Opioids Doctor Approved refill, then leaves me hanging for five days.

[Speed King]

My ( soon to be replaced ) pain doctor approves a refill of Percocet 120,5/325 on this past Friday. The secretary says it's good and they are writing out script. Just needs doctors signature. So I show up and they say that nobody signed the script. Naturally I'm like WTF? So they say call back Monday. I call. The doctor is out till Tuesday. Now I'm mad. I'm in pain. When this happened in the past, the nurse said it was there fault and I could go get taken care of at a hospital.
Well the girl who answers the phone said that the doctor might get upset if I do that. Well fuck them. I went to an urgent care place and explained everything to this guy and showed him paperwork to back it up. So guy gives me thee days worth of Vicodin 5/325. Now I'm wondering if the doctor is going to be mad or refuse to give me my script of Percocet 120, 5/325. I was told in the past it was okay by a nurse. On top of that, the Vicodin is weaker then the Percocet. Should I get fucked with or will he understand what and why I did it?

 

[MrRoot]

He atleast should understand that you can't be without your pain meds for days. Before electronic prescriptions I had multiple occasions in which my primary pain doctor didn't have any narcotic prescription forms left and he just had to call another doctor on the phone and arrange a meeting for which his clinic paid if getting more forms would take more time that I had drugs left. Those forms were a pain in the ass because every addict in the pharmacy knew that someones getting "good stuff" if there is that red prescription form in a hand of a pharmacist although they were safe because they had been individually numbered and had holograms.

My pain doctor has always gone through some loops to get my drugs on time as for example once he was giving a speech on some international pain convention on other continent and his nurse calls him that he forgot to do a script beforehand for me and he then calls out for other doctor who was playing golf and after half hour that guy comes in golfing clothes and writes a script for me.

I have also had been treated with other doctors before who wouldn't give a shit if I would run out of drugs while they were on a vacation or something.

Just explain the situation and why you had to do what you did and I don't see any problems in what you did. You weren't doctor shopping or anything as you didn't get any extra pain killers or such.

 

[tacodude]

You just have half the hydrocodone dose you regularly use, which is outrageous that they didn't just give your regular dose and the starter dose as if they are worried about you lying about your use and overdose concerns... Your doctor should be fine with it unless he is a dick....

This happened to me and my trip to the ER led to a refusal of narcotics due to the opiate epidemic here even though I was legit scripted meds that due to my doctors error I didn't have and could only reach answering service not my actual office so this led to a suicide attempt and after that I had no problems getting my meds until my doctor retired a few months after cutting me off cold turkey high dose that to this day half a year to near full year later I'm not stabalized in any health care. Consider yourself lucky....

 

[TheLostBoys]

Plenty of dick doctors out there, but there are also quite a few cool doctors that will work for you.

 

[crzydiamond]

I don't see why any doctor would be angry that you went to an urgent care in order to make sure you were properly medicated. He ought to be grateful you did that and weren't on the phone reporting him to the state medical board for incompetence (as you say this wasn't the first time. Anyone can make a mistake but a pattern of mistakes shows lack of competency). Doctors and lawyers do have boards like that where they get sanctions from....

Anyway, I would simply point out politely that you did what you were supposed to do-contact Doctor office. He didn't do what he was supposed to do--sign prescription. (And in these days of faxing scripts, 5 days is truly absurd to be waiting). You were in pain. And possibly not feeling so hot if you're used to taking opioids. So you went to an urgent care and were honest about what was going on. You didn't lie to obtain drugs; you weren't trying to manipulate the system. I see nothing wrong with what you did. Just stay calm discussing it if he says something negative.


And as an aside, Vicodin are not only "half as strong as Percocet." Some conversions put it at a 3:2 ratio (Vicodin to Percocet). But there are though who say they are equal, and some people prefer the more sedating Vicodin. Regardless, for a few days you got meds that are in the ballpark of what you take. It's not like you take 40 mg of Percocet then were given 5 mg Vicodin. You take 5 mg of Percocet. 5 mg of Vicodin is pretty close. Probably should've given you 7.5/325, but at the same time you were fortunate to get a script. I'd personally be grateful.

 

[BigG]

If he does make a big deal out of it then he's well out of order.....I mean WFT are you supposed to do? Go without? Rediculous!!

 

[Kittycat5]

Page his ass. If you get someone else, tell them it was their error and call in an emergency supply.

 

[BeachBum4u]

I like to keep this knowledge close to heart - Half the doctors out there finished in the bottom half of their class and finally, someone finished LAST by the skin of their teeth. Just a thought. Good day all!

 

[Raysu]

I agree you have not done anything wrong and your doctor has no right to fault you. I've had doctors say specifically to go to the ER if there's a gap. I've also had some say to call my primary and get it from them and they can call the other office to verify the situation-which is the route I prefer because it seemed silly to sit four hours or more and go to an ER without a broken bone or something of that caliber. You could probably not mention it even. I'd be surprised if your doctor would be notified or come back to you about it even if they got a courtesy call. Just pick up your refill when it's signed and move forward and be ready in case it happens again.

 

[DETROIT*edm*JUNKIE]

i think ur ok, i get the percocet 5/325's too, i dont think you should get fucked with, its unfair of this guy to screw up and then you run out of medication and go into pain and withdrawals because he sucks at scheduling.......... the girl on the phone probably doesn't know jack. she makes 12 an hour.

id say keep a stash of pills for safekeeping if you can get ahold of them so you have more leeway time next time this happens

 

[Speed King]

Thanks for the replies. It ended up working corectly. I went to an urgent care who delt with me before, dropped all the doctors info on them so they could verify and cover my ass and I was given the right amount of hydrocodone to easily hold me over until the script. My family said that I wasn't seeing him anymore. I went to my old pain doctor's office and told her( best pain doc) the shit he pulled. She asked for his name and said she would not send any patients to him. Already have my insurance company getting me a new doctor. Through one of my doctors offices or someone, I'm going to find out who is above him and write a letter documenting what he did. I'm not a pussy and know how to withdrawal, but how many other people got fucked when I minorly did? I am part of the biggest and best HR site. I care about the other people. Maybe my letter or more will shut his ass down. Thanks for the support everyone.