Doctors Willing To Prescribe Heavy Pain Medication In Colorado (Page 202)

I have a serious problem. My dr. had two patients start dr. shopping and has decided it is too big of a pain in his butt to continue prescribing, even though I have gotten MRIs and Xrays to prove my problems. I have over a half a dozen herniated discs in my low back, along with degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, scoliosis and arthritis in my facet joints. I am currently on5 30mg oxycodone a day for breakthrough and 60mg of methadone for my long lasting meds. I REALLY need a doctor in the Denver, CO area who will not judge me because of my age, thinking I'm just some drug seeker as I TRULY need my meds to function. I am even being placed on disability until I can get my back healed because if something doesn't change I will be in big time pain for the rest of my life. If ANYONE knows of a good doctor that prescribes strong meds willingly in the Denver area please let me know. I am in desperate need of help as I am going to be SCREWED if I cannot find a good doctor. SOMEONE please help me with a doctor!!!!!

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Wendy and All,

I am behind you 100%!!!! Whatever help, backup, searches, ANYTHING, I WILL HELP! WE ALL NEED TO HELP EACH OTHER!!!
I want EVERYONE to consider what I am suggesting and going to do myself. If you go to the Medicaid Website for Colorado you will read that Hickenlooper has a ¨plan¨ for all to be under 120 mg equivalents of MS. I had a horrible day yesterday!!! Not that everyday isnt tough, yesterday and this am were hell!!! We all need to stick together and support one another. This isn´t a spur of the moment get it off my chest type of message but a suggestion and I would love suggestions for all of us support one another and actually be heard. All of us heard about the patient that died of an overdose on the news recently. It has been all over, even a copy at CPR!! In many ways this is personal as I know one of the accussed for over 20 years and although most of the information is accurate, it is also misleading. If you watch the news although we are concentrating on our issue, all medicine is being attacked. They are looking over injuries, complications from therapies, surgeries and such as well as over medicating with antibiotics. ALL of medicine is becoming a government issue and although I don´t disagree with many of the subjects they are discussing, I am furious and if I was a doctor, I would be over the top in anger. It´s disrespectful to the years of studies, night upon night of being on call, I have personally had well over 30 years in the business and I am having a tough time swallowing what is happening. As many of you guys know, I´ve been on this site since the start and have always tried to be reasonable and I encourage all of us to do the same, think with our heads and not our emotions. Can you imagine any of us demanding to regulate our government, truthfully regulate it, it won´t happen and one of us writing Hickenlooper, our Congressmen, our Representatives and even the President is like a drop in the bucket but together we can and will make a difference. Wendy should NEVER have to be going through this, yet I know of many that are being ¨re-evaluated¨. I want to be very clear, I feel bad for CPR and what they are going through and I do have some suggestions that would decrease the intense, overwhelming stress they are going through. Let me try to walk through all this. 1. The ¨Overdose¨ happened over 4 years ago. The doctor is in jail for multiple issues including money laundering. The patient had been a policeman and was receiving Oxycodone about 240 (and they aren't clear about whether it is mg, pills or whatever) Oxycontin, Phentynl, Percocet and possibly others. 2. The pharmacy involved is in trouble for filling the scripts as the doctor prescribed. Now all of us know that dosages, especially for acute patients as well as established patients that are having acute or new symptoms. The pharmacy was following the doctors orders and although the articles as well as the news suggests that the patient go to these two pharmacies, it makes perfect sense as the doctor´s offices were in the same building and are long established, extremely patient oriented, rarely a wait of 10 minutes to fill a script. Now who in pain would rather wait 10 minutes than go to another one where the vaults are only opened every 2 hours. It drives me nuts to be asked when I´d like to pick up my script only to be told it would be three hours before I could pick it up. Why ask? There didn't seem to be any other offensive action of this pharmacy rather than filling it as the MD ordered. Why do the news blow things out of context? 3. Anyone who takes medication of this type should know that even a heating pad put over a patch will cause the medication to be absorbed at a higher rate than intended and it is well documented as a warning. I read, I listen and watch, it doesn't take much to realize who is on too much medication. In taking these medications, there is also a personal responsibility, a serious responsibility, in fact, I can not imagine not becoming familiar with your medications. One feels good perhaps two will feel better? Yes! But at what cost? I can´t imagine it being worth it. We have all seen and heard from those who have been taken too much and have also verbalized either privately or publicaly our concerns over their issue. It is a discussion that should be discussed directly with your doctor and your pharmacy is more than happy to discuss concerns as well as the seriousness of not taking the medication as ordered. 4. No matter what we do, we can not control the behavior of another. We can express our concerns, offer suggestions and being direct and honest is the best wake up call and advice we can offer. More than anything, encourage them to be honest with their doctor. From personal experience, if someone tells you they are drinking two drinks a night, be prepared that it perhaps is double that. This isn't to put them in the addict category, it is to help them, to make sure that the hospital can provide the best care available. Hospitals are not jails however they can not provide appropriate care if patients aren't honest with them. We hear ¨addict¨ and immediately cringe. Here is reality guys, if you have been on a narcotic for over 10 days straight, you are addicted to that medication and will experience some type of withdrawal, although tolerable, it will occur. So just because you have a diagnosis you don´t like the sound of doesn't mean you should have lessor care and if you do, change where you are. I am shocked at the level of care especially in the emergency rooms in my area. Hospitals are there to help you and I´ve seen way too many patients being treated inappropriately, here again personal responsibility, if you are not getting the care you feel is appropriate, ask for the Charge Nurse, if she´s not available, as for the Manager, not available as for the PA, not available ask for the Doctor in Charge. We have rights as patients, most are listed in the very room you are treated, use their directives. Many patients I´ve seen and I have personally experienced have been not evaluated thoroughly, assumptions are made and if you don´t make a ¨stink¨, you are what is called ¨buffed and turfed¨ otherwise just placated and sent home.

Take the time to write out an evaluation, it does make a difference. Again, personal responsibility!! You haven´t been treated appropriately, call the hospital and ask for the Patient Representative, you don´t get the information, ask for the Nursing Supervisor, go clear up to the President, be heard. These days you have to ask direct questions to get direct answers. All hospitals have directives, if you see patients in the hallway on beds, question. Ask what their patient to nurse ratio is at that time. Emergencies and bad ones happen but hospitals also have a responsibility to send patients to another hospital if they are unable to care for the patients they have. Emergency Rooms are difficult to staff because you never know when you will be overflowed or dead quiet but the squeaky wheel does get oiled. If you don´t get satisfaction and still feel like you need to be heard, call your representatives, congressmen and even the news. They hear enough complaints, it will be looked into. There are also hospital regulatory agencies that evaluate hospitals constantly, here is where your taking the time to write helps. They do take the time to read them. Don´t be an unhappy patient, be heard, loud and clear. 5. I feel terrible about what CPR is experiencing recently and I assure you, they aren´t the only ones feeling like they are being squeezed in a vise. All Pain Management Programs are having the very same issues. Can you imagine being Amanda just for one day? Take the time to actually watch and see how many things she is juggling at one time. You add the amount of calls she is having to make to just get our Medicaid approved. Look around the room, she has at least that amount of people to call about and add the amount of calls for referrals, questions, getting medical records, just the phone calls are a job in themselves. Hector is probably one of the BEST doctors I have seen in the Denver area. Yes! He actually is a doc in Mexico but works as a PA in the US because to get his license the hoops he has to jump through is impossible while working. I find this offensive. Many excellent US doctors have been trained in Mexico because they are unable to get into a US program because of the amount of foreign applicants. I see no difference! It is disrespectful! As with many RN´s you have to be licensed in the state you are working. You may have to take an exam to get this certification and I don´t understand how a doctor of his capabilities shouldn´t have the very same consideration. While sitting and listening in the waiting room the last 3-4 months, some things have become abundantly clear to me. Amanda has the monkey on her back. It is not right, neither is it ok to have new rules thrown on u as a surprise. Their computer logs work to send us all a reminder of our appointments, why can they not utilize a platform that's already in place and have changes to procedures emailed to us prior to our appointment. Allowing us to be responsible for adjusting our medications to be able to make sure we have enough rather than allowing it to get into a withdrawal problem, which to many of us who have other medical issues that make withdrawal frankly deathly. It would take 10-30 minutes to write changes in policies send the update to all patients, allowing Amanda and Hector to be dealing with what they should be able to deal with rather than listening to all of us complaining about why wasn´t this clearly explained to us. Reality is right now we are having to deal with a ton of changes, sending a quick email to each of us would save them time, sure they are still going to have drug seekers bugging them but it would stop patients that have been with them for years to not make unnecessary changes. Being told when you are there on your fill date that your meds won´t be delivered for two more days I assure you with end up with any of us in the Emergency Room, not taking the few minutes to clearly inform patients is responsible, listening to Amanda and Leonard being yelled at hour after hour doesn´t seem like an effective use of their time, let alone how would any of us feel if day after day you get yelled at by even the most compliant patient. As a health care provider, there should be concern about the health of your patient´s, however as a business owner you also have to be concerned about complying with governmental laws. All Pain Management Providers are having the same issue and sitting in their waiting rooms, I have told them the same advice. Clear communication makes for compliant patients, sifting out the incompliant patients. 6. I have heard and seen and experienced the reprocussions of working with this new pharmacy. I didn´t have a good experience right from the get go and although it is now impossible to get your medications elsewhere, they are overwhelmed. It would decrease their phone calls if the rules from CPR were explained prior to their appointments and we wouldn´t have to wait an hour for medications that I was instructed would be ready at 10 am.

By this point I was vomiting because I hadn´t had medication in well over 24 hours. Had I had clear information prior to my appointment, I would have accomidated for this time period. I was absolutely shocked to hear that all but one of the nine people in the waiting area were CPR patients and issues from no clearance from insurance to a patient being given the wrong medication was occurring. One gentleman drove over an hour, had called as I had to make sure his medications were ready the day prior, he arrived at 9 am as he had been instructed and he left about 10:30 with one of his 3 medications. He wasn´t the only one, I also didn´t have my complete scripts, as well as two other patients. Things hopefully will change as the policies become expected and the rules explained clearly. However, I went without one of my medications last month because it wasn´t approved by medicaid. I went without the one medication, which was NOT easy, never being even told that I had the option of paying out of pocket. So when I spoke with Hector I just expected I had to get over it, only to find out that I could have paid out of pocket. When I called about my medications, this script was still available for me to purchase however because I didn´t purchase it the month prior because it wasn´t offered it became I was fine without it. Had I had that medication as it was ordered, I wouldn´t have been in their office vomiting. Additionally, the month prior had been approved from Medicaid for 6 months, allowing me time to finish a surgery I need and time to decrease the dosage appropriately. Because it was switched to another pharmacy it had to be reapproved and it was now denied even though my pharmacy that I have used for 20 years clearly had approval for the medication. I assure you, I wasn´t the only person with this issue. 7. I want to be clear, I believe after being with CPR for years I feel their pain and I feel their growing pains and I do support them 100%. I am being very honest when I tell you they are not alone in their issues. I am making the suggestion of sending a mass email alerting patients of changes to help all of us. If anyone has any other suggestions, I´d love to hear them and I do intend to talk directly to Leonard after I have feedback from the group. I want to hear problems, issues but I also want to hear suggestions on how to help us all, this is not a group annialation, it is meant to help each other, CPR and their patients. Most of us have been going there for years, we´ve been with them, they know us, we know them and they have a solid group now, lets help them help us!! 8. This last suggestion I feel is essential. We all need to write at least Hickenlooper. I encourage all to think about what and how you are saying what you are trying to communicate, think with your heads guys and not with your emotions. The other option is to either get together or I am willing to write a letter and each can paste and cut, adding their own situations, explaining how it is affecting your lives, your jobs, what this is doing to us, basically going from functional folks to disfunctional folks. I listen and read how all these changes have decreased the amount of oxy over doses however if you ask how it has affected the illicit drug deaths, you won´t get an answer. If you take the time to sift through the internet you will find that the amount of illicit drug deaths is darn close in an increase in related deaths. So basically the issue hasn´t helped the situation, it´s just taken it now from being supervised by a doctor, being monitored for decreased breathing, U/A's and evaluated to no supervision, folks truly not knowing what they are putting in their bodies. Now you look at that one death that happened four years ago and you question if it happened now would street drugs just be in the picture? Ive heard a ton of people talking about taking illicit drugs as a possibility and it makes me sick to my stomach. Their reasons are solid. Cost is less. They are finally pain free but the inherent risks involved scare me to death. What that stuff is cut with alone could kill you, let alone that you really don´t know what dosage you are truly getting. I get it. I was shocked when I overheard the amount this pharmacy was charging for out of pocket medications. 3 times what it costs at other pharmacies but they will price match, so make sure you do your homework and have documentation to prove what price that you have received or you will spend more time in the waiting room. I have tried my hardest and spent a lot of time, in fact months, watching, listening and with my personal experiences trying to figure out how to help us all and stop the bleed that is occurring and I encourage all to do research and share what you have found. I am asking for each and everyone of us to take 1/2 hour of our time, all of us together can make a difference, help us help ourselves and share with me. I now have a computer where I can get personal emails if they still allow it but I encourage all to share here because someones thought may spark anothers, thats how change is made. Lets all get on board, Hector speaks out for us, lets do the same for all of us!

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Social Security said they can provide a rep for me ty everyone..hugs to each of you .

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Wendy if you can get your records and provide them to Social Security instead of waiting for them to get it from your Drs. offices it will go a lot faster!

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They have them .Im gonna request a representative help me .It's stupid I didn't cure myself .I'm having trouble remembering.

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Wendy, Get a rep! It goes smoother and faster!

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Hey Guys,

In follow up to my note and hoping folks get on board with helping ourselves....here is Hickenloopers website where you can send him a letter. I am posting a letter that I am sending this weekend for any that want to try to make changes, feel free to copy and paste, if folks don´t feel comfortable, send me your concerns! I don´t have an issue writing. If anyone also wants phone numbers of our Representatives, I have those too! Let´s help the folks who help us get to actually practice medicine. I've had it! Govenor Hickenlooper Contact Info-colorado.gov/governor/contact!

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I completely agree. I see these perfectly healthy girls and women walking around my town all strung out on methamphetamine getting Disability and they don't even need it...That makes it hard for us that are really sick.....

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That's what I was thinking too .Thanks everyone.

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Absolutely, I've worked in healthcare about 20 years and many places will only release to patient unless you listed that particular doc on paperwork while filling out original intake forms. Hippa BUS

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BTW new phone, no more stored log ins etc. I hope y'all remember who I am

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Of course we know u hun .I. on a new diet lol I can eat solid food etc something real wrong with my stomach .Bleeding ulcers I think God what next .

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You ok Rainbow? Do u go to CPR NOW?

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Take some probiotics, they've helped my bleeding ulcer to heal

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Thank u so much Cindy .How are you?

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I'm ok but sumthing happen tha other day and Idk Wat 2 do no nt yet cant afford it at Lowery clinic

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Anyone in Colorado:
I don't get it. Maybe I am just stupid. How is it that marijuana is legal there but you cant get legal pain meds?!

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Wondering if u can give the name of Doctor I to am having problems finding a doctor, thanks so much

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Their trying to stop opiates ,go to CBD CBN oil .It will be federally legal and in the pharmacy asap we as medicade people will not get anything but CBD narcotics are going people prepare yourself.

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who is trying to stop narcotics and what is CBT?

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Not CBT, CBD. That's the pain and cancer stopping oil. The federal government will regulate MJ for the government in Co. Educate yourself. All of us on here pay for narcotic help. 180 per month.

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