Hopefully you're able to get a new PCP and they can pick up prescribing your meds without any hassles. I know getting a new PCP with the VA isn't easy but a patient advocate should be able to get that taken care of with less hoops. But if you're able to get off the narcotics altogether, that would be great and surely less hassle.

Good luck to you!

(((HUGS)))

~Michelle

It's a shame when I have to feel ashamed to ask my doctor for help managing my pain. Everyone celebrates all of the non-narcotic forms of pan control but they despise the people who take Narcotics. I think that big Pharma does need to get involved with this. They have billions of dollars, lobbyists, and a gang of lawyers to file lawsuits for the protection of chronic pain patients. If they are going to crack down on prescription drug abuse, they need to lay out the rules to be followed. If only ten percent of people who sustain an injury do not heal properly, or do not respond favorably to conventional forms of treatment, then the government needs to figure out that number. They also need to list what conditions are acceptable for long term use of Opiates.

It's not that hard to regulate this epidemic. But for the DEA to scare doctors into not treating their legitimate pain patients - those who have documented conditions that are not operable. That is not getting to the root of the problem. True drug addicts are looking to chase their first high. You don't take a stable amount of Narcotics for a sustained period of time if you're trying to chase a high. You have to continue to take more, and more, and more, and more. That is not the case with most chronic pain patients. We take what we need to reduce our pain levels, and nothing more. If one Norco would do the trick, I would simply take one Norco and be jumping for joy. Also, when I went 14 days without meds, I was miserable, but I never went to the ER. I'm very proud of myself for this.

The problem is that what happens if things continue to get worse for chronic pain patients. Decent people who are dependent on their medication to be functional? Honestly, I don't have the physical stamina, or mental stamina to run around looking for scripts and all of that stuff. If I am cut off of my meds again, I don't know where to turn! I thank god each and every day that my pain is concentrated to just one area of my body. If I had pain all over my body and no pain control, it would be like receiving a death sentence. I don't see how a lot of the rules they currently have in place are still not enough for some doctors to treat us. If you are getting a monthly piss test, never lose your meds, never request early refills, only have used 1 pharmacy for most of your life, do not have more than one doctor prescribing narcotics for you at one time, do not go to the ER for meds, and you have a legitimate condition that causes you chronic pain - a legitimate condition that has been documented and determined to be non-operable by a specialist in that particular field of medicine, what more do they want? I don't see how much more a chronic pain patient or doctor can cooperate with the powers that be.

My vascular doctor wrote in his notes that surgery cannot fix my leg, and that no amount of surgery can fix my chronic pain. He recommends life-long pain management. What more can be done? Most chronic pain patients do have legitimate DX's. So what's the problem with obtaining treatment? They always skew the numbers that 99 percent of the Norco manufactured is consumed in America, but they don't tell you that large countries like Great Britain, and other countries do not use Norco. So, it only stands to reason that American's consume the most Norco. They tout all of these prescription drug overdoses in front of us, but they do not tell you that most of the fatal drug overdoses occur when alcohol, or Xanax is mixed with the Narcotics. It is not the actual Narcotic that caused the fatal overdose, it is just one of the contributing factors.

Most chronic pain patients do not drink, nor do they mix their Narcotics with Xanax. Also, it's not the doctors fault that their patient took a weeks worth of meds in one day. They can't control what you do. Clippers owner Rod Sterling's son died because he crushed up Oxycodone, liquefied it, then shot into his veins. Most chronic pain patients do not participate in this kind of behavior. The government is not administering this crack down in the proper fashion. That is no big surprise though. Any how, I hope we can gain some ground with the DEA, our doctors, and our pharmacist before this gets any worse. Hugs to everyone!

Jeremy!