need advice and help

Ok. Im a 27year old male. I just found out from my dentist that i have been red flagged for gettin more than 90oxycodone(for a gunshot to my face). I have ha many injuries and broken bones and such in my life. But in the past 6 months or so, ive gotten accidentally shot i the face and got perscribed 96 percocet 5s. Since then i have had a couple teeth removed due to lack of proper dentistry. Well i have been red flagged, as told by my dentist, and im wondering what it means(other than bad, and no meds) what does it mean to be red flagged? How long does it last? And what do i do for meds now? Please help. I am unsure of any of this. I have a ongoin shoulder injury i sustained year before last and was bein perscribed pain killers for,but now im worried i wont get the meds i need

[trixy71]

Being red-flagged usually means getting pain meds from more than one doctor. The best bet is to go to your primary doctor and get a referral to pain management and only get your scripts from just one doctor.

[BOK2Bjan]

You got good advice.  It's always best to communicate with your doctors about what other doctors are prescribing for you.  The doctors are getting grief for prescribing controlled substances by the DEA.  You may not have done anything wrong - it's a world where computers let every doctor and pharmacy know everything you've been prescribed.  

I think being proactive by calling your doctors and explaining that these injuries were unrelated and that you didn't realize you needed to inform each doctor of another's actions.  It IS best to have a Pain Management Doctor prescribe all pain meds. (But it just isn't always an option)  I don't have one anymore due to being on Medicaid.  My Primary prescribes the meds that my Pain Management doctor recommended and I then signed a contract with my primary.  I also just go to one pharmacy.  All these things help them keep trust in you and allow you to keep getting the meds you need and not any extra.

Good luck

[JamieEileen]

He was the one who red flagged you. It is a way of not prescribing the medicine for you because you use it often. No one knows you take the medicine until you tell them. Red flag is just a term used. He wants your doctor to prescribe it if you need it. A dentist usually doesn't give you pain medicine unless it is a dental emergency. I hope I helped your anxiety about that. Feel better. Ok?

[smeepx3]

Regarding no one knowing----
Almost every state has a a controlled substance RX database now and every time an RX is dispensed the pharmacy must report it. So if you get an RX any MD or pharmacy can look you up and see what you have been taking and when. If you get an RX from 1 MD and then get another filled before that one should have run out from another-- you can get redflagged as they call it. This database plus so many of the PM clinic rules have been mandated by law-- like making you sign a contract, making you do urine or blood tests and more. In TN the clinics have to do this or they lose their license.

Still if the Doctor has taken the time to completely note when and why you have been prescribed your drugs; including any unusual circumstances that are medically feasible-- they can if they choose-- treat you. That is where the compassion and relationship part comes in and unfortunately most doctor/patient relationships are not that good. So they opt for the easy way and just let you suffer-- it's a shame.

I am currently fighting a false negative blood test for MS Contin. Thanks to what I have read on this website I intend to call my PMD on Monday and demand a supervised watch of dosing and then a new blood test the next day to repeat the circumstances that caused it-- I did not take my am pill before going out since it can make me sick sometimes. So it was over 12 hours since my last dose. It's only 15mg so after 12 hours it didnt show up--I am overweight too. Fingers crossed that they will let me do it. They did let me do another test the day he told me he was cutting me off but not kicking me out-- I take oxycodone too and he is weaning me off that.  Thank you for this wonderful website.

[orthonightmare]

I totally agree w/concept of 1 prescriber, as well as one pharmacy(or whatever your supplier is). Keeps things simple and consistent. I say 1 supplier, to mean as much as it is possible. There are occasional exceptions for needing the services of a different source.
Having the "label" is awful for a patient like yourself, who legitimately needs the meds.!  The added stress of this sort of "crap" can lead to more physical pain.But, now you know that it does not apply to you, I hope that you can put it behind you and move on, feeling better about yourself.
Good luck.

[JOD9157]

THAt Actually happened to me AS When my PM doctor was prescribing methadone 30 mg in AM  &  30mg 8 hours later then 40 at bedtime for 12 years,Anyway taking that much to control the pain started to fade and a ew times I went to my primary he gave me just enough to replace 1-2 days  worth due to taking xtra thinking it would be fine to see if that would conrol my pain more,well I went in one day for my appt w/primary & he came in w/ his little laptop and told me that I gave you 60 10 mg pills on a certain date & proceed to tell me that I had a prescription filled days before for 3oo 10 mg tablets of methadone!To say the least it freaked me out how did he know ? But he knew exactly when & what I was prescribed BUT he did'nt know where it was filled and who filled it For me? SCARRY

[mothra713]

I was flagged by one pharmacy, actually banned for something similar, and went into panic mode. I went to my primary, he said not to worry. As long as I use just one doctor, I should be fine. If you go to one pharmacy, switch to a completely different one. Talk to your doctor, see if he will back you up. Worse case scenario, you have to change doctors and pharmacies, and follow the directions.

[shinty]

the only thing I don't understand is the "use only one pharmacy rule". If the information is in a database then what difference does it make what pharmacy you go to? they all have the same information as to when and where you last filled your prescriptions. I say this because my medicine is hard to find sometimes, and i cant wait 7-10 days for the "one" pharmacy to order it. I have tried to have different pharmacies order it for me ahead of time, but they simply won't do that for some reason. My doctor is aware of the situation and lets me go to any pharmacy that happens to have it-only after I asked him the same thing i did here: "what difference does it really make"?

[marycarmel]

Pharmacies won't order narcotics ahead of time.  They'll only order it on the "fill date."  It really can be stressful because narcotics are not like other medications where you can get them a few days ahead of time.  I've had trouble with the CVS in my town.  You have to put a svript in for OxyContin 24 hours ahead of time.  When I'm taking that, it brings me right down to the wire.  They also don't stock certain milligrams.  My pain doctor doesn't mind if I use a different CVS but I had to explain it to him.  Even though eberything is computerized, once when my CVS didn't have the OxyContin and wouldn't get it for several days, I went to one one town over.  That pharmacist didn't know me and they called themdoctor, who said it was okay.  But he asked why was I using two different CVS's.

I go off the pain meds whenever I can, even if it means dealing with the pain.  With all the DEA laws, doctors getting gun-shy about prescribing, pharmacies not keeping medications in stock, and my own personal feelings about the side effects and developing a tolerance, I don't want to find myself in a position where I have to have another surgery or something and be on such high doses they can't cover my pain, or having my doctor leave his practice or have some new law and find myself suddenly having my meds cut in half or have no one to prescribe them.