Re: Heidi's prescription policy problem

[Guest guest]

is a thing of the past, I hope!!!

You all are just something else! It's made me feel just so much

better to get all of your responses to my refill policy complaint,

but what happened today at the doctor's office really beat all.

I remembered to take my letter with me. Procedure at this office

is to be taken by the nurse into the weight and blood pressure

station first. There she weighs you, takes your temperature, and

checks your blood pressure. Then she reviews your prescription

list in your chart to see what refills you need, check to see if there

are any deletions, and to review your dosages. This was the

nurse, , who started a few months back and just by her

attitude, isn't someone I'm all that comfortable with. She is also

the one who gave me the narcotic contract three weeks ago to

read and sign, and the one who told me about the new refill

policy where I would have to call in for a refill, and then they

would mail the original script to my pharmacist. So I complained

to her first, telling her about the refill that I requested last week

on the refill line that was never sent to my pharmacist. I asked

her to see when it was mailed. It wasn't. There was no record of

anything being mailed to the pharmacist, only a note saying that

there was a question about my dosage amount and instructions,

and it said " Must visit " .

So I explained to her that three weeks ago my dosage had been

suddenly cut in half, from two tablets every 4-6 hrs. as needed,

to one, every 4-6 hrs. as needed and that even with four

telephone calls from me asking for an expanation, still no one

had called me. She said, but you got your refill, and I said, yes, I

did, but it was cut in half and the nurse Sue said that she spoke

to the the doctor and he said I could only have 1 Percocet, 2

times a day. I said no, it wasn't 2 times a day, it's supposed to

be every 4-6 hours, and it's supposed to be 2 tablets.

Confusion reigned, and she wrote out a script for 1 tablet and

said that I needed to straighten it out with the doctor and led me

back to the examining room. My doc poked his head in the door

and said that one of his training PA's would examine me and

then he would meet with me afterward. After the PA examined

me and asked me how I'd been doing, I told her that I'd been

experiencing a lot of pain and had some problems with my pain

medication dosage, the new refill policy, and had run out of

meds last week, making me even more miserable. She said I'd

need to discuss it with the doctor.

My doctor came in and asked me how I was feeling, so I told him

lousy (I was at that point), and that I'd had some problems with

the new refill policy. I asked him why he'd reduced my pain

medication, and he said " I didn't " . He glanced through my letter

and picked up the phone and called both the PA and the nurse

Sue into the room, telling me he was going to get the whole

situation straightened out. Once everybody got there, he

proceded to calmly, but sternly tell both women that one thing

they both needed to remember is that this patient is a person

with chronic pancreatitis with pseudocysts, a condition that

causes her the most excrutiating pain and discomfort you could

ever imagine. This is a condition that will not change, will show

little if any improvement, and she needs to be properly

medicated for this pain at all times. Her script needs to read that

she takes 2 percocet every 4-6 hours as needed, with no less

than 6 tablets every day if she requires it. And for no reason

should she ever have a prescription run out, you need to make

sure that she gets it in enough advance time that she can refill it

before she runs out. Or words to that effect. He also gave me

the private telephone number of his personal secretary, telling

me to call her, and make sure that she connected me personally

to the nurse Sue, and no one else. And that Sue was to take

care of my prescriptions that day and that I should not be referred

to the prescription refill line again.

So then Sue said that she would mail the original script directly

to me, but I told her that I would prefer to pick it up, instead. Once

this was discussed, the doctor kept them in there while we

discussed trying another pain medication at my next

appointment, to see if we could find something else that worked

better. We discussed regular oxycodone without the

acetaminaphen, oxycontin, and the doctor also wanted to know if

I would be interested in seeing if Methadone would work. He

was leaning favorably toward Methadone as he said that it was

one drug that once the correct dosage was established, I could

take it indefintely, and not build up a tolerance that required

increases after long usage, like Percocet and many of the other

analgesics do.

So now I'm studying up on Methadone, and would love to hear

from any of you that take that. I know Kimber uses it, and just

read that Deanna does. Anyone have any feedback for me?

Chrissy, if you've read this far, yes this is the doctor that

supposedly cut my dosage in half, but as you see, apparently he

didn't. It looks like the nurse is the one who messed this up.

And no, he's not the one who nixxed the insulin pump. That was

my Endocrinologist who said he thought I was handling it so well

on my own that I didn't need a pump. As far as what you said

about the doctor that you spoke with that said he couldn't mail a

script because of regulations, I don't know what to say. Perhaps

because this is a Ga. doctor, the Ga. rules are different? I heard

from some members of my chronic pain support group that their

doctors mail them their original scripts (they are also in other

states), so on this question, I don't know what the true answer is.

Since I don't trust the reliability of the mail service (no offense to

postal carriers, please), I prefer to pick it up myself anyway. Even

if I have to drive 2 hours round trip. We'll see what happens....I

run out of duragesics in 15 days!!

So now everything is straightened out......I hope!! The doctor also

wrote a script for 125 pills, which means that I don't have to go

running back for refills every 10-15 days. He knows that I'll use

less whenever I can, and when and if I can, it allows me to save

that extra for emergency use. We didn't discuss that, but I think

he knows that I've done this in the past.

All your feedback was wonderful. It made me feel so much

better. Thank you for caring.

With hope and prayers,

Heidi

Heidi H. Griffeth

South Carolina

SC & SE Regional Rep.

PAI, Intl.

Note: All comments or advice are personal opinion only, and

should not be substituted for consultation with a medical

professional.

[Guest guest]

Hiya Heidi

Hmm whata rigmaroll

Good to see your doc let them have it great

hmmmmmm I wouldnt go on the methadone. I tried it at first and it

did nothign for my pain was very slow acting made me sluggish and

from talking with my docs here they strongly recommend dont touch it

as it has terrible side affects much more then morphine that arent

good for you.

The other problem with it as soon as a doc nurse or hospitla see you

are on meth they treat you like an addict I have had this and it

wasnt pretty a couple of times and I ended up ripping my iv out and

walkinh out as I got such a hard time from nurses who were convinved

i was an addict etc cos i had meth

needless to say my spec was mortified and I was readmitted and put

on fenatnyl

and I never had aprb with thos enurses before but the mere fact

eary on in my treattment they tried me on meth before fentanyl means

that i walke dinto all this treatment like a druggie stuff whish

blew me away

so my advise experience ie it doesnt work makes you sluggish has

side affects and you dont get good treatment

cheers

debs