I've heard stories that people are denied prescription painkillers - not necessarily because their medical people don't want to give it to them (which does happen), but sometimes because they're afraid of the DEA taking action to shut down their practice.

Hubby regularly had to account for all the heavy drugs he was prescribed, and the pain clinic was often investigated for malfeasance. I got in a huge online argument once with someone whose brother killed himself on oxycontin, and the sibling was wailing that the government needed to ban that level of narcotic because "no one needs those kinds of drugs, they can get by with lesser ones, they're all just addicts."

Grrrr

Oxy is kind of dangerous. Also, it sucks/is hard to imagine that anyone hurts that much.(I have a special grudge about that one though because during a state visit it came up...who knows why, I get so nervous at those things, I Say Shit, like a Joe Biden ramble, and in the midst of it, I mentioned that cops call it "hillbilly heroin" and I guess he came from somewhere where there is a sting to the h-word, because I did try to apologize, but it didn't help.

Oxy is kind of dangerous.

It is, but it's also an incredibly useful medication and is safe as long as it's used as prescribed.

That sounded a little preachy. I don't mean it to be.

Also, it sucks/is hard to imagine that anyone hurts that much.

Yeah. Nobody should have to live with that.

Yeah. Nobody should have to live with that.

So much oxy and morphine and Lauras (Lortabs) and Perkies (Percocets) I handed over to the cops after Hubby. Dr. House had nothing on him.

Oh, I'm sure you do know more about its medical applications than I do since I mostly know it as Boyd Crowder's economic stimulus project or what makes nice people rob pharmacies, both of which are quite disturbing.(Although I miss Boyd)

Maybe some people argue with it because that much pain is difficult to conceive. Also, some people totally think they are the only ants and everyone else is fun-loving, drug-having grasshoppers(I'm kind of an ant at heart, myself)

It is, but it's also an incredibly useful medication and is safe as long as it's used as prescribed.

What gets me is that with all the external pressures to not allow patients the opportunity to misuse narcotic pain medications, doctors can't be arsed to educate patients on the possibilities of addiction. One of my coworkers is a young man who broke his jaw rather nastily as a result of a skate-boarding accident. The first time I worked with him after was well enough to return to work, he was shaking and nauseated as a result of trying to do without whatever heavy-duty pain relief he had been given. He had taken the medication, as directed, so had it in his system pretty steadily for a number of weeks. When I suggested it might be withdrawal symptoms, and that he might get some relief from the nausea from taking Emetrol, he was grateful for the information. He also was kind of upset that his doctor had not warned him of the possibility of addiction. Do they think if they talk about addiction before it happens that they are giving people ideas?

He also was kind of upset that his doctor had not warned him of the possibility of addiction.

I took the maximum dose of percocet pretty much every day for 6 weeks before my back surgery. Since I had zero pain when I woke up in recovery, I stopped taking the percocet cold turkey. No one mentioned this might be a bad idea. My withdrawal was SO BAD. And I didn't even know it was withdrawal, because no one mentioned that could happen. I called my primary-care doctor's answering service on the weekend, and he took his own call back then, so he called me and when I explained it, he said "You're having withdrawal." I was dumbfounded. He told me to take half a percocet and take a nap when the sweats and shakes subsided, and to keep taking half a tablet every X hours, and call him Monday for a plan to taper off of it. (Even when I tapered off it, it was hard to do.)

At my follow-up appointment with the surgeon, I told him about it, and mentioned maybe he should tell patients they shouldn't go cold turkey off narcotics, and he pooh-poohed it, saying no one could get addicted in 6 weeks. (That is my only quibble with him, because he is otherwise the golden god who fixed my back and made me able to walk, pain-free, again.)

How can a doctor -- whose patients surely are taking narcotics -- not know about physical dependence???

I don't know, Tep. I'm often amazed that they don't know that you can be a grown-up with CP(or in some sad cases, what CP is)

In Hubby's circumstance, I think it was accepted that he was going to be on that level of drugs for the rest of his life, so withdrawal was not going to be an issue. I knew new doctors would look at his drug list and go "Oh, there has to be a way to get you off some of those drugs, it's not good for you," and he'd point to the certified pain doctor who had prescribed most of them. Though it did take the pharmacist to say "You've got half a dozen interactions going on here, tell your doctor to take a look at these drugs and see which ones are really necessary." Turned out he was taking drugs just to deal with the effects of the interactions between another set of drugs.

(Though all his drugs has certainly contributed to my apparently reaching a lifetime cap on prescription co-pays, because I haven't had to pay for any of my drugs for over a year. God bless good insurance, how the uninsured cope with these things I don't know.)

God bless good insurance, how the uninsured cope with these things I don't know.)

or deal with bad insurance. In a word - badly.

and Connie, you keep anything you damn well want to for as long as it makes you happy.

Thank you all for the sympathy. I did manage to sleep after taking extra med so was a little groggy today. But, I was less panicked today.

Then, I came home to find that a Buffista had generously helped me out and am verklempt that this is the kind of place where we really take care of each other.

The sweet, kind and generous Nanita is my benefactress and is a goddess to me.