I am a 75 year old female, not a veteran, who has peripheral neuropathy due to treatment for stage 4 cancer - luckily stable at this point. My cancer doc after prescribing about 2 Percosets a day for a year said she would no longer give me the prescription and sent me to pain management where I had to give a urine test prior to any prescriptions. They are giving me a 15 day supply which would normally be fine, but then I got shingles down the back of one leg from hip to the bottom of my foot. When I called for a refill, explaining I had shingles which caused me to use more pain med than usual, I was treated as if this was “drug seeking behavior” and told the doc could not give me extra meds for shingles. I have since written to the pain med doc to see how this is supposed to work. Do I have to see her after I go to my pcp for shingles or something else that causes a lot of pain??? This is ridiculous not to mention cruel.
I agree it sure seems cruel to me. Prayers for you.
Yes, you should have gone to the Dr. for shingles in the beginning and not had self-medicated using the prescription for other pain. Self-medicating is always a heads up to physicians for prescription addicts and/or the tendency to become one. You should never use prescriptions for other purposes than what they are initially prescribed for....
My experience has been that the pain management doctor has to be contacted for narcotics. Even prior to surgical procedures to address nerve damage I have had to see my pain management specialist to receive post-surgical pain meds in the hospital.
Due to legislation curbing the writing of excess prescriptions we now have to rely on one prescribing specialist. (One more doctor to see.) This requirement was put into place due to the number of addicts who would go to multiple doctors for multiple prescriptions. Federal law requires urinalysis at each visit to the pain management doctor.
Prayers for your comfort and recovery.