I wanted to comment on this posting and say I am fortunate enough to have voluntairly gone through a detox program after 7 years on Oxycontin @ 280mg a day and 50 mg fentnyl patches every 3 days. It took 28 days in the hospital to help recover from the near kidney and liver damage from all those years of meds and "Yes" as with many narrcotic medications you build up a tolerance level as i had and from 20 mg a day to that rediculous amount; I was fortunate to have a Family Physician to help me Fire my Neurophysiciatrist Pain managment Doctor and address the real issue of what my 30 years of chronic pain means to my Life. Many will find that your true ailment may require a minimum of medicine if possible, but the time factor of long term usage creates more pain which is actually the body demanding stronger dosages and at this point you really cannot differentiate what is your true pain scale anymore and what you can trully tolerate. I was fortunate to have medicare to cover my medicines and the many surgeries but when I was told I was nonsurgically repairable and this medicene would not hurt my health they gravely misinformed me. I presently have been off all meds for three years and may not be pain free but I have' with the help of group pain managemnt learned new methods of coping skills to find peace in my everyday and am more productive and happier than ever.
Oh ya' the thing also is alot of those phsyciatric meds are just as dangerous because they had me on 300 mg a day of Seroquel "Quantapine" for 6 years it helps replace the Seratonin in ur brain? I guess; alot of suffering can drain this from the body. Anyways three years ago I had an Apendacitus(apendix)? they said One day right ; in and out ! Wrong! the surgery went well and they new my medical history and stopped my Quantapine abruptly and after 2 days I awoke from in I.C.U. after they found me dead in hospital bathroom. It took 12 days and 4 seizures for them to figure out that the withdrawl from that medication "Seraquel" was the cause that stopped my heart to stop and caused the Seizures. Fortunately before a total lack of oxygen a nurse found me in time, because they had no heart monitor to warn anyone I was dead on the floor of hospital room. I am grateful for their efforts in making me well but they ( Hospital ) did kill me. This lead me to be aware of all dangers of medication and even while under the care in a hospital room of a physician because even they can make mistakes. I chose back then three years ago to give up that seroquel.
I urge caution to anyone deciding or bein forced to halt the use of their medications and find a Family Physician to monitor your health.. It is one thing to have your original ailment but not have our medication cause other health issues. I do however recommend a group pain management support system. A weekly session can provide so many Tools both mentally and physically and financially....and No I would never sue them because Even Proffessionals make Mistakes and they were jsut as frustrated as I' not knowing what went wrong!!!
I never wear my Pain as a Heavy rain Coat and it never dictates my attitude in my Everyday Life. It may have taken 30 years but i choose to Live everyday rather then just exist in that Day
Okie Fella!
MB
BLESS YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO GET HELP AND GET OFF THE MEDICATIONS. GOD WAS TRULY WATCHING OVER YOU AND I ADMIRE YOUR SPUNK. I KNOW IT WAS NOT EASY AS I TOO WENT THROUGH MY HEART STOPPING AFTER GOING COLD TURKEY OFF MORPHINE FOR CHRONIC PAIN. BUT WHAT A DIFFERENCE IN THE WAY WE LIVE AFTER GETTING OFF THE BLURED VISION ADN THINKING. LIVING WITH PAIN IS NOT EASY BUT IT CAN BE DONE WITH USING MIND OVER MATTER AND ALOT OF HELP FROM A SUPPORT GROUP OR GREAT FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHO HELP YOU GET THROUGH THE MORE DIFFICULT DAYS.
GOD BLESS YOU MY DEAR
Dean, I feel so frustrated for you. I too have been in the same position and afraid it will happen again but this time not due to not affording it but my Dr. is older and could retire or worse, die. I've tried others to give me oxy but they don't want to do it for just fibro. But back to you, I wonder if you have ever tried churches? I called a Catholic church once to help me with a electric bill and not only did they help me with that but also gave me a place to go for food and some furniture as well. I'm not even Catholic. Also, what about online to the maker of the drugs. They have hardship forms that could help. I know this all takes days that you don't have but maybe if you get the two weeks worth you'll be able to focus and get something going. None of them are in a hurry and if you sound hurried they think you're an addict off the street or want to sell it on the street so approach with caution.
I also DO GET the rather have death thing. There is no way I will live that way. I have wondered about that lately. I had to make that decision for my Father last month to let him go to avoid him being placed in a nursing home to sit alone and suffer and continue dialysis treatments etc. He was becoming a live cadaver and would not want that life. I wonder if hospice can be called in due to pain from something like fibromyalgia? Just a question in the air, I don't really expect a reply on that one lol! I just don't think anyone in my family is strong enough to make that decision for me if I couldn't. I made it for my Dad with his living will in place but the hospital never asked me for it and it would take one person to stop it. So, I've never told any of the other family members of my decision, they would turn onme in a heartbeat. People that haven't called my Dad in 3 years or visited.
Anyway, I hope you can get some relief somehow. I hope you keep us informed as to what and how you got what you needed.
well, of all things: My doc offered ME oxy (again) yesterday.. or MS-ER. And, I told him I didn't really want either. You see, my "level" with meds is usualy a six. I was actually pretty happy to be at six after the past few months of it being more like 9 to 10 (crying ALL of the time; spending all day, every day in bed, due to pain).. so, i found it funny that I was offered the stronger, longer-lasting, meds. C'est la vie-- I mean, I imagine that, the one day I decide I WANT the stronger meds, I will be refused. And so it goes...
There is so much included in your post that I would like to respond to but I will restrict myself to one issue. You mentioned that the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought many to believe that being able to cope with patients who are abruptly shut off from their medications should be part of emergency preparedness plans, specifically medications like Opioids that patients can become physically accustomed to. In theory this sounds like a good idea, but in reality it goes back to the same problem that too few doctors are educated in the subject of pain and appropriate ways of treating or managing it.
What kind of care is a chronic pain patient going to get if he walks into a family medicine doctor or a doctor or some other specialty who has not only not specialized in pain but not even learned the basics of pain or pain management? The same he has probably gotten from some doctors in the past, a general misunderstanding of how he is physically feeling in regards to his pain and how that pain is adding to the overall trauma he is dealing with in regards to the hurricane. Perhaps it is better not to send these pain patients to doctors who may only make their situations worse, but to have meeting points for pain patients to go and find each other where they will at least find empathy and support. You are right when you said that doctors do not learn enough about pain and how to treat and manage it, and although there are now pain management specialists, I believe that doctors of every specialty must be able to at least understand and talk to their patients about pain at least to some degree so they do not make their patients feel as though they are being told they are lying or just drug seeking, which happens more than most people realize. I have lived in constant pain from a spinal condition that required 5 surgeries, including an anterior/posterior fusion with hardware, for over 40 years. In 1997 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In 2000 I found a wonderful pain management doctor who implanted an intrathecal pump that delivers morphine, bipivicaine and baclafan to my spine. My pain is now almost completely manageable, with few breakthroughs requiring additional medication. Before this I lived on stronger and stronger oral medications that kept me living in a fog, and still in pain. Thank you for this opportunity to address this issue..
Good point, Denise. One of my pain doc's p,a,'s told me to take my OWN meds to the hospital.. I told her I didn't think that they would give me my own meds (even in their original bottles) and she said, "you know what I mean", with a wink! Well, when I had my jaw-joints removed back in July last year, I got NOTHING but 5mgs of morphine (that's a kids' dosage and is something that never has worked for me for pain).. and, boy; I wish I had taken her advice! I ended up leaving the hospital 8 hours after this major surgery--- AMA-- because they still refused to even check with the surgeon if we could switch to meds that worked for me! My family really wants me to sue that hospital (and the doc for creating fistulies in my right ear, causing my mandible to become infected for all of this time and causing me to lose my right joint-- for at least a year).. Anyway, being forced off of ANY controlled meds is a dangerous proposition! This is why, when I switched surgeons and hospitals, I sent an email to the doc (prior to all 4 of my surgeries this year) to tell him what had to be what.
1. I needed a pain-consult at the hospital PRIOR to surgery.
2. if the hospital did not carry MY meds, they would use my own meds (in original bottles) to provide me with pain relief.
3. there would be NO short-changing me on pain meds.. I have taken the same meds for more than a dozen years and I have not yet killed myself. I wrote out the doses i take at intervals every day and told them, if thy didn't wake me up at night, they would not have me B1tchin about pain!!
and, ths worked! I had ONE pain doc; an intern..., dare to try and cut my dosage in half-- I called the nurse and told her that, if she did not call my surgical team, I would (the chick who cut my meds had not even spoken to me!). So, the nurse refused and I picked up the phone--- she asked me to put it down and, within 20 minutes, my full script was in my hand. HA. I have learned to stand up for ME when I am in the hospital.. if nothing else good came out of the 6 hospitalisations since July it was that! I am a stonger patient advocate for ME and will not allow anyone to cause me unnecsessary pain.
In 1995 my husband had 'experimental' back surgery. They removed the bolts 3 months early and shortly after the cage fractured. The dr. lost his license in FL, however has since taken residency in another state. He had a comp. fracture/burst fracture of the T-11/12. He also has osteoporosis. Eight years ago my husband was on 120 mg. Oxycontin daily (which we were getting through the pharmaceutical company) and up to 90 mg. of Oxycodone (break through pain) daily. When Medicare Pard D happened, we could not afford the oxycontin. He went on Methodone 120 mg. (which was affordable) daily and the Oxycodone. He had been seeing the same doctor for over 8 yrs. We moved to TN (for a year)--that was the most assinine thing we have done. (We wanted to find someplace warmer and without ice and snow) He had to go to the hospital because we could not find a dr. to see him because of the meds. (We had 14 yrs. of med. records, MRI's, X-rays)This dr. accused my husband of 'faking' his MRI's. After a battle with the dr. and hosp. they actually upped his meds to 240 mg. of methodone/120 mg.of oxycodone. My husband told them he did NOT want that much, that though the pain contorl was incomplete, it was adequate. The dr. told him he could NOT see him if my husband did NOT agree with his medical advice. My husband took the prescription, but did not use them. He has been on pain medicine since 1995. He is down to 40 mg. of methodone daily. We recently moved back to ME. We found a dr. for 6 wks. who kept telling my husband he could help him. He had all the 'necessary' testings, MRI's that you normally have when you get a new dr. When it came time for a rx for his pain meds the dr. told him he could no longer help him. I told the dr. that Chuck had been on pain meds since 1995, what about withdrawals and the risk of him being taken off pain meds so quickly--he told us that he could not do anything for us, that the 'group' he was working for said they were NOT taking any pain patients. We asked what we were supposed to do and the dr. flat out told us he did not know. We spent another day at the hospital because my husband ran out of his pain meds. and was in so much pain that it hurt me. The dr. there gave him a short rx for pain meds and told us that Chuck should not have been taken off the meds like that. We still have NOT found a dr. that will take him.
hello , i am 38 yrs old i have crohnes dz. since i was 12 and osteo arth. reaum.arth. all from the crohnes .i have lost all my colon and nearly all my small bowels.i had 30 something surgries in less than a year.i had cancer for a year and now its back.my pain level is soooo high there is no way anyone can imagine.most times i want to die it hurts so bad....my doctors put me on ultram at 13 yrs old and hydros.well now my dr retired on me and several other patients and no doctor will write a pain med.and all of the pain clinics are full or they won't take medicaid or there list is 2 year wait.i have been on high doses of ultram for the past 4 years because i don't asorb everything like other people ,it goes staight through me to my bag.where alot of people take 50 mg or 100 every 4 to 6 or 8 hrs i need 200 mg every 3 to 4 hrs.so no doctor that don't know my medical and understand it is going to help me...plus i used 10.5 hydros x2 at bed.i am cold turkey... my legs hurt sooo bad i feel like there coming off. i feel like i'm passing kidney stones the pain is so bad there and pressure.my head is having migranes i for got to tell you also.i can't stop vomiting...they tell me to try differnt drs till i find one.i live on $600.00 a month and i can't pay cash till i find him ....my old dr. should have found me someone instead of vacationing his ass off.i'm so tired of people who throw us away and don't care.i don't know how they sleep at night.i wish they wouldnt have ever started this ultram and me a kid , i feel like i'm dying....does anyone know of anything that will help the leg pain and pressure from your kidneys?and my next point is i know young girls who live in free apartments ,get food stamps,have men living there and get 120 to 200 pain pills and they sell them and they have never been hurt or have any problems ,and i go there with stacks of paper work and they tell me to take tylenol.then if you get caughtbuying from them you go to jail. there is some girl who sleep with drs to get them to pay all there bills and live good....while im dying and broke and in pain day and night.this is sooooooo wrong ,i don't think this would happen in the worst of countries... these drs need checked on who there giving this stuff to and i bet most of it will be younger girls.....i know lots .....
My doctor that I have had for 15 yrs and my insurance company decided last month that I should not have any more Hydrocodone/APAP! After years of having it for chronic pain and it seems like a million medical problems, they said I have been getting too much and instead of weaning me off it or giving me something else I had to go cold turkey. I am in constant pain, lost 22 lbs, can't sleep, can't think of anything but the bad pain that is taking my breathe away. Doctor sent me to a "Pain clinic" where all they did was set me up with physical therapy doing some walking in the pool for 8 visits. The pain doctor doesn't even want to see me again, he wants me to see his nurse practicioner in 4 weeks. No testing, no medication, no nothing. I wish I were dead and relieved of this pain. They say I have Fibromyalgia, mini fractures, osteoporosis with 36 % bone loss, arthritis, sciatica, injuries from head on car accident in 1997, and so much more. I hate to complain but I only 53 yrs old, declared permantly disabled 4 yrs ago, and am in true pain. I admit that I am dependant on the hydrocodone and prescription sleeping pills but to make me go cold turkey should be considered inhumane. I am willing to go not put the scripts thru my insurance company even and pay cash but doctor won't approve refills. How long does it take to go thru withdrawl???
I have been on Hydrocodone 7.5 for about as long as you have and I will be the first to admit, I DO over medicate, becuase of my pain tolerence. I am prescribed 4, 7.5 lortabs daily, and I take around 8 to 10 pills a day, and run out very fast. Then I go through withdrawls every month. It sux big time, and I always say that I am done and I will never even go back to the Pain Clinic to pick my meds up ever again, but when it is time, I find myself obsessing about my "pickup date", and just "living for that day". It has now gotten to the point of where it has consumed my life, and that is all I can think of, and frankly I want to die. I am so sick of putting my body through this hell every month!
To answer your question, it takes me about 2 weeks to really "feel normal" again, and then it's time to Pick Up again. I am just so tired!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, when I run out of my meds, I go through hell, and it seems like I wouldn't keep putting myself through this s&%t, but I am addicted.
My first sysmtoms are diarhea, hot flashes, runny nose , a feeling of a very bad case of the FLU, muscle spasms, leg cramps, agitation to no end, loss of appetite, ( I usually lose 5 to 7 lbs over the course of the month), due to not eating anything, also I stay in bed and in a bad depressive state until it comes time to pick up meds again. It has now gotten to the point that I can't function in everyday life without my meds, I have lost all connection with my immediate family ,(when I am off my meds)
My addiction has become so debilitaing, that I can only manage to make it to the bathroom and back to my bed, where I stay, day and night, and I am already diagnosed clinically depressed, which only adds to my feelings of suicide. I just want the pain in my head and in my body to stop, but then I feel selfish for even having these thoughts, because I am a mother of 3, and a grandmother of 4.
I am truly at the end of my rope, with nothing to grab onto. I am thinking of admitting myself into the hospital to get off of pain meds altogether.
It just isn't worth me losing my family over.
I recently told my sister of my addiction, and it really made her mad, and she called me weak and to "snap out of it", and sent me a "Get Well" card. That hurt. So I am going to give it my best shot to get completely off of this nasty hydrocodone, for my familes sake as well as my own health. I know that hydrocodone is terrible on your liver and I suffer from Hep. B & C.
I didn't tell my Dr. about my Hep. when he prescribed the lortabs.
It is time to come clean for real, to save my life and my family releationships.
I wouldn't wish this addiction on my worst enemy! It has been pure hell, but this past year has been the absolute worst time of my life....living like a recluse!
I wish you and all the other readers the very best, in all that you do.
We all have the Drs' to thank for getting us addicted to prescriptions pain meds!
I am sitting here looking at my few pills I have left until the 29th of October. (Sighs) That old haunting feeling is coming up in the pit of my stomach again.
What do I have to look forward to? Four or five days of being really sick, in bed, and feeling like dying!!!!!!!
I will post again, because this is going to be my only hope of coping, while I am sick. I know that some of you can understand what I am saying. I will be too weak to go to an NA or AA meeting, which by the way, I have never gotten much out of these meetings anyway, but sitting around a bunch of sick a-holes just like myself, listening to their life crap, while I can barely hold my head up.
Prayers are welcome, because I do believe in a Higher Power!
Thank you all for listening to my ramblings!
I hope I have helped someone in some small way.
PS I recently read somewhere that when you know you about to "self detox", you need to eat alot of foods rich in protein, which is supposed to replace your serotonin levels, and exercise as much as possible...but I don't have the drive to exercise, so that is out, at least until I get over the "HUMP", which generally takes me 4 to 5 days, maybe longer now. I do keep a bottle of liquid Immodium beside my bed when I am getting ready to "come off", and that helps alot with the big D. As for my sleep, it really screws my sleep patterns up! I think I hate that the worst. I might try exerciseing this time, if I feel up to it...I am willing to do about anything at this point.
Any comments, suggestions are very welcomed.
WHat I feel like doing...yelling. Everyone take care. Until next time.
readi2quit4good-
When I got your comment a few minutes ago I thought I had written it. It is so much ME!
I posted in July and nothing has changed for me. I am never going to go cold turkey on this Hydrocodone and Temazepam. I can't stand it any more. I, too am hoping for death. Not suicidal because I thought and thought about it and decided I couldn't stand to let my parents go thru the loss. Now if they passed away tomorrow it's a different story. I managed somehow, don't know how my request for refills got okayed but I didn't care. Several other times I had ordered refills on my ins. pharmacy order site had been denied so I sure didn't question it, took the three month supply of both drugs and didn't look back. I got 540 Hydrocodone/APAp 10 mg 500 mg and 90 sleeping pills and popped some and then told myself I was going to only take enough each day to make them last the three months. Yeah right. The pain and lack of sleep was so bad that I had to go back to my habit of double and more often frequent doses. So now it is Oct 2 and if they will refill it again they definitely won't until the end of the month. This time I have been without meds for 3 weeks and cannot take the pain. I just took a few of every other medication in my house no matter what it was for, prescription Tessalon for coughs, nausea med, Naprosen, and a huge handful of Tylenol PM hoping that they will at least make me drowsy and maybe I can fall asleep and get my back to relax. It's not working tho, here I am on my computer at nearly midnite. This withdrawl time I laid in bed for the first wk with a heating pad and then it got worse and the second wk I don't remember anything. I guess I sent out emails to my family and friends where I was rambling and must have typed whole long emails with my fingers on the wrong keys. Later I found things in my house that I had done and had no memory of, like dishes in cupboards that had melted red jello all over them(I have no idea how that happened, weird), my new bedroom carpet was stiff and stained from who knows what, found over the counter pills all over the floor and bed and bathroom. I don't know what all I did, scared to ask my family and they haven't said much but the couple days after all that I could feel their discomfort. Ok, now it's week 3 without pain and sleep med and I HURT. And like you I have been had diarhea and weird looking stool that I never knew someone could actually produce, stuffed up nose, feel like flu, my restless leg syndrome has flared up and isn't responding to the Mirapex I take for it, I am so agitated that I have been mean to my husband and end up screaming and can't stop even tho I tell myself I have to stop because I sound like a banshee, loss of appetite and nothing taste good, dry mouth, every muscle in my body is stretched tight and spasms can even be seen by the eye, and I keep having fevers.
The pain center I was sent to this summer was a joke. Their way of providing pain relief for me was ONE trigger point inj and a muscle relaxer called Tizanidine and a referral to a rheumoltogist. The so called muscle relaxer didn't do anything except make my legs turn to rubber when I stand and so dizzy when I was upright that I had to immediately put my head between my legs or faint. On Wed last wk I got 120 of them and already took them now!! I waited from Aug 6 til Sept 29 to get the appt with the rheum dr. who didn't do anything for me either. She knew that they had referred me for Fibromyalgia and to be tested for Lupus but all she did was see what my range of motion was and felt my finger joints for arthritis. She said unless the labs she ordered came back abnormal she didn't need to see me again! And I got a long speech on exercising. She said you can't expect to be healthy if you don't exercise and she thinks vigourous daily exercise would help the chronic pain! Insists that I needed to swim, walk, and ride a bicycle every day. I said I didn't know how to swim and she said take lessons. Told her I was in too much pain and that if I had some relief for awhile I might follow her advise. So she ordered lab work for lupus and some kind of hepetitis(which I don't think I have any symptoms for), and CBC because I have pernicious anemia along with severe sodium def and recent history of hematacrit or hemoglobin of 7 instead of low range of normal of 11. So she said if still anemic I should go to a hemotologist for bone marrow iron something or other, and that I should go to a sleep clinic. How do you have a sleep study when you have to take sleeping pills to sleep or have such bad insomnia so bad that I think I have slept no longer than an occasional 45 mins?
OMG there is no hope for relief and why or why can't I have the medication I need? I am tired of it all and there is no hope.
I have been on percoset, vicodin, oxycodone and ultram for the past few year's. My insurance provider, Kaiser, issues me prescriptions that have to last me 28 days. This amount has been from the beginning.
I have fibromyalgia, type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, anemia, high blood pressure, a bleeding eye and I have had 3 lamenectomies. I have had a spinal cord stimulator inside me for 20 year's. I must admit the alcohol and drug's caused most of my problems. I was an addict for 25 year's. But, I have been clean and sober for nearly 23 year's.
Well, this month I ran out of my vicodin 2 weeks too soon. The pain in my body is getting much worse but the Doctor's do not understand that. It seems like they do not care. I begged my Doctor for anything to get me though but he refused. It is like I did something really bad and I am being punished. He would not give me anything and told me to wait too week's for more medicine. He didn't offer to help me at all.
Well today I am going through withdrawals. My glucose level is in the 500's and I am off balance, sweating and feeling like I could die. Actually that would be a solution.
Is this common for Doctor's to treat a patient this way. It seems in humane to me, thank you for listening.
I took a week to try to gradually reduce my dependance on oxy meds. I'm a stage 4 breast cancer patient with bone metastases. I am now down to zero doses as of yesterday. Extreme discomfort. I can do it and I'm going to. Doctors begged me to use the oxy meds for my pain so i wouldn't suffer and cause more problems from splinting. Too bad I listened. I'm glad I'm getting off of it before I am on it any longer. Can't get out of bed today, but I will tomorrow and every day a little more.
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Thanks to to the "donut hole" in Medicare, I now cannot afford my Oxycontin and have no choice but to go cold turkey. Now. I'm already suffering a non-stop 2-day pain attack; at one point had chest pain, and I'm praying for death, to be honest. No one should go through this. Follow this article's advice, friends, though it can't much help me. Don't go through what I am...
Take it from a victim of the American Health care Crisis.
Oh, in case you wonder...I have bad osteoarthritis in my back shoulders and hips, coupled with neuropathy in my feet. I am on SSDI, but can not get at my meds, as Medi-Cal dropped me and Medicare will not pick up costs. I am also a 20+year long-time HIV-A survivor going without Aids Meds for the same reason. I suppose that may have something to do with why I find myself where I am. There's a lot less help out there these days...
D.D.A.
Signal Hill, CA
I know this will not help you immediately, but, are you on or have you applied for Medicare-D? I know that I pay a $2.25 copay for my meds (a month's supply) and, were it not for that, I would be in your position, too. Also, for the interum: is there a clinic (or a church/// other organisation) where you get some finanaial help?
The OP was correct: coming off of these meds can certainly be life-threatening and, minimally, physically distressing and uncomfortable (to say the least). I have to say I am thrilled I have been under the care of the same physician for many years and, when I had the chance, I applied for that part-D insurance (which has been saving me well over two-hundred dollars per month) Don't know what I would do or where I would be otherwise.
And, yes; I GET the praying for death. This is just awful!
Best wishes to you. If nothing else, call your state's department of Aging and Disability Services. They should be listed in your "blue-pages". Again, good luck!
Anne
We had the same thing happen with my husbands oxycontin due to the fact that they don't make generic oxycontin anymore(they lost the patent). Even with Medicare D it was $72 a month, so his Dr is switching him over to MS ER so we'll see how that goes. I get my oxycontin through Workman's Comp(the meds and Dr visits is about all they want to pay for)or I would be in the same boat.Could you have your Dr switch you to something cheap to at least help you through it like generic Norco($4 at Wallmart) or something. Good luck Brenda
Hello, Anne,
I appreciate that you took the time to reply. I'm sorry for your troubles, too.
I have part D, and a secondary for Part D, but it seems to make no difference, once you fall into the "medicare hole" and have no income to speak of. I tried going back to work, still disabled, but that ended, and I lost most of my benefits.
I left out the fact that I recently tested positive for CMV retinitis, which causes blindness, and I am experiencing symptoms of that as well, no doubt exacerbated by my inability to get my HIV meds. So, I'm taking last looks at things, while I can. It was a good life.
I will see what I can do, and how I can apply your advice. Today I am going to write a bad check to get 2 weeks of my Pain Meds. That's two weeks of clear-headed thinking space while I do what I can. You take care and hold on, Anne. And good luck.
Dean
Thank you Brenda. I will ask about Norco today.
Dean
Oh, and I apologise for my computer (I guess it was mine) making my responses post two to three times. No idea why it does that.
Now: what Medicare-D program are you on? I subscribed to Silverscript and my scripts are two=dollars and twenty-five cents apiece. If they do not come in generic, they run me five and sixty-cents. If I were you, I would look up and call some different "D" policies.
Again, best wishes. ANne
I agree I'm on the same medicare part D plan with the low income addition my meds are 2.25 and 5.50 something and I don't fall in the donut hole, I think it is either covered or the meds are so low that you won't get in the stupid hole. I was there last year and it was bad it was a good thing my daughter could pay my meds bills for me.
As for tapering off, good luck I've never been able to do that. I've finally found a great doc that actually gave me the meds I needed and for the first time I was real close to being pain free (a first since my spinal tumor was finally diagnosed) Everything was going fine until my son in law who was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder (you can see where this is going)
Now I am the first to admit in the past I have self medicated myself not to get high, or because I am an addict but for the simple fact that I could never get through to the doc the pain level I was at. Finally I found the right doc and was doing everything by the book. Now my son in law decided to become non med compliant went nuts stole my car and totaled it. The worst for me was last Saturday when i went to take my daily meds to find that I had very few left. I was in a panic and didn't know what to do, In all honesty I figured it was me as I'd self medicated before maybe I was doing it again and didn't even realize it. So I decided enough was enough and threw what I had left away and quickly went into withdrawals. I talked to my doc on monday was honest and she put me on clonidine I was lucky I'd only been taking the oxycontin for a month or so after being drug free for almost eight months so the withdrawals didn't last but a few days and werent that bad.
Now I found out that my dear son in law had been stealing them. I know I know I should have hid them but I never dreamed of the idea that he would steal them. I feel better knowing it wasn't me but I sure don't know what to tell the doc or if she will even believe me. He's gone now after stealing my car and isn't allowed in the house actually he's left the state.
I'd love to get back on my meds so I could get some pain relief but I have no idea what to tell the doctor now....... Anyone have any suggestions.
I'm so sorry I got off the track but it just came pouring out.
Vickie
Hi Anne. Normally, in California, Medi-Cal would pay for the lion's share of my meds, and did for many years. The average bill (that I can not pay) for all the meds I take came to about $2,070.00. Medi-Cal stopped paying because I worked for more than a year -- never mind the fact that $2,070.00 was only 200 bucks short of my entire monthly income from working. Not possible. So I stopped all my meds except pain meds and paid for those. All it took was filling one prescription for all my meds to push me into the donut hole. I swear I'm in it, every pharmacist tells me so. I don't know what you mean about "type of" Part D, I just have it. I "hired" a plan that promised coverage on my Oxycontin (Health Net) ---until after the donut hole hit. Now they refuse to cover it I paid full price while I could. I have been in contact with Social Security, Medicare, Medi-Cal, and I get the runaround, again and again. Now, as I die from AIDS and when I go homeless next month, I will try to live in my car until the pain drives me insane. Then I will do what I probably should have done long ago --bow out. But thanks. I'm glad things go better for you than me. P.S. My share of cost is $1,220.00 per month, and I have no income.
Dean
Hey, again, Brenda. No go on the Norco. My doctor is private practice, and just doesn't understand. Rich people can always pull money out of somewhere when they need it. Poor, like me, doesn't register well. I don't want to lose him, and Medicare pays his bills. Makes no sense I know, but it's all I have left to grasp on to. He wants me to stay on the Oxycontin. That's Medicine in America for you.
I probably won't be able to post again, but you all take care!
Dean
Dean- I hear ya. I hate what I hear but I get it.
And, even Silverscript ((one of the more than 40 medicare-part-D rx plans)) has decided to stop paying for Oxy. This makes ME glad that I have always refused it. Even last month, my doc's p/a was trying to convince me to up to that.. and I refused, thinking that (heck) my 6 -- as in my current general pain state (with meds), was pretty great. This is after being a 9 to 10 to more most days.
So, I guess what I am saying is; IF you can hold out until you can change Medicare-d policies, ,plesae do it!
I do get where you're coming from. Right now, I am without a right jaw joint as it was removed (the one that was placed in my head just this january) because I developed severe osteomyelitis (bone infection).. and it will be at least a YEAR for me, if it happens, to have it replaced. On top of it, I am probably losing my entire right=mandible. So, that sux. I am sick all of the time and I have a picc line into my aorta for just SOME of my antibiotics. THOSE are scheduled to cost me seventy-dollars per DAY.. and, I am on Social security, too.
Oh well- as long as they continue to provide me with the meds, i will worry about tomorrow when it comes.. way it is!
Dear Anne,
What an awful lot for you to go through. I'm really sympathetic and I wish you well. Much as I love doing it, I've never gotten much from praying... but I hope you experience some miracles in your life. You deserve them.
with love,
Dean
Eh? No worries as I do not pray, either. I'm atheist so prayer's out for me! But, I will meditate on it and hope that I can send you some very positive vibes! Nothing that would "eff" with your kharma comin' outta me! have a good night. I really DO hope you get some relief soon. The whole reason I haven't been around here in so many months is that I've had this infection since July--- and the docs didn't hear me! again, sux for me-- but they now hang on my every work or whim (not really, but close).. ennyhoo, I got kind of sick of the prayers being offered up for me (esp as i am atheist and have said so many times)... oh well; again; have a better night.. namaste..
My heart breaks for you as I am in same position. In the donut hole and also take 80 mg oxycontin 3 x a day. and have for 7 years. Go to Purdue site and make copy of their application and take to your Dr. Their main office is out of St Louis, Mo. At one tiime several years ago they paid for all my medicine and now I am trying to get it again. Your Dr fills in the application along with prescriptions and it takes about 2 weeks to get your ok. They will send one month supply at a time and Dr sends it in. It goes for one year and then you sign up again.I did it for 3 years. I am waiting to hear now and since then my husband passed away and I am on low income.
BEST OF LUCK TO YOU AND I HOPE THIS INFORMATION HELPS YOU!!!
OUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS BAD AND GETTING WORSE ALL THE TIME. I WORRY ABOUT WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THE NEW PRESIDENT MAKEING SO MANY CHANGES SO FAST WITHOUT DOING RESEARCH....
Dean,
I feel for you and hope something will come up for you. I don't know what I'd do if my meds suddenly stopped coming... Just the thought!! I pray !!! It's shameful this great country of ours does not help people in need here in the US and not some other country. All I can do is hope pray for you, hang in there ! day at a time. I know the pain involved we all do. Only if the public new exactly what we go thru wear our shoes for an hour heck just a few minutes they would probably drop to there knees with pain as I'm sure everyone here has done before. Peace