To Catch A Cheater

I totally understand how the Dr. feels.  Anyone who has a trusted relationship with their "pain management Dr." knows to lose that trust is a terrible feeling, and only ends up hurting you in the end.  I went to my Dr. today.  She has been my Dr. for more than 3 years.  She told me she is leaving, because of too many complications with people coming up short on their "med. counts"  She is sad, as am I.  I have a little story to share with anyone who carefully monitors their pain med.'s, so they don't come up short.   I have a friend of twenty-five years.  She has been on pain medication, but has trouble controlling it.  She takes more than she needs, runs out, and begs me to help her out.  I told her that I cannot, time and time again.  As I said, we are very close.  She had to go to "Rehab" twice.  it didnot help her.  She was visiting me one day, and believe me I watch her carefully.  None of my pain med.'s are laying around.  I usualy take what I am suspose to for the day, and keep it on my coffee table.   I had to take my cat to the vet one day, and she was aware of this fact.  When I came home, I received a phone call telling me that my friend was at my house for about 5 minutes and left.  I said, "NO she wasn't she knew I wouldn't be home, cause I was at the vet.  (She lives 28 miles away from me).  The friend told me that no-one else has a car like hers that lives in my "village area" private coop.  So I asked her, she denied, and I guess, maybe my friend made a mistake, let it go for now.  When the time came for me to take my next dose of medication, I opened up my pill bottle to find out that it was gone!!   I am thinking how can that be.  I know it was there when I took my previous dose.   Thinking I am nuts, went to my supply and got my last dose.    wondering all this time, how did she get in, if she did take it?  Well after a few days of not hearing from her, noticing maybe a key is missing?  10 days later, she sent me an "IM"  saying she was so sorry, she did come into my house and take my medication.  My question, how did you get in, door was locked.  I told her, that I want to talk with her.  Come to find out, while I was in the bathroom, she took a spare key, that I wasn't sure was missing, came in and took my medication.  I was devastated that she would do that to her BFF.  I did not file a "Police report" but did notify my "Town Narcotics Officer" of the incident.  We discussed the matter, and he told me it was up to me, whether I would file charges or not, but for now we will have notice of the matter"   He told me that I should have a face to face talk with her, which at the time, I did not want to talk with her, or even see her, I was that hurt.  Finally I "IM'd" her, that we need to talk, face to face.  We did, but I can never trust her again.  While I understand, "addiction" is an illness, just like alcoholism.  She asked me how do I control my med.'s  I have been taking morphine and oxycodone off and on, for many years, due to cervical disc disease, fibromalsia, knee replacements, injuries from car accidents, etc.   So what does anybody think about my story?  I would love to hear what people think.

Hello nwichlet and gep, i allways enjoy good stories because one never knows what we may learn espeaciily when it comes to a friend stealing your meds. I enjoyed every minute and your post got me to thinking how easy it would be for one of my friends to do the same thing to me so i'm not letting my meds sit on my kitchen counter.

My old cookie jar would be an excelent hideing place. i do try very hard to account for each and every pill that i have,i allways put them in a day planer one for day time and one for   night time and i allso sign off on a peice of paper the day and time so i dont get screwed up..no more wandering if i took that pill or not because it happens to the best of us so i would recomend everyone to do this so you dont over dose or under dose.

Gep your right about the pain management Doctors haveing their hands full and to think they are out on a limb trusting us and helping us not to suffer the unbearable pain that attacts us every day. My Doctor allways tells me to bring my pain meds in with me at every appointment so he can count them, i throught this was strange at first but since i've heard about broken trusts and some people getting meds from different places in the same month, i feal bad for everyone concerened. I just hope this will get people thinking just how very important our pain management Doctors realy are,they are giveing us back our life's <<< i should know because my Wife and i just got back from dineing out in a Mexican resturant  and belive me if i was'nt takeing my pain meds i would have been home in bed waiting for the pain to quit that never quits without help.

it's been nice reading everyone's post's /

ll be sure to keep everyone in my prayers

Hi Wendell, I am glad that you read my story and understand.  That you will also be careful.  it is so hard on all of us, if we are short on our med.'s, cause our body knows what it needs, and even one day, if you don't take your med.'s as prescribed, your pain gets worse, and it takes a bit longer for it to take hold again.  I never ever thought my best friend would do that to me.  She will always be my best friend, but I will never keep any med.'s in site again.  I will never be able to trust her again.  Take care and keep in touch.  By the way, my pain dr. of 3 yrs is leaving, and I am really upset.  She was the best.  I do not think she will be replaceable.  If I do not like her replacement, I am going to ask my "primary care" doc. to take over. since I am on a dose that works for me.   Good luck to you.  A friend in NH.  Take care, Happy Holidays.  Hope your pain stays manageable during the holidays.

I just wish that Doctors would be as responsible with their med management as they expect their patients to be.

Here I am, three days without my muscle relaxant, being treated like a criminal by my pharmacy and why? Because my Doctor makes so many mistakes- he's constantly forgetting the dosage I'm on - and I take meds that have to be hand carried- He's over an hour away and I can't drive.

The meds I have as options will cause me seizures. And I'm going without sleep every other night because I've tried to go off so many of my meds. Should I care? The doctor apparently doesn't.

I had to REVISIT him to get my prescriptions corrected (that's a whole day mind you when I'm supposed to be at my "job" and still the pharmacy won't issue them until he calls- does he? no. how many times do I call??? Dozens.

And that's not even Mentioning the several doctors I have had that have put me on dangerously strong meds and then simply turned around and terminated my care without warning. YeaH-

Like see you in ER my friend. And the really special specialists "Pain Specialists" who won't even Look at the information at hand- my two pages worth of some odd conditions involving pain and send me away saying, you don't need a pain specialist.

AnD to top it off- how about the guys that put me on meds that caused grand mals for 1/ 1/2 years and told me all the while I was having seizures because of my messed up psyche.

Oh, I've got a MaJOr soapbox here.

I appaud your efforts to do a good job protecting your patients. You sound like you're at least responsible about it. I wish to God all doctors were.

Sincerely

Outraged.

me

Hi Outraged:  I applaud you and hate what you go through.  It gets soooo old hearing people talk about how wonderful it is that their doctor is keeping up with "cheating" patients and those that can't be trusted.  There's always another side to these situations and they need to be heard as well.  I've had CRPS in my right leg for over 8 years and in that time I have experienced some of the worst treatment by doctors you could imagine.  Even with my diagnosis, a very thick chart to prove it and obvious outward signs of my physical ailments, I was told I was lying about my problems to get drugs or get an increase in my meds.  One dr said I needed to see a psychiatrist instead of a pain mgmnt doc or meds.  One of the first pain dr's I saw told me every appt he could lower my meds anytime he wanted to.  I brought my son with me to an appt one day and he said, "I was gonna stop your methadone today but I like your son so I'll give you an rx today but next month could change that".  One time I was given a drug test and it was positive for morphine.  Only problem-I'm allergic to it - and even though the dr. knew this, he yelled at me and told me I was to leave and not come back.  After some investigtating by me, I found out it was butalbital Apap that gave a positive reading for morphine.  Dr's ofc never apologized but did say I was "allowed" to return to the dr's office when I needed to be seen.  I never went back.  I won't continue going on and on but you get the point.  I now rarely call my dr in between appts or go to the ER if the pain is unrelenting.  It's just not worth it. 

I'm 26 and was born with a very rare gentic disorder where the ligaments and tissue in my joints are extremely laxive causing me to dislocate very easily. As I got older, the pain got worse. I finally went to a Dr. to find answers. After going from Dr. to specialist, to phychologist (took test that proved I didnt have pychological pain, and wasnt high risk for drug dependancy) , PT/chiropracters, and an MRI of my neck/lower back that showed 4 bulging disk and 2 herniated disk. My Dr. finally felt comfortable perscribing me pain meds. I was put on a narcotic contract and had random UAs. My doctor was out of town so I saw another provider at his clinic who gave me a UA. The result came out positive for hydromorphone (dilaudid- A drug I've never even heard of) and told me I could not be followed at the clinic anymore. I insisted on taking another UA to prove my honesty, rule out any possibility of false-positive or sample mixing, but he refused. That Dr. gave me a methadone rx and told me to go to detox. Ive never taken this drug and was left without a Dr. to turn to. I have been suffering more pain than I can handle. I can't sleep, eat, or physically do anything. I feel like I'm going to die! Ive called to speak to my PCP and no one has called me back. Not only that, I had a nurse tell me how several staff members not envolved in my care were speaking about me. I told that Dr. I didn't appreciate that and he laughed continuing to walk away. I dont know the law, but I dont think this is right. Do you have any suggestions? I cant afford to go from Dr. to Dr. when they have defamed my character (slandered).

I was right where you are and it's a terrible feeling.  I found out the hard way how messed up this system is and what a little person I am in all of this.  I hope you will take this suggestion/advice to heart:  It's time to get tough and strong.  Your #1 priority is to find a new doctor - this cannot wait.  If you have to call 20 dr's then do it.  Next you have to get it through your head that you're just as important as any other pain patient and deserve great care.  When making the appt. you don't have to tell your life story - just get your foot in the door!  Once you're there, you can tell him/her what happened and show them what kind of person you are.  There's nothing better than a face to face with your doctor so they can see your sincerity as well as your pain.  Remember, you did nothing wrong, hold your head up high and show people you deserve some respect and to be heard!

The sad thing about these situations is, doctors have been burned by addicts and because of that they went overboard and began considering everyone guilty before innocent.  I've talked to sooooo many people who've had horrible and humiliating experiences from dr's and office staff because the "professionals" felt the  patient wasn't as ill as they said they were.  Statistics have historically shown that the percentage of patients who have truly done something wrong is very low.  Much good luck to you!

I keep my several meds and my son's meds, who has severe depression and anxiety, in a safe.  Not too expensive either.  We got it at Sams Club.  My husband and I are the only ones who know the combination.  I keep our meds in seperate containers and get them out each morning.  I then put one days worth in the pill containers you can get at the pharmacy.  That way if some person would be in our house who might have a drug problem and would steal our meds, they would only get one days worth.  I had to be concerned about my son's occasional suicide ideation, so I was very motivated to keep all meds put away safely.  I also bought a pill container that has a timer on it that you can set for two different times a day.  It helps me with one med that I have to take 3 times a day.  Hope this suggestion helps someone.

Getting a safe is the best idea.  I have one and I keep all my scheduled drugs in it.  It only took someone breaking into my house and stealing all my meds for me to do this.  I also keep a running list in a notebook of my meds, when I take them and how much I take.  There's been more than a time or two I forgot what I took or how much.  One of my meds causes some memory issues and I need all the help I can get.  I think patients should do any and all to protect themselves because when it comes down to it, we have to take care of ourselves.

It is a sad fact that addicts will do just about anything to acquire narcotics.My own brother has stolen from me before and at the time I was a cancer patient,going through chemo,bald and sick as a dog.Like someone else mentioned,a safe is an inexpensive option.For $89.00 at Wal-Mart,you can get one with a key plus digital lock.I really feel for pain management Dr's.They are speacial people to begin with,to care enough to help us despite the harrassment they face.Without my medication,I am useless and suffer needlessly.With it,I can be the wife and mother that my family deserve.I take my meds responsibly,use one Dr and one pharmacy as probably 90% of chronic pain patients do.But there is always that one or two that chose to abuse or divert their meds and that is exactly why the DEA has waged the war on drugs.I would like to thank you Dr Lasich,for taking your time to inform people.