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Methadone Prescription

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Erich:

Welcome to Hadit and glad that you are here. Many who still come to Hadit have won their claims cause of help found here.

If you have been taking methadone for 13 years you should have no problems with your Primary Care Doc and if you do you can ask a Patient Advocate to help. You can appeal a Doc's decision and ask for a Hearing there are many things that can be done.

The fact that you have not used anything but prescribed medicine should get you out of the substance abuser profile at VA.

By the way when the VA gives you blood and urine tests they often are checking for what drugs are in your system. Just a heads up and if you take oxycontin or methadone I am sure that they are looking to see that you are taking it..

Thanks for your comment I think I will change my signature so a new person will understand.

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Yes, the VA checks to see if you are taking your prescribed narcotics and to see if you are taking any street drugs. They are just itching for a reason to throw a vet out of the narcotic pain med program. They have never dragged me in for a pill count but they are capable of doing that.

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They take a urine sample from me each time I pick up my meds and once did call me in for a count but I was OK with it because they had to do a yearly profile on me anyway and threw in the Pill count with the profile.

I think I will send a letter to my Primary Care Dr and will therefore get my request on record. I have had contact with a couple of other vets in a similar situation as mine who got their script transferred so I will also bring this to her attention. I think the best I can hope for is that she will refer me to the local "pain clinic" and let them make the decision. I just don't think she has the guts to prescribe this herself or else will not shoulder the responsibility... Here is the first draft of the letter I propose to write her. I welcome feedback:

==============

Dear Dr K

I have a problem that I hope you will help me with...

As you know, I receive methadone medication from the Cincinnatti VA hospital. It is becoming more and more of a hardship for me to drive this long distance each month to get the medication.

I am 56 years old and have been on Methadone [off and on] since being discharged from the Army over 35 years ago. I have been on the medicine this time continuosly for over 13 years. The drive to and from Cincinnatti is about 210 miles and usually takes me about five hours roundtrip. This is not only a physical strain, but it is also becoming a financial burden with gas at $4.00 per gallon. Even though I am rated 20% service connected... the VA refuses to reimberse my mileage expense. I think they base this denial because my income is over $1100 monthly....

I contacted the online VA "Ask A Question" service at VA.GOV and explained my situation to them and after reviewing my records... they said to contact my primary care doctor for help.

Prior to contacting the Online VA service... I had spoken with a couple of other veterans [on the internet] thru Veterans Discussion Forums who were in a similar situation as me. They too were prescribed methadone and had to drive a long distance because their local VA facility had no "formal methadone program". Both of these individuals have been on methadone for many years and were getting older... which is the same situation I am in.

Each of these individuals were able to get their methadone prescription transfered to their local primary care Doctor. One of them was able to get his methadone prescription transferred locally thru the facility Pain Clinic and the other said his primary doctor simply agreed to prescribe the medication for him so that he wouldn't need to travel the long distance anymore. Both of them now get their methadone medicine [one month at a time] thru the Prescription Mail Service.... instead of driving the long distance.

This is the same thing I would like to request.

I am on 60 MG per day and have tried to come off the methadone more than once without success. The problem I have is that when I get down to 40 MG I have bad headaches along with pain in my back, neck and right leg. I can only imagine how bad it would feel if I was on a dose lower than 40 MG. I am fairly certain I will need to be on this medicine the rest of my life.

For your information... I was knocked unconscious twice while on active duty in the Army. Once when a jeep I was driving overturned 3 times. The second time happened in Vietnam when I was wounded from shrapnel as a grenade exploded less than 10 feet away from me. I am not a Doctor but I strongly believe the primary reason I need this medication now is for pain management.

I didn't mind the drive so much when I was younger and the cost of gas was not so high. Now it sometimes takes a day or two to recover from the stiffness and I fear it will only get worse as I get older.

I hope you agree and will help me with this bad situation....

Erich Winnecke

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  • HadIt.com Elder

Good Luck!!!

I don't see how VA can do anything but help you out on this.

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