How many months supply of pain meds are allowed?

[candidly]

I am on continuing pain management due to crush injury to my foot about 5 years ago.  I have been getting a 30 day supply of Norco and methadone from my anesthesiologist.

I am moving to the country of Panama later this year (I'm building a house which is almost finished now).  However, it appears to be impossible to obtain this medication there, and I'm very concerned.  

Does the law allow a physician to prescribe a 90 day supply of these drugs?  I could fly back to Houston 4 times a year to get the prescriptions filled, but I really can't afford to do it every 30 days.

[candidly]

Thanks to you, and all, for the information and links. This is pretty discouraging.  

I imagine getting a "large one month supply" every 3 months would also incur the wrath of our public servants who have decided that they know better than either doctors or patients.

As I'm preparing my tax return on weekends, it reminds me that I'm paying them to do this to me.  

I'll try to figure out something!

[philnoir]

The laws are specific to the class of control. Most pain drugs are now Class II and CII can only be written for 30days.

However, your doctor can write up to three months of CII medications with a "DO NOT FILL UNTIL" directive to the pharmacist. For example, if he were to write today, he could give you and Rx for this month, next month "DO NOT FILL UNTIL March 19th", and "DO NOT FILL UNTIL April 20th"

This would do you little good as you'd have to come back to to the state where your doctor is licensed to fill the script every month. And most controlled substance agreements require on to you the same pharmacy.

Talk to your doctor and pharmacist -- perhaps something can be arranged, but his this hostile environment against opioids in the US today, most people are SOL when it comes to meeting needs of this sort.

Mexico, Central America, and Columbia have strict laws when dealing with controlled substances, mainly to please the USA to continue getting that anti-narcoltics money every year.

Here's an interesting webpage -- it totals the dollars spent on anti-drug efforts this year -- approximately $500 / second for the Federal Govt alone:

http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock

Here's a site that's been following the history of drug prohibition in America as well as their pressure on other governments within the hemisphere to reduce the supply of illegal drugs to the US.

http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/United_States

There's a lot of information to absorb here. Find the numbers within the Obama administration spent on anti drug activities in 2012 -- you'll be shocked, and and we do this every year, never meeting our goals -- why don't we read this news in our so-called mainstream press?

Best of luck getting your medical needs met.

This isn't about medicine -- it's about power. Spread the word to your friends. We need political change in this country, and restoring a functional medical system is good place to start.

[CRSeaside]

Keep in touch when you get down there. I'm close to Panama in Dominicalito. A few hours away. We built 20 yrs ago. Then 5 yrs ago I started building again. A small pool casita. An apartment for caretakers and my new art studio. All the trees in the distance were blocking a lot of our view from the main house. We built the studio with stairs leading up to it.
  The permit laws here are under a certain size building no permit is necessary. Then the muni doesn't get involved and raise your property taxes. You can see photos if you wish on my home page.
  I hope someday you'll be able to live with out the pain meds. Maxy

[jerry_all19]

Did you read this? http://www.expatexchange.com/expat/index.cfm?frmid=270&tpcid=3396125

It appears that oxycodone and morphine are available there.

You can't be a resident there, and be getting pain meds here.

[candidly]

Thanks for that answer. I hope you're enjoying Costa Rica.  I'll be just a few miles from the border on the Panama side.

Your thought about adjusting the quantity is good, but the way the Feds are scrutinizing legitimate pain medication like it's heroin or a deadly virus, it might still be a reporting problem for the doc. I hope not.

It's definitely worth having that conversation, though.  

[CRSeaside]

I live in Costa Rica. They have Oxycodin here, but you would need a prescription. You are right. No vicadon or Norco. I once bought codeine #3 over the counter. I think Panama is similar.
  The laws have recently changed in the USA as far as opioids are concerned.
If your Dr wants to cooperate they could state you take the pills more often than you really do, so your quantity would be higher.

[candidly]

Thanks for the response, but I hope you're not right.  My current doctor wants to see me every 30 days for 2 minutes so that he can charge $95.  But flying back to Pittsburgh every 30 days would really take 4 days of actual travel, so I hope our laws are not totally insane.

I need about $10 worth of generic medicine a month.  Ugh.

[remar]

As far as I know Drs are only allowed to give a one month prescription for pain medications. Do check with your Dr about this though.