ptsd Can My Pcp Abruptly Stop My Pain Management Meds?

[Pete53]

VA Meds by mail is a damn joke. I have endless amounts of meds I don't need but I feel that I have to renew cause if you don't than you can have other problems with VA, However, I have had a prescription for xanax for 20 years and on a regular basis a problem develops. I now get a 2 month supply which has helped. I also get 60 hydrocodone 10/500.

When I go to VA I usually take a xanax and I also take a hydrocodone in the am and when I go to bed. What little sleep I get is helped by not being woke up with pain.

I think that the VA should get out of the prescription business and allow Veterans to get it done at regular pharmacies just like ChampVA does. Just imagine being able to call and pick up a refill just blocks from your home. It would save the VA money cause they still can negotiate the cost of the meds.

[autumn]

VA Meds by mail is a damn joke. I have endless amounts of meds I don't need but I feel that I have to renew cause if you don't than you can have other problems with VA, However, I have had a prescription for xanax for 20 years and on a regular basis a problem develops. I now get a 2 month supply which has helped. I also get 60 hydrocodone 10/500.

When I go to VA I usually take a xanax and I also take a hydrocodone in the am and when I go to bed. What little sleep I get is helped by not being woke up with pain.

I think that the VA should get out of the prescription business and allow Veterans to get it done at regular pharmacies just like ChampVA does. Just imagine being able to call and pick up a refill just blocks from your home. It would save the VA money cause they still can negotiate the cost of the meds.

great idea for VA to get out of the Rx business. that is bound to be a plus for veterans and maybe lessen influence on what VA docs prescribe. i vote they just issue VA med insurance cards so we don't have to go the VA.

i too get extremely stressed going to a VA. used not to be that way. but over the years, the lies, mis-diagnosises, etc has taken a bit of a toll. way too many defense mechanisms go up when i have to go to VA.

good you are getting some rest. so hard for the body/mind to heal a bit without good sound sleep. and chronic pain changes a person after so many years, no question

[john999]

All I can say is that about 10 years ago I asked the VA pain management clinic for celebrex or vioxx and they gave me morphine instead. Since that time I have been on morphine, methadone, oxycodone, and fentanyl. Now oxycodone is considered the number one drug that is abused in Florida with hydrocodone a close second. I used to get 180 oxycodone a month. Now I just get 120. I feel like the VA is putting a target on my back. I have been on the contract for years and never violated it. If I am addicted the VA was the drug pusher that made it all possible.

[usmcgirl]

I signed the same "long term narcotic" contract for hydrocodone....funny thing is when I asked my Doc what it was for he explained it as "if you ever get pulled over while on hydrocodone - you have this to back you up." Ironically he took me off hydrocodone and refuses to prescibe it now. Every pain med (non narcotic) that he has prescribed has not worked for the last 2 years. I asked to be placed back on it recently but he refused again because of the psych meds, saying "because of your PTSD and depression ect, you are more apt to become an addict." So now I just take my other meds and live with the constant pain.

[autumn]

does one have to sign such a contract? who does it protect, the veteran or VA?

[usmcgirl]

the way it was explained to me was that it protects both...the VA and yourself.