refilling oxycodone

[missylowery]

Hi, I am post op cranial aneurysm surgery in 2002 and hve had chronic H/A's since before the surgery. I also have rheumatoid arthritis: 5 years now. I have had a liver injury(which was from taking the antitdepressant Serzone) which has been settled now. I have been on and off medication since then. I am right now tolerant built up to Oxycodone 30 mgs. 8 x daily. I can't take insaids My doctor prints out reills for me on this so I can get them filled when I need to. My question is sometimes I need to refill it at a different pharmacy because I am refilling early according to the directions on the bottle. Is that legally alright to do? She knows it and prints them for me.   Thanks

[peekawho]

Jaybay is correct; your doctor needs to change her prescribing, rather than expecting you to get involved with the questionable practice of changing pharmacies to get early refills..  

If you are using insurance, you will be flagged in no time and your doctor may even face consequences.  If you are self paying, eventually the pharmacies may communicate with each other about your consumption.  Its very common even for different pharmacy chains to have an unofficial "watch" list.  
Its not illegal to do what you're suggesting, but they can refuse to fill Rx's for you if they are uncomfortable with your usage..

Far better for your doc to change the # she's giving you.  If she's afraid to do that, then you need to take a good, hard look at your narcotic consumption.  

Jaybay also had a great suggestion for biofeedback and self hypnosis.  I hope you look in to that.  More and more narcotic is not the answer.  Eventually, nothing at all will work.  And you'll eventually have to resort to doing something illegal.

[missylowery]

Thanks you guys. I will talk to her tomorrow. I have a very high tolerence but I take them for a couple of very good reasons. They are giving me some results tomorrow about cancer

[Jaybay]

Talk to your doc about changing the prescribing directions to reflect the reality of what you are taking.  No more objections from the pharmacy.

That's a pretty high dose of oxy though, and I'm very surprised your doc just prints out refills for you to use whenever you like.  Not the usual behavior for a doc prescribing narcotics.  What happens if you take it as prescribed?  You need to ask yourself if you're taking it for pain, or to prevent withdrawal.  And no, I am not suggesting you are abusing your medication.  Of course you're physically dependent by now.  It's normal on that high of a dose.  It sounds more like you have not had good advise and guidance from your doctor, who is in my opinion, acting very irresponsibly.

I have no doubt you are in severe pain, but with tolerance that high, you'll be in big trouble if you ever need surgery or have a serious accident or develop cancer... get the idea?  Some pain docs will rotate different meds to "fool" the body and get around tolerance issues that way.

Another technique that is far too often ignored is learning biofeedback and self-hypnosis techniques that really do help when a pain crisis hits and no med in the world will help.  It can also help you to not just reach for the pill bottle when the pain gets worse so you son't take more than prescribed.  The mental side of chronic pain is just as important as the physical.  A PhD PAIN psychologist can help you learn these techniques.  I can testify that mine has been more helpful to me than the pain doc.  And no, you're not crazy!  It's just that pain invades the psyche as much as the body.  Why not treat both?

[missylowery]

Thanks for the comment. I am on Medicare and I pay full price untill Novenber when I will have Medicare D (presciption coverage)

[uphill7584]

yes it is legal...if you are recieving all the scripts from the same doctor you can refill them whenever. the issue you may have is will insurance. usually if say you have a month supply...they will not let you refill until the 25th day of that month. none of what you are doing is illegal based on my knowledge.