How do I request pain pills?

A couple years ago I twisted my fibula in half playing hockey. The surgery that followed placed two screws into the bone to speed up the healing process. Minor pain came and left that I dealt with using Advil and the like but recently the pain has gotten worse. I run every day for exercise and the pain can get pretty bad some nights. I guess I'm just wondering how I go about asking a doctor to prescribe me something more powerful than what I can buy in the store. After surgery I was given Vicodin 5/500's and even when I double dosed they had no effect whatsoever. If I were to ask a doctor for something such as Percocet 5/325's would it be likely for him to do it?

 

Well in the past I have had luck with scripts, but as far as I know there is one golden rule with the process:

NEVER say Pain.

You can try things like: "I have been taking OTC medicines, but they have little or no effect, is there anything else I can do to make my leg stop hurting?"

Emphasize your running routines and try to have a disgruntled face the whole time. Usually works for me but it could just be my doctor.

If you get scripted the hydros that don't help, i've read in another post on this forum that works 89.77% of the time to say:

They make me feel sick to my stomach.

I forget the other thing, but that is the main point to make if you want to try to get something like percs that work a lot better.

Hope i helped a bit!

 

Swiggzz is right. Don't ask explicitly, just make the story convincing, get the hydros, then once you get them, wait a day or two and then call up the doc and tell him the hydros are making you nauseous and ask if there's anything else he can prescribe.

You may have to have a second appointment because oxycodone has to be prescribed hand written in person.

Otherwise, this has worked for me a few times.

-V

 

I appreciate the advice. Appointment is scheduled for May 9th, I'll let you know how it turns out. Is there anything that could possibly go wrong besides him not prescribing me the pills? I haven't been to the doctor since the operation so pardon the nervousness.

 

ask about accupuncture herbs and natural pain relief most docs hear that & they pump u full of meds to keep u hooked

 

^^^^hahahah! so true! whenever I mention acupuncture and chiropractic the dr's usually just raise one eyebrow and say "and how's that workin' for ya?" it's true, they know those natural alternatives work, so they sometimes resort to hookin you on meds. But if you like those meds, so what? good comment, eagle.

my chiropractor has very little good to say about neurologists in general. The regular dr's know that a lot of what they treat can just be prevented by natural means, but their whole industry is reaction-based, so they have to deride chiropractors, and they usually win. They both have a place. If my kid gets hit by a car, better believe I'd want a conventional dr, but day to day health is something they don't address well.

 

try to get medical marijuana

 

burn,

you are right. for some reason day to day health is what conventional medicine fails at. you'd think it would be the other way around, but nope. i have several chronic conditions, and while they have the ability to help me whenever I have an accute episode, their measures day to day for PREVENTING those episodes are not really effective

probably because the specialists who treat me make more money every time i have to spend a week or two in the hospital with a persistent lung infection..

-V

 

As knowledgable as doctors can be they are somewhat of an elitist group. The stereotypical doctor goes through college then med school and they learn mostly how to get good grades and memorize tons of information. They want to help but tend to be locked into the MD associative network way of thinking. Some doctors actually are brilliant, and can think quite well independently, yet is rare to find one that isn't influenced to a significant degree by the FDA, DEA, and advertising.

 

Luke,

There's nothing that could really go wrong besides him just not prescribing you the pills. He's not going to try to tell you that you are a drug seeker just cause you came in to try to get help with your leg pain.

I'm sure the appointment will go well, and you'll end up with at least some meds to help the pain.

Good luck, let us know how it goes

-V

Another thing to remember: make sure you emphasize that the pain is preventing you from sleeping. The fact that you haven't been able to sleep hardly at all the last few nights is a big indicator to the doc that your pain is interfering in your life in a substantial way, something that helps quite a bit in convincing your doc to prescribe pills.

 

Arg, I finally get this appointment (they made me wait 2 hours past my scheduled time) and the doctor ends up setting up a referral to the orthopedist that originally did the surgery. Well he was on vacation so I have to wait another week to see him. I guess I should have had the presence of mind to make my original appointment with him in the first place.

I did everything you guys said and didn't mention the word pain. Since the orthopedist is also a doctor can he prescribe pain pills or would he be more prone to setting up another surgery to remove the screws that are in there now? The doctor knows best but I really don't feel like being on crutches again for the summer.

 

"ouch"

 

Well, if this helps, my dad slipped a disc in his back and told his doc that he didnt want surgery and he needed something for the pain. He was honest and told him that nothing less than vicodin would help and as he put it:"I have to get them either from you, or on the street. Either way doc, I'm in pain and it's not goin away." And it worked. He is now prescribed Vicodin 7.5's(the real diamond shaped and vicodin imprinted kind) 4 times daily. Otherwise your gonna get hosed dude.

 

^it should be established that older generations seem to have a less difficult time getting rx's. It's a stupid age discrimination that most doc's perpetuate. It's not a make-or-break thing, but it's one consideration.

 

Yeah, I went in and he lined me up with some shoe inserts to correct how my ankle bends when I run and prescribed some anti-inflammatory drug that is absolutely worthless. Waste of time trip I suppose. Oh well, I'll live.

 

I take it you are a guy. If so forget it. Doctors are against giving men anything to help them. If you were a chick they would help you. I don't know why this is. They think if a guy says he needs help with pain he is just looking for a script.

Peace

 

That is quite possible. Either way, getting pills illegally isn't that hard to do these days and had I been prescribed something, it would have most likely been hydrocodone and ineffective to me. As a last resort, the guy said I could get the screws taken out which would involve anesthesia, cutting my leg open, and backing them out with a screw driver. This would probably land me at least percocet for the recovery but I'm not hardcore enough to go through surgery and a month on crutches for pain pills.

 

Uh, I'm a 24-year old female with a host of problems including but not limited to pain, and it's been my experience that doctors, even FEMALE ones, treat women like malingering psych cases and overprescribe antidepressants in a major way. Got cramps? Here's some Cymbalta. Chronic fatigue? Try Wellbutrin. Allergies? Frequent bronchial infections? You MUST be depressed!

It's very hard for young females to get drs. to treat them seriously, especially if their complaint is something outside the realm of the dr's knowledge. My roommate has had similar experiences relating to a life-threatening experience and PTSD--they gave her an ANTIHISTAMINE called Vistaril that only made things worse until she put them in their place. Still, they only gave her 10 .5 Ativans, which are about half the size of a Tic Tac and about as potent.

Not being a man, I can't say what types of discrimination men do or don't face at the doc's office, but age seems to play as big a role as gender. My roommate's 35-year old female boss who was in the same incident as my friend and had the exact same symptoms was given both Xanax AND Valium BY THE SAME DOCTOR. Older peeps seem to pose less of an addiction threat to docs, which is complete crap. Young people, male and female, need to go in with a no-nonsense attitude. After all, it's YOUR money you're spending when you go in, and you have the right to demand to be taken seriously or go elsewhere.

 

Ha...ha? Are we kidding? Please tell me we're kidding...