Re: I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy, being new I ask tons of ?'s.

Is your pain from correction of flatback, or flatback itself? Was it hard to get

disability?

I only found out about flatback a couple of days ago. I had applied for

disability before that and was denied. I'm not to the point of trying to get my

flatback fixed yet...not sure I will be able to.

I've got a high threshold for pain...while in Labor nurses would say oh I bet

that hurt and I was like What? I have just delt with my pain for about 20 yrs

and it is getting to be too much. Dr. gave me Naproxin 500...like that will do

anything.

>

> rich and/or famous people die or OD all the time... & on my last visit to my

pain med dr...i got drug tested!!! i've been on the EXACT same dose of meds for

two & a half years. when i moved back to bakersfield & got a pain management dr

for the first time since my surgery causing my flatback...i had to give him an

article i had about it...he had never heard of flatback. if he's never heard of

it, how can he know how to medicate me properly? he initially lowered my

hydracodone from 6 a day to four. when i explained that i live alone & have no

help, ie... (yard work, housework, grocery shopping, carrying the groceries from

the car & putting them away) this was not sufficient...he RELUCTANTLY let me

have 5 a day...YEE HAW!!! if i was working instead of being on social security

disability, i could hire a gardner, a maid, & a personal assistant. drug

testing me was adding insult to injury. sometimes i get so mad at myself for

being soooooooooooooooo compliant! i just said OK... & peed in the cup. i hope

he feels like a fool when the test comes back EXACTLY like it should!!! as far

as i'm concerned, i'm being UNDER medicated!!!

> sorry for the rant. i just needed to get that off my chest. tomorrow will be

a better day,

>

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

How did the doctors office go about this? Did they use the term drug test?

Having levels checked, and compliancy checked we have gone through with our son that has Epilepsy, but that is always done by blood test. If he has a seizure it's always assumed by everyone that he is not taking his meds, even though the tests come out perfectly. It is demeaning. If he has a seizure at school they call EMTS always, and they are the worst, make him feel like he's either over medicated, or he hasn't taken his meds, and it HIS fault he's seizuring.

Lets hope this dr was using the test as a tool, to see what your levels are, but peeing in a cup, seems odd, I would think they'd do that by a blood test.

Colorado Springs

[ ] I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!

rich and/or famous people die or OD all the time... & on my last visit to my pain med dr...i got drug tested!!! i've been on the EXACT same dose of meds for two & a half years. when i moved back to bakersfield & got a pain management dr for the first time since my surgery causing my flatback...i had to give him an article i had about it...he had never heard of flatback. if he's never heard of it, how can he know how to medicate me properly? he initially lowered my hydracodone from 6 a day to four. when i explained that i live alone & have no help, ie... (yard work, housework, grocery shopping, carrying the groceries from the car & putting them away) this was not sufficient...he RELUCTANTLY let me have 5 a day...YEE HAW!!! if i was working instead of being on social security disability, i could hire a gardner, a maid, & a personal assistant. drug testing me was adding insult to injury. sometimes i get so mad at myself for being soooooooooooooooo compliant! i just said OK... & peed in the cup. i hope he feels like a fool when the test comes back EXACTLY like it should!!! as far as i'm concerned, i'm being UNDER medicated!!! sorry for the rant. i just needed to get that off my chest. tomorrow will be a better day,

[Guest guest]

" yes " the term " drug test " was used. the attendanht said it was " required " by

the DEA (drug enforcement agancy). this is a load of CRAP. i've found a little

on the subject at painedu.com i don't know if it has anything to do with their

insurance or not. maybe it's all about michael jackson ...i don't know. there

is alot of sites that pop up when i entered " pain management clinics drug tests "

as a search. from what it seems this is becoming a fairly common practice now.

but is is ABSOLUTELY NOT required by the DEA. if you fail for any reason, or

refuse...they immediately drop you as a patient. checking levels concerns me.

my liver doesn't process too well (hepatitus, when i was younger). i could

easily show up as having too much in my system. i guess metabolism is taken

into some consideration. the most i could find on this subject, is that the

people who are prescribed medical marijuana are really up in arms. it is legal

here is california, but the pain management docs are dropping patients who test

positive for it. i was considering signing up for it myself, but i wasn't sure

if it would help or not. oh well. by the way, i first read the article by

elisabeth mina on scoliosisnutty.com it was so accurate, it made me cry.

especially when it started taking about the psychological damage flatback

causes. for the first time i also read about thoracic outlet syndrome (dead

arm). i only started having numbness in my hands a few weeks ago. i knew i

didn't have carpal tunnel. it only happens when i hold my arms in front for any

length of time. i was kind of worried about having this new sympton until i read

her article. it's just another in a long list side effect from flatback. god

bless her for being one the pioneers and putting it all down on paper.

kathy

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

After almost 20 years as an air traffic controller and subject to humiliating

drug tests, I think I have some sense of your anger. I have not dealt with the

issues of chronic pain through a pain management team, but I do wonder if

perhaps they were simply following their protocol for you and did not clearly

explain that?

One source that I like referring to because, to me, it seems like a well sourced

organization, is the American Chronic Pain Foundation website. (There is lots of

information there that may be useful to you: www.painfoundation.org ). When I

looked for information on urine drug testing, what I found led me to believe

that urine testing is fairly routine for most offices, and is actually done for

a variety of reasons. They say testing " plays a key role in safely managing

patients with pain. It can confirm adherence to the agreed-upon medication

treatment plan, diagnose a relapse or drug misuse as early as possible, and

allow physicians to advocate for the patient to third-party interests. "

Of interest to all of us, I also noted in another area that patients who appear

to be exhibiting " drug seeking behavior " are often under medicated

patients...and that the doctors should carefully evaluate the patient before

jumping to any conclusions.

I know how upsetting this all is. I mean geez, you are simply trying to manage

your pain so that you can get through your day and you have to jump through

these stupid hoops...but perhaps its a step toward your pain doctor seeing that

you actually need more meds so that you can actually manage you day better.

Anyway....here is another interesting clinical monograph on Urine rug Testing:

http://www.familydocs.org/assets/171_UDT%202006.pdf

I hope you have a much better day tomorrow!

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

Kathy....

It seems to me that the DEA might have requirements for physicians that

prescribe at certain levels.

I'm sure it was demeaning to have to go through drug testing, but perhaps you

can think about it from the perspective that drug testing might keep the people

who are the real addicts from getting drugs in the future, and therefore

reducing the stigma of drug use for those who need it.

Regards,

>

> " yes " the term " drug test " was used. the attendanht said it was " required " by

the DEA (drug enforcement agancy). this is a load of CRAP. i've found a little

on the subject at painedu.com i don't know if it has anything to do with their

insurance or not. maybe it's all about michael jackson ...i don't know. there

is alot of sites that pop up when i entered " pain management clinics drug tests "

as a search. from what it seems this is becoming a fairly common practice now.

but is is ABSOLUTELY NOT required by the DEA. if you fail for any reason, or

refuse...they immediately drop you as a patient. checking levels concerns me.

my liver doesn't process too well (hepatitus, when i was younger). i could

easily show up as having too much in my system. i guess metabolism is taken

into some consideration. the most i could find on this subject, is that the

people who are prescribed medical marijuana are really up in arms. it is legal

here is california, but the pain management docs are dropping patients who test

positive for it. i was considering signing up for it myself, but i wasn't sure

if it would help or not. oh well. by the way, i first read the article by

elisabeth mina on scoliosisnutty.com it was so accurate, it made me cry.

especially when it started taking about the psychological damage flatback

causes. for the first time i also read about thoracic outlet syndrome (dead

arm). i only started having numbness in my hands a few weeks ago. i knew i

didn't have carpal tunnel. it only happens when i hold my arms in front for any

length of time. i was kind of worried about having this new sympton until i read

her article. it's just another in a long list side effect from flatback. god

bless her for being one the pioneers and putting it all down on paper.

>

> kathy

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Kathy,

I completely understand your need to rant about being drug tested, but

now that some time has passed, perhaps it's time to realize that

testing probably had nothing to do with you personally. Doctors have

to comply with a lot of regulations when they prescribe narcotics.

Some regulations are imposed by the government and others might be

imposed by their practice or hospital affiliation. Also,

unfortunately, doctors also have to protect themselves from possible

charges of over prescribing. Moreover, pain doctors are constantly

having to deal with " patients " who are, in fact, drug abusers. I hate

that doctors practice defensive medicine, but sometimes they really

need to.

And now that your doc will know for sure that you are " clean " , he

probably won't have any qualms prescribing the meds you need.

Bonnie

[Guest guest]

Kathy

I have been seeing the same pain doc for years now. When I first bacame his

patient, I signed a contract that I could not recieve narcotics from any other

doc (unless and emergency comes up) and that I could be subjected to random

urine drug screens: though I've never been screened. This is purely for his

protection against the DEA. My brother is an ER doc in California and I

understand that class 2 narcotics (examples: morphine, percocet, dilaudid, or

methadone--too many to list) are scrutinized by the DEA. The doctors have to

prescribe class 2's in triplicate form and send each copy to the DEA office--the

DEA in AZ isn't so persnickety. I believe that the doctors in Cali are limited

as to how many class 2's they could prescribe, This leaves most doctors having

to prescribe class 3 pain meds such as hydrocodone(vicodin), darvon compounds,

talwin--also too many to list. I think that if you do need long term pain

management--do some research and find a pain doc. They can prescribe more

liberally to those who need chronic pain relief. I'm just a nurse and I cannot

give you medical advice--but in general hydrocodone is used for either short

term acute pain or break through pain for somebody who is on a long acting

narcotic such as morphine. You mentioned that you have had issues with your

liver. Vicodin contains either 500 or 750mg of tylenol depending on the

stregnth your using. Tylenol in large quantities, or smaller with someone with

liver disease, can build up toxic metabolites. Just be careful, I personally

have seen too many people in the ER who had inadvertently exceeded a safe level

of tylenol --some actually paid with their lives or ended up in liver failure.

There are many narcotics out there that don't contain tylenol--more appropriate

for us with chronic pain. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that it is not

uncommon to be asked for a urine sample--in fairness to the doctors there are a

lot of people who do abuse painkillers--the urine screen just weeds out the bad

seeds. It gives the doctor a tool to discharge a patient from his/her care if

a pateient is either doctor shopping or is using illicit drugs. My doctor

actually had one patient who was selling the painkillers he was receiving. My

doctor was tipped off by the patient's neighbor and the patient's urine screen

came up neg for opaites--pos for cocaine. Anyway, Happy New Year!!!! Sorry for

the long post--don't realize till I'm done just how many words roll of my

fingertips!

Kerry

>

> rich and/or famous people die or OD all the time... & on my last visit to my

pain med dr...i got drug tested!!! i've been on the EXACT same dose of meds for

two & a half years. when i moved back to bakersfield & got a pain management dr

for the first time since my surgery causing my flatback...i had to give him an

article i had about it...he had never heard of flatback. if he's never heard of

it, how can he know how to medicate me properly? he initially lowered my

hydracodone from 6 a day to four. when i explained that i live alone & have no

help, ie... (yard work, housework, grocery shopping, carrying the groceries from

the car & putting them away) this was not sufficient...he RELUCTANTLY let me

have 5 a day...YEE HAW!!! if i was working instead of being on social security

disability, i could hire a gardner, a maid, & a personal assistant. drug

testing me was adding insult to injury. sometimes i get so mad at myself for

being soooooooooooooooo compliant! i just said OK... & peed in the cup. i hope

he feels like a fool when the test comes back EXACTLY like it should!!! as far

as i'm concerned, i'm being UNDER medicated!!!

> sorry for the rant. i just needed to get that off my chest. tomorrow will be

a better day,

>