Is anyone else being forced to withdraw from their pain medication?
Ive been perscribed Fentanyl for the past 20 odd yrs but now my doctors are forcing me to withdraw from the patches that have enabled me to cope with the severe chronic pain i suffer with my lower back.
I have a herniated disc at L4/5 osteo arthritis, and insecure spine. The withdrawel started some months ago as i was on 100mg of fentanyl duralgisic they now have me down to 75. Im now in so much agony i really dont know what to do with myself. Ive tryed talking to them about it but they keep saying that this is happening nationally.
Im also taking gabapentine 300mg 3x3, baclofen 10mg 2x2, paracetamol 500mg 2x4,
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insanetigger68
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My gp told me over the phone that he wants to stop my nortriptyline that I’ve been taking for over 5 years for my tmj jaw disorder that the hospital put me on as non medication didn’t work & only this worked to relax the muscles & without my medication the pain is going to come back 😞 , so I know how you feel, doctors just don’t seem to care about their patients much
I really feel for you. Knowing the pain is going to come back is a great fear and causes really unnecerssary upset and distress. DRs now dont seem to care. They must know what they are doing is going to cause stress. They offer no comfort or alterative to drugs which i know for a fact they get kickbacks from. As soon as they dont get kickbacks they switch tactics or drugs. Keep pressing your doctor to do something or seek a secondary oppinion . It really isnt fair that we have to fight so hard to get the approrppriate treament that we need let alone get the drugs we ACTUALLY need to treat the problems we have
Could you tell us more about the information you have about doctors getting kickbacks on pain medication. I have never heard of this. Where did the information come from for instance.
One reply ii gave to the survey was that they talk with me not at me so that made it clear that they were not going to just leave me but help me get the assessment done I'm so pleased with them I'm on a pain med regime now that helps if I need extra support even out of hrs I get help I need
I can relate. I was on the fast acting Fentanyl Meds and they really helped me. The Fentanyl patches were not effective for me. I was on 3 different Fentanyl Meds for 10 years and ran into the same problem. My doctor was ORDERED not to prescribe these meds by the Attorney General. It was a horrible time. It’s due to the uproar over the use of opiates. The problem is those of us who need these meds for chronic pain are also being targeted. We follow the law, are citizens and no distinction is made between us and those abusing the meds. I do not experience any sense of being “high”. It’s a sad unfortunate situation.
I totally agree we follow the rules do as we are instructed and still get treated worse than drug addicts, at least drug addicts get sympathy and the appropriate time to withdraw from their drug of choice. I, like you, dont experiance any sence of euphoria from fentanyl. It fogs my brain but is the only thing ive found so far that actually works on my pain. It works to such a degree that i can at least get a few things done. Without it and the more i am forced to withdraw the worse my pain, dability, depresion and secondary pain becomes. Im actually dreading the next drop
I had one do that I changed surgery they put me back on morph in the n sent me to be assessed by different people in the NHS hey they spoke to each other I also complained to cqc my complaint was upheld and they said no letter to pain consultant I knew there is and found right department to clarify letter exists, to cqc they kept that on file, next inspection they lost 7% went to low 60% hope that helps but u could call 111 if they, feel that u need extra help they will pass ur details on good luck
I feel for you. What a pathetic state we are getting into, we should not have to fight so hard to get the apprpriate treatment or even consideration it seems everything is geared toward either saving money or saving face. I'm happy that you finally got sorted though
After the way I have problems with DWP wen I get tests done I ask for copy of the report my file getting a nice size I was assaulted by a patient in the NHS there was no proper response from the longfleet House surgery look them up on Bournemouth echo under gp surgeries cqc examinations I'm now at Canford heath medical center. See their standing too. My c3, 4 disk bulged out compressing the nerves same in c 6,7 too effects my arms 3,4 caused me chest pains and ending up in hospital now I use mobility scooter wen I go out
If the GP is removing pain relief from you, then you should demand that they refer you to a pain clinic where there will be specialists to help you find the right mix of pain relief and exercise but will also support you. It might be that they decide that the expense of referring you to secondary care clinics will be more than keeping you on your preferred painkiller! On the other hand a pain clinic might actually be able to get a better quality of life for you, and the understanding of pain and its treatment has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
I’ve been to see my consultant pain clinic surgeon yesterday to discuss this matter. He said that the health body now allows GPS to make their own decisions regarding medication, that all they do is make suggestions which the doctors at primary care are not obligated to follow. I’ve been happily milling along on 20mg twice a day of OxyContin. I’ve just had a baby and have a lot more activity and stress on my spinal fusion at l5/s1 that failed, and now they have decided to reduce my meds. And I’m struggling to do anything with my baby because of the reduction, even though I was absolutely fine before. It’s a joke. They should be in the business of giving people in chronic pain a way to live a successful life, not making them depressed anxious and unable to cope.
OMG i really feel for you that is worse than my situation as i only have myself to contend with. Have you tried changing Dr or getting a second opinion on this. It seems to me they really dont understand your situation. I hope you get a better reception from another DR. Keep in touch let me know how you get on. Sorry for the late reply
Medication reviews are an appropriate part of the management of long term conditions.
You say that but i have had no proper review. I am house bound due to the fact ive now become agraphobic. This has now caused an inapproppriate discrimination by the doctors to even attend my address. I have asked several times to be sent to an appropriate pain mannagement or specialist and been ignored. This has been going on for 20yrs not a thing that happened yesterday as far as im concerned this a money saving drive and NOT an appropriate one. I was put on this medication by a pain specialist, its a GP chemist that is trying to remove them.
Many Clinical Commissioning Groups have been embedding pharmacists into GP surgeries. They have done extra training so that they are able to prescribe medicines like GPs do. in fact they are often more knowledgeable about medications.
The idea is that getting a pharmacist to do a medication review will cut down on the amount of unnecessary medication. They have been catching some real horrors, such as people taking twice as much medication as they need because they have been prescribed one thing from the hospital, but then the GP prescribes the same drug by a different name as well, and the patient might not realise that they are taking too much. In other cases they are taking drugs that either interfere with other drugs, or have no effect on their condition. so having pharmacists is generally a good thing for the patients.
However for some patients it doesn't work out that way as the pharmacist might not understand the whole picture of the patient and what their situation is. If you are having problems with the pharmacist then what about talking to the Practice Manager? They might be able to sort something out for you. Also does your surgery have something like social prescribing, community connectors or a frailty service? They might be able to help you too.
Ive never heard of the frailty service sorry. I have spoken to the practice mannager but she was no use. They always back their GPS never the patient, in my experiance. The same with social perscribing ive never heard of that either all i know is everything ive asked for to cope with whats going on ismet with a brick wall or uncaring dismissal.
Its a nightmare they either over perscribe or under perscribe and if you dare call them on it, they just dismiss you as either a druggy or a problem patient. Ive never seen a GP lately that knows any of what im going through. Let alone one who cares that ive been made an addict by the prescription im on. All they keep saying now, is my pathology which is over 2 yrs old does not show anything life threatening. It might not be life threatening, but its ruining my life.
Of course they're an appropriate part long-term condition management, but not when they taper or remove meds against the patient's wishes, or without another type of pain relief (that actually works) to switch to.
Thank you for the link and the advice on getting help. Im trying to get help from my Psych but so far ive had nothing concrete. I've been waiting over a yr to get that help too. It just seems that no one wants to help, or even understand whats going on with me, as my situation is complex.
I totally agree the Gps seem to think they have more rights than the specialists they dont care anymore. They have been given hand outs by the government and are just squeezing for more and more.
I am so sorry for what you are going through and you are totally correct this is a disgrace and totally about saving money and our GPs are an utter disgrace in going along with it, not to mention the lies they insult us with ,saying these medications don't work anyway, when they prescibed them and know full well they do work for us.
However in showing us they clearly have no care or respect for us their patients they are also doing themselves irreparable damage. (I know that is cold comfort to us who are being made to suffer).
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