Fibromyalgia Community

Jessie, this site is very interesting. It states emphatically that there is NO LEGAL LIMIT on how much pain medication a physician can prescribe. My doc lied to me outright, which I suspected. I will not, however, call him on this because he is now prescribing without argument the small amount he allows me to have. And I'm very careful, always having more left over at the end of the month because I don't want to abuse. I wish I never needed it again! Thanks for the good direct.

Joan

Hi Joan,

You're welcome! I wanted everyone to know - even if you have to be very careful with how you ask your doctor for pain meds - that we deserve pain relief. It's our right as patients of a chronic illness.

Jessie

The article was good-validating our plight-however, I disagreee with the article in that seeing a pain management doc does not ensure you will be given proper meds for pain relief. I saw two "pain specialists" over the years & once I said the F word(fibro), I was dismissed as a person who has two options" Take drugs approved to treat fibro or take nothing. Pain pills not an option. I think it is just hit or miss with finding a Dr. who cares enough about his patients not being in daily pain.
Denise

I agree, my pain management doctor, didn't actually outright refuse to give me narcotics, he just said, they really don't do any good.

I need to learn coping skills.

easy to say, try it sometimes

when you've had an extremely painful week of pain, along with , sleepless nights.


You'd think, they'd at least give me some type of pain medicines for my torn rotator cuff.

sheesh,

It's not like I've even did anything abusive with them.

jrae922, Hello!! I am new here, but I have had similar problems with docs not prescribing pain meds. Frustrating to say the least. Most doctors do not have Fibro, so how can they possibly understand the pain we are in? If you are responsible and take your meds as prescribed there should not be an issue. But what do you do if the pain meds don't work. Pain meds have had very little effect on me except to make me more tired and sick to my stomach. (What kind of hell is this)!! Well anyways!! Good article

Hello I am new to the group as well. I have a few other back issues besides fibro. Pain mang Dr.s dont treat any of their patients well in my area. I had to undergo a major back surgery before the pain mang Dr even believed there was something wrong with me! Then I was sent back to that group with my fibro and they wanted to give me meds for nerve damage. Im like what in the hell is this quack place? I have been to several other pain mang drs. They all have some miracle shot or vitamins to take. I had one of those shots and ended up in the ER for the wknd with some kind of allergic reaction! My primary Dr treats me now with a very little pain med. The ER's here call us drug seekers. Chronic pain is no life...

I am also amazed at how people on the internet cry out against prescription drugs. I have read a post where a guy had a punctured lung and broken ribs and his doctor refused him any pain medication. Then in came people on that particular forum calling him a cry baby and saying things like ' I dislocated my shoulder once and I didn't need any pain med, if I didn't neither do you. or I broke my wrist once you big cry baby and I didn't need any pain medicine.

I have had doctors even refuse me antibiotics. I have been suffering with chronic prostatitis for 2 years and have been allowed no pain medication and very few antibiotics. The infection has recently been found and it's e coli and enterococci. But my GP who seems to be against any medical treatment at all, told me he thinks it would be best if I went home and just lived with the infection and denied me antibiotics to treat it.

This is how doctors are, Washington is also against antibiotics and pain killer usage, and want a system where all patients are to be medically tracked and any medication taken will be noted to the government and the government decides how much medication if any is allowed for each individual.

They also want to put a restriction on how much medication a doctor can prescribe a year.

im new here now too and i was in pain managment told me i had arthritis in my back but never confirmed what kind gave me vicoprofen 7.5/200 told them it wasnt working and needed diffrent med those places treat you like addicts i hate those places they didnt bother even doing additional testing so i started going to my pcp doc and now he thinks i have a drug problem when it is clearly seen that i have arthritis in my back now i have to go through alll this bs drug essement tesst have been in pain for 2 weeks now it sucks i have been there

I am having a problem with my doctor and her prescribing pain meds as well. She has been my doctor for 6 yrs. and she has been treating me regularly with pain meds. I was diagnosed with fibro in 2001 and have been treated with pain meds since 2003. (I also suffer from chronic pancreatitis. Cause unknown, other than they believe stress sets it off. So, my treatment plan has been two-fold) Last month I was informed that as of 1/1/13 my doctor will no longer provide pain meds for her chronic pain patients and will be referring them to pain clinics. As many of you have probably experienced, I went thru hell between the time of my diagnosis and when I finally received the treatment that worked for me. It took 2 yrs. to find a doctor that took my condition seriously. I bounced back and forth from doctor to specialist to pain clinic. The result was always the same, "It was all in my head, there was no such thing as fibro, I was a drug seeker, an addict, etc... " It was the worst time of my life and the pain clinics were the worst offenders. They came across as complete quacks. During that time I was on more meds than I can count and I have since tried all new treatments (as well as physical therapy) geared for fibro (Lyrica etc...) Due to adverse reactions, I am unable to take any of these meds. Needless to say, I am in a panic. The idea of having to start over and go through that nightmare again has me terrified. Not to mention the fact that for an undetermined amount of time I will again have to suffer from the pain of fibromyalgia. The thought of that has me frozen with fear. The clinics I have spoken to have informed me they will not treat fibro with narcotic meds. To top it off, I've since found out that my ins. does not cover any pain clinics. I saw my doctor 2 wks. ago and explained the situation. She stated she needed to discuss it with her office mgr. My husband saw her today and brought the subject up again. (He suffers from disc degeneration and also receives pain meds) She said they are working on finding someplace for us to go, but based on what my husband relayed to me, it appears that she still plans to discontinue pain management treatment for us. As for why, I don't know. All she said is it's a policy they have decided to implement. Again, I am terrified and the stress of all this hasn't done my pancreas condition any good. Does anyone have any advice for me as to what I should or can do? Can she really just stop treating us?

these stories are so sad. i too have fb and was on other meds first, until i explained to my doctor that none have made me feel any better. she gave me narcotics and then she didnt want to give me anymore until my rhumetologist said it was ok. when they said it was ok they gave me more pills a month then she gave me and refills so i would not run out. now when i saw my doctor this month she ask me did i need anymore pain meds i wanted to tell her no and just wait til i saw my rhumetologist but i was nice and took the little 25 pills she gave me lol!.. but on another note i hope u all find doctors that understand the pain that u go through day to day because its no fun.

I have been to two rheum and each one where, sorry, incompetent. I have now developed a fear of them. They told me that I needed to stay on the treatment my pcp had me on. I was confused and asked if I was to get my meds from him now and he said no, to keep getting them from my pcp. I found that odd. Do you think if I went to another rheum then I would have a good chance up picking up where my pcp is leaving off. I don't want to come across dramatic, but I honestly don't know how I am going to survive the pain. Sure, fibro isn't life threatening, but sometimes living or trying to live with pain is worse, in my mind, than being diagnosed with something terminal. My quality of life is zero without treatment. I'm married and the mother of 3 boys all of which still live at home and need me. I hate to admit, but I am not the best mother I could be. The pain interferes with my quality of life...mine and theirs. They have been robbed of the mother they had prior to my diagnosis. I don't know if I'm allowed to ask you, but where do you live? Asking on the off chance that you are near me and can give me the name of your rheum. I'm in a suburb of Indianapolis. Is it ok if I say again how terrified I am? I have been crying on a daily basis since I was informed of my doctor's policy. I feel so helpless, depressed and so afraid of what the future holds. I mentioned before that I had adverse reactions to other meds that were tried, but one resulted in my being legally blind for 3 months. That was not the worst reaction I experience, but it was certainly the most terrifying and severe

I have been away from this board for a few weeks. Dealing with my own battles with FM, RA/Arthritis, DDD, nerve damage, etc.....and the sad truth about narcotics is that the people out there that have abused them are making it diffucult for people that REALLY need them...And then of course there is the DEA/State that governs it all.. Here in Utah, the usage of pain medication is monitored. And what i think is most disconcerting is that drs are afraid to prescribe more becuase the DEA/State licensing board dictates how much they can prescribe on fear of losing their licenses....Thats the simple sad truth of why drs are scared now to prescribe medications.....it shouldnt be this way. In my opioion, if you take them as prescribed and only when needed, and drs stood up to these so called entitites and their rights to practice medicine, maybe it would go away.....im lucky in the fact that i have very compassionate drs and that i dont take alot of pain meds even tho i need them....but i only get 30 pills a month and have to be careful....1 pill a day Geez, if i have a really bad day, then i have to either suffer through it or be so careful how i take my medication...i do have other things to take, but its all relative....The cocktail i have now seems to work and i am on older medications as it seems everytime my dr has tried a newer version of the older meds, i either get so sick or just the side effects are not worth it....The point here, the government/state agencies are dictating how we are to be treated (no matter what disease you have) and the drs have to adhere to what the laws are in your state....Big Brother is in every aspect....This is a real upseting subject for me and i am not going to dwell any further, just wanted to put my 2 cents in and just know that i understand how frustrating it all is to get the help you need.....Well, anyone reading this, hope you have an awesome day today

hey its me agian i havent posted in a while i was just diagnosed with fm after five doctors! i fired my pcp he was not worth 1600 a year!!!!!!!!!!! That and every doctor i went to he called and said i was a druggie and to not treat me with any type of opdoid i ended up in the er a few weeks ago unable to walk and was sent home with oxycontin 5mg to take two every 8 hours and worked well but no one else seems to want to perscribe that let alone lortab!!!!! i tell the doctors i know what works for me and they just roll thier eyes and send me home with 800mg ibprofen i have really come to hate the medical field i just want to say to them you have my pain and tell me you dont need pain meds omg i can barley get dressed in the morning and i have a 2 1/2 year old son to care for i try and explain to doctors that i dont get a high from the meds it just relifes my pain and help me function day to day

not sure about whether or not it's my insurance or the doctor lying to me.

We're still working on my depression, doctor wanted to increase my cymbalta, iinsurance company threw a fit, said the cost was too much. so, the doctor figured out another way of doing it,

sadly, I don't feel any better, but it's only been 6 weeks,

so, in my case, it's the insurance (which is one of the kind that is based on a sliding scale through the hospital.)

or the doctor.