Va Pushing To Decrease Pain Medication

[JayBrown1]

I recently called in a renewal of my pain medication and when I checked my doctor decrease it from 90 pills to 60. I had agreed that I would decrease it 120 to 90 until my next appointment and then we would decide if I can tolerate it at that level but just after a month and a half I told I couldn't too much pain at this point instead she decrease it without letting me know in advance. I secured message her and she told I was right and that we did say we would only drop it 30 but the VA is pushing to get veterans off of opiates and suggest that I get some bengay or capsaicin cream to help with the pain. I have been taking 2 pain meds for over 20 years now and using Capsaisin creams for over 10 years and I am still in a lot of pain and now within 2 months they have already cut my meds in half. My pain level has not been under 5 since 2004, some days I don't even get out of bed especially with the pain that runs through my legs. I had to quit working in 2008 due to severe pain.

This is scary because next the only thing I will be getting is Tylenol. I wrote in my response to my doctor that whole the VA is looking at reducing our pain meds they will create alcoholics because veterans will have to find alternatives to deal with their pain.

Has anyone else had their meds reduce!

[Chuck75]

Whatever happened to, "First, do no harm." Does this have 1151 potential?

Of course it does! To do so, impeccable record keeping will be mandatory.

Every complaint and any changes in condition need to documented, and every visit/appointment in detail.

When a medical decision is based upon a bureaucratic directive, instead of an individual patient's conditions,

the malpractice specter emerges.

[RUREADY]

I had a topic about this somewhere that this was coming maybe last year and another problem why they

are doing this because of the vets been filling claims for secondary conditions and winning with this. You will be

smoking pot from VA because of no side effects.

I had my check to see how my artery disease in legs was last week and last year it was 55 % blockage and I refused

the by-pass surgery so the doc says I have good news and I rarely have this to tell my patients your legs is 87% OPEN

wth: Then he ask you still smoking no sir how about your pot yes sir then he says cigarettes is what gave you artery

disease and your pot wont hurt it at all STAY AWAY from cigarettes and come back in a year.

You have choices on different meds.I was told today by a VA doctor they will have tramadol on the list as narcotic next year

and that's so cheap you can go buy you so goodie powders. RU jmho

Edited June 10, 2014 by RUREADY

[RUREADY]

just to add about options right now I go to Augusta for 12 weeks 1 day a week for acupuncture

for back & leg pain the first one you can tell the difference. Then I have a doctor from outsides va

that will compound a prescription into a cream and they put whatever

the doctor order in to a cream. I have gabapentin, lidocaine, clonidine, and a few more but it works.

It is also expensive. this because I just don't like to take pills so the doc put my pain,and blood pressure

together in a cream .RU

Edited June 10, 2014 by RUREADY

[john999]

One or the other of your leg exams was bogus. Have you been to a real non VA doctor about this? You don't go from 55% blockage in legs to 87% open. Where did blockages go? Did they just dissolve? Smoking will make it much worse because it damages the arteries and makes them more narrow. The danger is , of course, that piece of blockage breaks loose and goes to lung, heart or head.

[381sps]

It is not just the VA that is cutting off pain meds. Here in CA the work comp system has changed they are using the utilization review system to cut off pain meds and anything else they want to cut. Then you have to go thru the IMR process which is the fox guarding the hen house. I was on 15 mg of ms contain 3 times a day dialed in helps chronic pain some days not enough but had a good quality of life. They cut that off and now flexeril and just got word they cut off my pads for a very expensive rs4i plus machine they paid for a few months back. I guess that will sit on the shelf for awhile collecting dust at 2500.00 dollars.

I have had urine test at every appointment with pain management doc's so that is not the problem. I have had two cervical surgeries that have failed and now the want to do my back and I am refusing that one. I have a service connected shoulder injury that I have not needed to get pain meds for because of the non connected injuries. Now it looks like I may not get them thru the VA.

I was in a deep depression till I got the right combination of pain meds and I fear going back to that stage.

[john999]

Yes, private pain doctors in Florida are afraid to prescribe necessary pain meds. I have federal worker's compensation claim. They are good at always demanding extra paperwork from doctors when you ask for anything besides cheap generics. I ask for Cymbalta from WC and they refuse and kick it back to my good WC doctor who then has to do paperwork for special authorization. He gets tired of that extra work. All insurance companies just mean to delay or deny treatment and medications to save money. The VA also acts like an insurance company. Private insurance is ruining medical care here. They are inbetween the doctor and patient. They only care about stockholders. Blue Cross is one of the worst and biggest. They just basically refuse to pay for psychiatric care via paperwork traps and mazes of rules. Half of the population is suffering from pain and/or mental disorders and insurance companies won't pay for care. Oxycontin would be good for me, but I can't get it from VA, and private docs just want to do procedures like injections and surgery. It is all about money. Doctors believe they all are entitled to be millionaires even if all they do is prescribe pills.

John