Getting Prescriptions From 2 Different Doctors For Pain Meds But There Are Conditions (Page 4)

Well I just really need to know if what I am doing is considered doctor shopping. I fell at at department store and injured my knee. Now I have to go to the doctor the lawyer sent me to. He prescribes pain meds for me but the only thing he can treat is my knee. I started having back problems. My primary care doctor sent me to a different doctor and he also gives me meds. But the pharmacy said they would call the doctors and tell on me. So I went and ahead and told the doctors myself so that it would not look as bad. What do you think will happen to me? The pharmacy refused to give me back my prescription. Can they do that?

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Listen.....first of all you never got the medication. Also I don't know a judge that would agree to jail time for a first offense even if you plead quilty. You would plea out. That is worse case scenario. Don't worry or lose sleep over your situation. It was a mistake and yes ignorance is not excuse but it's not a conviction either

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To Tamm in So. California: It would make it easier to discuss your questions if you realize that doctor's do not SUBSCRIBE prescriptions; they PRESCRIBE them. (One SUBSCRIBES to a magazine.) Now, in regard to your confusion about where to get your Valium prescription, talk to your primary care doctor about the best way to do this. However, remember that the role of your pain management physician is to manage your pain and prescribe any medications necessary to treat it. Your primary physician's role is to take care of your general health and treat any medical issues you have other than your pain, including prescribing for any such issues. I don't know why you're taking the Valium; it is generally used to treat anxiety and not as a pain pill. However, I've had fibromyalgia for 22 years and one of the symptoms I've dealt with since the beginning is a burning pins and needles sensation down the entire right side of my body. The only medication that has ever helped relieve this is Xanax (somewhat similar to Valium.) However, as part of my condition, I also have a sleep disorder and, according to my doctor's instructions and with his approval, I may also take it when necessary to help me get to sleep. So...is it a medication for pain or for sleep? My primary doctor is in charge of ALL my health care and prescriptions so I don't have the "multiple physicians" problem but the best way to deal with this kind of issue is to COMMUNICATE clearly with both your doctors, ask questions regarding who will be prescribing what medication, get the responses IN writing and, as added protection for yourself, always use the same pharmacy. I also have a "narcotics agreement" with my doctor which states the pharmacy I will be using and also states the "backup" pharmacy I will use if my primary pharmacy is out of my controlled substance prescriptions and will not be able to order/obtain it soon enough for me. Contrary to what the uninformed who don't have to take narcotics seem to think, it's a lot of work to obtain and take controlled substances correctly and NOT, by any means, an enjoyable or simple process. The only thing that might be considered even mildly "enjoyable" is the relief obtained from the horrific misery of severe chronic pain. And NO, I have never come even close to what might be considered a "high." But that misconception is out there--which is why it is so important to handle obtaining prescriptions from your physicians correctly. All the best!

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Just an FYI for "drshoopingpro" - Maryland has had a PDMP system in place, one of the best, since 2013. Entries go all the way back to January 2013 so you're mistaken. 49 states have a system in place and yes, many are connected with bordering states as they should be.

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I have a question....
I just had back surgery and received a prescription for oxycodone the same evening, which I put away in my backpack. Well, it turned out that I had to stay in the hospital a few more nights due to the pain as well as other reasons. 3 days later, before being discharged, I received another prescription for the same thing (along with some other meds). So now I had two prescriptions for oxycodone from the same doctor, written 3 days apart.
I filled the latter prescription and I still have the first one. Can I fill that first prescription if I WAIT 27 days or so? Would anyone get in trouble... including the doctor? Would the doctor find out that I filled it?
Just curious, thanks for serious and honest replies.

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smtibtiwin, your dr will find out about it by looking you up in your states Prescription Monitoring Program. He can also see if you've gotten any other controlled meds filled from any other dr. The pharmacy may also call your dr to verify the second rx if you try to get it filled.

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This is in response to "mtibtiwin" - Wait about 28 days and fill the other prescription! I am a chronic pain patient whose doc practices a significant distance from my home. I see him every 3 months, we review my meds for effectiveness and any other issues, and then he writes me 3 prescriptions, all dated the day of my appointment, which are to be filled for pain relief for each of the next 3 months, about 28 days apart. Sometimes they indicate on each of them the month it may be filled or how many days I have to wait in order to fill the next prescription; sometimes they don't. It doesn't really matter if they do or not because my pharmacy and insurance company will only refill after a certain number of days anyway. As long as the prescriptions are from the same doctor (and, if possible, filled at the same pharmacy), there's no problem. Yes, there are places (including your pharmacy and ins. company) where your doctor could check out what meds you had filled. However, since the same doctor wrote you these prescriptions for post-surgical pain, as long as you wait the appropriate amount of time between refills it's fine. The fact that you filled the one written second isn't really relevant either; prescriptions are valid for a few months from the date written; the exact time may vary from state to state. In any case, unless you have a history of drug abuse or some other extenuating circumstance, I highly doubt that your busy doctor routinely checks his/her post-surgical patients' filling of pain medication prescriptions that he/she wrote for post-surgical pain, especially not for only two months. It's not unusual to take pain medication for two months following back surgery. And there's nothing about doing any of this that will get your doctor in trouble. Entities like the DEA look for doctors who write an unusually great number of opioid prescriptions for excessively high amounts and for patients who get large prescriptions of controlled substances from multiple doctors. I think it's worth mentioning that when I had surgery a year ago, the surgeon wrote me a single prescription for a third (different) pain medication which I filled; I filled my regular prescriptions for two narcotic pain meds that month as usual. I used my regular pharmacy for all of them with no problem. I did inform my primary care physician about this to which he responded, "Good!" Given that I have a chronic pain condition that can be severely exacerbated by stresses such as surgery (among other things), his concern and the surgeon's concern were that my surgical pain be kept well under control so that it wouldn't trigger a worsening of my usual pain condition. The USA medical establishment is rated as one of the worst, if not THE worst, at addressing pain control, in general because insurance companies and the DEA try to practice medicine, rather than letting doctors determine what their patients need and also because addicts and abusers have given pain control medications a bad name. You've had surgery, you're entitled to pain relief, your doctor has given it to you--USE IT IF NECESSARY!:-)

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smtibtiwin, most states now require a dr to check a patients profile in the state Prescription Monitoring Progream before writting a rx for pain meds. It doesn't matter if the patient is post op or not.

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Smi you should be able to fill it after 28days,and the only person responsible for that error is the hospital. Just make sure you wait the appropriate amount of days between filling the prescriptions. I'd wait 30 to be safe, as I don't know how many day supply he wrote to you

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Smi,The hospital may be responsible for the error, but you are responsible for getting the second rx filled.

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Paul, Yes, Louisiana & Texas PMP are tied together. Louisiana has only become connected to other states recently. Louisiana has had a PMP since 2006.

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Sure but I dont *really* know if the dr. made a mistake or not. All I know is that I have 2 prescriptions. Why am I responsible for second-guessing the doctor's intentions ?

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Smtibtiwin, Call the drs office and ask the nurse. And hope they make a note of it in your medical records. And do what they tell you to do.

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Can they get u in trouble for getting the same Meds from two doctors I was hooked on 7 a day and I got cut two three a day so I went to different places to get enough Meds for me

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A prescription expires after 21 days. So, if you wait beyond the 21 days, by law it cannot be filled.

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iknowitsucks, state laws control when rxs expire. You need to find out exactly what you state laws says..

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Prescriptions don't necessarily expire after 21 days. I've filled many prescriptions that were written with the understanding that they won't be filled for 60-90 days. I was told by my pharmacist that they were good for six months. This may indeed vary from state to state so it's best to ask a pharmacist. When one person states that prescriptions expire after 21 days and it's not necessarily true, they may cause someone to dispose of a needed prescription unnecessarily. It's important to have the facts straight before giving advice.

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If I pay cash is it illegal to go to two different doctor for pain meds

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If your state has Doctor Shopping Laws, yes it is. You will also be breaking the pain contracts you sign which will more than likely leave you without being able to find a dr who will treat your pain. Put your, state name and doctor shopping in your search bar to see what laws, if any, your state has regarding this.

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I would like to reply to the person who saw a different dr. He saw a different dr. but in the same pain clinic. This is one reason I personally ask to see the same person every 28 days because they're policy is that you see a provider who is available unless you ask specifically for a certain provider. I believe they have at least 3 pain management providers, maybe 4 and it's true that each one may treat you differently...........I think this is what I understood from the person who wrote that the second dr. was from the same clinic said "let's try percocet" or whatever it was but the regular dr. wanted to stick with norco..............this can be very confusing. If I were the patient I would ask to see the dr. who was willing to try something different when the patient complained that norco wasn't working for him.........

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Tray1996, since your dr referred you to one dr, it may not be considered doctor shopping.But, doctor shopping is define as going to more than one dr for the purpose of obtaining prescriptions. You need to look up the laws in your state and see if there is one against doctor shopping. The pharmacist can legally keep a rx if they have reason to believe it was obtained for or by illegal means. If I were you, I wouldn't get a pain rx from more than one dr. By the way, the drs can look you up in your states Prescription Monitroing Program and see what drs you have gotten rxs filled from and the meds they were for.

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