These were all well-meaning people who had no intention of abusing drugs, but in each of these cases, the patient was immediately dismissed by his or her doctor/clinic. Because they had been dismissed for failing a drug test, no other doctor was willing to prescribe any kind of opioid pain medication for them.
How can you avoid finding yourself in a similar circumstance? By reading every word of the agreement before you sign it, asking questions about anything you may be unclear on, then following the agreement to the letter.
Agreement Basics
Treatment agreements will vary some from doctor to doctor, but there are some basic requirements that are included in most. When you sign the agreement, you:
• Agree to take the medications at the dosage and frequency prescribed. It's essential you follow the prescription directions exactly. Don't take more or less than the prescribed amount every day. Don't try to take less on good days so you'll have more left for bad days.
• Agree not to increase, decrease or change in any way how you take the medications without the prior approval of your pain management doctor. If you feel the dosage prescribed is too little because you're still having a lot of pain, or too much because you feel spacey all the time, call your doctor a tell him what you're experiencing. Do not under any circumstances change the dosage on your own. If you're tested and found to have too much in your system, they'll assume you're abusing the drugs. If you have too little in your system, they'll assume you're selling or giving them to someone else.
• Agree to random drug testing to assure you're only taking the prescribed medications in the prescribed amounts. Although you know you're trustworthy and wouldn't abuse drugs, there's no way for the doctor to know that. Because there is so much drug abuse today, physicians have to be extra vigilant. If they are found to be prescribing controlled substances to people who are either abusing them personally or selling them to others, they face losing their medical license and criminal prosecution.
