This is driving me insane!

[braijackava]

So I have arthritis in my spine so my primary doc sent me to a pain management clinic. Before this I had signed a pain medicine contract with my primary doctor. I read it and they gave me a copy for future reference. I remember that contract said if you have an urgent problem and can't get in to see him you can have another doctor prescribe you a three day supply of pain medicine as long as you tell the other doctor you have a pain medicine contract or something like that. So I go to this new pain clinic and they had me sign a ton of paperwork in like 5 minutes before I saw the doctor. I signed a pain medicine contract but read it so fast and didn't get a copy so I don't remember what it said. So I went to my second appointment for a muscle injection and told the doctor that I was so desperate in pain that sometimes I was taking two of my pain pills instead of one and I know I was probably in the wrong etc. just trying to be completely honest. He said that is fine with me, just know that you cannot get a refill until it's been a month. I said that is fine. So fast forward to a week and a half before my appt with him and I am out of pain medicine. I say that ***** but I have to deal with it until my appt and it has been a month. Then on the weekend I got the worst toothache of my existence. Went to the instacare and they gave me antibiotics and a three day supply of pain meds. I told him I went to a pain clinic and had a contract. He said this is an urgent matter on the weekend so they should be fine with it as long as I am honest. So I called my pain doctor on Monday and left a message for the doctor and his assistant just describing what was happening and please call me back because I don't want to do anything wrong or get in trouble. Never heard back so sent an email this time with the same info and that I had an appt with my dentist and that they would probably pull it and I would need a couple more days of pain meds. Never heard back again. Saw the dentist and had to get it pulled and I told him everything that was going on and he gave me three more day supply of pain meds and said pretty much the same thing as the instacare doc. So my pain clinic appt for my meds is tomorrow and I am kind of freaking out about getting in trouble or discharged even though I think I did everything right to the best of my ability. They called me today and left a message to call them, although I think they are just going to ask me to reschedule since I have already had to once. I didn't get the message until they were closed for the day. Going to call them back tomorrow when they open. Opinions!?!?

[trixy71]

Hi there, Since the other poster berated you so nicely, and seems to do that to everyone, I'll just give you some useful advice. When you go see your doctor, explain to him how your feeling, let him know that you did in fact took more, no you wont do it again, but what suggestions might he have for the bad flair ups, because no matter what anyone tells you, we all get flair ups. The trick is finding a method that will help bring the pain level back down to a normal tolerable level - usually 50%. But also being new to pain management, you haven't figured out all of those tricks yet. So talk to your doctor and get his advice on what to do for the flair-ups and things should be OK. Good luck to you.

[BetterGetBetter]

No problem, you're welcome. You're young, you have kids, I HAAAATE to see a point come in peoples' lives where their monthly Pain Appointment, and their Pill Count become more important than kids and family. That WILLLLLL happen if you abuse drugs. So I'm being blunt and borderline rude to make an impact!

Obviously a pill here are there isn't the end of the world. However, running out a week and a half early IS the beginning of the end of the world! I kid you not.

Okay, here's a couple thoughts to leave you with. Let's fast forward to a decade from now, and one of your kids is now a teenager in severe pain. She comes to you and says "Oh hi mom, I decided to double my dose on all my pain pills." What would you do? Would you say "Oh, no problem sweetheart, here, have another." Or, would you absolutely FREAK OUT and yell! And try to make an impression that that's not right!?

So, the point is, treat your own self, your own body and mind, like they should be treated -- with discipline, and respect for oneself.

The other point I want to make is -- I'm SORRY you are experiencing such pain. Obviously there is a chance you need MORE pills than the doc is giving to you. So, under doctors orders, HE/SHE may "up" your dose and prescribe more, or more frequently. See, if all the medical professionals are in agreement, and everything is "out in the open" and "above board" and "on the same page," that is MUCH better than running out early, and getting yourself all worried and stressed, blah blah blah. Right?

And, finally, remember that it's YOUR body. Just because the doctor orders something doesn't mean you HAVE to do it. (You just have to TELL him what you are or aren't doing, and accept the consequences). The doctor may actually APOLOGIZE he didn't give you enough pain pills, and then decide to prescribe a crapload of pills. That should NOT be a cause for celebration; rather, you have to decide if the addiction potential, the side effects, the personality change, etc., is worth it! That means you have to read, read and read. There may be other medications that are NOT psychoactive, non-addictive, and SAFER than narcs that you can talk to your doctor about. Maybe some XYZ pill taken ALONG with your narc dosage will help your pain MUCH better than doubling up your narcs and being all fuzzy headed.

That's why theres all those regulations and "guidelines" about opiates. They look at you, she's young, if you break an arm, 5 days of pills and that's it. But you have a CHRONIC condition, now that brings in all kinds of things to think about. You stay on the SAME dose for one year, you WILL get tolerant and certainly dependend on the d**m pills, the next year, you WILL be feeling like you need more. There are people on this forum taking unbelievable amounts of narcs, enough to KILL you and I, and they are STILL complaining about not having enough (eee - gads!), and instead of being able to "sleep in" on a Sunday and enjoy the sun rising and that wonderful sleepy feeling after a good nights' sleep, they crawl out of bed on their hands and knees to their medicine cabinet (forget the cabinet, keep the d**m pills right there on the floor) and gulp it down first thing to kill the WD symptoms. Ugh!

Yes, I'm being dramatic, but I'm not making this up. You can AVOID all of that by being disciplined, taking ONLY what you need, and if your doctor approves, MAKING yourself take a drug holiday for 3 or 4 days each week.

Obviously, take the babble from people like me with a grain of salt, and run everything by the professionals you are paying good money for, but please, DO realize that narcs are serious life-changing meds. If you DO use them, make the meds work FOR YOU, and don't become a SLAVE to the meds!

Peace!

[braijackava]

Thankyou for taking the time to write a helpful response. Obviously I know I did something wrong or I wouldn't be asking for advice. I did tell my pain management doctor that there were times where one pill did not provide adequate relief. He told me that I could take 2 if I need to but if I run out early I was out of luck until a month had passed. So I did not just decide to take 2. I realize the mistakes I made and how I went about it the wrong way. I especially realized my mistake as I have been in pain every night the last week and have hardly slept. Not a mistake I will make again. I just hope my doctor will listen to me and see I have been completely honest even though I messed up.

[BetterGetBetter]

The pain pills are NOT like ibuprofin or a laxative, or stuff you take whenever you feel like. They are so f*in serious that they are heavily regulated and targeted by the government and everybody is all freaked out about them. Why? Because by taking MORE pills than prescribed, you WILL become addicted to them. READ THIS: when you are prescribed ONE pill every 6 hours, and decide to take 2 pills every 6 hours instead, then after about, oh, say, 4 days of that, the ONE pill will NO LONGER have the effect it once did. You just ruined the effectiveness of the pill! See what I mean?

And if you get some all-friendly-gushy-sweet person saying, "oh, no big deal, at least you feeeeeel better and that's all that's important," then they are really not your friend! "Awwww, she feels bad, let her take 2 pills instead of the 1 pill prescribed.... Heck, let her take 3 of them...." SEE how wrong that is?

Now, with non-narcotic meds, like ibuprofen, taking twice as many may adversely affect your health (e.g. make you sick or throw up), but it won't self-destruct its own effectiveness. But if you take double the narcs, then going back to the one pill won't work as well.

So that's why I posted a totally blunt not-so-sweet answer, because it's serious stuff. So serious that there are COUNTLESS posts on the internet of people saying that if they could turn back time, they would have NOT taken that first pain pill.

[BetterGetBetter]

I just read your 2nd post. I am sorry you are only 31 and having pain. But the damn pills are SERIOUS business. You have to take them TOTALLY seriously. Give me a minute, I am going to type a thoughful post and I'll leave out any nasty sarcasm. Stand by.

[braijackava]

And not that I owe you an explanation, but I am only 31 years old and this is the first time in my life I am dealing with chronic pain, narcotic pain medicines and pain clinics. It must be nice to be you and have known everything automatically without having to ask anyone. I am young and this is all new and I am not a bad person or an addict. So maybe you could rephrase your response and educate me instead of insult me. I am the mother of 4 kids aged 3-14 and I do not have the luxury of simply stopping when I have pain.