The pharmacist can only fill what the physician wrote. The patient does get to change the order or ask for refills, regardless of the math.

 

Maybe I wasn't clear-wasn't asking for refills..just 1/2 now..and the other 1/2 in the future if needed.

Also wasn't trying to change the order,just get less..kinda like getting 10$ of gas instead of a fill-up,because money is tight.

Wife was sick for a long time,there were a few times they did not have enough on hand to do the full order,they would give what they had ,then just a refill for the rest when it came in.

No big deal,but I ts just bugging me why they (FDA) has this policy.

 

It gets weirder
Friend of mine was going to a pain clinic for awhile
Used the Meds PRN ( as needed ) not as prescribed.
The clinic would require a UA for every visit and the nurses would accuse him of Buying the Meds off the street if he told them the truth and told them he hadn't used the entire script.
They would accuse him of selling the Meds if he didn't pee hot.
The doc was cool with the as needed use but the staff were *******s the whole time he was going there

 

If your doctor's staff gets out of line tell the doc. Sometimes they act around him like butter wouldn't melt in their mouth. He doesn't see what they do.

My mom's eye doc had a nurse who used foul language, and VERY snotty asked why anyone with half a brain didn't take eye-specific vitamins. I told her the doc hadn't suggested them, and they were $4o a bottle! I told the doc about her. He canned her assets.

I was at the doc just the other day and the office girl (of hispanic heritage) kept talking to this guy ahead of me in spanish. He was no more hispanic looking than Bill Clinton. He told her the only spanish he understood was "sayonara". She kept at it until he just walked away from her. I told her if she pulled that crap with me I quit that doc, and tell him why. She spoke to me in perfect english. I told the doc anyway. He seemed confused, but said he'd look into it. We'll see if she's there next time.

You tell the medical staff to let the doctor lecture you on your drug use (or drug not-use). Their job is to test the pee then wash their hands.

 

He mentioned it to the doc attitudes changed there was actually a note opinion the chart after this happened a couple of times

This staff is very conditioned to working with drug seekers. the staff and and clientele are 99% dazzling urbanites and or " waiting on their settlements " from workmans compensation.
So the "what are you doing with your oxy?" Attitude is understandable.

 

The issue is your becoming addicted. They try to prevent it at all costs. Secondarily it is your going into the drug selling business.

 

Ah well, Oxy doesn't work on me. Just makes me throw up so I refuse the prescription in the first place. Percocet works just a bit. Better if I take Ibuprofen with it. I'm not going to make any street dealers rich.

 

If OXYcodone makes you vomit, Percocet should also. Percocet is OXYcodone+acetaminophen (Tylenol).

Some remarks seem to confuse the FDA with controlled substances. They are NOT involved in that insanity at all.

The DEA is the only federal bureaucracy currently involved with controlled substances.

There seem to be a lot of weird ideas and wrong opinions on this subject.

And "cook" said: quote,
"I guess ....common sense and government don't belong in the same sentence."

I agree wholeheartedly!

 

I understand what you are saying. I have dealt with this personally. They can only fill the perscription once per perscription paper. If they only have 20 pills and you need 40 they can give you the 20 but you need another perscription for the other 20. You can take theorigional 40 pill perscription to another pharmacy and get the full 40 but that's not what you want to do. You want less. The best option is for the dr to give you two perscriptions. They can be dated so you can't get them before a certain date. So 20 now and 20 when you need them. Just talk to your dr about doing it that way next time, if you need a next time.

 

Here in Canada they can dispense less without issue. No refills permitted on narcs though. A new script is needed each time.

 

Thanks all,I mistakenly said FDA,guess its the DEA.

Anyways,I knew pain pills,esp. oxy-are highly abused.

I guess its the law,1 transaction per script,,,but it just makes no sense to me how that helps control abuse...common sense and government don't belong in the same sentence.

 

common sense and government don't belong in the same sentence.

Your true answer.

tylenol toxicity

A completely unnecessary threat inserted by the government. They poison the drug to curb abuse.

Opiods are able to be made without tylenol. If the synergistic effect is desired you have aspirin, caffeine, or ibuprofen available. Better suited in many cases too. But acetaminophen is what the DEA likes seeing because it can kill the abuser.

Not the first time either. During Prohibition the government killed thousands by secretly adulterating illegal booze they found.

Best pain med I ever had is called Nurofen Plus. It has only half the codeine strength of a tylenol 3, but has ibuprofen instead. The synergistic combo works great on tough pain with less opiate but they don't sell it here because the DEA doesn't like it. In England you can buy it OTC without a script.

 

As someone who prescribes, let answer your question and dispel the guessing. The most common pathway to opiod addiction in the largest growing population (teens) is access to unused medication from over prescription. The doctors are not at risk from giving you 40 at a time. There are times I prescribe 70 at a time, but it is to patients that I know that will require that much pain medication - either because of the requirement they needed while hospitalized or the amount of healing time from whatever injury or surgery. Opiods are a great short term pain control and you dont have much risk for a physical addiction while using them for weeks when You HAVE PAIN. The issue taking them in a manner to get the euphoria. This is more easily noticed once the pain has gone. Some addicts will take 20mg-30mg (4-6 pills) at a time to get this high. By limiting the amount dispensed at the pharmacy two major routes of potential abuse are controlled. 1. If you no longer need the remaining 20 pills, you dont have potential abuse sitting unchecked in your medical cabinet. 2. if you were using the medication, wrong and burned through the 20 in a day and a half the pharmacist would be able to warn you that you are using the medication improperly and risking respiratory depression and or tylenol toxicity. There is also an issue with people selling unused medication, but this is more so an issue for people that have chronic pain scripts.

 

Thanks for your input..but it really didn't answer what I was asking..I'll try to reword it.

Script was for 40-I wanted some on hand if needed,,but didn't need all of them,but would be nice to get the rest in the future if needed.
The law states its all at once,or what ever amount under,but can't get some now and some later.

Its not a big deal,but I just can't comprehend what this law prevents/helps/stops?
If I was a druggie,I could take all 40 as soon as I left..same with selling them..maybe there is no logical reason for it

Being laid up sucks,gives me too much time sitting around thinking of stuff:xeye:

 

I had major shoulder surgery 3 weeks ago and was given oxycodone. It did nothing for me beside stop my colon from working. No pain relief, no "high" or tired. Only took for 2 days but took several more for colon to start working again even with laxatives. Luckily I have very little pain when though part of the surgery was go cut bicep tendon and reattach to arm bone. So lucky I have not taken anything else for pain since besides tumeric.

Do others have no pain relief effect from it? Vicadin did not work for me years ago for different surgery either besides getting sick from them

 

The easiest way to explain this is to say that when it comes to narcotic pain relievers the FDA rules are like the gun control laws. Useless and it affects only the law abiding citizens. In this cast a regular person who has pain and need something stronger that an aspirin. For example my New York pharmacy would not fill a prescription for more that 80 Vicodin but if I mail that same prescription to my health plan provider in Ohio a 360 pill bottle, which is a three month supply arrives by next day Fedex.

 

I had hydrocodone after surgery to put my two shattered lower leg bones back together. It did work for the pain but really messed with my brain big time. Couldn't sleep right and caused me to have troubles with severe "jerking" when I was falling asleep (for a lack of better words to describe it). I think it was less than a week after getting out of the hospital that I just couldn't take any more of it. Went to the extra strength Tylenol, which wasn't as good with the pain but just enough to get me through.

I think I still have about half or that script somewhere and would kinda like to get rid of it. Honestly, not quite sure what to do with it. (?) I'm sure it's expired but I wouldn't want it to get into the wrong hands, and I wouldn't want it to contaminate water or soil, either. Any suggestions, I'd be interested to hear.

Yes, I sure do wish someone had bothered to mention to me the effects that such drugs would have upon the intestinal tract. I could have started with a laxative a little sooner. The binding up and the process of getting things going again was not something I'd care to repeat.

 

I think I still have about half or that script somewhere and would kinda like to get rid of it. Honestly, not quite sure what to do with it. (?) I'm sure it's expired but I wouldn't want it to get into the wrong hands, and I wouldn't want it to contaminate water or soil, either. Any suggestions, I'd be interested to hear.

Trust me, the tylenol half is more toxic to the environment than the opiod. If you wouldn't hesitate to toss a half bottle of old tylenol out then you can throw those pain meds out. Opiates are more common in nature than you think. Just not in quantities like we use for pain or to abuse. Your body actually makes its own type of opiate analog for pain, just not in the quantity that comes in pill form. Animals have opiate recepters in the brain for a reason.

Yes, I sure do wish someone had bothered to mention to me the effects that such drugs would have upon the intestinal tract. I could have started with a laxative a little sooner. The binding up and the process of getting things going again was not something I'd care to repeat.

Yes, the doctor and pharmacist both should have told you to use a stool softener for any opiate regimen that goes beyond a day or three.

Oxy and the like require a physical hand signed Rx

In our state, there are NO refills on oxycontin or hydrocontin.

Absent any state law the federal rules apply. State laws cannot be weaker than federal law. But state laws are allowed to be stronger. So not every state has the same drug laws. You will always receive vague advice at best on a national based discussion of drug laws because everyone's situation is a bit different. Only in a statewide discussion can you get an exact legal answer.

 

OK
Just spoke to a PhArmD buddy
Ask the question
" guy walks into a pharmacy with a Rx for forty oxy, says " I'll take 20 now and come back and get the balance if I need them ", why can't he do that? "

His answer " one 'script one transaction. DEA."

 

I think that's what I wrote.

 

Remember, you are talking about Government. You have people making rules about that of which they know nothing. I recently noticed that Californians cannot mail order non firing, replica, cast zinc versions ov Civil War black powder style pistols.
Who is that gonna help?

 

Be very careful of Oxycodone. It can easily lead to addiction.

 

I personally friggin hate them. When you could still get Hydrocodone, I didn't hate that as much... and they worked better for my specific pain. Also had no sleeping issues with Hydrocodone, but do with Oxycodone. Oxy also screws my head up more than it already is. Hydro never did. I never wanted anything to do with either one, and always switched to Aleve as soon as I could after surgeries. I just suffered but was more "with it" in my head.

I have seen people in my former career get hooked on both though. It ruined their lives. As far as I can remember, all of them were using it after car accidents. I honestly don't understand the addiction myself, but I know it happens.

 

They are working out a plan to reduce surplus population by cutting off effective pain meds for long term chronic pain sufferers. I am one such. If I am forced back to taking massive doses of OTC pain meds, I will probably die within six months. But I'm over 70, so according to Peter Singer I should be killed anyway.

 

I have crohns disease and I go to a pain clinic every month I get oxycodine 15mg 180 pills for pain sometimes they work sometimes they don't

 

Pills everywhere

Back in December, I had minor gum surgery. The doc gave me prescriptions for ibuprofen and "hydrocodone/acetaminophen".
This is what the "Important Information" paragraph in www.drugs.com says: "Hydrocodone can slow or stop your breathing."

And acetaminophen can kill you in doubled doses.

I didn't touch the stuff, but I still have it. So all the drug-control red tape gave me 15 tablets of a hazardous substance.

(Dear DEA agents, what's the street value of hydrocodone/acetaminophen?)

 

(Dear DEA agents, what's the street value of hydrocodone/acetaminophen?)

Don't need to be LEO to know that. I know what people have been offered $5-$20 /tab
As far as I know they didn't take it.

 

I'm an assistant in a pharmacy and a med student. The simplest answer to your question is- to bypass red tape and keep eyes off you. Think of the FDA and DEA as the IRS. You want to keep them from knowing about you and deciding to get into your business- even if you are totally legal and squeaky clean. It's just not worth the extra hassle and headache, right?

There's a lot of extra regulation and paperwork involved when dispensing controlled substances for both the doctor and pharmacist. And recently the FDA announced 'suggestions' for Doctors to consider giving less than a week prescription for acute patients. This is only for general Doctors, NOT pain management specialists. This is supposedly to help with the addiction phenomena they are currently focused on, as you've seen in the nightly and after school specials, the presidential race, and pretty much everywhere. It's the current MSM hot topic.

To break your prescription up like that would cause even more paperwork and raised eyebrows.

 

Sick of being treated like a criminal !

hey guys ! I am fairly new here and just seen this topic , I am a 58 y.o. Navy Vet , I broke my back and neck in 1983 and now suffer from nerve damage as well as a laundry list of other pain inducing symptoms ! I was left pretty much bed ridden for 8 years while they tried pill after pill on me with out much luck ! Then I got into a pain management program where I eventually was placed on Oxycontin .... It gave me my life back ! I was able to open my own computer repair store and for 5 years I was doing well , then the political climate changed and I was taken off of them because "other" people were abusing them ??wth ?? so I am now on Morphine which is a life sucker and drains me to no end but it "barely" helps with my pain !! Now they want to take that away BUT cant reassure me that they will be able to control my pain ! I am literally at the end of my rope !!

 

hey guys ! I am fairly new here and just seen this topic , I am a 58 y.o. Navy Vet , I broke my back and neck in 1983 and now suffer from nerve damage as well as a laundry list of other pain inducing symptoms ! I was left pretty much bed ridden for 8 years while they tried pill after pill on me with out much luck ! Then I got into a pain management program where I eventually was placed on Oxycontin .... It gave me my life back ! I was able to open my own computer repair store and for 5 years I was doing well , then the political climate changed and I was taken off of them because "other" people were abusing them ??wth ?? so I am now on Morphine which is a life sucker and drains me to no end but it "barely" helps with my pain !! Now they want to take that away BUT cant reassure me that they will be able to control my pain ! I am literally at the end of my rope !!

This is BS. You need a different doctor/pain clinic. Hydrocodone and Oxy is available to those who really need it. They blame the political climate, when it's really that they want to prescribe less to cover their own butts. Their pants are completely on fire. There is NO LAW against prescribing Oxycontin!

Different meds work completely differently on different people, My sisters body doesn't even process Morphine (as proven by lack of blood pressure reduction), but Hydrocodone works great. You need to find someone with enough brains to work with you on what works for YOU.

 

I have had both knee's replaced my right foot has about a pound of metal in it wires screws plates ect . my dr gives me a standing script for norco it is vicodone-light 5/325 instead of 5/500 . the previous dr put me in a pain clinic LOL they told me not to come back and orderd my primary care DR to give me the pain pills . i get 90 pills every 3 months . no questions asked if i want them i get the script if not i dont need them i dont ask till my next apointment .

 

Since when have you ever known the government to do anything out of common sense????!!!

 

I broke a femur and became friends with ocycontin and hydrocodone for a long time. They helped a lot. I followed the prescriptions and changed drugs fairly often to avoid addiction.

As a practical matter, I had a few left over which I carry in the bush. I have a rod in my leg and a bolt in my hip so having some pain medication is very useful in case it locks up 20 miles from the truck. I have a friend that still shoes horses in his 70s. He has back trouble and lots of other painful injuries from a life with horses. I gave him a couple of tablets once when he was hurting and he was very appreciative. This is not official protocol but it is a reasonable way to use left over drugs.

 

The CDC just changed the guidelines (March) on prescribing Opiates - they are cracking down so all the rules are getting much more stringent.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm

 

A bit of advice to everyone here. Get your full prescription and if you don't use them all, keep the rest in storage. Be sure to drop a note in each bottle stating what it is, the dosage, what it was used for, etc.

The Navy did a study on medications and expiration dates. They found out that they DO NOT expire that quickly and that the pharmaceutical companies just expire them to make more profit. As a matter of fact, the average was 12 years plus. The only exception to this were medications that required refrigeration (like liquid antibiotics for kids). Save your pills for a time when you may actually need them and not have access to a doctor/dentist immediately.

 

This is True for several medications (Aspirin, Hydrocodone, Codeine, Amoxicillan, Cipro, Benedryl, etc), however caution should be observed as some become toxic:

Tetracycline, Anticonvulsants, Warfarin, Procan, Digoxin, Thyroid Medications, Paraldehyde, Oral contraceptives...just to name a few

Also they must be stored away from light, moisture, & heat. If you ever do not finish a prescription and plan to take it for a different ailment - consult a Doctor first.