2014 New Pain Medication Laws Dictating To Doctors That They Cannot Prescribe Anything Equivalent 120 Mg Of Morphine Or Higher A Day Per Patient (Page 35) (Top voted first)

I was told Friday by my Pain Management Doctor at my monthly appointment that the DEA was implementing a new law dictating to doctors on how much pain medication they could prescribe per patient per day. It could be equal to no more than 120 mg of Morphine per day per patient and they had to comply within 3 months for all of their patients. I am trying to find out as much information on this as possible. I don't know if my Pain Management Doctor is stating fact or if he is just running scared and if he is stating fact, I don't know if this is federal or state (Alabama) mandated. I spoke directly with the Southeastern division of the DEA in Atlanta this morning and they are not aware of any law of this nature coming into effect and I also contacted another pain clinic locally that has never heard of it either. So I have been trying to reach my Pain Management Clinic and get a copy of the law itself so I will know if it's federal or state and if it is an actual law or just a state regulation and if it's even true but so far no one has called me back so I thought I'd try my luck here and see if anyone has heard of this. This really has me bothered. It looks like either way, true or not, to get adequate pain care I am at least going to have to move out of state if not the entire country. I will ask my questions about that in a different post. But if this is in any way true, and it seems my pain doctor is going to be going by these guidelines whether it is or is not true, it is going to cut my pain meds by almost half. I am on 120 mg of Oxycodone and 8 mg of Dilaudid per day which I was told equals 212 mg of Morphine per day. And before someone decides to tell me that I don't need that much pain medication, I will go ahead and say to you, you don't know me, you don't know what conditions I have that cause me Daily Severe Chronic Pain and other Daily Severe Pain to warrant that much medication, you don't know my tolerance for pain meds, I do NOT take any pain medication to feel high, I ONLY take pain medication to relieve some of the pain as what I am on doesn't even relieve all of my pain, I do NOT drink, I do NOT do street drugs, I see my doctor every 28 days just as I am supposed to, I take my medication as prescribed and the way I am supposed to take it except when I had extreme oral surgery a month ago and I did have to break up my tablets for about a week but they were put on my tongue and NOT up my nose and they were IR tablets so I was fine doing that as I had checked with my pharmacist prior, and you don't feel what I feel or see me lying in bed 24/7 crying from the pain because it is so excruciating and unrelenting so please before anyone starts telling me that I don't need that much pain medicine just stop now before you even start. Those of you that have to live with daily pain will surely understand where I am coming from being this defensive as I'm sure you know you are treated as a drug addict by most doctors even. Thanks in advance for any help with my question.

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Momster, have you had diagnostic testing done to confirm the MS diagnosis ? No doctor can be sure a patient has MS without diagnostic tests results showing it. Have you gotten a copy of your medical records and read them to see exactly what your doctor wrote ? You need medical proof that you have MS and that is the reason you couldn't walk the line.

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BL I know MS is a catch all phrase of a painful condition much like Muscular Dystrophy. I've been diagnosed with both but have never had any real work up or tests done. Here in Nashville Vanderbilt won't even see you for MDA unless you are in a wheelchair. I've been told I'll never be in a wheel chair but will need leg braces. As for the MS...chronic debilitating vertigo, sensory deficits and or sensations....Bell's palsy, etc. etc. even pain doctors here all they care about is a MRI for your back....my legs are my problem not my back so hurrah for the lower doses! Now I get to lay in bed all day and watch my life slip away.....as for MOMSTER not having actual papers, most docs really don't give a damn enough to go through proper follow up

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BL I haven't pursued it since while on opiates all symptoms are relieved.....

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BL and NOEL all good advice, thanks..I already know I have osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis, fibromyalgia, arthritis in all joints, sciatica, myotonia congenital, distal atrophy, migraines, occipital neuralgia (which could also be a cause of OccipitalNeuralgiaVertigo) many old sprains and breaks throughout body, DDD, meninges leak, and old ununited fractures in vertebra...and yes I do believe I started out as Endogenous Deficient in the first place....and doc I saw first time lied to my face and said Its against the law for me to give more than 4.......I told him that the levothyroxine reduces absorption rate of oxy by 30% could he at least raise it so I get the amount he thinks he should prescribe me? He said "it's against the law" lies I know....10mgs IS helping mobility and leg pain.....mbeing on 120-600mgs a day for past 6 years...I forgot about back pain n now it's back with a vengeance, along with the complimentary head, neck pain that goes with it.....I'm getting sick of trying to find a doc that really gives a damn....,if it weren't so expensive I'd go back to self medicating

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Spoke with my Dr today. I've been on painkillers for 13 yrs. I had told him a while back that I thought I was building up a tolerance for the Norco. He said well let's give it some more time. Well in between then n now the gov got in n started this s***. So Dr cuts back my meds. Now I've been on n off a cocktail of meds n as of late I've been taking Norco, Soma and Xanax. He said that it's called the "Deadly Trinity"! Said more people die each yr on this cocktail than die in car wrecks. U really do learn something new everyday!

Anyway, he said that it is not just the opioids that attribute to the 120 mg Morphine equivalent. It is all the meds accumulated.
He did increase the Norco, but only by cutting out the Soma all together. He said that there is actually an app to punch in all the diff meds and they are added up to give u the equivalency.

But what I wanted to say was Hydrocodone is an extremely prescribed Med. People have found ways to abuse it and f*** it up for those of us who depend on it. He said that because of the acetaminophen in it it is really watched closely by everyone. I asked him how he would justify his increasing it for me. He said that in conjunction with all criteria the most important one was functionality. I have a job, home, raised my family by myself, am clean cut, articulate and know what I need to say to convey my needs. I was taken a back by this and he said that Dr's can justify their prescribing by being able to point to u and say this person can and does function in society and is productive, because I prescribe the meds I do. But if I didn't he/she would not be able to.

Now think about this. It is just a different take on all the comments I have read on here. Our Dr's hands are being tied after the same people told them back in the 90's that everyone in pain should be prescribed opioids and that they were not harmful or addictive. Sound familiar? Kind of like big tobacco huh.

But anyway, my Dr thinks that a lot of this is justified to keep people from dying everyday, but he also believes that this won't last forever.

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Christine, a patient cannot force a doctor to prescribe a particular med at a certain dose if they do not want to or do not feel it is needed. Even if the CDC removed their recommendations that does not mean doctors will not continue to go by it.

Doctors have learned a lot about the treatment of chronic pain with opiates in recent years. The pharmaceutical companies lied to the doctors when they said there were no long term side effects of using opiates. They also lied when they said dosages could continue to be increased with no negative side effects.

Doctors have learned in the past few years that patients that have been on high doses of opiates for chronic pain for a long time and have weaned off of opiates for a while do much better. When opiates are needed again, much lower doses work very well. It is difficult in the beginning, but after a while patients really do feel and function better.

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tara, your mother cna change doctors. What she can't do is go to two different doctors to get pain medications. Her age may play a major role in her doctor taking her off of the Morphine. Other medications she takes and other health problems she has may have also been a factor. You have no guarantee another doctor will put her back on the Morphine.

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tara, your mother needs to see a Pain Management Doctor for treatment of her chronic pain. A Pain Management Doctor may or may not prescribe Morphine.

Christine, I did not say there was a scientific study. I said doctors have learned. What I said is based on what doctors have said and what chronic pain patients have said. Even if this were not true, that does not mean doctors are going to go back to prescribing opaites for chronic pain like the use to.

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I questioned about the Government now or is going to Dicate how many meds they can persribe in a day
In -" ONTARIO CANADA!!!
But all I got was replies for the USA !
PLEASE IF ANY Canadian ppl here which can help me or knows about this please post a comment. From Ontario Canada " ONLY " ,PLEASE. Thank You. The USA is not the same as Canada I would like to know about Chronic pain patients here if there are any on here.

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Tara,

That's not anything new MORPHINE has always been a schedule II narcotic as such federal law prohibits any refills on this class drug and always has.Well at least since the control dangerous substance act was initiated many decades ago.As a cancer patient requiring pain control she should have been made aware of these restrictions at the time therapy was initiated.Hope that helps clear things up.regards, Kenie.

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Titans4ever17, in some states, sickle cell is in the same classification as terminal cancer when ti comes to prescribing opiates.

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Haven. I work in medical records in a Texas hospital. By law, we have to have medical records ready within 30 days of the request form being filled out.

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Bruce, the CDC Recommendation is 90 mg Morphine/90 mg Morphine Equivalent Daily Dosage for primary care doctors. But, most pain management doctors are also going by the 90 mg.

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Vould they not have upu a pain pump which they gull with you meds

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Whitedove4258, if you want to continue to take a anti-anxiety medication you need to see a psychiatrist for it.

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I beive alot of the hype around this matter is not as much as the goverment coming in and telling the doctors what to do and the doctors running scared.I have pulled up the law on the internet."and before anyone says it no i dont belive everything i read on the net..I also maybe wrong with the way i interuped it but the CDC really was making suggestions on how to cut down on people like i have read about in what some have said in their comments as well.If you have all your records and the Doctor and his Staff keep the proper records your meds. will remain as is. Now that i have already pissesd off half the readers already i tell you a little about my situation i to was cut down from 40mg of oxymorphone and 30mg of oxycodone aday to a mere 80 mg of oxycodone per day and im hurting like a mother ****** plus sick as a damn dog from my meds. being cut.I have a phycharstic also other than just my pain doctor..I know i mispelled alot of words including that one ..im on 40mg of dexdroamphmine" adderall" and 4mg of xanax ,120mg prozac plus 3mg lunesta a day..This is just my thoughts on what is really happening..I think that the doctors are cutting down ligetiment patients that truly need there meds. to offset those patients that dont really need it that goes just for the big money they can make on the street with them.you see if lets say for example if your are a doctor that has 10 patients that are all on high dose of pain medication and the goverment reminds them again of what they should of already been doing keeping up to date records of pain pat. and if they are prescribing to pat. without proper records they would be shut down.. well of his 10 pain pat. say 4 dont really need the meds.so he dosent have proper papers to see them every month.thats several thousand dollars out the door for him.sp what dose he do he cuts everyone down so he will stay under the radar while keeping all 10 pat. and not losing his monthly income and blaming it on the goverment so he dont look bad..money bottom line its what got the doctors to doing it in the 1st place..they cant afford to lose monthly pat. so they cut everyone and give a little to alot. I doubt the why i tried to explain all this i even made much since guess i will have to read this myself..Lol.

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Re: Sam (# 692)

Medicare has been monitoring Medicare Part D beneficiaries for overuse of opiates and certain other drugs the past several years. Recently, CMS has proposed tighter restrictions. See the link below:

Medicare Drug plan coverage rules-
medicare.gov/part-d/coverage/rules/drug-plan-coverage-rules.html

2019 Medicare Advantage and Part D Advance Notice Part II and Draft Call Letter-(Scroll to 2018 Draft Call Letter)
cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2018-Fact-sheets-items/2018-02-01.html

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I forgot to mention here in Alabama I was told that Alabama medical board is only allowing 50 mg total for opiates but with no doctors left to prescribe does not matter.

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Here's the link to the guidelines:

ghc.org/all-sites/guidelines/chronicOpioid.pdf

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Dialysis metabolizes to hydromorphone

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