PAIN MEDS
This is not a post coming from an addict, rather from someone in constant pain which sometimes flairs so badly I can’t function.
Is there something in the VHA handbook which restricts VA Physicians from prescribing opiates? Before you fly off the handle, hear me out.
I have a service connected head injury which makes me wake up in pain daily. I suffer from migraines almost daily but can control it with the help of caffeinated drinks. If it gets bad, I’ll take OTC pain relief or my prescribed migraine meds. I also receive Botox every quarter and have been managing this pain for decades. When it gets really, really bad, to the point I’m unable to function and have to lay down, sometimes this works, but usually not. I’ve asked my VA Neurologist, Pain, and Mental Health providers to prescribe me a pain killer; one pill; because it has worked for me before I was in the VA system. When I took it before, just one time; it was like it reset my body. They all refused. Is there a policy which restricts these Physicians to help with these type of prescriptions? I don’t have a history of drug abuse, especially opiates, nor have I ever asked any VA providers before. I work, I’m visibly not addicted nor appear under the influence. I get the hesitancy with opiates based on the national crisis but it seems like my VA docs, instead of being selective, have opted to not prescribe anything which can get them flagged. Am I reading this right? I understand the addiction issue, I’ve seen it with my own eyes on family. But there has been zero history for me, anywhere. One pill. Just one. And I’ve never asked before.
Can anyone point me to a regulation or reason why my VA Docs are refusing this? They all say they don’t prescribe opiates. And my VA PCP tells me to ask them, so it doesn’t seem as if they’re being restricted or he would have told me the VA doesn’t prescribe those meds.
Can anyone help me understand the logic? I thought they were supposed to help us.