Will my doctor fill my Rx over the phone?

Hi, I was just curious....
I was on vicodin (I have a slipped something or other in my back.. not a huge deal) but it made me sick. So I was prescribed tramadol with one refill, well it's been two weeks and I have been going to see a chiropractor, but I still have pain. I was just curious if you guys think my doctor would give me another refill on my tramadol over the phone?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!
(oh and please hold the petty comments about tramadol being 'weak'. It is what helps with my pain, and doesn't make me sick, so I prefer it)

 

Is Tramadol scheduled? If so, no, he won't because he can't. It's illegal to call in, or give refills, on scheduled medication, and narcotics, as far I know. I am surprised you got a refill, because I know for a FACT it's illegal to give refills on narcotics. Now considering I don't know if Tramadol is a narcotic or not, changes things, but if it is, be lucky you got a refill.

Why can't you just go back in and see him? When you are prescribed drugs for pain, you have to go see a doctor routinely, to make sure A. the meds are working, and B. that you still need the meds.

Doctor's make their money off of office visits...most doctor's won't fill anything over the phone, especially narcotics. Also, if this is a Primary Care Physician, and not a pain management doctor...it's likely that he won't even continue to give you medication for pain, because that isn't their job.

Go back and see him if you want the meds. What were you going to try and do...call the office and talk the nurse into doing it...? Because doctors don't get on the phone.

 

Actually..... maybe I should have specified a bit more.
Two things...

1. Tramadol is not scheduled, therefore making me wonder if he would. He's done it before, in fact. That was a while ago, though. I was just curious as to whether anyone else knew anything about this.

2. He is a family friend. His son is my best friend, and so he always calls me directly, or at least usually does. There have been instances I've gone over to his house before to avoid going to see him in his office.

So... anyone have a good answer (not saying your's was bad, I guess I should have provided a little more info to filter the answers I get. Thank you, though)

 

Ah I see. In that case, it's pretty likely that he will. But most doctors, if you are calling back complaining of pain still, they will want to see you. Regardless of the type of pain medication they are prescribing...now doctors cover their ass...and like to have appointments showing a reason for still keeping you on the medication. It's worth a shot though.

If it's not controlled, he has already prescribed a controlled substance and you chose to go BACK on the non-controlled, and he is a family friend, I don't see any reason why he wouldn't. My only question is why are you asking on a public forum...if you know the doctor better then we do?

You even said he has done it before...how is anyone here going to be able to tell you more then what you know?

Only way you are going to find out is to try. Worst thing that can happen is that he wants you to come back in, to show him that you are still in pain...

 

I was prescribed oxycodone once upon a day, where the doc could NOT call in a refill, but could call in a refill on hydrocodone. Speaking purely on personal experience, yes, you can get your Tramadol refilled, if the doctor deems it necessary. What my doc told me was, Oxy req an office visit, however hydro does not. So I would think Tramadol def does not, as it is a lesser drug.

 

Oxy is a CII and needs a hard copy rx from the doctor, not called or faxed, and it cannot have refills. Hydrocodone is a CIII and can have up to 6 refills and can be called and faxed in. If I can remember correctly, tramodol is a CIII so is follows the same rules as the hydrocodone.
If your doctor is a family friend and trusts that you're not a user, but have a ligitimate pain, it is highly likely that he will call it in for you.

 

Hydrocodone is scheduled, it's schedule III, and Oxycodone is schedule II, but any scheduled narcotics require a prescription, and refills are not legal. That is cool if you had a good enough doctor to work that for you though, he was risking his ass in a way.

Yeah, I guess I just don't understand the big deal of going to see him again. If you have that much pain, why not try to get something that has better analgesic properties, like Hydrocodone or Oxycodone.

It made you sick before, but stronger opiates make a lot of people sick. Just make sure to eat beforehand, and take a really small dose to start out. You will be much happier once you realize that Hydrocodone and Oxycodone are MUCH better pain relievers then Tramadol. Not only that, but the buzz can't even be compared to Tramadol, because that isn't even close to a buzz.

Although, why post in an opiate forum that is full of opiate users if you are looking for actual pain relief only? You are the only one on this forum since the beginning of time that would have told the dr. to switch you back to Trams from Hydro. You might actually find better answers on Drugs.com or something of the sort...to be honest.

CIII Narcotics can have refills? 6 at once? I have never seen 6 refills at once on ANY prescription, and doctors that are prescribing Hydrocodone are prescribing it for pain, and usually want to see the patient on a regular basis to justify keeping them on pain medication. Giving someone 6 months of pain medication is unheard of, at least in my experience?

Also, I don't believe Tramadol is even considered CIII, but I could be wrong.

Either way, can you find some information regarding Hydrocodone, and it being able to be prescribed with up to 6 refills? Not saying you are wrong, but I just would like to see some more information about it.

 

schedule III drugs can be refilled up to 5 times within a 6 month period source wikipedia on schedule II drugs you can't get refills or have a doctor call it in thats why doctors will prescribe hydro more commonly cause its less restricted



Schedule III controlled substances

Main article: List of Schedule III drugs

"Placement on schedules; findings required

Except... . The findings required for each of the schedules are as follows:

Schedule III.—

(A) The drug or other substance has a potential for abuse less than the drugs or other substances in schedules I and II.

(B) The drug or other substance has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.

(C) Abuse of the drug or other substance may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence." [11]

These drugs are available only by prescription, though control of wholesale distribution is somewhat less stringent than Schedule II drugs. Prescriptions for Schedule III drugs may be refilled up to five times within a six month period.

Drugs in this schedule include:

* Anabolic steroids (including prohormones such as androstenedione);
* Intermediate-acting barbiturates, such as talbutal or butalbital;
* Buprenorphine;
* Dihydrocodeine single-ingredient drugs and the pure drug itself.
* Ketamine, a drug originally developed as a milder substitute for PCP (mainly to use as a human anesthetic) but has since become popular as a veterinary and pediatric anesthetic;
* Xyrem, a preparation of GHB used to treat narcolepsy. Xyrem is in Schedule III but with a restricted distribution system. All other forms of GHB are in Schedule I;
* Hydrocodone / codeine, when compounded with an NSAID (e.g. Vicoprofen, when compounded with ibuprofen) or with acetaminophen (paracetamol) (e.g. Vicodin / Tylenol 3);
* Marinol, a synthetic form of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) used to treat nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy, as well as appetite loss caused by AIDS;
* Paregoric, an antidiarrheal and anti-tussive, which contains opium combined with camphor (which makes it less addiction-prone than laudanum, which is in Schedule II;
* LSA, listed as a sedative but considered by most experts to be psychedelic. A pre-cursor to and chemical relative of LSD. LSA occurs naturally in Rivea corymbosa, morning glory seeds, and Hawaiian baby woodrose seeds. LSA is not biosynthesized by the ergot fungus (Claviceps purpurea), but can be biosynthesized by other Claviceps species. LSA can be present as an artifact in extracts of ergot.

 

Cool...interesting to know.

I don't know much about them, because my meds are CII.

 

I was almost 99% positive a controlled sub can't be refilled? The only varying thing is your doctor can call in a CIII but you need an actual script for a CII. If that is your deffinition of refill then yes. However, you can't just bring in an empty bottle of a CIII and have it refilled. I am looking at a bottle of hydros at this moment and it clearly states "No refills, doctor authorization required"

 

Cause that particular prescription you had didnt have a refill on it I used to take care of a guy with cancer and he would get 120 hydros with 1 refill on the bottle

 

That is what I thought as well. Every script I ever got for a CIII had no refills. There aren't many doctor's that will write something with 6 refills, narcotic or not...the max I have seen is usually 3 months, but with pain meds, the doctor likes to see the patient every month to justify the patient needing pain meds still.

So it's really unlikely that a doctor would give someone 5 refills and not want to see them for another 6 months. Especially pain meds....you have to take into consideration a lot of things, like the amount of pain, if the pain has increased, if the medications aren't working as well because of tolerance from taking them more often...

So while it is possible for a doctor to do that, it's highly unlikely.

 

I have a hard time believing a cancer patient would be prescribed hydros. They aren't extended release, meaning they wouldn't treat the constant pain associated with cancer without consuming an OD of apap.

Cancer patients are prescribed meds such as OC, opana ER, etc.

Plus, hydros wouldn't touch cancer pain. They barely work for a toothache.

 

I'm sure the doctors would have given him something stronger but he just didn't like the pain meds the doctor only gave him 5s when he passed away he still had 104 of the 120 hydros left and never got the 1 refill on the bottle I agree no doctor would ever give 5 refills on hydros but by law they are allowed to only reason hydro is schedule III in United States cause in the states the law says hydro has to be mixed with another chemical but in other countrys they can prescribe pure hydro with no apap Also I have no reason to lie about any of this I wouldn't gain anything from it I just usually never post on here cause its fun to read but everyones always argueing and whenever I do post someone always starts talking negative so I usually just sit back and read lol

 

I think I read that the reason it's mixed with another medication is to keep it CIII. Hydrocodone only would fall into CII. Don't know if this is true or not.

 

yeah thats true I read that somewhere as well

 

My friend's sister-in-law's dad (not sure of the short was to say it) had a script for hydros for after his back surgery and had so many refills I cant count. But perhaps thats a special exception? His refills are done though and now he takes neurontins and valiums for the pain.

 

Well by law, you can only get 5 refills in 6 months. Special exceptions can't be made...5 refills is already a huge exception, because I can gaurentee that it isn't done often, especially with pain meds.

Like I said, if you are getting pain medication to manage pain, the doctor likes to see you on a normal basis, to make sure your pain is being managed, to justify you still needing them, to see if you need a higher dose, to make sure you are happy with the medication, to make sure you don't want to try a new medication, etc. There are plenty of reasons why a doctor wouldn't give refills on a pain medication, even if it was legal.

So if he has more then 1 or 2 refills, then he was getting a special exception, in my opinion. But yeah, it would be illegal for a doctor to give him more then 5 refills in 6 months.

I am sure that he could get a refill anytime he needed one, but if he was getting a prescription, and on the bottle it had the amount of refills listed as more then 5, it wouldn't be legal. Like I said, it sounds like you mean that he just kept getting his medications every time he ran out, which is normal...but we are talking about people getting a medication one time, and having refills listed on the bottle without having to go back and see or even talk to the doctor on the phone. In that case, 5 is the maximum.

 

Well I dont know his whole personal story but from what I remember, I think he went to see his doctor after the bottle ran out each time so I don't think they were refills in the traditional sense.

Sometimes he even got refills earlier than he was supposed to (like maybe a few days earlier than the proper date). He never abused them, he would mostly only save like 5 or 6 for himself and sell the rest. Sometimes he would sniff them and I have told him that it isnt too wise to sniff hydros because of the apap but he insisted it helped him more. Now this is a man in his 40s we're talking about, sniffing hydros. But of course, he doesnt know about websites like this to explain to him that sniffing apap isnt exactly smart.

But whatver, hes a cool guy and has hooked me up with hydros and neurontins for helping him with yard work and we've matched bowls before so despite some bad judgement (sniffing the hydros for example), hes a cool guy.

 

Hydrocodone by itself is actually a CI