Opiate Pain Medication

Posted by lisacm @lisacm, Apr 17, 2022

My husband suffers from severe chronic abdominal pain and has been for last 9 years. He is on very high doses of opiates. We currently live in California but would like to move out of his state. His pain doctor is concerned if he moves to another state, he will not be able to be prescribed the meds he is currently on because now they are only prescribed for patients with terminal cancer. Has anyone heard of this or had any experience with something like this? Personally I don't think this makes sense because he's been on these meds for years so I'm trying to understand why this would be an issue.

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@callalloo

I don't dismiss CBD or any particular drug and I wouldn't. I was onlybaddressing the difficulty doctors are having now in legitimately prescribing any drugs that 'might' (by the government) be considered possibly habit-forming. I had mycoplasma pneumonia and whopping cough and, in order to prescribe 48 hours worth of hydrocodone, the doctor's office manager had to file paperwork to 4 different government websites. And the prescription could not be called into the pharmacy. It had to be printed and taken, by patient no less, to the pharmacy. And we had to try 11 different pharmacies to find one that had it in stick. So, there I was, with a fever of 104, taking my feverish self to a pharmacy that did not have a drive-through window, exposing everyone to the germs I was carrying, just to be able to get a cough-suppressant so I could maybe sleep through the night. I had been sent to the ER earlier in the day but the hospital lost the admitting papers and sent me home, with a then-temperature if 104.5.

The state's prescription laws made unnecessary work for the physicians, intolerable inconvenience for patients and loved ones and have so far not dented the illicit drug trade. I feel for people in chronic pain whose access to life-saving pain help is being restricted by stupid laws passed by those not suffering themselves. I read a comment once wherein a physician referred to 'the tyranny of the healthy' who don't always understand the lives of those who aren't so lucky. I think that policy makers and politicians can be guilty of that myopia.

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I get opiates every month. No problem. My doctor had to fill out government paperwork for chronic condition one time and file with government. They fax prescription or call over no problem. I am so grateful I was not effected by this unthoughtful government over-reach.

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@regalrottweilers

I get opiates every month. No problem. My doctor had to fill out government paperwork for chronic condition one time and file with government. They fax prescription or call over no problem. I am so grateful I was not effected by this unthoughtful government over-reach.

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That's good to hear. These are state laws and some states have more compassionate laws in place. My doctor at the time said that the medical marijuana lobby was the push behind ever-stricter laws, so people will be pushed to turn to that for pain relief. That might or might not be true but med marijuana wouldn't have helped me for cough-control at time.

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