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.

[designgyrl]

Please do not get both of the prescriptions filled.  Everything everyone is stating is correct.  You could legally get in trouble for paying cash for one prescription, you also could have your pain doctor drop you as a patient, very quickly, and also you may want to look and see if you've signed a contract with the doctor and they are doing random urine tests.  I'm sure your PMP doctor was not stating to continue to take the hydros all the time with the oxycodone, which means your urine test will come up with extra medication.  It's so difficult to get a great pain doctor, and to get on medication that works for you, please do not take the chance by trying to fill one prescription early.  Please talk to your pain doctor and explain that the oxycodone amount is still not breaking through the pain and see what else he can do for you.  Please feel free to read through peoples posts, this question has came up a few times, and the situation has not turned out good for most of the patients that took too much medication.  

Thanks for posting on the site, hope you'll let us know how you're doing!

Karen

[jayman920]

Listen to al the people on here,if you try to fill it they will fing out, look below



**********************************************************************************************************
As of July 2010, 34 states have operational PDMPs that have the capacity to receive and distribute controlled substance prescription information to authorized users. States with operational programs include:

Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Seven states (Alaska, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin) and one U.S. territory (Guam) have enacted legislation to establish a PDMP, but are not fully operational.

*Washington State's PDMP was operational but has been suspended due to fiscal constraints.

[alxvog]

Thanks for all your comments, I wanted to clarify. My PMP did originally tell me to take 2 20 mg hydros for my pain if it worked and that I shouldn’t of gotten that prescription filled since i signed the medication contract ( this was a couple weeks ago mind you) and it was from my PCP. So i went about taking 2 at a time and called to see what I should do because I was going to run out. They said they voided my drug contract and to stick with my PCP prescription (PMP nurse said this) so I said ok. Couple days went by and realized my insurance would not cover an early refill and called my PMP back, this was when he gave me the oxy. I didn’t know anything about this drug except that it said take one every 6 hours as needed. So i did but again pain would occur sometimes within 3 hours so I would take a half or full one. Thus creating me to run out early. ( keep in mind: pharmacies will let you refill 5 days early from what the refill says for hydro, which is what i always relied on. So with my pcp i would get 90 pills 4 times a day = 22.5 days - 5 = 17 days ( which I would need 6-7 pills daily and this worked for me with the hydro 90 pills every 17 days) I expected the same with the oxy, when I called to ask for a early script ( not an early refill) i wanted it in hand so I could rely on the 5 day difference from pharmacy but no, they wrote the exact day the prescription should run out on the paper script. So when i mentioned I needed to take a half or full one in addition to what the pmp said the nurse got upset and said he never authorized that. And im not one to argue nore do I have time to schedule an appt just to explain to the doc I need 5 a day. So for those who said not to get both I already picked up the hydro, but haven’t touched it yet nore will i unless i have to. And just to be safe I will go to a different pharmacy to fill the hydro when it I can get it filled. If I get a call or have a problem im hopping I can give him the remaining hydrocodones and explain the situation.. if he drops me then he drops me and I will continue going to my pcp, i really hope it doesn’t come to that but if they weren’t so scary to talk to, and listen more I wouldn’t have to feel like im sinning. Hopefully it won’t get back to him and honestly this happened to me once when I got my shoulder surgery i was getting Percocet and hydrocodone. One from my pcp and one from clinic, this clinic kept giving me Percocet for 6 months and I was getting hrdrocodeone from PCP. I didn’t know I wasn’t suppose too. And Walgreens after 6 months said we need to notify your doc that your getting prescriptions from 2 different places. I said ok. That was it. So im hopping for the best, if you still have suggestions of how I can bring this to my pmp attention without getting him mad please let me know. I do care what he thinks of me and I hate getting in trouble. And I do have 90 hydrocodones sitting there and wont touch till I need to, I still have some oxy but they are running out. Im sorry but no pain medication will block pain for 6 hours. 4 at max even with oxy 15 mg. Im sure if he gave me morphine it wouldn’t last 6 hours.

[JadedSweetheart]

Well, MSContin, (morphine ER) lasts longer than 6 hours as it is a long-acting pain med rather than a short-acting pain med like hydro or oxy.  
I don't know what you could say to the doctor about all of this.  I've had the same problem with taking too many roxycodone (throwing them up and having to take another actually) but I just stretched the rest of them out at the end of the month, taking only 3 a day instead of 4.  My doctor does acknowlege that they only last about 3 hours and I am always honest with him about how many I've needed to take at a time, etc.  

The thing is, you called your doctor and he told you to make the oxycodone last.  Then you had a seperate script filled which may have violated your contract.  
I really don't know what to tell you other than try to make the oxycodone last.  I know it's not comfortable and if you feel like you're in agony, you should call the doctor and let them know that the meds aren't working as prescribed.  Some doctors still won't do anything for you about that, though, and then you just have to suffer until the next appt.  
I really don't know what to tell you about it all except that you could get in trouble for getting the lortabs filled and taking them.

[flower12345]

Welcome. There are so many supportive people here!

Does your PCP know that you filled both prescriptions? If not, then unfortunately you could get dropped by both doctors. I think that you will get dropped by your PMP. You violated the contract. You knew what you were doing.

Can you make an appointment with your PCP to tell him what happened?

I don't think that there's any "good way" to tell your PMP. To me, it looks like you doctor shopped. I think you will get dropped if he finds out. Can you make an appointment and tell him that the oxycodone is not helping your pain?

Jaded is right, long acting morphine lasts longer than six hours.

I understand that you feel under-medicated, but the end result of what you did could be not having any doctor willing to treat you with pain medications. I think you should call your PCP and talk to him to see what he says. If you signed a contract, then it is most likely voided.

Once you get red-flagged, you will have trouble getting treated with medications. I tried to be gentle in my post, but I really think that you made a huge mistake by filling the hydrocodone. I understand that you have pain, but the risk that you took (IMO) was not worth the consequences. Wow.

Flower

[alxvog]

They told me weeks ago that they would void my pain contract so I can continue with my PCP pain meds so I did for about a week called, and said im going to run out so they wrote me a script for oxy. Do they have the power to void and re initiate my drug contract.. and I didn’t break the contract. I was about too but I was going to show up at his office and hand him the hydrocodone still in the package stapled and tell him what I was about too do. Why would he drop me for not taking any, giving him the rest, and telling him the issue? Not only do I have pain but I also have generalized anxiety disorder meaning I worry about everything and you guys are freaking me out. lol I know i messed up but I haven’t consumed any of thy hydros.  There has to be a way not to get in trouble here. I was preparing to break the contract but I didn’t yet.