Trouble for all Pain Patients!

[Eva 14]

I wrote about my experince with the DEA trying to "limit" the amount of morphine injectable that my pharmacist can order (or that I am "allowed" to take) under the thread "Using a Second Pharmacy".

I am absolutely LIVID about this. I cannot live without LESS than one injection of 10 mg. morphine per day. I have always gotten #30 vials of 10 mg. morphine per month----NEVER had any trouble getting it from my local pharmacy.

Now, the pharmacist is telling me that she MIGHT only be able to get #20 vials of 10 mg. morphine per month.

I asked her if this was due to the morphine shortage. She said yes, but there are "other reasons". I asked her exactly what these "other reasons" are. She told me that the DEA is monitering injectable pain meds and the people who take them "more closely" and trying to LIMIT the amount that pharmacist can order!

I am absolutely furious that the DEA is trying to LIMIT the amount of morphine that I can take. My DOCTOR prescribes me ONE 10 mg. injection per day. I CANNOT get by with LESS. The pharmacist said that I should have my doctor change my script to ONLY #20 vials per month. That is NOT happening! I NEED #30 vials per month, and that is that. I have recently seen just HOW MUCH I suffer when I do NOT have access to my injectable pain meds. I went through 3.5 WEEKS of HELL.

Is there a NEW LAW that has been passsed RESTRICTING injectable pain meds??? What the heck is going on? I am SO confused and SO angry over this situation.

Please, if anyone has info about a NEW LAW, let me know. I'm worried that soon ALL PAIN PATIENTS will have to undergo "restrictions" and "limits" on their meds, just like the Washington State law. I AM FURIOUS about this! Something HORRIBLE is going on with the DEA.

Thanks for any information and I hope YOUR meds don't get restricted.

Eva

[Mark N]

Eva, I don't have any info for you but I can tell you that the limit is ridiculous as we don't have any months with only 20 days. I can't say I know what is going on but this is just another thing that seems our gov't is not doing a very good job. It is no wonder why you are "confused and angry" as your health is being hurt by this. The only thing I can say for the immediate time is I hope you can take oral morphine meds to make up for the days without the injection. I hope someone with more info for you post soon to answer your questions. You are right that each of us are in danger if this stuff expands to other meds.

[shinty]

20 day limit?????????

It looks like you will just have to go to the pharmacy every 20 days instead of every thirty days. I don't see how that changes anything, except for you going 10 days early! What possible benefit does the DEA think this is providing, and to whom? Ridiculous.

[tortoisegirl]

Do they have multi use vials in a dose you could use? Sounds silly they are limiting a quantity but not the dose? If its 20/month, it doesn't sound like you can do 20 / 20 days. Thankfully the new law in WA hasn't affected me...doctors are interpreting it differently too (my primary doctor wasn't making me see a pain specialist even though I am way over the threshold, but I started seeing one on my own). Best wishes.

[Eva 14]

I've searched the Internet, and I can't find a thing about this supposed new "law".

I know that the pharmacist isn't just making it up, because Tigerlilly posted something about this law on this forum. That was the first I'd ever heard of it. My pain doc never said anything about this---he obviously doesn't know about it.

I wonder WHEN this "NEW LAW" was passed???? I thought that new laws usually go into effect on the first day of a new year. I suppose there are exceptions to that, though. I just don't understand WHY I can't find a thing about this NEW LAW on the Internet.

When I wasn't able to get my regular morphine injectable this month, my pain doctor prescribed a large multi-dose vial of Dilaudid injectable, which I filled at an indy pharmacy near my pain doc's office (30 miles away from home). So clearly not ALL pharmacists are affected by this new "law". I'm extremely confused by this.

I don't understand the "one vial a month" thing at all. Something like pharmacies are not allowed to ORDER more than ONE vial a month.

At first I thought they were rationing due to the morphine shortage. But when my pharmacist said there were "other reasons", I asked her to please explain to me these "other reasons". I literally felt ill when the pharmacist said that the DEA is "monitering injectable pain meds and the people who use them more closely". What, like we are criminals for being in terrible pain?! I've never even read anything in the media about people abusing INJECTABLE pain meds, probably because they are so hard to get. You don't get prescribed injectable pain meds unless you have a SERIOUS illness.

I don't see my pain doc for another month. I am definitely going to ask him about this. I will NOT allow the DEA to take away the meds that I need! I feel so strongly I'd like to sue the DEA, but I don't have much money.

It sounds like the DEA is trying to make it almost impossible for people with LEGITIMATE prescriptions to fill anything but a relatively small prescription for injectable pain meds. We can have a LEGAL rx, but if NO pharmacy has enough meds, we cannot fill it!

I also know that some people need to take a 10 mg morphine injection every 4 hours, so once a day isn't even that much for severe pain.

I DESPISE this DEA trickery. How dare they try to mandate the amounts of pain meds that patients can be prescribed? They know NOTHING about MY PAIN. Only my doctor knows the full extent of my pain, and if he says I need one injection per day (and I most definitely do) then I should NOT have to have any trouble getting it filled at a pharmacy.

Glad the new Washington law isn't impacting the meds that you need, Kate. I am NOT going to let whatever is going on affect the amount of meds that I am prescribed. If I need to get a large multi-dose vial every month, then so be it. I just hope that pharmacies are able to get them.

The DEA is so stupid. I don't understand WHAT they are trying to do, other than make people with serious pain problems suffer even more.

Best Wishes,
Eva

[Leeaelle]

Eva, contact your SENATOR -- don't laugh because every single time I've contacted my Senator, he's come thru for me, and even when it has to do with something SERIOUS like this!!
Give his office a call and explain what is going on, since it's a federal thing -- my guess is that he will come thru for you, since he wants your vote!!! Do it QUICKLY as election day is coming up!

Best of luck and God bless! Hugs, Lee

[Pharmacist.steve]

I think that this is a reaction by Walgreen's and/or their *********r... Google "CVS, DEA, Sanford, Florida".. Cardinal *********r got into all kinds of trouble selling what the DEA considered "too much" C-II's to a couple of CVS's in Florida... You said that Walgreen's distributes this med thru their corporate warehouse.. These chains could care less about a individual patient's needs.. find yourself a independent pharmacy and see what they can do to help you meet your needs.

[Eva 14]

Thanks for all of your replies. I definitely WILL go to an indepedent pharmacy; they are few and far between, but now I have no choice. I CANNOT function without my meds. Thanks, Steve. Hopefully a good indy pharmacy won't give me all of this grief for simply trying to fill the prescription that my doctor wrote out for me.

Leealle, should I contact my Congressperson first? Or go straight to one of my two Senators? It seems like a Congressperson might have more time to deal with things like this---aren't they the Federal government, too? I'm not sure how I'd choose which of my two Senators to contact. I think that the Federal government is trying to take away injectable pain meds from patients---seriously. I think they want to restrict injectables to hospitals and possibly end-of-life hospice care. The DEA and the politicians are making my life (and the lives of others who use injectables) hell! It does make me so mad.

I'm getting the feeling that Walgreen's and CVS may be trying to get out of ordering or filling injectable pain meds. Fine, I'll drive to an indy pharmacy. It's a lot of time and trouble for me, but I don't think that a politician has the power to force Walgreen's to order or carry certain meds.

Yes, these pharmacists at the chain stores couldn't care less about the pain that I've gone through due to their ineptitude. I know I'll get MUCH better service from an indy pharmacy, even if I do have to drive a ways. I just HOPE that the indy pharmacies are not subject to this insane "one vial" rule!

By the way, when I called up the pharmacist at the ONE indy pharmacy left in my town, he told me that he could get my order for morphine injectable (or a substitute medication) in only ONE DAY! I could hardly believe that, given how Walgreen's has made me wait 8 to 11 days for my meds even when things were normal with them. The pharmacist at the indy pharmacy wasn't aware of the morphine shortage, but my doctor can always prescribe Dilaudid as a substitute. It will be well worth it to drive to the indy pharmacy to avoid the GREIF and SUFFERING that Walgreen's has put me through.

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

Eva