Not sure what to do about this situation with PM Doc?

[sophiachanel92]

Hi all!

Just had some quick questions for what to do in my situation. I have degenerative disc disease & this can cause me a great amount of pain. I am prescribed Norco 10/325 (30/month) to deal with the pain. I also go to a Pain Management doctor who is the one who prescribes me this medication. At each appointment, I go in and follow up with him and he asks me how I'm doing on my regimen. I always make it a point to bring the prescription bottle with me at each appointment to show him how well I am doing on my regimen. (I don't have to do this, I simply do this so that he can see that I am a good patient who responsibly takes the medication.) Generally I bring him back around 15-17 of the original 30 pills. Then he writes me a new prescription. So all in all, I use about 30 pills per month. (~15 of the old ones left & ~15 of the new ones.) This time, the time between this appointment and last is longer by a couple days & and my DDD has been flaring up and giving me a lot more pain than usual. There have been 31 days exactly between my last appointment and the appointment I'm going to on Friday. So I have 15 pills left right now. A couple of things are worrying me about taking anymore even though I am in quite a bit of pain.
1) The doctor decided to refer me to the nurse practitioner in his practice. You see her after you have a good regimen going with the doctor and you are doing well on it. The doctor himself writes the prescriptions & only sees the new patients. Therefore, the NP lightens his load. I am worried since this is a new person and I only bring in 13 pills (This is if I take 1 tomorrow and 1 Thursday, as I said I have 15 now), that they will not think this is as good as the doctor thought.
2) I had to move my appointment back from Tuesday to this Friday. The original appointment was on Tuesday, but I had a scheduling conflict so I moved my appointment back to Friday. I know sometimes they don't like when you move your appointments around because they are suspicious 24/7 but I have so much going on next week that I really needed to make my appt for this week.

Anyone with experience in PM please help! I'm in a lot of pain but don't want to take any more of my medication if this could prompt the DR or NP to stop prescribing me the medication. I would rather suffer for a few days than break the bond of trust between my doctor and I and suffer for much longer.

Would it be wise to take any more medication? Should I abstain given my situation?

Please help!

[trixy71]

Sorry, I just go the PM. LOL. I always forget to check that. 8-)

[trixy71]

Hi, sorry I've been gone for a few days. I've been pretty sick. So how did it go with your appointment? Anxious to hear from you, hope you are doing OK sweetie!

[sophiachanel92]

Trixy, you are such a sweetheart. Thank you so much for your kind thoughts, I will absolutely let you know how my appt goes! Also, part of the reason why my pain flared up in my neck is b/c I had an inflamed/infected taste bud on my tongue this week. My entire tongue was swollen and I could not talk or eat. I seriously wanted to go to the ER b/c it hurt so so bad. I really did need my Norco this week! I hope that they understand. Thanks for your kind thoughts and words, Trixy, you are so sweet. <3

[trixy71]

I doubt that they will fire you as a patient. Seriously. If she asks, just be honest and tell her about your pain. Flair ups happen. It was my NP that told me, that there are going to be times when the pain will be bad, and then she said you will also have good days and regular pain days. Try not to worry too much. Besides like you said, you didn't take all of them, but you did need some to get you through. Seriously, though, you should be fine. I'll be thinking about you and will say a prayer for you s well. Let me know how your appointment goes OK hon.

[sophiachanel92]

Hi there!

I have been having bad flare ups this week. I now have 11 pills, hoping for the best. I just gave in since I really didn't want to be hurting. Since I originally saw the doctor and am now seeing the NP, hopefully she won't be upset and will continue to see me. I feel like it's good that I am still returning with some of the pills, although not the majority. They never ask me for a pill count as I said, but I just bring the pills in just to show that I am a compliant patient. (I always am, never missed an appointment, always early, very friendly as this is my nature anyway, bring my pills with me.) I just hope that they don't eliminate my opioid therapy because of this.

Soph

[trixy71]

In my personal opinion, I would try to hold out those few days if possible. You might want to ask though about what should you do if you have a bad flair up and see what they say, that way next time, if you have extra's maybe they will allow an extra pill to get you through. Just be honest and up front with them. I too see a NP, now that I'm stable, and she's great also, so that shouldn't be a problem. Its almost a little easier for me, you know the "white coat" syndrome, doctors tend to make me nervous. 8-)