What's up with the pain medication

Posted by koneil @koneil, Mar 8 12:42pm

I'm not sure if any members are experiencing this butI am. I am a chronic pain patient. I'm seen for back pain a long with many other issues.
I get a prescription for morphine , used twice a day for 30 days. That medication has been out of stock for over two months here. I also have had problems with 10/325 hydrocodone. They limit my prescriptions to 120 per month. It's also difficult to get. Is anyone else experiencing these issues? Please advise.

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Profile picture for bgator @bgator

@bgator exactly.
I dont know what a mmes?
My PA didnt have any idea either.
So tell us so I can inform everyone.

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Profile picture for bgator @bgator

@bgator morphine milligram equivalent. It’s a formula used as to measure opioid doses. For instance, oxycodone has a 1.5 mme hence 10mg oxy tablet equals 15mme. Hopefully that helps 😌

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@korneil- there isn’t any real problem at all. Perhaps there’s just not enough demand for that particular strength but my guess would be that they’re just trying to discourage you- made something that works for a lot of pain sufferers, ended up giving it to anyone with a hangnail who have no problem selling it to drug abuses or dealers and that is their problem. Your pharmacy knows what you get every month and all they have to do is order it! I’m so sick of trying to justify my pain when they’ve got Ct scans and all sorts of other indications that “this person is in pain!” But nooooo, everyone is just a drug addict and if we make it hard enough they’ll just go away or buy it on the street (which they put there too!) check all your local pharmacies in advance and find who’s got your meds the tell your doc, yeah no problem so and so has it just send it over there then watch them start stuttering and dancing madly backward!

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Profile picture for chebo1954 @chebo1954

@korneil- there isn’t any real problem at all. Perhaps there’s just not enough demand for that particular strength but my guess would be that they’re just trying to discourage you- made something that works for a lot of pain sufferers, ended up giving it to anyone with a hangnail who have no problem selling it to drug abuses or dealers and that is their problem. Your pharmacy knows what you get every month and all they have to do is order it! I’m so sick of trying to justify my pain when they’ve got Ct scans and all sorts of other indications that “this person is in pain!” But nooooo, everyone is just a drug addict and if we make it hard enough they’ll just go away or buy it on the street (which they put there too!) check all your local pharmacies in advance and find who’s got your meds the tell your doc, yeah no problem so and so has it just send it over there then watch them start stuttering and dancing madly backward!

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@chebo1954 I have had to cut my pain meds way down to please my insurance company. They do not give me any credit for all that I have done. I take so much less than used to take. Any more and I will be bed ridden .

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Thank you, chebo1954 for you're post.
I dont think it works that way. I have communicated with the pharmacies all around my residence. The answer is that the drug companies only produce so much of the medication. The pharmacies are the buffer between the patients and the manufacturers. Im sure if the pharmacies had the medication they would fill them.
The government has to be limiting production. I can not think of any other reason behind this.

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Profile picture for koneil @koneil

Thank you, chebo1954 for you're post.
I dont think it works that way. I have communicated with the pharmacies all around my residence. The answer is that the drug companies only produce so much of the medication. The pharmacies are the buffer between the patients and the manufacturers. Im sure if the pharmacies had the medication they would fill them.
The government has to be limiting production. I can not think of any other reason behind this.

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@koneil well my man I appreciate you and hope you know I respect your opinion, but not only working for the govt, I did so in the capacity of reg pharmacy tech for USAF. And of course can’t get you an answer from the horses’ mouth cause was met with the ever present “that’s on a need to know basis and apparently it was one of those things I didn’t need to know” but being a jack of all trades there were times that something’s didn’t get ordered or was on back order but surely you realize that they came out with all these opiates specifically for pain until they started showing up places they didn’t belong and then blamed it on everything except misprescribing . Just saying there are several reasons a pharmacy doesn’t carry certain meds and are reluctant to hand them out, and it’s govt, ins, pharmacy or all the above.

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Pharmacists have too much power now... they too big for their britches!!!

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Yes, I have this issue as the government shutdown is effecting my access to my meds. Not just those. My thyroid meds and blood pressure meds also. GET Angry and contact your representative and Senators! Of course, they are on a different health insurance and aren't feeling the pain. I believe it's just a Washington DC "game" to them. And they're both sides being petty about it. Meanwhile, we suffer.

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Profile picture for felicelinda @felicelinda

Try a small independent pharmacy. Walgreens stopped selling prescribed opioids in their pharmacy. When my husband, who suffers from failed back surgery went to several CVS’s to ask if they could fill his monthly prescription, they said they had a limit of customers who they can fill opioid prescriptions for and that limit had been met. My husband’s doctor called a friend who owns his own small pharmacy. The pharmacist said “Yes,” he could fill my husband’s monthly prescriptions.

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@felicelinda CVS is one of the worst places to get an opioid prescription filled. I was even told this by my doctor. I use a smaller pharmacy where the staff knows me well (10 years now). They greet me with a smile and the only problem I have is manufacturing shortages. Best to you!

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Profile picture for lgshaide @lgshaide

So frustrating. My insurance no longer will fill OxyContin. Don’t even carry it. Am trying to find something else as the pain has taken my ability to walk. I can barely get in and out of my wheelchair. They did suggest Percocet and so now do that. But I just had that dosage cut again. Hate this.

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@lgshaide Just a reminder you’re NOT required to use your insurance. Paying cash is sometimes the best option. Some meds like oxycodone are inexpensive ($25 a month supply for mine). I use my insurance but when I moved to FL it was AWFUL! I took a measly 3 lowest dose daily and had to drive to literally 6 pharmacies near and far. I heard two techs whispering to each other to tell me they were out. They weren’t. They didn’t even know me, nothing flagged, I just arrived, etc.. just a thought. Nightmare every month there. Ugh.

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