Yesterday I read a very good article written by a doctor regarding the issues surrounding doctors prescribing prescription pain medications and why it is getting harder for chronic pain patients to get them. Â After reading what Dr. Borigini wrote, I realize that it’s not only us patients who have restrictions put on us surrounding taking narcotics and pain medication, but the doctors are limited as well in what they are allowed to do.
Dr. Borigini says this in his article on Chronic Pain Connection:
It has been about ten years since the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) launched what some feel is a targeted war on drugs, the battleground being your Doctor’s office. The DEA feels there has continued to be a diversion of prescription narcotics for use on “the street.” I am not sure this is what they had in mind for Main Street.
Not only are patients being made go around in circles to get their pain medication that they desperately need, but the doctors aren’t having it any easier…
Physicians have been put through the wringer of the American judicial system, on charges ranging from drug dealing to murder, charges rooted in the over-prescribing of narcotic medications. There is a certain irony here, as such woes have befallen physicians in parallel with the development of drugs that have allowed significant relief for those sufferers of chronic pain. For example, the development of opioids has certainly helped the millions with chronic pain, and according to some accounts, only led to addiction in less than one percent of patients.
Basically, doctors are caught in a situation where they have to choose between helping their patients and possibly losing their careers. It’s not a good situation for any of us and at the end of the line, those of us with chronic pain just trying to survive each day are the ones to suffer the most.
The DEA should be spending their time focusing on the drug dealers out on the streets who are selling drugs to our children and not be so focused on the less than 1% of chronic pain patients who become addicted to their prescription pain medications.
Thank you for this post, I have been looking for exactly this; a real doctors point of view. Please read below, maybe someone has some advice for me:
The following is my background with the pain I have: I started having lower back pain when I was 14 years old. It seemed to be a sharp lower back only pain at that time. To make a VERY LONG story short, between 14-18 years old my Mom and I went to every type of doctor/therapist you can imagine. From neurologists to acupuncture and everything in between. CAT scans, MRI’s, ex rays. All types of non narcotic pain meds. EVERYTHING! Nothing I have done has worked. I am now 31 years old and the pain I have is from my feet through my head. I have terrible back, hip, and leg pain. I wake up every day with a headache, and terrible back pain. Anyway, you get the picture, I don’t enjoy life cause I hurt like hell all of the time! Percocet is the only thing that I have taken that gives me any relief. My internal medicine doctor prescribed it to me once but I had to pull teeth to get him to do it, and he acted really weird. My two questions are these:
1) How can I get a prescription for REAL pain meds (Percocet or similar) that help me without paying out the rear end (I have high deductible insurance). Is there anything I can say or give (legally) to my doctor so that he has to prescribe me what I need?
2) Is there any other narcotic pain med that you think is better than Percocet for complete body pain like I have?
P.S. I have been tested for Fibromyalgia & arthritis and do not have it.
well said. providing pain medication to those who need it is not feeding an addiction; and pain patients should not be made to feel ashamed for asking for greater relief.
I definitely totally understand. My chronic pain started after my second pregnancy. I was 23 years old. I am 52 now. I have had car accidents and other medical problems that intensified my pain, and had two total knee replacements. I went through many doctors, pain clinics, and meetings before I finally found a great primary care Dr. and a pain management specialist. I now get my medications on a regular basis, and do not have to jump through hoops. I live in a state that has a tough winter season, last winter was particularly rough. I told myself that I don’t think I could take another winter like that, but the thought about moving to a warmer climate brings on a problem that I would not want to go through again. FINDING A GREAT PAIN MANAGEMENT SPECIALIST. As you know, its very difficult to get a Dr. to write for a “narcotic”, never mind on a regular basis. So for now moving is out of the question. On my travels through many Dr.s, to finally find one that you like, and are happy with. So for now, I must brave the cold and the winters. Good luck with finding the right Pain Management Clinic.
Thanks everyone for the responses. Jared – I am very fortunate to have good health insurance through my husband’s work and I only pay $5 a month for my Vicodin and $15 a month for my muscle relaxer. I hope someone else reading this can give you some advice on where to go and what to do. Aren’t there some prescription plans available for lower incomes, etc. if that would be your circumstance.
Thanks for posting. I have been through hell with the state Medical Board for my involvement with treating chronic pain patients. In many ways they are worse than the DEA.