my crippled dad was cut from his pain meds

[IneedHelpNotaScreenName]

i have a very serious problem im dealing with, well not me but my father and im very worried and hes seem to just given up on what to do about this. im sorry if this is lsited in the wrong spot this is my first post on here

let me first give u some background info. my father was a mechanic for over 30 years hes in his early 60s now, im 30. i helped him do mechanic work for 6 years and i did warehousing unloading trucks for about 10. me, well my body is severely destroyed i take 5 pain pills a day for relief. he is the same way but hes been working double the amount of years i did so i know his pain is excruciating. he was prescribed something like 5 oxys a day and a few oxycodones. might i remind you my dad needs a cane everywhere he goes, just for him to get off the couch you feel bad for how bad he groins in pain. hes been taking pills ever since i was a little kid i could remember him taking them working 16 hr days.

so heres the problem, he needed more pills so he went to another dr and got a prescirption from another dr for more oxycodones totaling 2 diff doctors. he also sees a 3rd doctor for something different i dont remember so anyways this 3rd dr i guess was friends with the extra pain dr and told the 1st pain dr to completely cut him off of his pills as well as im guessing telling the other dr the same. so im guessing he got put on that list for getting double prescriptions. its hard to explain the story but the main thing is he got a presciption from 2 diff drs. they told him very mean "just deal with it its your problem now" "go to the pain clinic" so he goes to the pain clinic and there no help they tell him to do exercises. my dad is 60 and cant walk he doesnt need exercises he needs relief. the dr told the pain clinic to make sure they dont give him any pills ever.

i keep asking him what hes going to do and he says theres nothing i can do. hes in terrible terrible pain. anyone knows you cannot just stop taking oxycontin after youve taken it that long you can die! this happened once before when he couldnt get his prescription filled he had no oxys and he got real sick and went to the emergency room and they told him if he didnt come in that night he would of died from being cut off like that. and he doesnt need suboxin, suboxin is to get you off pain pills. my dad is old man who cant walk and the only relief he has is a pill. he NEEDS them. hes had over 12 surgeries. he also has a clogged blood vessel in his brain which is going to lead to a stroke if he has to much stress and im afraid this situation is going to lead to his death.

so my question is pretty obvious how can he get pills again? i dont even know if hes blacklisted or if those particular drs were just being assholes and cutting him off then telling there buddys to ignore him. and yes i do know it was his fault for getting a double prescription but the amount he was getting wasnt enough for the pain hes in. he wasnt selling them or giving them away or anything bad he was using them for himself and he has a huge huge medical background of proof of the pain he is in from injuries. heck in the 70s the army wouldnt even allow him in because his back was in to bad of shape. i am in pain everyday and im only half his age so i do know what its like to not even be able to walk without a pill or to even get out of bed in the morning. im sure this has happened to other people and there is a remedy out there but i dont know what it is, im sure they dont want a lawsuit from a wrongfull death coming at them. what is there to do in this situation?

thanks in advance for any advice

[IneedHelpNotaScreenName]

and one more thing the problem with going to a new dr is there going to want to know about the last dr he went to and get the records, when he went to the pain clinic they talked to his last dr and this last dr is basically telling anyone he goes to to not give him anything. so whatever this dr is saying is really hurting him. the original pain dr didnt know about any of this, it was his 3rd dr who was his therapy dr or something who is causing all this trouble. they pretty much stopped treating him for everything all together. he has these 2 sacs on his hips they just found so he went back to the dr another dr said he could give him a shot to get rid of these sac on his hips before they get worse and he gets there and this same dr said i cant do that here go to a specialist and hes like this other dr just said to me u do it all the time. so really hes screwed this dr isnt treating him at all and then telling other dr's not to to make him suffer. its like there all out to punish him now.

[IneedHelpNotaScreenName]

also i did tell him to go to the emergency room but he doesnt want to and he has one more script written out that hes afraid to use. hes afraid if he goes and uses it hell get arrested or something and he has bad panic attacks so right now hes kind of just boxing himself away and giving up.

[IneedHelpNotaScreenName]

hes really did everything u can think of and pills are really his only option, when i say its bad its really bad. hes gone thru the withdrawal phase now, now hes just in complete agony and pain. its not just him suffering its me because hes taking it out on me because of his pain. he shut his cell phone off and had his home phone disconnected so no one can talk to him. he has gone to pain management, his body is broke down beyond repair pretty much u can only repair the same spots so many times before they just really aint good anymore. so i dont know what the hell to do. the dr had the nerve to tell him his pain is just all in his head and the pills were tricking him into thinking he needed pills. there talking to him like hes some teenager with a addiction, anyone can just look at this man and say good lord this guy has serious health problems. just by seeing him walk i feel bad like i can almost feel his pain just by hearing him groan when he moves. well, i know u guys are trying to help so thanks. ill post more if anything happens.

[flower12345]

Mellie has great advice. I would definitely tell your dad to go to the ER if it gets bad, especially since he has other health issues. Doctors have to be very careful, which is why they can't prescribe to someone who is getting pain medications from more than one doctor. Can they at least wean him off of his medications? Did they give him suboxone to get through the withdrawals?

Doctors can just stop prescribing, I believe, in instances like this. I'm pretty sure that since he got medications from more than one doctor, that neither doctor needs to give him another script.

It is a very sad situation. I hope that your dad gets a new doctor, and gets help with his pain. Is there anything else that helps him--like therapy, or acupuncture? I know that for me, a combination of a bunch of different kinds of treatment is what I need to be able to control my pain. Maybe your dad can find a doctor who will be able to treat him using pain medicine in conjunction with other treatments. Have you looked into finding him another doctor? There are anesthesiologists, physiatrists, and other types of doctors who treat pain,and there are nonprofit websites to help you find a doctor.

Please, keep us updated! I'm so sorry that you dad has so much pain.

[mellie4]

This is a very sad situation.  What kind of doctors was your dad seeing?  Was it his primary care doctor?  It sounds as though he should have been seeing a pain management doctor all along.  Some use medications as well as therapy and procedures.  At this point, he may well benefit from finding a pain management doctor.

It's never a good idea to try to medicate ourselves.  Sometimes it's hard to talk to our doctors (though if it is, it's time to change.)  But we need to get them to understand where our pain levels are at so they can prescribe the right amount of medication and the right kind.  

I'm not sure what your dad should do at this point or what his options are.  I think if it were me I'd start with my primary care doctor and tell them everything and be totally honest.  Hopefully, they can look at all his medical conditions, what he's been taking and figure out what to do.  

If he goes into withdrawals, I would think he would need to get to an emergency room.  I don't think they'd give him unlimited medication but he'd get care.  He may have to go to a detox to get off the medication safely and from there find a doctor to treat him.  The most important thing is to make sure he doesn't stop taking the medicine abruptly.  And even though you're angry, I hope you're not mentioning wrongful death lawsuits to anyone.  That won't help him get care.

Maybe there's someone here who has some concrete ideas on what your dad can do.  If he does have to stop taking the medications, there is a substance abuse forum on here and it has suggestions for things to do when detoxing from medications.  (And I'm not inferring that your dad is addicted but at this point, like a lot of pain patients, he would be physically dependent on his medications.)  I hope you'll keep us posted on what happens.