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Can My Pcp Abruptly Stop My Pain Management Meds?

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I receive hydrocodone 7.5/APAP 500, 150 per month (in my former state, I received hydrocodone 10/APAP 500), sometimes I do indeed take an extra one or break one in half and add it to my normal dose around lunchtime, so I'm glad to have some extra put away. But the fact is: My V.A. doctor specifically told me over the phone that I had violated my pain contract and possibly federal drug laws, and wants to see me next week, and quote "he doesn't want to continue pain management and will forward this recommendation to his director." I told "ok, see ya next week."

If I could go back in time 7 years, I never would've started on opiates for my pain management, they do indeed help ease the pain, but NOW my body is physically and psychologically dependant on hydrocodone, and with my bad heart, I'm afriad of death due to withdrawals (I've ran out before due to mail delays and have experienced withdrawals first hand for 1-3 days over the years) It IS NOT fun!

I'm considering going into a 30 day detox here in Florida which will monitor my heart 24/7 and rid my body of opiate dependency, it's very expensive, but I think in the long run, it will be well worth it to get this monkey off my back, it's my opinion that long-term opiate usage increases pain associated with injuries, makes one dependant upon the drug in order to function and re-wires the brain to not produce natural chemicals because they're being replaced with synthetic feelings and emotions. If anyone out there doesn't believe this, STOP taking your opiates for 5 days, starting right now. I bet you my next 10 checks that within 5 days, your body will feel like it's been ran over by a steam roller, your heart will pound, you'll sweat profusely, then get the chills, you'll get grumpy, anxious and eventually you'll find yourself bed-ridden, begging for a pill. I've watched my father go thru this (he died in 2002 btw), I've seen my mother go thru this, my sister and I've experienced it myself. Sudden opiate withdrawal can be fatal for the meek, weak or elderly.

When I get my white envelope with pills every month, there's 3 long pieces of paper inside the package, it specifically states "this drug can be habit forming" and "when used for extended periods of time, this medication may not work as well and may require different dosing" and "It is not recommended for use for long term periods or in high doses." Yeah right. Nobody deserves to be on opiates 7 years, the VA could've changed my meds to a more long-acting drug, tapered me off an put me on a non-opiate drug for pain (which I requested in 2008)yes, it's documented, gave me a tens unit, etc, none of this was ever discussed. Seven years of pills - that's their answer. In fact, pills is the VA's answer to everything. Got a headache, pills, feel depressed? Pills, back hurts, Pills, carpal tunnel? Pills, stub your toe, Pills, can't sleep? Pills, feeling a bit anxious are you? Here's a pill. How about getting to the ROOT of the problem? Instead of masking the symptoms with pills...IMO, VA doctors are legal drug dealers, they get people addicted, then don't want to deal with the addiction when someone "violates a pain contract."

I think my mind is already made up to pay the 3,500 and check myself in for the duration, at least I'll be monitored by people who actually care and tell the VA to take their "pills" and stuff them where the sun don't shine. The program is guaranteed to get you off opiates, and from what I've been reading and the Youtube vids I've watched - you actually FEEL BETTER being OFF opiates.

I got my 100% rating due to CHF and other cardiovascular problems, only 30% on my back, 50% PTSD, 10% hearing, 20% cervical injury. I would like to think any doctor worth his salt would not be so cruel as to totally take a veteran off his meds without appropriate taper and/or something to counteract withdrawals? I'm worried about our meeting next week for sure. 1. Will he accuse me of being an addict? 2. Will he try to press charges for prescription fraud? 3. Could he stop my meds immediately? 4. Could I face criminal charges? 5. Could he refuse any further treatment regarding my other ailments? At least if he does cancel my meds totally, I have enough to slowly taper off with and hopefully ease the symptoms associated with opiate withdrawals.

I do plan to take the pills to show the doctor that I've not abused them, but I did take a few extra ones here and there as needed when my body ached beyond my normal threshold. I'm too old and tired for all this BS from the VA, guys, it's got me worried sick.

What do you think my VA doctor's decision will be?

I cannot understand how anyone can feel better by not having pain meds to reduce pain to a bearable state. I absolutely was in agony before I decided to take the pain meds. Sure there woul dbe less of the effect the drug has but the pain. IF ONE is really in pain the getting off of pain medicine is like committing suicide. Having a ever progressive spine disease and joint disease, among other pain problems. I can NOT live without the power of pain meds. I thank God fro pain meds! If I am not worthy of healing from Him at least there is pain meds to ease the suffering, albeit they do have consequence on the body. So sorry I can not see feeling better by not taking pain meds. Id rather die than live with that pain again.

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I am prescribed 60 10/350 hydrocodone's a month. I take one in am and one when I go to bed for pain. Y'all know the kind of pain that wakes you up. I have been very careful to take as prescribed and have of course had to deal with Meds by Mail that comes late on a regular basis.

I also take xanax another med that I have problems with getting on time from the VA. I have been prescribed xanax for over 20 years from VA.

Fortunately for me I have a Medicare HMO and when the VA fouls up my Doc writes what I need.

I hope that we all get better treatment from the VA.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I cannot understand how anyone can feel better by not having pain meds to reduce pain to a bearable state. I absolutely was in agony before I decided to take the pain meds. Sure there woul dbe less of the effect the drug has but the pain. IF ONE is really in pain the getting off of pain medicine is like committing suicide. Having a ever progressive spine disease and joint disease, among other pain problems. I can NOT live without the power of pain meds. I thank God fro pain meds! If I am not worthy of healing from Him at least there is pain meds to ease the suffering, albeit they do have consequence on the body. So sorry I can not see feeling better by not taking pain meds. Id rather die than live with that pain again.

I have read a lot of post. I can say I have had my share of the pain pill games the VA can dish out. My PCP was in Waco, Texas. He is also My Sons (Jr) PCP. The PCP screwed up my sons medication, and my son wrote ccongress. Needless to say, I was then retaliated against. My pain meds was coming late, time waiting between refills, hard time getting refills, You name it.. I did not push the issue(Much). I knew I was in the process of moving to Temple,TX. so I changed pcp to Temple. I am the type that keeps my cool, and seen my new pcp, not even mentioning a word about the past bad experience. I even got my medication increased due to building up a tolorance went from 5/500 hydrocodone to the 10/500 90 each month. Prior to comeing to temple, the waco PCP refered me to the pain clinic doctor, he was a jerk. I had a fractured disk, plus crushed cervical, compressed nerves in my neck from va surgery. Anyway this "pain Clinic" tried to put me on morphine. I had neve taken the pill type, maybe had a few shots while in the hospital after surgerys. I found out morphine did not agree with me, and was having adverse reations. I took the Morphine to the va pharmacy, and turned them in, I requested they do a pill count, and note it in my records. Also reported the adverse reaction to the pharmacy(important). Then I contacted the Pain Clinic doctor, told him about the adverse reaction with the Morphine, he phones back screaming on the phone like I was trying to seek drugs. Then he shut up when he found out I had turned the morphine into the pharmacy. So then he prescribes oxycodone IR. It only help reduce the pain for about 1 hour(it looked like a little sugar pill, would go straight through me). I phoned him again, he does more screaming on the phone, he is mad because this time the patient rep is on his back. I could see the trouble he was going to be, so I used the contract he had me sign, and fired him for breech of his own contract.

Now my new doctor, prescribed 10/500 hydrocodones, this went well....Until I went to get a refill........No refill my doctor was not around. I did go through withdrawls, ended up at the va emergency room to get my blood pressure reduced. Felt like my heart was going to explode. It took 4 hrs to get my blood pressure reduced. The emergency room doc, gave me a partial refill prior to leaving..Come to find out my doctor was absent due to a family medical emergency. I now use secure messaging, and requested an alternative way to have a prescription refilled when my pcp is not available. I would not put it past the VA as to trying to setup veterans just to see if they have other pills on hand. In my case I did not, they sure tested for all the drugs in the emergency room, I was clean, and in full blown withdrawls.

It is just aggravating, even the last increase of my pain meds did not reduce the pain, my tolorance is very high. I even think going through withdrawls, and back on the pills again even raised my tolorance more, shocked my whole system. Recently the doc switched me to the 5/500 oxycodone 60 a month, to me is no more stronger than the 10/500 hydrocodones 90 a month. I told the pcp I would try the oxys, but if it did not work I would let them know. I am in the middle of working it out.

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I cannot understand how anyone can feel better by not having pain meds to reduce pain to a bearable state. I absolutely was in agony before I decided to take the pain meds. Sure there woul dbe less of the effect the drug has but the pain. IF ONE is really in pain the getting off of pain medicine is like committing suicide. Having a ever progressive spine disease and joint disease, among other pain problems. I can NOT live without the power of pain meds. I thank God fro pain meds! If I am not worthy of healing from Him at least there is pain meds to ease the suffering, albeit they do have consequence on the body. So sorry I can not see feeling better by not taking pain meds. Id rather die than live with that pain again.

When I see my shrink, he is always telling me take half a pill, meaning any opiate, or Lorazepam. Took me awhile to catch on, and start reading between the lines. So now the night prior to my Urine, and blood test. I only take a half of these pills. It shows up as I am taking the right amount of my medication. Locally they say do not take pain meds the morning of your urine/blood test as it will show to much in your system.

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Hi, I've not been on here in a long time, you guys helped me get my 100% rating 3 years ago, since then, I've also been awarded 100% SSD. But anyways, here's what happened. The VA said I violated my pain contract when I moved from one state to another and received pain meds from two separate facilities (which I did).

I have serious heart problems, CHF, ICD/Pacemaker, high blood pressure, chronic back pain, and a host of other medical conditions, all treated by VA doctors.

I've been reading that abruptly stopping narcotic pain meds can cause stroke, serious withdrawal symptoms, spikes in blood pressure, and basically 30-60 days of hellish torture to which my body simply cannot endure.

My current primary care doctor said he was going to discontinue my pain medication for violation of a pain contract I signed 7 years ago. Yep, the VA has had me on narcotic pain meds for over 7 years, now, just all of the sudden they want to abruptly STOP dispensing them. In my mind, any doctor in their right mind knows the affects of withdrawals and putting someone with a bad heart, high blood pressure, chronic pain, coupled with psychiatriac conditions (PTSD) is unequivocally and absolutely cruel and inhumane. My body simply can't take it, stopping my meds is not civilized after 7 years of being on them.

Can someone give me some advise please? I'm not saying I'm an addict (I took them as prescribed) but "on occassion" I did take 1 extra pill when I felt really super bad. Over the years my body has indeed became both physically and psychologically dependant upon this chemical in order to function. I told the VA (it's noted in my records from 2008) that I think I'm becoming dependant upon these pain meds and would like to stop. What does the VA do? Send me to a psych doctor who prescribed a powerful drug called xanax and UP my dose of pain meds! Now fast forward to 2011 - I moved to another state and received scripts from my prior state and the state I live in now. The old VA from my former state automatically sent the meds in the mail, I was surprised to get them in fact, they just arrive out of the blue one day, so I kept them. Now the NEW VA found out about this and wants to stop ALL PAIN MGT? I can't take it...I'll die. I have a heart of an 85 year old man and can hardly get around as-is, I can't imagine what's going to happen when my meds run out in 2 weeks.

Can someone please give me some advise. I have an appt with my PCP on Wednesday March 30th 2011 to "discuss" why I received meds from two different VA facilities.

Thanks - if you can call me on the phone and talk, I'd appreciate any advise, all I know is 7 years, 9 months of pain meds, my body IS in fact dependent upon these drugs and an abrupt halt will cause a stroke and I could very well die. The drugs are opiate-based, semi-powerful and do indeed relieve my pain and make me feel "normal".

It sure sounds like the VA is at fault. I have turned opiates back into the pharmacy because of adverse reactions, and they acted like they did not know what to do with them. Who is to say you did not phone the pharmacy to try finding out the procedure to turn them in? The VA is always sending out double prescriptions, they know it happens all the time. As far as that goes, it is all in the VA system, and it was not doctor shopping. When you sign for prescriptions you do not actually know what it is until you open it. You could tell them you flushed them. It is not uncommon for medications to overlap when changing doctors. You prob have a lot of othe scripts with your old doctors name still on them, they are not gonna hassle you about it, only the opiates, because most va pain clinic doctors are rejects, so it makes them feel big when they are in control of your pain.

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  • 3 months later...

just adding my .02 worth ...

it is odd that certain meds from VA are late or the ones that show up twice in a month and one Rx you didn't order. Pharm tells me doc ordered them. for my shots i have to take i'm glad they do. you never seem to have issues getting anti-depressants though. i mean, lets face it, the VA has a love affair with them.

and as pete mentioned the kind of pain that wakes one up and/or doesn't let you sleep and once in awhile brings a tear or two. i have that, thanks to ms and spinal issues. pain meds help my quality of life. that probably doesn't make sense to some folks. i waited years before taking anything.

> I have never signed a pain contract. That sounds like a legal avoid liability thing to me

sounds like it to me. i don't think i signed one.

> I get my record copy of it every so many months to keep up with my own file.

ditto, almost mandatory if we want to protect ourselves from the VA

>If they want to test for drugs should they not test the level and say the patient is prescribed this and the test is consistent to what they are prescribed?

i agree. i had a jerk of a neuro here who would say this and that and not follow through. but he would do those odd pee tests. i thought they were to see how my liver was due to MS modifiying injections. but they never talked about results. records show they tested for street drugs and stuff too. it was like they were/are trying to find something neg to pin on you. they quit asking if i was getting meds from outside VA. i guessed they realized i was telling the truth when i said i wasn't. boy they sure were interested in that though.

> single disc now either abutting the cord, herniated with stenosis, some just bulging, bone lesions, bone cysts, and of course they do nothing but give meds.

i can fully relate, especially about the VA doing nothing to find the root cause and document it. took me years to get them

to admit i had ms and i had to get a c&p to do that cuz no VA neuro would state i had ms. makes you feel secure doesn't it.

> So today sep 13 I get this letter saying the ONLY vets now that can have pain meds are ones who have surgery or acute injury and only for 4-6 weeks.

never heard of this, but i'm not surprized.

>Had she went to a VA hospital, they would've doped her up, raised her dosages to mask the pain, NOT treat the root of the pain. My pain can be cured with operations (grind off the bone spur in my upper neck for starters). They're simply too overwhelmed to fool with such nonsense, give 'em pills, move 'em out

i always thought they did this to reduce costs and avoid documenting a SC'd disability...maybe they are overwhelmed but they do their best to ensure a vet doesn't get a SC'd disability. i.e., most VA's i find are like that. some are way better as some VARO's are but they are few and who can afford to move to a "good VA state"?

good luck to TiredSgt, hope all works out in your favor

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