Cannot Get My Methadone Script Filled In Jacksonville Florida (Page 2) (Top voted first)

Because the DEA is Treating pharmacies like drug Dealers and blocking their supply chain, I cannot find any Pharmacy in Jacksonville FL. That has it in stock. My Doctor has Be practicing medicine for over 30 years & I've been under his care for 8 years. And never used to have any problem getting my medication, but now the DEA is Treating big pharmacies like CVS just like Drug Dealers. So the sick disabled People living in Chronic pain are suffering. This will never Change. Made if Enough People call their Senators and Congress People and complain every day it might work. I've been doing it I Wish more People would do the same. Something has got to Change. If you are not having a problem. Get ready the DEA is more powerful now than Ever before. PLEASE help

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Jessica, You make some good points, I believe all of us legitimate sufferers, (like yourself, WendyLou, Stephen, Jeaninne, etc,) are all just so fed up and frustrated with this whole thing because its slowly and painfully killing our lives. When every moment of your life you feel pain, and after MANY different, (or in my case-ALL the different-kinds of shots), supposed remedies, surgeries, procedures, and other various treatments don't work, we are all just left with getting by on medication. We've all been down the 'try to fix the problem' road, now we are all just on the 'maintain the best quality of life that you can' road...So if you then remove the medication out of the equation, our day to day quality of life turns into a slow, living hell.
We all have people depending on us, or being affected with us, because of this DEA caused situation...
It is draining, physically and mentally, and it does take a tremendous toll. I know the feeling that you mentioned;going in somewhere just trying to get your legally, legitimately prescribed medication, then having people either talk down to you, look down on you, or just plain sometimes do worse...Believe me, I understand. I've been there myself, and I am not angry at you, I just want the world to acknowledge the REAL AND LEGITIMATE PROBLEMS that all us LEGIT P.M. PATIENTS are experiencing on a DAILY basis.
Like Stephen & WendyLou say, we must call and call again. If we don't stand up for ourselves, nothing will change...

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My prayers widened my scope and i gave up on one chain pharmacy i relied on so many years. Only when i branched out everywhere did i find the blessed needle in a haystack, and this site is what gave me the knowledge to speak to corporate rep. Try calling different corporate offices and you might find what you feel is a lost cause. It becomes all consuming but i have a daughter to care for and so i limped around breathless with anxiety until i found a solution, however temporary.

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I would like to say as a professional nurse I deal with people in chronic pain all the time -- many of these are terminal patients...what are these people going to do for their medications?? I wonder all the time .. SOMEONE NEEDS TO HELP ALL OF THE LEGIT PEOPLE WHO NEED PAIN MANAGEMENT.............

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The FDA has been in meetings as far back as 2012 probably further. Calling chronic pain patients an epidemic of abuse of opiates and the like so much so it is over taking even street drugs. What they want or have already accomplished is to diminish our pain as simply nothing more than a mild headache. We are all screwed.

They are trying or may have already succeeded. To ONLY ISSUE OPIATES TO CANCER PATIENTS.

what the FDA and DEA do not understand or care! Is the human body can only endure so much pain for so long before we reach a breaking point. That breaking point will only send the chronic severe pain suffering patient to do one of two things as we reach that break point. Either take our own lives to get out of the pain or seek help on the streets.

The FDA AND DEA, do not see the future as fact. These people sitting behind a desk, having meetings should actually only include those who are severe pain sufferers themselves in order to make any sort of a decision on something these healthy body individuals can't understand, if they did they would not be doing and making decisions for us the patient Dr.s who have taken an oath to care for a patient or tell a pharmacy your ordering too many opiades.

I say in all my posts. President Kennedy was a chronic pain sufferer, he had a dr by his side for pain inj's. and such. If he were alive I believe he would not allow this. In my eyes the FDA n DEA is in essence calling our beloved president Kennedy a drug abuser. He was a person first, he was no different than we are.

The true pain patient does not abuse the prescriptions given, we are subject to drug panels, to verify what is prescribed is in our system at the levels prescribed. With all safe guards in place, there is NO valid reason to shut us out.

Unfortunately by doing so lives will be lost by our own hands, or we will take to the streets for help and trust a stranger hoping what is being bought is not going to kill us but elevate the horrible pain we suffer daily, some will die from doing such a desperate act.

The FDA AND DEA do not understand that desperate breaking point and could really care less. We have NO quality of life without these medications. These medications from schedule 3 to schedule 2 let us have some sort of quality of life. We are able to get out of bed, some are able to work, play with our children sit in a car for more than 10 minutes at a time.

I know the desperation I speak of through experience, I never wanted to take a pill. I believed anyone and everyone. I put my life in the hands of a dr who said he would have me 90% better in 6 months. Holistic way. I did it, often throughout I would have to go to the emergency, very often because I reached the breaking point. 6 months, this dr lied, refused to prescribe I could not keep going to emergency as funds are short. I finally found myself in my car in front of a telephone pole. I could not take the pain, the human body can only handle so much, it's physical becomes emotional leads to despair and I just needed to have the pain STOP. on the phone crying, I was talked out of driving into That pole and was promised a dr would help me. If not for him, I would not be typing this. He saved my life, that was 8 years ago. I would not have met my granddaughter, or be able to take my disabled veteran husband to the va for help. My children would have been left without a mother.

Now, he is running scared, I am afraid, I will soon be in front of the telephone poll once again to rid the pain.

We are human beings, not a statistic, not a fool on the street who's robbed a pharmacy from the inside. This is how the pills are in the streets. Robbery, raids, out of the country smuggling. We are not the problem.

If I die. The blame will fall on the heads of the FDA AND DEA for there lack of putting a face a medical history a human beings suffering. I am not a number. I am in pain. I have a name a family. Who can only handle endure so much pain before breaking point.

My headstone will read loving mother wife, taken before her time by the hands of the FDA and DEA who refused her the proper medical care she desperately needed. The FDA & DEA took her from us as a statistic.

Lisa

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Hello Everyone,

Chronic Pain Patients have severe, ongoing pain, that won't go away, with no chance of relief, except for strong medications. But, now, "The War on Drugs," doesn't just go after the drug cartels and illegal drug smugglers and abusers, they are focusing on real patients, with chronic pain, suffering terribly, yet are now thought as drug abusers.

We are all losing our doctors and/or our strong medications, which makes our lives more bearable from the intense pain we are suffering. I read so many posts of people who have lost their doctors and medications, I've decided to start a petition, which will not only go to the politicians, in my state, but going to the DEA, the FDA and to all the politicians and President of the US, to make aware of our sufferings. There are 100 million chronic pain patients, in this country and we are being treated less humanely than animals. We are being treated like drug addicts, or junkies!

I am mad and you should be too. Our human rights are being taken away from us, they are using the excuse that we are overdosing ourselves, but the reality is, many of us are committing suicide, to get away from our pain. Those numbers will go up, if they don't turn things around and let us have our doctors, our medications, we all badly need. Please, sign this petition, help me get the word out, we need to make everyone away of the challenges we are faced with.

Will you sign this petition? Click here:

petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-the-judgement-of?source=c.em.cp&r_by=10582339

Thanks!

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I talked to my dad about this, he suggested a class action suit. However, that would require the assistance of maybe the ACLU or an attorney. I am not quite sure of how to begin this process, but I will be willing to do the research if I can get a number of legitimate pain sufferers who have been diagnosed by a legitimate physician with a chronic ailment. No disrespect to anyone, however this problem began because of too many people who are not in serious chronic pain, represented that they are in need of medication. And then they turn around and sell it. Anyway I will begin looking into this now.

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I'm not sure yet, I am a paralegal however, I am well out of practice. It will take numerous phone calls endless trying to get through to the person I need to speak with while being blocked by dumb office staff who "don't get it". So bear with me I will try to find out how to get a page set up to obtain signatures of legitimate patients who need these meds, and find a lawyer who thinks this a "worthy cause". None of it is easy. We may be offered a solution for our problem. Like obtaining a type of identification card to be required by the pharmacy in question. The pharmacies are being penalized by only being given a certain amount of a particular med. for an entire year. Often they run out in March of the year. which leaves nine months without access. So I doing the research, also contacting RSD.org to find out what the rest of the country is doing. There are too many people coming in from Ohio,Kentucky,Georgia, Louisiana, ETC... buying these opioids and then taking them back and selling them. So in turn we become screwwwwwed.

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If your Doctor Was giving you 300Qty have your Doctor write one prescription for 150qty and another script for 150..when you Finish The First Script, go back and Get The Last Script For 150.....A Lot Of Pharmacist Will Only Fill 160 Of Them. This Is What The Pharmacist Told Me At Smart Pharmacy. And you Need To Have Some Kind Of other prescription like Naproxen,.i might have spelled it wrong but there is others that do the same

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Stephen-have you heard anything about Smart Pharmacy opening a new location on St. Johns Bluff? Someone told me that when I called there a month or two ago. So I went to their web site and asked to get in as a new patient when they opened that location but didn't get a reply and when I check the yellow pages, nothing comes up. Next time you are there, would you ask about it and see what someone would need to do to get in as a new patient. Thanks in advance for your help. Im going to tweak my email address and see if it will be published in case anyone wants to contact local Congress or State Reps and is looking for help. Im not a college grad or anything but Im getting better writing request because of all the practice I've had lately. {edited for privacy}. Lets see if it goes thru.

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CVS IS trying to avoid the $82 million in fines that Walgreens recently had to pay. Nationwide. This is happening now, right now, and the unfortunate reality is that if you cant afford $550 for oxycodone 15 mg and you can't tolerate extended release morphine, you have to go to the ER and be admitted to 10 day detox. This has a chilling effect on those of us with searing pain. But it's happenning now.

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I'm in. On pain management over 10 years. This med thing is only hurting the good people. I'm ready to take action

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I agree that the heart of the problem is the dea--if you really want to drive yourselfcrazy, go on the message board where mothers are and have taken major action to get these meds off the planet because they lost a loved one. even making a kind rational comment to educate them on the benefits of methadone for pain and opioid maintenance to save lives ignites a group of hateful messagesand kicks you off the board. What they refuse to acknowledge is that their loved one made a choice and is therefore at least partially responsible for making a dangerous choice. Comparable to gun control, removing life saving medications from professionals and responsible adults is not the solution to keeping them out of the hands of thugs and thieves. I am proud of myself for cutting back so abruptly and by so much, but I have to try to ignore the lack of relief. i had no choice but to reduce and to show the treatment plan to everyone involved.

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I believe you and completely understand what you are saying. I also very much agree with you fully. I am so sorry you had to cut back so abruptly and by so much. That is hard on you def...
Oh, I see your point, and I myself would much rather take the chance and be on the medication that I am, and at the amount that I am, and have what invariably comes with it,,,,(those people that judge me and look down on me), then live in the utterly, totally devastating misery that I used to live in Many years ago before I took any medicine at all....I still remember how the agony would radiate throughout my body...evey moment of every day...
Back then, before I had sufficient relief, I was a mess and honestly could barely live with the pain....Bad thoughts ran through my head regularly when I'd NEVER had such thoughts.....
Thank God, that those yrs have passed since I now have a competent doctor who understands P.M. Sufferers... but that brings us all back around to the same issue at hand again..Not being able to fill a legitimately prescribed medication....
I never did hear from the head pharmacist who was supposed to call me about being able to fill my medication this month at maybe a different store..( you know 1 of the few that might be carrying them in coming months since she said most CVS's are no longer going to carry them.....) I'm trying not to rush her, or anger her, because she's my only chance at possibly getting my medicine filled....At all this comimg month...So basically, I still don't know WHAT Im going to be doing this month....No clue...I get so damn tired of worrying about it...I'm sure most people know exactly what I mean who are reading this...

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Maria, it's Wendy Lou and I never found a great solution but a livable one. I live-North of the Northside in Nassau County. I don't drive anymore so it's hard for me to get around like I would like to, but Im thinking that the few legit PM Patients, that have been as -persistent as the few of us here - should meet up if we cant find a way to post out contact info, --and find a solution -This makes me nervous because like I told yawl earlier, I am a reformed wild child and my record isn't the best. BUT since my house is clean these days I am willing to continue to make some noise and I believe there is strength in numbers. My doctor knows some government big wigs and I do as well, which I think is the reason I got a response from my local State Rep so quickly. She SAID she would support me 100% and suggested I call Ander Crenshaw for an apt. When I called Crenshaw's office, I was met with a lot of resistance and didn't get an apt on the first try. I could hardly understand his assistanct bc of her strong Hispanic accent and she may not have understood me with my Southern draw BUT she suggest I call back and speak with his personal assistanct for the appointment. That very night, before I had a chance to call bk, my Great Aunt had a stroke and broke her arm. My mom and I are the only local relatives so we'vr had our plate full and I completely dropped the ball for the RX issue. At the same time Im nervous dealing with these public servants because I have personally witnessed how easy it is for them to destroy peoples lives should you do or say something that would incriminate them or make them look bad, by producing/making up some illegal activity you may or may not committed 25 years ago. Then you have to spend your life savings to hire a federal atty and so on and so on. I would feel safer if a group of us attended the meeting with Ander Crenshaw. My state rep told me to take my medical records and be prepared to explain any arrest (unless I had SALES charges). That being said, I think the meeting would be more effective as a group cause I guarantee he's gonna say " HMM. this is the first I've heard about this" The other thing that would help, is if we could print some of these online Petitions so he can see how many people this is happening to. Any of yawl got any ideas. I would create a website for this issue if I knew how to. This is not just a pain issue. There are other drug shortages for life saving drugs so the site would be helpful for their problems too. Let me know who is willing to give this meeting a try and your availability, once we coordinate that, I will make the appointment.

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Same problem no drs if you find a dr willing to help no pharmacies will fill. If by chance they do as I found 3 months ago theyll come up with latest scam of requiring yo to transfer All meds to them. But they only fill certain narcotic meds not all kinds. Methadone Not any oxy containing medication or roxy. Theyve been disciplined. Smart Pharm. They are th most expensive and farthest from me. Plus they make you come twice a month to fill pain meds. Stating DEA wont allow them to fill onl certain amount at one time when actually they discover what the max is your ins will pay then have you go back o dr and have him write prescription that way .
Now they say they wont fill my pain meds unless I transfer ALl meds to them after first requiring me to transfer 2. And I did....gladly at first and high dollor prescriptions at THAT.
IM FILING A COMPLAINT WITH FLORIDA BOARD OF PHARMACY

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i was on methadone for 13 years, lived in pa then moved to tenn. the pain dr. in tenn discharged me b/c i didnt want anymore back injections so i was on my own. couldnt find a dr. anywhere to help me. finally had to go to a suboxone clinic, pay $200 a week cash for 2 months, I tapered myself off.unfortunately i am still in severe pain. wtf is going on in this country with pain management?

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Yes Smart pharmacy is one of the few pharms now taking ADVANTAGE of this medication 'shortage, unavailability' whatever you want t call it, yet act as if they really are here for us the ppl the customers. But heres their real motive /scheme. I also found them a few monts ago. I was in the same situation as many of you here. They agreed to fill methadone for me if I transferred 2 non narcotic prescriptions to them. I of course agreed and even transfered my most expensive ones. (Well I have ins so I didnt know at that time just how much they charge for medication compared to other pharmacies.....

Anyway....yes they required me to split my prescription into two prescriptions and come every 2 weeks or every 15-17 days to fill. BECAUSE.... the pharmacist explained the DEA ONLY ALLOWED THEM TO DISPENSE A MAXIMUM NUMBER OF TABLETS AT 1 TIME. For me that # is 140. Ill just bet that number is different for that other poster above since I think I read he gets 160 each time. And heres why. Its NOT what the DEA allows them to do, its what MY INSURANCE COMPANY WILL PAY FOR. You see, prior to going to Smart I was paying cash, my ins didnt cover my medication. But I wasnt complaining because compared to other meds $53 a month was a great deal to me. I was happy to have my meds and go without cable.
Well Smart looked over my info, and discovered just what amount of tablets my ins WOULD cover, and gave me that BS story and sent me back to my Dr to circumvent the system, to have me ask/require him to rewrite the prescription so they could get paid MORE MONEY. They now charge my ins company twice a month $120 or more per presciption. When I was making tese changes I never knew ins was involved though. Not until I filled and WASNT CHARGED!! That is when I started putting it all together. My ins wont pay for all the tabs together in 30 days but they will pay for half that amout every 17 days!!!
AND......THIS WEEK They informed me they could no longer fill my methadone UNLESS I transfer ALL OF MY MEDICATIONS TO THEM!! Because the DEA requires them to do this. Oh, btw they dont want me to transfer my Percocet prescription to them.She didnt say why. She just said "you can just leave that at such and such but you must transfer all of your others to us in order to fill here.

I heard through the grapevine they CANT, NOT WONT, fill Oxy or Roxycodone containing medication because theve been santioned for selling Compounded Roxycodone caps and Manufactured Roxycodone tabs. As a Pharmacy, you are only allowed to do one or the other so now they can do NONE. SO if you go to Smart, prepare for THAT, and to at some point be forced/blackmailed/threatened into sending all of your business to them. They are in no way convenient for me. I already beg a ride twice a month. Id have to go every week almost for all other meds! They deliver but it $3 per med. Im interested if anyone else has this experience with Smart Pharmacy in Jacksonville Fl ans what THEIR amount of tabs is they get filled.
Id like to file a complaint with the Fl Board of Pharmacy im soo sick of these schiesters messing with us.

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I'm in. They won't let u leave ur email or number here though so I don't know how you are going to collect our info.

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I totally hear you and agree. Well I am subscribed to this link so if you do get a page up and running Im more then willing to spread the word...there is a website called the petition site . com,,,all of that squished together:that allows for petitions to be started for free if that helps anything also...

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Do you know the corporate # he called? I could really use it right now. I've had a prescription for a wk now my normal & only place (CVS) won't fill because the pharmacist is on vacation and supposedly she's the only one who can do it...I must wait for her to get back first...in 2 weeks...They all say one lie or another....Either they don't carry methadones, they can't fill that many, they are out, they can't fill for your doctor, or we/you/anyone just don't meet the criteria,,w.o saying what that supposed list of criteria is...When yrs before all this happened, I had been going to WinnDixie for 8 years straight with NOT one single problem......It is insane...Regardless, I thank you for posting the truth on here. Thank you.

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