Pain Management Termination Due To Dr Prescribed Benzodiazepine (Page 2)

I have acute anxiety/panic attacks. My pain mgmnt Dr used to prescribe Ativan along with hydrocodone up till 2016 as their new policy prohibited it. Family Dr then prescribed my Ativan till the opioid crisis hit with the DEA, etc telling Dr's basically how to treat their patients. After several referrals to Psych Dr's within the same hospital as pain mgmnt, they said they could not prescribe it, that it had to be pain mgmnt. Each said other Dr had to. Anyway, found a decent Psych who after in depth appointments, past history, prescribed Ativan for me in June 2019. Went to my scheduled pain mgmnt appt July 3, 2019, and was dropped because I now take a legally obtained benzodiazepine and their policy is "One or the other, you choose". So I chose to be able to function in public places, drive to see my grandchildren and not have major anxiety/panic that renders me literally nonfunctional. So if you have chronic back pain issues PLUS PTSD, anxiety, etc that can only be helped by benzodiazepines, you will have to choose. Sorry, can't have other issues. So now I try to dumb down the pain with ibuprofen. Sad state of affairs.

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Re: Sheila (# 18)

Omg. So agree . My last 2 labs showed up negative for Clonazepam but the subutex showed up. It has been like that ever since they switch me to the blue Soclo / accord brand!!
Finally back on yellow but not the TEVA!! These are crap too.

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Re: Juliana (# 1)

I am right there with you. Can't have 2 things wrong for medicine. How Crazy to have to pick which is worse. Bean treated for each many years together. Too old for this nonsense let me get my medicine and live as normal as possible. Without my meds it's a nightmare. Very Dark Place.

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Re: Brenda (# 22)

Agreed. Too many doc's catering to FED Gov't and the patients who follow the straight and narrow are getting the short end of the stick medically, mentally, physically.

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Re: Sheila (# 18)

I do not think its the fillers that are the problem, you are intolerance, which means you need more and more to do the same thing as the dose you were previously on. I know this from experience. and the more they up dosed me, the worse I became, the symptoms of agoraphobia, anxiety, and panic attacks got worse.

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Re: Lydia (# 24)

The fillers are not the problem. The Ativan works just fine at 0.5mg three times a day. The point of my statement was that you cannot be prescribed pain pills for legit back problems along with benzodiazepines even though you truly have anxiety/panic issues. So therefore I must pick whether to be in pain or not be able to function in society due to chronic anxiety. I chose to function outside and in public and to be able to drive, etc. The 800 mg of Ibuprofen helps, but by no means is my pain gone.

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Re: Sheila (# 25)

that is to bad, I did not have an issue with getting both. I am surprised because they usually use the benzo to relax the muscles along with pain medication. Also, I am sorry you have anxiety, I have normal anxiety, in fact I was hyerthyroid at one point, and when I got off of the benzos it was the most horrid and traumatic thing I went through. Its not like an opioid withdrawal, oh no! much worse and lasts months to yrs.! be careful if you get on a higher benzo, like Klonipin or clonazepam, or Xanax, that is when your Ativan is no longer working, again from experience, unfortunately, I was misdiagnosed and was on all of them for over 6 yrs!

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Re: Brenda (# 22)

They did this to my 98 year old grandmother , we managed to keep her with family til the 3rd hip break. She had been on same dose Valium all her life. Her vocal cords would freeze up when she got nervous and she couldn’t speak.

So the last two years of her long and wonderful life was absolute misery. No pain medication, no Valium. They were worried it would make her dizzy. My aunt is a physician assistant and her and her husband had power of attorney. And they demanded that she not get any narcotic medication or any benzodiazepine. And the doctor tried talking to them. But ultimately he caved and my grandmother died just before her 100th birthday w/ tears in her eyes. Unable to speak. I will never forgive them.

For gods sake, this was a woman who had given birth to twins during WWll , while my grandfather was overseas and they didn’t have ultrasounds then so she didn’t know. She deserved to die on her terms and with dignity. And so does everyone.
It’s the indignity of the way they treat sick people that has me so angry. Opium based narcotics have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years.

What a sad state of affairs. I wish you and everyone that goes through this the best.

I have to take an alternative for my pain. And I do take a Benzodiazepine for epilepsy, Ménière’s disease and anxiety. I do not mind being tested each month but I sometimes worry what if I get sick and miss my appt. then I’m out. It’s not easy to keep up. But I like being alive and not in hospital.

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Re: suzysurf (# 27)

Saddened to read about tour grandmother. Very inhumane for anyone to go thru. Don't know how most of these Dr.'s and Nurse Practitioners call themselves "Caregivers" .

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Re: suzysurf (# 27)

they should have never, never taken her off the Valium without slowly tapering, I mean very very slow. you are held hostage to the med once you have been put on it, and it is almost impossible without inhumane withdrawals! I know I was in the horrid, unexplainable, unrecognizable withdrawal horror show for over 18 months of my life, it was traumatic, and I will never take a benzo again. So so sorry for you and your grandma. :(

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What state are u from? They apparently worry that we will OD from the combination. U have rights; if they refuse to treat u for addiction (pain management) and u use, and something happens to u; that’s a law suit in ur favor!! I had to sign a waiver stating I understood what suboxen and a benzo combination can cause. It’s your body and u know what works for you. These doctors are complete a$$e$ !! But I bet they write out scripts for themselves!! Keep haunting them until u get exactly what u want. Or find a understanding doc. I have PTSD and have to take Clonapin. If I don’t take it I can’t be a functioning member to society!! Good Luck and fight for your right to know what works for u and your body!!!

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Sheila you remind me of how dangerous it is to let any government tell your private physician how to treat your unique to you issues. Drs are being imprisoned more and more of not being sued for malpractice. I imagine the huge majority of Dr's follow the rules in place before the latest gov crackdown on over prescribing of pain meds and those following the rules then didn't cause our opiate epidemic....super sorry your in this spot but I think you chose wisely and treated your ptsd panic attack issues.....life is hard. I deal better with pain than I do with anxiety.....bless you.

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I'm so sorry you have to go thru that! I truly empathize. I have PTSD also had have anxiety attacks very often. They feel like I'm dying! But since I'm in pain management they said no more diazepam which was the only thing that helped!. I promise these people don't know what they are doing. First this unnecessary war on opioids they need to be watching the illicit drugs! I hope you can find relief somehow.

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Did you ever find a Dr to take you in?

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Re: MadAsHellAtPHDs (# 30)

Mississippi, Gulf Coast.

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