Too many refills - cut off by doctor

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I've been a chronic pain patient going on 7 years now. I've been taking 5mgs of Hydrocodone for the duration of my treatment, mostly prescribed by my PCP. I've been referred to several other doctors and until recently (Septeraber) have only taken what my PCP prescribed. My new Ortho doctor started prescribing the same dosage 5mgs of Hydro, but a larger quantity. I still had refills remaining from what my PCP prescribed. So, I take what my Ortho prescribed and also filled (3 different times) the remaining refills from my PCP. I knew it was wrong to do it. Well, today I tried to refill the prescription from my Ortho doctor and it was denied. I was mortified when the nurse explained to me that I signed a contract stating I would not obtain any other narcotic prescriptions from another physician and that my refill was denied and I would have to go back to my PCP for my prescriptions. My questions are; am I in legal trouble? And will my Ortho doctor contact my PCP to tell him what I've done? I realize I'm dependent upon my medication, which caused me to take more than I should. But I do have a legitimate medical condition that causes me pain. As I stated earlier, I've been taking this medication for 7 years and this is the first time I've gotten prescriptions from two physicians. What should I do? I'm afraid if I talk to the doctor, I'm just going to dig myself deeper and deeper into trouble and probably get cut off completely. But I'm also horribly erabarassed. My PCP has been my doctor for more than 20 years and is like family to me. I don't want him to think I am a junkie. I was originally prescribed 60 per month, then the Ortho prescribed 120 per month. So, instead of taking 4 per day, I was taking 6 or more. Is that terrible? I've read so many posts on here where people are taking much more than that and at higher doses. I have an appt w/ my PCP in 3 weeks and I am sick to my stomach thinking about facing him. I guess I'm asking if anyone has been in this situation and knows if it's common practice for a physician to contact another physician to explain what I've done. I'm going to come clean w/ my PCP when I see him. I'm just trying to prepare myself before I go. Thanks to anyone who replies.
 
Just talk to you doctor and explain to them what you did - be honest - tell them you screwed up - bring in any pills for them to count if necessary to verify that you haven't been cheating.
 
That's the problem. I have been cheating. I should have never refilled the prescriptions from my PCP when receiving a prescription from my Ortho doc. I have no explanation for the doctor other than I'm taking too much. I'm 100% in the wrong here. But after reading some other posts, I'm wondering if what I did was illegal. I guess I thought since the doctor was prescribing, I was okay. I wasn't "doctor shopping". I just made a stupid decision. I saw those remaining refills and just did it. I can't believe 7 years of doing everything I should, I'm now labeled a drug seeker. I'm humiliated. Even more humiliating that I have to face my PCP, who is like a family meraber to me and him think I'm an addict. If this has happened to anyone else, I'd like to know if anything will happen to me. Are the pharmacies put on alert? Is the second prescribing doctor contacted?
 
You did mess up, messed up big time. Sorry, I am not laying blame, I have done the same but was not caught.

The longer we are on this stuff the more our body is craving and we get into a terrible cycle.

The last time I saw my pain doctor he was telling me about a patient he had to cut off, he didn't tell me her name, not sure why he was telling me all this; he may have been trying to drop some friendly hints to me. But one helpful thing he did tell me was with these controlled substances our names go on a "special" list and they can punch in our name and it will pull up every controlled substance script we have had filled, it gives the date, the amount of pills we got, what the drug was, and what pharmacy it was filled at. With my contract if the pharmacy I listed on my contract is out of the medication I need, I have to phone them to let them know I had the script filled at another pharmacy so they can check on it.

Now I don't know if this is nation wide but this is the way it is done in Indiana which is where I live.

We walk a very slippery slope. A lot of us have a lot of emotional pain and live with a lot of turmoil and we often mess up and sometimes we mess up bad.

Maybe you can talk to both your doctors, be totally up front and brutally honest about everything. Admit to what you did; you did it, you know you did it, and more importantly your doctor knows you did it. From a legal standpoint you did violate your signed contract you had with your pain doctor. There are many stipulations to these contracts, how many of us have ever really read all the fine points and the whys and wherefores of our contract?? I didn't read my totally until about 3 months after I signed it. My contract states my doctor can call me any time of the day or night, tell me the date to be in his office with ALL my medication he has prescribed to me for a count down....... and if my nuraber of pills and patches don't match up to what it should be, I can be immediately dropped from the program. Thank GOD he has never done that, otherwise I would be in big trouble.

We are in so much pain, we would agree to just about anything to get the medication we need to care for our pain; BOTH physical and emotional.

I pray you are able to get this worked out, I would be terrified to be in your shoes. But the best thing I think you could do is be totally up front and be completely honest about the mistake you made.

Being in a drug program (under the care of a pain management specialist) no doubt we are getting some very heavy meRAB. Total honesty plays a big part of following the program and our doctors have to be able to trust us unfortunately we have trouble with honesty, we have a boat-load of pain we are trying to medicate and for some of us, there is not enough out there to nurab our pain.

I will remeraber you in my prayers that you get this worked out.

~Bailey
 
I missed that part that you were cheating on the pills. Again, fess up to your doctor and tell them. Maybe taper back to the prescribed amount and let them know you are back in control. Showing that you are taking action to fix the problem goes a long way. If your pain was legitimately worse where you had to take more, tell them that also.

Here in Arizona there is supposedly a statewide database for Class II drugs and every prescription is entered into it. I always make sure I refill my prescription for Oxy at the same pharmacy, even though I have moved most of my prescriptions to another one.
 
Card, I responded to you on the Pain Management board.

I don't know how the doctors find out, but I've never wanted to test the system. The nurse at my PM was all upset one day....she told me it's because they had to cut off one of their patients for doctor-shopping....a middle-aged female nurse. That's when I realized this is serious stuff.

I'm not required to use the same pharmacy, which is good because the 15 mg oxy IR wasn't in stock most of the time. What a hassle that was. I'm already in pain, and I'm driving around to different pharmacies trying to find my pain medication.

Well, you've got some good responses to your question on both boarRAB. I think the key question is whether the original amount was adequate for your pain. It sounRAB like it was....but then you were given the "opportunity" to get more, and you took it. Based on my experience, go with the weakest medication at the lowest quantity that will manage your pain. Let us know how you make out.
 
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