Pain and medication

[alxvog]

I was wondering, I have a primary care physician and a pain management specialist. Right before I got my visit for my pain management my PCP wrote me a prescription for hydrocodone APAP 10 500 with 5 refills. My pain specialist originally told me to just take what I had left from my PCP but take 2 at time if it helps. So i did so, couple days passed and I realized by me doing that i was going to run out sooner and insurance wont cover an early refill, so I called my pain specialist and he gave me a script for oxycodone 15 mg Q 120. Ok i thought this is fine. Now that means a total of 4 a day and sometimes I have to take a half or 5 a day again making me run out 1-5 days before the new script can be written. I asked the doc to wright me a script early but to put a date on it when it can get refilled because I was leaving town. He put it on the exact day the 30 days were up. And im going to be 4 days short. He was already upset that I was taking half or one extra a day so I said I would compensate by taking only 3 one day which I lied because he seems upset. So would I get in trouble if I went to my regular pharmacist and had them fill my hydrocodone Q 90 and only use what is needed then go to a different pharmacy and give them the oxy script and put away the hydros. What ramifications could this have? Otherwise I am going to have to buy on the black market. I have a disk perfusion and fluid missing between L4 and L5. I’ve been on pain medications for 5 years. So not only would my pain come back full force but I would have withdrawals.

[nurseaudrea]

Repost as a new question. This is a very old post. You will get more responses that way. In my opinion your new script is meant to replace the old one since it was not lasting you. Call your doctor's office if you r not sure. If you don't have any meds left then go ahead and fill it to replace the other one.

[L4l5]

Hi, innate been on hydrocodone 10 325. My scripts have been for 9 per day ,so I was getting 270  a month and always running short by a eel. The doc would then give me a script for 10 a day = 70 then I would be able to get my refill from pharmacy I have one more refill left for 270 of course ran short this tme doc gave me a sciript for 300 9 per day max of 10 with one refill. I con know what to do should I get this filled at another pharmacy then go back to the old one and get my 270 or should I go to the pharmacy and explain what happened and fill the 300 one and scratch the 270 one . I am 66 on Medicare . I would appreciate any advice

[Jaybay]

Just a quick comment on your sex drive query.  Decreased or complete loss of sex drive is an unfortunate side effect of opiate therapy.  I have yet to read of any other medication that is effective in that regard.  I'm glad you brought it up since lack of sex drive is just one more problem we CP patients and our spouses/ significant others must learn to deal with.  It's also an important issue to consider when embarking on opiate therapy, and I have yet to hear of any doctor that brings up the issue.  They're more focused on addiction and abuse issues than anything else.

There are a few terms every opiate therapy patient and their families should be aware of.

Tolerance and physical dependence are normal with opiate therapy.  If you take opiates long term, you WILL go into withdrawal if they are suddenly withheld.  Withdrawal does not mean that patient is an addict.

Addiction is a psychological problem that involves craving for the euphoria of narcotics.  An addict will lie, cheat or steal to achieve that euphoria despite the negative consequences of the behavior.

Pseudo-addiction refers to a person who displays some of the behaviors of an addict, but the underlying reason for the behavior is due to the pain being undertreated.  You don't hear much about this because most people, including doctors, jump right to the addiction conclusion.

Hope that helps clarify things a bit better.  :-)

[melissaky]

Hi and I would also like to welcome you ! We do have some wonderful ,knowledgeable members here as you have already seen .The people here are also very ,caring as well .I thank God that I found this forum (thanks to google) as well .It is so hard to suffer with pain and the support I get from here makes it so-o much easier to cope . I can't give you any better advice than you have already gotten here but I just wanted to add my welcome .Congratulations on your marriage .I wish you and your bride a happy, long life together . Take care Melissa

[namnam46]

That's a VERY good choice to ONLY tell your wife!! Even other members of your family have NO business to know what meds you are taking!!!

By the way, I feel the same way about MH. I, TOO, found it by Googling about the Fentanyl Patches that I use.  SOOOO happy that I GOOGLED that day!!

Best of Luck and God Bless you...Sherry

[jayman920]

very well said, one thing i found out is tell no one you are on pain meds. I feel people judge you. That is my experience and will just tell my wife,

This is a great group, i found it by typing a question into google, they have GREAT PEOPLE with great answers. Some people will cheat and get info for there next appt to find ways to get meds and i think people know what i am saying, but overall its great.

God Bless

Jay ;)