Can't get a script for back pain

[travis2600]

I'm trying to help a friend of mine with a problem. She's a white teenager, and she's been having back pain lately, and sometimes it's been so bad that she can't get to sleep. She's been to two general practitioners about it, and both would only prescribe some naproxen, that hardly worked. Whenever she told them it wasn't working, they just told her that it should work, and didn't do anything else for her.
I explained to her what was going on, that they thought she was lying, and would sell or abuse the painkillers. Keeping in mind that the back pain is real, and not a scam, what kind of advice should I give her?
Thanks

 

[li'l_miss_pretty]

Well, you could do a number of things. First, I'd try going back to the MD and explaining the situation once again. If that fails, maybe you could try one of those online pharmacies. Or, what I do when I need something like that is, ask a friend to pick the script up when visits Mexico, but I don't live all that far from Mexico. If you live alot further that may not work for you. And then there's marijuana... never underestimate the power of a well packed bowl of bud.
..
Let Love Rule

 

[SovietContin]

Unless you're talking about back pain that's a result of a slipped disc or a card accident, chances are you will NOT get any narcotic to treat the pain if you're in the United States.
A doctor is going to prescribe a medicine to attack the source of the pain, rather than prescribe something to just kill the pain. This is the point of naproxen. It reduces the swelling and irritation in the muscles.
I've been in the exact same situation where the job I was working at had me sitting in uncomfortable chairs and I was in so much pain I wasn't doing anything after work other than lying down.
I was prescribed naproxen and robaxin (a WEAK muscle relaxer). Both did nothing for me.
I went back and complained. I was told to waste a Saturday going to some group about back pain and learn how to excercise my back and do stretches to strengthen the muscles and relax my back which would reduce the pain.
This was really stupid, however, because the doctor kind of didn't get the part where I had neglected my problem for so long that I was to the point that it hurt to walk and being that the group was on a Saturday and not part of my job so therefore not essential, there was no way I was going to go early on a Saturday if I had been up all night agonizing in pain. And excersizing and stretching? Again, I couldn't even walk without gasping in pain at that point.
The doctor was correct, though. During the course of about three months, the pain shifted from my lower back and worked up to my shoulders and neck and the muscles over my collar bone then finally went away.
Your friend is going to have to keep saying they are taking naproxen and whatever other worthless medications they are given. If they're told to go to some seminar about excersizing your back like I was, they need to go to have the paperwork signed as proof for the doctor. Then they need to say they're trying to do the excersizes but it's physically impossible because the pain is so intense. At this point your friend MIGHT get codeine or proproxyphene if they're really lucky and by then their back probably won't be hurting anymore anyways.

 

[avatarolt]

Have her mom go with her. Any parental figure will automatically take "script jacking" out of the equation if mom's willing to say that the pain's been keeping her up nights.
Take her to a practitioner that specializes in back work.

 

[BOGBUBBLE]

take mom to the pain specialist?

 

[ikarus]

Here's an alternative, grow your own opiates! You can only do this if it's legal of course. If she really wants relief from the pain, start growing some opium poppies, and she can make herself a cup of opium poppy tea when she needs to relieve some pain. Has morphine, codeine, and papaverine in it, all of which should help (the first two are the standard pain-relieving opiates, I believe papaverine relaxes smooth muscle tissue). There's plenty of information available on the internet about cultivation, harvesting, and all that other good stuff.

 

[RaverMadness]

I've been prescribed 12 5/500 hydrocodone for generic lower back pain. A few things, I was also having severe thirst which led me to believe it could be kidney problems, I complained about not being able to sleep, and I was wearing scrubs (I stopped by my doctor before work). They also told me to get some Aleve.

 

[PhreeX]

SC said it about as good as I can... but lemmwe throw in some advice as I have been there...
I have a buldging and dehydrated disc (with a bur) at L5-S1, not herniated .. it took me a few months of reearch to figure out what angle to take then it took about 6 months of seeing various specialists before I finally got on a narcotic program - even now my pain doctor doesn't like me being on narcotics as the disc has not really further degenerated ..
It went like this -
I first went to my GP and complained of pains in my leg, lower back, and at night in my shoulders.. he took some X-rays which showd nothing, so I was put on the firt of about 15 differn't worthless meds... everything from NSAID's to muscle relaxers - the first narcotic I got was Darvocet... after a few months of this, an MRI was ordered, this showed the disc problems .. I was refered to an orthapedic surgen who reviewed the MRI and said it wasn't anyting special - physical therapy was ordered... so, I id that for a few months and went through a few more meds - shit like Ultram and some stronger muscle relaxers... FINALLY I was refered to a pain specialist (note: there are a number of things I did that aided in the furtherance of this, I will not speak of these now, not until TAOS v2.0) ...
Ok, so I see a pain doc - I reminded him that OxyContin HAD worked (I forgot to mention I had scammed a script for it one time, this got my foot in the door, I used this as my tool all along) .. well, a psychiatric review was ordered - the psychitrist was a doctor that did nothing but review people for narcotics therapy... they aslk the most inane questions that have NOTHING to do with drugs - but it all relates... I was asked about the drive I had to his office - this hada huge bearing on how likely I was to get addicited.... funny, 'eh? Anyway, they ask about past drug use - noe you would think the correct answer is to say you never used drugs, THIS IS NOT TRUE! (as for the correct answer, it's in TAOS v2.0) .. well, I passed - I was rated as someone with a "low potential for abusing narcotic medications" .. that review was the golden ticket - next doctors visit I was started on a narcotics program... OxyContin was the drug .. I yhave been on it for about 4 years, I only see the doctor once a year, each month I just call ahead and pick up my script...
Total time invested - aout 8 months from the time I decided to go for it until I was on a long-term program...
I really made that soundto simple, there is a LOT MORE to it - of course it will be covered in TAOS v2.0 which is being finialized right now....
Here is the thing - they take an x-ray or MRI, they check to see HOW bad you are, if you don't have a condition that warrants narcotics, then low-level meds SHOULD fix you, hence, you're not likely to get the goodies....
Also, with the "OxyContin Epidemic" doctors are not handing out scripts like they used to..
My advice - go along with what yer doc says.. don't argue about "this med isn't going to work" .. take it with a smile, then report it's failure... it take time but the payoff is good!

 

[CARRIEindaMIX]

i totally feel for her. i have had back pain for about 3 yrs now. when i first started having pain the Dr gave me Motrin(sucks for pain). then we moved on to Flexiril. then to naproxen and robaxin. back to flexiril. now i am on celebrex and am in my first week of phys. ther. -it took 3 years for the Drs to get to this point.
she just has to be persistant and not give up! how long has she been on meds for this? how many different ones has she tried? if she has had pain for a while and tried different stuff have her tell her Dr -look i am tried of taking all these pills that dont work for me. you need to give me something that is going to work or we need to try something else(like p.t.)
i hope that i helped
peace

 

[fairnymph]

I feel your pain.
I have severe menstrual cramps (I can't even function -- used to miss school and lie in bed all day in pain) and it took about 2 years of complaining to the doctors before I got a script for fiorinal with codeine (30 mg). I tried about 15 different drugs (including the infamous naprosen) with absolutely no success.
I have now been taking the fiorinal with codeine monthly for about 4 years. My cramps have not gotten better over time, if anything, they have gotten slightly worse. I really dislike my codeine (I don't like how groggy I feel on it -- I have tried vicoden and percocet as well and neither of those were better) but it is the only thing that works. I have a naturally high tolerance so I take about 60mg every two hours. Even that sometimes isn't enough to cover the pain. I will be going to a specialist soon in hopes of obtaining a non-opiate painkiller or if not something stronger than the codeine, as it's ridiculous to be taking a pill an hour.
I hope that I do get something stronger, because my pain IS legitimate and the worst thing is, I don't even LIKE opiates and have never abused my codeine or other painkillers!

 

[Grand Master of Somniferon]

Originally posted by fairnymph:
I feel your pain.
I have severe menstrual cramps (I can't even function -- used to miss school and lie in bed all day in pain) and it took about 2 years of complaining to the doctors before I got a script for fiorinal with codeine (30 mg). I tried about 15 different drugs (including the infamous naprosen) with absolutely no success.
I have now been taking the fiorinal with codeine monthly for about 4 years. My cramps have not gotten better over time, if anything, they have gotten slightly worse. I really dislike my codeine (I don't like how groggy I feel on it -- I have tried vicoden and percocet as well and neither of those were better) but it is the only thing that works. I have a naturally high tolerance so I take about 60mg every two hours. Even that sometimes isn't enough to cover the pain. I will be going to a specialist soon in hopes of obtaining a non-opiate painkiller or if not something stronger than the codeine, as it's ridiculous to be taking a pill an hour.
I hope that I do get something stronger, because my pain IS legitimate and the worst thing is, I don't even LIKE opiates and have never abused my codeine or other painkillers!
Can I abuse your codiene and other painkillers? Seriously though, perhaps the reason that you feel so groggy on your fiorinal w/cod is because of the butalbital. (the barbituate that is in 'em). It might not be the codiene's fault. Have you tried tylenol 3's or 4's? Those might be better, and with the 4's, you would get your 60 mg of cod in one pill, w/out the excess ASA, caffiene, or butalbital.

 

[meister]

What about using Ultram as an opiod analgesic? You can get it ANYWHERE without a script.

 

[TheEnigmaX]

SC hit the nail right on the head, I delt with back pain from a work injury and went through all the other things otc pain relievers and after 4 months of 3 hours of sleep a night and pt not workign they decided to give me an MRI which show that I have 3 herniated disks, so i get 3 injections every year, which suck and don't work and have been given 5/500 hydros and occasionaly ordered 10/325 hydros for pain which are so so in relieving. So as SC said if it's not a disk or a bone injury do not expect much.
Fairnymph don't know if you'll check back on this post, but have you tried Vioxx for your cramps? Vioxx is supposed to be an amazing drug for cramps, my friend gets menstral cramps so badly she can't move, sounds alot like yours, and since Vioxx has been found to aleviate cramping she tried that and has had no problems.