**yep, my doctors did it too… been on fentanyl patches since 1999 without one issue or problem or “overdose” gggrrrrrrr. these DEA AND ‘LEGAL’ assholes are ruining our lives and mental stability by messing with what me and my very educated specialist of my pain are telling me. if these drug addict thugs want to take illegal fentanyl and they die, well that is their fault. the fentanyl I have always use to survive is not what these idiots are using. so, punish the legitimate pain patient who does multiple piss tests and signs contracts with their prescribers… un-freaking-believable…if they saw my multiple MRI and CAT scans and multiple bank boxes full of my medical records, they would not doubt what I have always used has worked. my physician told me that despite everything right I have done, they are still cutting my dosage to 25 mcg… that is half of my stabilizing dosage of 50mcg. I have been on up to 100mcg for many years before and no side effects and I didn’t go crazy, harassing ER hospitals for more drugs. these people are absolutely EVIL to the core… **
We definitely need these reforms!!!
The faxed prescription makes it virtually impossible for a doctor to divert. The script goes to the drug store and nowhere else.
Suffering from severe chronic pain is lonely and your own private hell. Adding insult to literal injury is the government’s near prohibition tactics to prevent access to what for some of us is the only medication that enables us to exist. Now people in palliative care are being denied relief. And pharmacies are refusing to accept pain patients. And people coming out of surgery are being given Advil. This has to stop. There are plenty of ways to provide checks and balances without denying people who are suffering from unspeakable misery access to life saving medication. Thank you for doing something to help us since we have no advocates in this fight.
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Thank you, Claudia!
Fingers crossed 
#2774 Vote.
I will add a few experiences of this unbelievable journey at a later time.
After 38 months, miraculously on January 22, 2025 I received an appointment for a Surgeon meeting and arrangements are in process. dealing with gaslighting, delays weeks on end, lost paperwork,
The biggest run around, non-responsive, calls & emails, unreturned, changed phone numbers changed, received texted contact number 901-999-9999, informed a newly hired Ins Rep. hired, I must wait until six week training was completed completed , afterwards assigned an existing Rep, six month delay awaiting an email query sent ent for a reply from parent company. Known surgery is necessary the past 38 months, tested numerous times still indicated surgery.
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My state should not be able to tell me I can only have X amount of pain medication per day because the DEA puts illegal and harmful restrictions on the usage of the medicine. I have complex regional pain syndrome, the most painful disease in the world with no cure. The only medicine that even comes close to helping a portion of my pain is opiates, but the doctors can only give me low doses because of DEA rules that prevent me getting the healthcare I need to live a fulfilling life. Being treated as a drug seeker or an addict or being forced to get drug tested, and refills being mandatory in person every 30 days really hurts those with disabilities. Medicines should be allowed to be prescribed in higher amounts and in longer durations than 30 day supplies each month, forcing those with disabilities to pay for 12 doctor appointments per year instead of 3 or 4.
I just wanted to add my personal story that’s very relevant: I am permanently sick for life including incurable testicular pain neuralgia, incurable ailments throughout & & have had to go through hell in California to get my oxycodone meds I’m on for life because Drs all said I’m incurable.
Most pharmacies (over 99%) refuse opioid med fills,the 1% that do only fill certain dosages they can get,& they refuse to even discuss what they will fill with you without a Drs order,& if the Drs order is for the wrong thing they will make you go back to the Dr to get a different prescription. Add into this that most insurance companies refuse to fill opioids without prior authorization,that many pain drs refuse to do.
On top of this pharmacies will leave you waiting until your meds are due to tell you whether they can even fill it,if it needs to be backordered etc. It doesn’t matter if your doc sent script early,they can’t fill if in stock & hold it for you til day it’s due. And they also limit how many opioid scripts each pharmacy can fill,& opioids cannot be transferred to different pharmacies.
I find myself constantly having to wean down before end of the month just in case my script won’t get filled on time. My life is a living hell because of the DEA & CDC etc.
In North Carolina the law from the DEA is a visit every 3 months and the doctor calls/escripts the subsequent fills to the pharmacy. My last pain management Doctor made me come every month just to get the extra money. He was verbally abusive and put me through hell after Hurricane Helene ripped through my town. My primary care doctor offered to take over my care and she is the one who told me about this rule. I can’t imagine that it is different from state to state since it comes from a federal agency. Call the DEA and ask them what the rule is in your state. If she goes on home hospice, the doctor comes to her or at least a Nurse Practitioner. Putting my Mom on home hospice was the best thing I did for her. The services we could get and the care was phenomenal. My mom had vascular dementia so I never told her she was on hospice. She just loved the attention she got.
Well said and I’m in a very similar situation and I know what your husband is going through. Contact Solace health and see if they can help. God bless
I’m sorry. I know the misery with which you’re dealing. I’ll look into your recommendation. Thank you for sharing.
thank you!!! 30 years and 7 back surgeries, and a chronic pain patient. Never failed a drug test, never asked for more meds, unless just before or after a surgery. But without pain medications, I would have zero quality of life. I am not the criminal, it was the alcoholic that was drinking on the drive home from work, and hit me, and stole my life and career. I just want to live as much of my life as I can without being in agony all the time. untreated pain makes your world so much smaller. Help us PLEASE!!!
I have RA and Lupus also Raynaud anything I get now doesn’t help , this is so debilitating I can barely get out of bed , I sure like to travel with my husband after his retirement
Hugs!
Your story breaks my heart. We should not be forced to suffer.
We need more votes on this policy! Please share this with everyone you know. We need change in our favor to happen!!
If palliative care was fully expanded to cover chronic pain patients who have no more treatment options, have proven over and over that only full agonists opioids are their only option with multiple DNA tests and seen multiple specialists who all say the same thing leave them on pain meds the “risk” of dependency outweighs the possibility side effects for quality of life it would give many doctors more flexibility and protections under hospice and palliative care guidelines. 90MMEs isn’t enough for everyone and saying it for a max for pain patients is not reasonable.
After having five vertebrae fused together as a result of an accident, I now have 6 herniated discs above the fusion. The fusion put strain on my hips and knees and I now have 2 artificial knees. For the last 10 years it has become increasingly difficult to obtain pain medication which is the only option specialists say I have for controlling the pain that causes my leg to collapse, prevents me from standing, sitting or walking very long and without the medications, I am unable to move around. The pain is immense and I have to steel myself to stand up and walk. With pain meds I can still volunteer and have some sort of a life but without them I would soon be back in bed as I am unable to move. Kaiser makes me order my pain meds every 15 days and they take days to approve and fill. They told me I need to stop taking them but they have no options for pain relief other than OTC or Neurontin. I can’t take Neurontin; it makes my heart accelerate. They treat me as if I were a drug addict despite over 20 years of prescribing pain meds for me and never once have I asked for meds early or for increases. I have always followed the prescription order. I now have to try to hold onto pain meds so when they take several days to fill my prescription I will have a few pills to help me get through. They don’t seem to care. Without managed pain meds, I would not be able to live because what kind of life do you have when the pain is so great you are just ready to leave this life?
Thank you for all that you do for our community! 
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Physicians have been indoctrinated and live in terrible fear of losing licenses.