Lol, I don't even bother with PCP's anymore. And none of them at least in AZ will prescribe any controlled medications period. Beyond colds, flu, common illnesses they don't have any idea at all of what my condition is, can describe it properly or know how the medications work, especially in my case. This makes them dangerous to me, they think they know but they don't. Nurse practitioners are even worse! I had one tell me I did not have Narcolepsy being unhappy about having to write my prescriptions while my Dr was away. I have every symptom in the book and 2 sleep studies confirming I have N1. That same NP I blame in large part to my mother's death. My mother had COPD and was very sick with an infection and should have been admitted or at least seen a Dr! This guy gives her 10 days of antibiotics sends her home, no lung x-ray, no labs, no lung function test, no specialist advised, nothing! She died after fighting so hard she had a heart attack. It was malpractice imo. If you ever unfortunate having a chronic illness, especially one that is rare and based in the brain the last people you want to see or listen too are PCP's, family practice physicians and NP's. I only go in to request yearly lab work, everything else I see my specialist for. One main reason is because of taking controlled medication for reasons they have no knowledge about yet are quick to think they do and want to lecture me. Most people who have a legitimate need for opiates and other drugs don't become addicted, part of it is because they are getting and feeling actual relief, not a high. The pain or whatever goes away so does the need for the opiate. Patients who use these drugs long term don't tend to take higher doses if symptoms are well controlled. For one thing we are well aware tolerance becomes a problem if taken in higher doses, the goal is to keep them working at the lowest yet beneficial dosage. I think part of the problem these days is the dosages or drugs aren't near strong enough to provide relief. The trend is greatly under medicating which is no better than over medicating. Some patients will take higher doses or turn to the streets not being able to take much more of the suffering. This too is driving the illegal drug trade. People just don't see it, sadly it ends badly for so many when it didn't have to go that way in the first place. Gabapentin is intended for lower back pain. Talk about a drug, a dangerous drug vastly over prescribed with long term, irreversible side effects that include what is brain damage, early dementia with just days of using it. They keep trying to give it to my son who already has had trouble with thinking, cognitive skills, completing tasks most of his life, the last thing he needs is dementia by 40. I throw most of them away and told him to tell the next Dr who tries giving it to him that he is at very high risk for dementia, Parkinsons and other disorders of the brain as ot is and if they don't know how much higher his risk goes with Gabapentin(I believe it's 42%, extreme) then they need to educate themselves about the drug and latest research findings before prescribing it to anyone! Prescribers should also be informing patients of the potential dangers of taking Gabapentin, they aren't saying anything. This is something that should be part of their so-called war on drugs! Making sure the patient is fully informed, understands the risk, the medication, why they're being prescribed it and are encouraged to come in and discuss any developing problems without fear they'll be judged and just cut off. Instead, they'll work to find a solution. This almost never happens and should instead of just reducing meds and cutting them off for everyone. There is absolutely nothing in the laws supporting the war on drugs that actually do anything to reduce the problems people are having leading to misuse, addiction, overdoses and deaths. They are pushing people who otherwise never would have considered illegal drugs right into it. And worse, they have to know this, there's no way they don't! And yes, you're right Dr's use drugs too. Especially when trying to make it through 72 hours on duty in residency they used drugs like Ritalin. They don't anymore thanks to drug testing and crack downs. But I'll tell ya, if my life depended on someone who has been on duty 30, 40 plus hours and exhausted, I'd rather they took a Ritalin or modafinil than nothing at all or too much coffee.

People who take opioids long term at the lowest but beneficial dosages or drug strength don't tend to get any kind of high, they simply feel relief. Opioids need to be prescribed accurately according to each individual's pain level, pain tolerance, condition causing the pain. It's just as important to not under prescribe patients doing so increases the risks of "pill seeking", addiction, increases risks for additional health and mental health issues and in multiple ways, death. The government has become a big threat with blanket recommendations that consider nobody as an individual with specific needs, they've put so much fear and brainwashing into Dr's that they are turning away patients who legitimately need controlled meds, leaving those patients with no treatment. PCP's and ER's will not give out pain meds and no matter how much you've already taken from OTC they send you home with higher doses of Advil. This caused a friend of mine to end up in the hospital with organ damage. She has multiple debilitating pain disorders; they treat animals better than she's been treated. It makes me so sick and breaks my heart to see how broken she's become living every single day in constant pain since over policies they greatly reduced her medication. She's become a shell of who she was. Gained at least 80lbs, can barely move, cries in her sleep and can't get up to her own bed anymore. It's government forced abuse! I get there are shady Dr's, nothing new there, there always will be shady people in every profession but that is absolutely no excuse for the way people who are suffering are being treated! People don't understand the level of suffering people are forced to endure to keep a few what are safer anyway pills off the street! This has become the cruelest, most inhumane healthcare system in modern history! That's the real crisis today!!