Chronic Pain Sufferer Says She Can't Get Pain Medication Amid Opioid Production Cuts

I love it when the pharmacist tells me that they don't have it They want have it for 2-3months. If you take it daily for chronic pain and one day you can't get the dose you need you will not only have to deal with the pain but withdrawal. Pain and withdrawal together is unbearable and you will wish you could die. So wait you people who say I will never take that stuff. You will if you can't move or breathe without having severe pain.

My GOD ... this video is 7 years old. I
Can'😂t Believe it's been going on this long. I've been on painkillers for 12 to 15 years now for chronic pain. I learned that the pharmacies knew who their regular customers were that they trusted with opioids and they would hold back the medication for those customers. If you walked in with a new prescription for painkillers, that was legitimate from pain management, the pharmacist would tell you they were out. They were holding back and that's noted several times here. They were judgmental and gave you that look. I cannot tell you how many times I received that look and I actually had one pharmacist hold back my medication for one more day just to make me suffer, and for no other reason. And this was after 12 years of treatment. They knew me and my history. She was reported and is no longer working at the pharmacy I use. It is torture and it's legal torture which makes it all the worse. I just didn't realize it was happening as far back as 7 years ago. I was being well cared for at that time and was never denied. However, my compassionate doctor told me if I ever went to the pharmacy and they said they did not have the medication he ordered. He could order other meds that had the same milligrams in them as I was taking but they were actually a different medication and he said he would submit as many prescriptions as necessary until he could get me the medication I needed, regardless of the form it was in. He was fighting back and I don't know what I'd ever do without him. ❤

Pain management in this country is a farce. It's not about the patient , it's ALL about doctor's covering their ass. They over prescribed opiods in the early 2000's, caused the epidemic and now its the chronic pain sufferers that are paying for it. 99.9% of these doctors are useless.

I live in Australia and pharmacists don’t have a leg when it comes to opinions if u have a script here they have to fill it out

I agree. I have osteoarthritis and have been told that I now may have RA. My pain is horrendous. I have been forced to go to a pain clinic now to even get hydrocodone. And, at best I get 50% relief. I am 70 years now an have chronic bursitis as well. I am so frustrated with a health care system that appears not to create at all. I do not have children, so, the chances of a child taking my meds is slim. So, I am seriously thinking of contacting a lawyer to see if there is a possibility of getting a class action lawsuit suit started to address the forgotten sufferers, like myself.

Just wait until you go OFF of those drugs. It took me nearly 4 years to get rid of Hydrocodone and YES…Gabapentin. That will be an opioid soon. NOTHING…AND I MEAN NOTHING WORKS AFTER YOU GET TO THE TOP MGS FOR A DAY AND YOU HAVE HORRIFIC PAIN. They diagnosed me with Transverse Mylitis. Paralyzed from the waist down. Kratom has helped me get off of all addiction to Opiods. No physical therapy has worked.

I am so sorry that you suffer. from this pain.i am experiencing problems getting my medication s.😊

Opioid dependence is more similar to a true disease than it is to addiction

THIS IS ALL A PART OF DEPOPULATION
THEY WANT US ALL TO SUFFER AND DIE

Now 8 years later and it’s even worse you get nothing

Now 8 years later and it’s even worse you get nothing

I totally understand! God bless you.

It is completely cruel the way we are treated when it comes to “pain management”. I spend most of my days in bed (1 1/2 years) due to severe pain, and yet I have been treated like a common drug seeker.

I was on the EMS and the army and these undersupervised PA's cutting my nerves up and a Dr letting me go 7 year's with twisted coxysis bone tore my nerves up. I've been on pain meds for decades. Yesterday out of the blue my new Dr said she won't fill them any longer. We're not all addict's! I never get high. I don't drink. I've never took more than I'm supposed to.. these pain clinics are just drug treatment, they can't help. My Dr had to retire and now I just want to die. The theraputic level I was on helped me just function. Now I'm ready to give it up. I can't live with this pain. They never treated the 2 bulging disc and one ruptured. I can't write. Thank goodness for swipe technology. My life is over this is not living. No quality of life.

Pain is an invisable enemy
Very sad.

I didn't understand why I would be told that another doctor can't prescribe me anything so here I'm trying to think that I'm being protective of doctors in certain ways as well as myself. Whoever that is stop suggesting to go speak to a therapist for things that don't have anything to do with this or any of that. I'm barely on one tramadol a day that's it's. My medication doesn't bother me its when I am getting cut down. And that doesn't make sense anyways cuz I haven't been put on or prescribed anything that's worth strong enough especially I've never taken in my entire life I've never been put on ever. Omg I haven't never been prescribed anything like that I've never have I was always denied 😭 I swear to God I'm not kidding I'm not lying so many things I was denied from 😭 what is one major reason why I haven't felt good for so many years never taken never done in my entire life. I appreciate whoever that is to do with I don't need to talk to anybody to do with depression talk space I was born with gastroschisis and other birth defects injuries as well. The pain specialist that I was seeing not allowed to prescribe anything I don't understand why

i have an L3 burst fracture multiple compressions. but pharmacy;s act like they are some kind of DEA detectives and they are a swat team protecting the world from the bad people.. yet just about anyone can go to a street corner in the city and find any drug they want. its almost like the government wants you to use street dealers.

It’s 2023 and it’s only gotten worse. The media frenzy has painted every opioid patient as an addict. Responsible patients that have never abused their meds are treated like heroin junkies. There is NO oversight for pain clinic staff and they are allowed to treat patients horribly because patients have no alternative. The pain docs know that and get away with a level of substandard care that is shocking. It no longer matters what your diagnosis is or what documentation your chart shows that proves your need for pain management. Small towns have one pain management clinic and that monopoly allows them to do whatever they want with no fear of losing patients.

Most countries don’t prescribe opioids, they use other drugs, so this idea that only opioids work isn’t true

You know that's really horrible not being able to be given anything really

Like many others, Arlene's story minics my own. The most relatable part is when she says that sometimes you just want it to stop. Only it isn't sometimes for me it is all the time. The thought of stopping the pain feels like the best for everyone in my life not just myself. All I want is to be a normal mother, wife, daughter, friend, grandmother but that is just a dream. The pain and fatigue run my life. One doctor told me that I would never feel "normal" again. So, I have no choice but to rely on pain pills which most days barely touch the pain. Then to be told by a pharmacists that they can't fill it because there isn't enough (then find out there was but the pharmacists didn't bother to check or actually order more). It makes those thoughts of wanting the pain to stop even stronger. Instead of dealing with the actual problem, the true people who abuse opioids, those of use that really need them are the ones getting punished. A drug addict can walk into a methondone clinic and walk out with stronger higher dosage and more meds than I can from my pain doctor and local pharmacy. What is wrong with that picture?

They are all gone for the needy . The bad apple ruined the bunch 🤕

I'm so sorry Arlene . ,I understand. But I don't . That's terri.

I have chronic anxiety and chronic pain all over my body. Big one on for the last 16 years. They took me off on my Xanax and now I'm so fed up with being anxiety all the time. I'm just getting dying at a slow pace

The government doesn’t stop alcohol or cigarettes.

And now in many states street drugs that were previously illegal are now legal. So what’s the big deal with holding it at the pharmacy.

Sister of Pain please 🙏 please 🙏 hang on for your Babies I know I KNOW WHAT YOU FEEL INSIDE AND OUT. WE MUST FIGHT SOMEHOW AND SOMEWAY
Massachusetts Victim here; not sure I will survive THIS WITHDRAWAL. My Grandbabies are coming to visit first time in TWO YEARS! I will be bedridden. >>>Thanks FDA you make my Day

Withholding pain medication for those in chronic pain results in suicide.

I have just started experiencing this shortage in the last6 months with my fentanyl patch. Plus the cost is going up. Had to go to a different pharmacy one month and the price was right at twice.

The dea needs to quit trying to practice medicine. They are not trained for it. If I was to do what they do I would be in prison.
Opiates are effective meds for Drs to use for many chronic pain patients.

If pharmacy cant fill a LEGAL prescription the patient will look on the streets for help. Sad.

The people who really need it can't get it. They're treated as addicts. But the people who don't need it can get as much as they want. As a recovering addict, I've been through the ringer. Pharmacies will lie and say that they are out. Some say they have to fill a certain quota.

The u.s has gone to far not letting doctors to write what patients need .

I feel so sorry for you and your kids
I live with terrible pain after an accident 1997 back neck leg got so much damaged that its soo hard i know how it is to feel that one cant take anymore pain everything hurts. I hope you can get your medicine. Nobody else than one self know what medince helps and when you got that its ones right to have it. God blesd you and your kids. 😢❤

get used to the pain , big pharma doesn't care about you. i have been in pain since 1988 from a botched back surgery. at first getting meds wasn't a problem, through the years it just got harder to get them. doctors and pharmacists are afraid of losing their license, so they don't want to give them out. about 5 years ago i had my fill of doctors and haven't seen one since. now i use kratom , weed and sometimes booze to control pain and the doctors don't care.

I got cancer and a lot of pharmacies does the same judgmental stuff to me, telling me that they don't believe me that im supposed to take two pain meds and they have to make sure the doctor sent these prescriptions in and that the doctor knows of these prescriptions, WHEN HE'S THE ONE WHO SENT THEM IN ELECTRONICALLY, WHY DO THEY TREAT ME LIKE AN ADDICT 😢

I am in the pits of hell. Don't know if anyone will read this. After 8 years of being on many different meds i decided to ask for help with my pain. The doctor had no empathy, when i asked for a referral to pain team she said she would do it for me. When i got home i got a text from her saying my referral was rejected and also that there is no evidence opioids help chronic pain. I didn't even ask for an increase of dose ! I was left considering ending my life. I felt alone, very upset and treated like a drug addict from the very people who are supoosed to help. I am so upset. I can only hope similar pain will happen to them. Its inhumane and nobody really cares

Drs refuse to prescribe effective pain killers in UK. I have to buy overseas or I couldnt manage. When I tell my dr what I take he remains silent and moves on. I dont understand whats going on with drs.

Real pain is no joke.
Not everyone is a Drug seeker wanting to get high. My arm is broke and ibuprofen isn't doing it

It’s about time that our side of the story is told, adequate pain relief should not be denied to us who have chronic intractable pain. PERIOD, ITS INHUMANE AND ABUSE OF POWER BY THOSE WHO HAVE TWISTED OUR TRUTH

People that need a controlled or narcotic medication are getting a negative response and treated as if they are criminals. As of it's not enough that you are suffering and struggling you are categorized and at the hands of a decision made out of fear and judgement. It is very much cruel,selfish and inhumane.

I’ve found not many care. My quality of life greatly suffers

My 83 year old mother takes Vicodin every day for Rheumatoid Arthritis and cancer. My local CVS actually ran out of Vicodin. It took over a month until her prescription could be filled. She suffered terribly. It was a horrific experience for both of us.

But cigarettes are still sold.

Dolophine should be the ONLY pain med

I've taken pain pills off and on my entire life, mainly for tooth issues. I always took them responsibly and not once did I ever OD or take more than the prescribed amount. Not once did I ever sell them to anyone. Now when I get an abscess tooth I can't get anyone to give me a pain pill. This is unacceptable. What in the hell does it take to get a pain pill when you really need one?

I totally agree. Those of us who suffer from legitimate pain issues are being deprived.

Wow I thought my sister was exaggerating she takes care of my 93-year-old mother who is in a lot of pain and she has called every pharmacy and they do not have narco on the shelf all this is going to do is put people on the methadone program I think this is a bunch of crap people are in pain and now the pharmacy can't give the medicine when the doctor does? this is crazy we have people dying of fentanyl overdoses on the street but that's okay! They're never going to win this war on drugs they just keep finding new ones let the people have their medications for God's sake😔

This is still happening to people. They don't want to help anxiety and pain patients. Im extremely sorry that there are addiction issues in the world but patients aren't drug seeking nor are they selling their medicine.
I can't get out of bed. I was treated perfectly only needing 1 pain pill a day for pain and 1 pill a day for anxiety. Now, that's gone. I never did anything inappropriate with my medication. I live 5 minutes away from my Dr. and i even offered to come every day if she wanted me to for pill counts and urine tests to prove im not doing anything bad. We even installed security cameras in and around our home as well as our car for VIDEO PROVEN EVIDENCE. She doesn't care. Keeps making excuses not to help me. I'm taking SOOOO much Advil and Tylenol now that my kidneys and liver are taking a hit. I can't stay out of bed for long and im even having trouble being able to stand up to take regular showers. No one cares. They're so obsessed with keeping these things away from people who need it.
I honestly think it's a class issue. People with lots of money and who are in positions of power have no problem getting their hands on things. Many don't even need it. This is literally torture and they're legalizing it.