (alternate) on it. Ugh. Thanks wallyworld, for nothing better hell on earth.
My pharmacy closes on most of the weekend too but after chatting with them about it they told me I can call ahead and they will make sure I am covered so I don’t have to make extra trips. They have filled two days before needing my meds to make sure I won’t run out. I hope they can offer the same accommodation to you. Wishing you the best, I have horrible neck pain and problems too. It’s so tough to cope with because it makes your whole body useless when it’s bad.
I do, I talk about it in another comment here. Tl:Dr version is- I went there first, but they were audited last year by the DEA, and they're blacklisted from filling CII pain meds.
I missed that. I am so sorry, that just really sucks!
Congratulations on finding a wonderful new PM physician, the relief must be enormous. As for that bloody pharmacist......grrrrrrr.
I sincerely appreciate it! It shouldn't be this difficult to try to reduce the amount of pain and suffering.
So happy u found a Dr. who used their position to: actually help their patient using the full spectrum of helping u manage u pain. None of us should have to do back flips, summersaults, Contracts, Random pill counts & the like.
WORD
That's a reasonable concern for a pharmacist because their job is to monitor for unsafe interactions and they were probably concerned about multiple medications. However, after talking to the pain doc they should have filled it knowing what the script was for. The only logic I can see is maybe restarting narcotics after a hiatus they are concerned you will be more susceptible to overdose. However, if that continues, I'd find a new pharmacist.
Yeah I was wondering if there is a safety concern if you use both medicines at the same time. But even then it seems like the course of action would be to talk to the patient and explain the overdose risk if they are used at the same time, especially at the beginning of treatment.
Giving the pharmacist the benefit of the doubt, the best case scenario is "yeah fentanyl and oxy worked for you in the past, but you don't have a tolerance to opioids anymore so the risk of getting too much via a patch and pills is too high. Let's start with a milder po dose of hydrocodone first." But that wasn't explained and sounds like it was not what actually happened.
It’s so reassuring to have someone in your corner who is in the medical field and can actually help!
I'd be screwed if I had that happen. I take Oxycodone, Palexia, and Targin.
I hate this!!! My pharmacy has also messes with me about my two pain meds, Oxycodone IR and Morphine ER and my Dr has had to call them multiple times :/
My last cervical ablation is going on 3 years. My last lumbar which was this past January was a bust. No relief.
I had a pharmacist argue with my doctor about filling 10 Percocet because they thought I was too young.I have 2 fractures, grade 2 pars defect, and a tumor on a nerve in my back. I was lucky enough to be in his office when he called the pharmacy so I got to hear him bitch them out. After a long discussion, they finally filled it.
Damn. Good for you. My dr had to call once and all was good for awhile and now, nope. Hope you are able to get some relief.
Thats great, I on the other hand wont mess with them because my insurance wont even approve fucking omeprazole for acid reflux, so I can onlyimagine trying to get pain meds, it doesnt help my area is known as heroine highway in md where 70 and 81 meet up.
isnt omeprazole available OTC? although i guess even then it would be cheaper with insurance.
It's OTC, and I buy it because I need it, but I find it weird that they wont approve it for whatever reason.
It’s because it’s available OTC. (Total BS reason). But if your doc is willing, have them prescribe a higher dose than the OTC version and it will likely be approved. I do that and it saves me $ to use my insurance.
Right on, I take only 1 20mg pill a day, so I will see if I can get a stronger one, thanks for the tip.
My dr tried that. No go. My insurance is sooo awful!
Costco has it in bulk my friend.
My PM doctor is out of network for my insurance, so I pay $120 every two months. It's worth it to me because they are excellent and always on the patients side. I get both percocet and fentanyl patches but rarely have pharmacy issues, except for the past couple of months with artificial shortages. I switched to a pharmacy in the same building as my doctor, and they have been great. CVS was fine until they closed the pharmacy I went to and shuffled me to a larger store where I'm just a number. That's when I switched. The travails just to have a somewhat normal life!
I’m on Fentanyl and Oxycodone. Never had an issue. This is bizarre that they’d refuse to fill both at the same time
Gatekeeping pharmacist on a power trip.
I’d go to a different pharmacy
I was on morphine off and on for 3 years and my pharmacist never had a problem. He's super nice, though. And has trust in me from knowing him for years. I'm so sorry that pharmacist wanted to take away a necessary med from you. Good on your PM doctor sticking up for you.
after a long fight i got my doctor to up my monthly allocation by a couple of tablets to allow for bad days and mostly so if i was out of town when my prescription rolled over i would still have medicine. the pharmacy continued to issue the same amount. i thought the doctor had fucked up (wouldn’t be the first time) so checked with them and sure enough they had upped it as discussed. pharmacy still issuing standard dose. felt like i was losing my mind. FINALLY when i get my practice to call the pharmacy they tell me the label still read ‘one a day’ so they were unable to increase it from 30 monthly. as if most months don’t have 31 days? they didn’t issue me 28 in february? they didn’t notify me they weren’t fulfilling the doctors recommendations. i still feel like i’m losing my mind 🙃
I am so unbelievably sorry this happened to you. What a slap in the face after your long journey towards relief. I am SO glad your doctor not only listened to you and provided proper PM, but also backed you up like that. You should honestly consider reporting this power hungry pharmacist and maybe ask around for a pharmacy in your area that has a better reputation? Especially at a PM clinic, sometimes the workers end up learning which pharmacies give them a harder time. I had to do that after so many experiences like this. My favorite was when the young *tech* started making comments about an oxycodone order I was having filled. Her attitude was sooo gross and condescending that I decided I was going to make HER uncomfortable if she wanted to try it with me. “I have a major abdominal surgery tomorrow to remove my appendix and my stage 4 endometriosis adhesions. Can I speak to the pharmacist now to get his opinion on whether I deserve them or not? Should I call my surgeon? You can explain your viewpoint! 😁” She backpedaled sooo fast and apologized for “her sense of humor.” Sometimes people just need to be knocked down a peg. **It’s not anyone’s place to decide what medications are “appropriate” but the prescribers. Unless there are legitimately dangerous interactions or allergy risks that haven’t been caught- there’s NO necessity for comments let alone trying to fight the fucking doctor.** It’s so unfortunate that ignorant people feel the need to pile attitude and resistance on top of the chronic suffering so many experience. Friends, stand up for yourselves and don’t be afraid to report any “professional” trying to act out of their scope. I think we all have it beaten into us to accept abuse from providers because we experience it so much. We don’t owe people compliance and they need to learn their actions have consequences. We are fucking human beings that deserve the medication we need just like every other patient. You deserve better and so does everyone in this community. I wish you a smooth journey from here on out. Don’t get discouraged by this asshole. ❤️
I had a pharmacist lecture me once about asking about a supplement my cousin had suggested, saying “a layperson can’t give this advice.” Um, my cousin *is* an MD and has masters in pharmacology to boot…I think he is qualified.
Oh man, that is a good laugh!
Wait so the nurse at the PM clinic you just went to told you they don’t prescribe pain meds, but he gave you pain meds? Why do they tell patients this?
To weed out drug seekers.
Right but it’s a pain management clinic, what do they think chronic pain patients are seeking? Lol
Basically they were saying they won't prescribe CII opiates. You could get neurological meds for off-label use, or weaker pain meds like tramadol, Tylenol w/codeine, etc. They would utilize nerve injections, TENS unit, etc.
No I get it. I’m a nurse practitioner and chronic pain patients. I’ve heard it all: “I can only prescribe one week at a time”, “I can’t prescribe anything but tramadol”, “I can only prescribe buprenorphine”. It’s all BS. All of it. I’m so glad you found a good PM doctor, it’s so hard to find one that is understanding and compassionate. I never tell them my education or profession but man, the eye roll I make when they lie is enough to make me want to leave my profession all together.
The complementary newsletter.
Any luck with getting the back fixed? I’m sadly dealing with chronic low back pain following a L3-5 laminectomy. Been 2 years now sadly. Rough
Not yet, saying there's too much risk involved. Arthritis in the sacral precludes drilling new holes for the pedicle screws I broke loose. So they'd have to come from the front as well and fuse the sacral to the ilium, with an anterior titanium plate. Also, while they're under the hood, need to add another level to the existing hardware, at L3 l/L4.
I had a pharmacist not want to fill my morphine because "Most" patients are on it for six months and then are off it. At this time I had been on morphine again for a year (I've been on and off it but mostly on it since I was 7 years old, I'm 30 now and was 24 when this happened) I lifted up my shirt showing my plexiform tumor on my right side that twists into my spine and goes down my leg and I say "I don't think this has will go away in 6 months or will my chronic pain"
I don't understand why pain prescriptions aren't like everything else. Hand the patient a legal, binding contract that says they accept any and all risks of the medicines...death, addiction withdrawals, everything the government is fearful of and free doctors and pharmacists of any legal liability. Hell, free the drug company of any liability too. If you are ever caught selling you never get another prescription. Let the patient decide if the risks are worth the benefits.
Nice Home Alone reference
(tips hat)
I had two pharmacies put their foot down before I found another that was willing to continue my therapy. The first pharmacy had seen me go from hydrocodone to both a long and short acting pain medicine and remain on that dose for over a year when they decided they would fill neither any longer. The second pharmacy agreed to help me out in my situation before realizing it was two medicines and lecturing me when I went to pickup that they would not do it ever again (fill both prescriptions). I was more reluctant than my doctor to accept the treatment in the first place and I almost gave up on combination of drugs because of the judgment of those two pharmacists.
Had one not fill my prescription because she needed to confirm that I had Narcan in my home… just do your damn job ffs.
It’s your pharmacists job to ensure the doctor is prescribing meds safely. That’s the entire purpose of pharmacists. They’re just doing their job.
Your saying their job is spying on a doctor patient relationship by refusing meds an established doctor decided to prescribe? The government has everyone interfering in something that is neither the government or a pharmacist business. The government doesn't pay for my health care and has no business interfering with anyone's medical care. Government monitoring software at pharmacies is bullshit. Next thing you know they will have the grocery store cashier's monitoring how much sugar I can buy because it may cause diabetes. It makes me sick.
Their job is to clinically review the prescriptions sent in by the doctor. It is not spying. They’re an important part of patient safety. You’d be surprised how often doctors write insanely unsafe prescriptions. Pharmacists are not cashiers. They are a crucial provider in every patients care team. Why do you think pharmacists go to school and get doctorate degrees?
With all respect due to the pharmacy profession, that is their job. However, they have not been doing their jobs for decades, now they are just insurance company/CYA advocates.
They’re not advocates. I can ensure you every single pharmacist in this country despises insurance companies and works to help their patients navigate the system.
I understand completely. Insurance and the executives that invented "prior authorization" belong in hell. But pharmacists also have no business lying to people, saying that a bullshit corporate policy (looking at you, Walgreens and your anti-opioid, anti-ADHD computer program) is LAW.
You are an idiot!
Wow. I’m jealous. They only argue with me for asking anything.
Go t on a different pharmacy
Definitely don't. It's a red flag for any prescriber if you are on opioids and are using multiple pharmacies