Big change to make it harder for patients to get pain killers like Vicodin

[Skarbrowe]

100. I'm having a very hard time getting Vicodin....

I have a kidney disease that doesn't allow me to take any kind of anti-inflammatory medications. No aspirin, Advil, anything that reduces inflammation and actually eases my pain. I have a few other diseases other than the Stage V kidney failure. Before they took Darvocet off the market back in 2010, I had been able to get them from my specialists and doctors with no problem. I took them for over 10 years.

Right now, Vicodin, which I hate btw, is the only thing that helps me do some dishes or walk around a grocery store. All my health care is through the VA and they have been so good to me about everything but this. During my last kidney doctor appointment just a couple of weeks ago, the Nephrologist finally said I HAD to have pain killers. Now, I have to wait and see if the Primary doc will go along with this. It's her decision. She's not very brave, so I expect her to not to fight for me to get these pills. I've been around pain killers for years with the Darvocet and I never abused them. I usually didn't even come close to taking what was prescribed. But, you are immediately thought of as a drug addict, or soon to become one, if you ask for this type of pain killer.

I've been wiped out by pain since 2011. I have had the occasional prescription of Vicodin that I try to stretch for weeks and months. Now I'm being worked up for dialysis and I'm still fighting for some relief from HUGE cysts on both kidneys. That along with arthritis, gout, and the ever baffling fibromyalgia, have gotten me so screwed up I can barely type. Please excuse the tons of mistakes. I don't post much anymore.

Just saw this post and thought, geez, now my Primary will really say "no way".