If you are honest with doctors about using drugs illegally, good luck getting anything prescribed other than antibiotics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, and placebos.
If you are having problems with pain or anxiety and you mention any drug use (even smoking weed a few times a year) you will most likely not get any narcotic prescriptions. IME for some things narcotics are by far the most effective drug treatment.
For example pain killers work quite well for pain and benzodiazepines work quite well for anxiety. I do not find antidepressants or antipsychotics written off-label to work at all for anxiety, at least for me.
The thing is doctors have to protect themselves legally and some are downright terrified of drug use and drug users. So not only will they be wary of writing prescriptions, they will most likely write you prescriptions that don't help you and put nasty stuff in your file. You have the right to see your medical files in the USA, by the way and I highly recommend exercising that right.
An example of a really stupid doctor is when I went to see a psychiatrist for anxiety medication which I had been on for a few years(klonopin) and he asked me if I have ever smoked Marijuana. I responded "yes". He asked "how often?" to which I responded "just a little bit, maybe once or twice a day". Instantly I could see fear in his eyes. He asked me some really dumb questions like "do you hear any voices, how many people are in this room and if I ever sell my body for marijuana?"
When I said "That's not very nice of you to ask me these type of questions in front of me and my entire family" he called security and asked me to leave. I told him the appointment was not over and he threw some money at me and pulled out a gun while he waited for security. When my mother asked him "what the fuck was wrong with him" he got really nervous and called her a "enabler" and then a "bitch" when she protested his decision to not write me my medication and he got even more angry when she told him she was a psychologist.
Later that week he tried to have me institutionalized. He apparently had called my family doctor and the police. My family doctor tried very hard not to laugh when he told me about the whole thing. The guy had also thrown out the phrase doctor shopping. Needless to say I had to get my anxiety medication somewhere else, which just so happened to be my family doctor.
The sad thing is this guy evaluates people for disability currently. I wish I was making this up, I really do, but I am not. I should add that my mother was there at the appointment. I was in my early 20's at the time. That was the last time I was ever honest with a doctor about using drugs.
When I first got on pain medication and the medication my family doctor was giving me for pain (morphine) wasn't cutting it he referred me to a pain clinic. The first thing the doctor said to me when I told him I was till in pain, was "Dopemaster I am going to refer you to a pain clinic, I guess I will put it off for a month so you can stop smoking weed."
I said "I don't smoke weed sir". He responded "Excellent, I guess they can probably work you in next week, are you sure you can pass a drug test?"
I assured him that I was not using any drugs and he doubled my dose and I got in a pain clinic the next week. At that point in time I was not smoking weed, but it was nice to have a doctor cool enough to warn me about the fact that I was going to get drug tested.
So IME I find it best to keep drug use private as some doctors do not react well to it. Also you might end up with some weird psychiatric diagnoses if you share this type of thing with the wrong doctor. I have had a couple doctors think I was out of my mind simply because I had admitted to using some drugs in the past.
It is very interesting what you may find in your files. I highly suggest that everyone request their medical records, especially if you have ever admitted to using any narcotic in the past or if you have ever gone to drug or alcohol treatment.
I was lucky enough to have a doctor throw out my medical files for me. The conversation went something like this. "Well Mr. Dopemaster looking at your file I can see why you do not trust psychiatrists very much." to which I responded "well have you seen the garbage they put in my file." The shrink said "This is indeed a garbage" and he threw the file in the trash.
Also I had a doctor suspect I was shooting dope and I was getting a referral for surgery and he said "hey dopemaster, if the doctors at the uni see track marks on you they are going to refuse your surgery." Well he wasn't kidding and they told me to come back in two years.
Like I said earlier I really wish I was making this stuff up as it sounds quite ridiculous. I just would like to warn people of what happened to me. If it the helps anyone avoid any grief I have experienced, I am glad to share this.
