Dilemma With 2 Narcotic Scripts From 2 Doctors (Top voted first)

Hi all. I have intractable pelvic RSD, peripheral neuropathy, lumbar facet spondylosis. I live in California and am about to have to change insurances at the end of this month. The new insurance has ridiculously high Rx prices. I go to a PM for all my pain meds, but my primary dr has in the past managed them for me. My question is if anyone knows if I get an Rx for the 60mg Oxycontin twice a day like usual from my PM and then my primary to write a script for 40mg 3 times a day and then I can go to 2 totally different pharmacies and fill one with my insurance and the other at another pharmacy and pay with cash, will that flag the DEA and cause my PM to get a notification of "Doctor shopping"? I am just trying to have enough meds to get me through an extra month until my husbands new job let's us get medical coverage?

I had to do this one other time a year ago when the same thing happened with me loosing my job because I could no longer work and I wasn't married yet to get my husbands insurance. The first 2 months I had no problem, but the third and LAST month I was needing to do it to get me enough meds to last me the 3 month waiting period, my husband forgot and filled both scripts under the same insurance but just at 2 different pharmacies instead of paying cash at the second one. My pain doctor found this out and thank God I was able to explain my way out of it and he didn't discharge me as a patient, but now in this situation again, I'm afraid to try it one last time til we are settled with yet another health insurance. I would really appreciate anyone's advise or experience they could share regarding my situation. I truly am not a doctor shopper, I am just afraid to run out of meds and be in massive pain and / or risk getting into trouble.

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Anyone trying to fill more than one Rx of the same controlled substance at different pharmacies (regardless of whether the same doc signed both Rx's or not) is asking for trouble. Many states have a Prescription Monitoring Program in place now. The pharmacist at Pharmacy #1 will enter your Rx info - Say OxyContin 20mg. Then you get a second Rx somewhere for OxyContin 20mg. Even if you take the second prescription to another pharmacy - even a pharmacy without any association to the first pharmacy at all - the pharmacist at Pharmacy #2 will get a red flag that you've already filled a prescription at another pharmacy for that medication. Doesn't matter if you fill the first Rx at CVS and the second Rx at Walgreens - in many states, the state's database of prescriptions for controlled substances will show wherever you go to have the Rx filled in that state. BUT, if you got a prescription for OxyContin 20mg and a prescription for OxyContin 30mg, you can get away with filling both prescriptions at different pharmacies. The way that the drug is identified by the Prescription Monitoring Program is through what is known as the NDC (National Drug Code) number. EVERY product is assigned an NDC number - and if the dose of the pill is different, then a different NDC number has been assigned.

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Yes, if you do that, you will be taking the risk of getting yourself flagged. All narcotics prescriptions are tracked and reported to the government. The last time it happened, your doctor was just nice enough to listen to you and neither they, nor the pharmacy called the governments attention to it. However, the possibility of one of them doing so is always there.

It is also highly possible that the government could find out on their own, since as I said, all controlled substance prescriptions are tracked. In that case, even if your doctor doesn't want to do anything, if they contact him about it, he will be forced to account for it.

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Oxycodone/­

If you're already planning to pay cash for one of the prescriptions and not use your insurance on it, there won't be that big of a difference if you wait and get it filled at the proper time to avoid the possibility of getting yourself in trouble.

Are there any other comments or questions?

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When you get a rx filled, Irregardless of the pharmacy or if you pay cash, private insurance or government insurance, the info goes into a date base. The basic info is your name, drs name, name of med, strength, amount, number of refills, directions on the rx, other info may also be included. Your dr & pharmacist can see this info. Depending on the state laws, law enforcement may also be able to see the info automatically, in some states they must have permission. If your state has a PMP it is mandatory that this be used. To find out what the laws are in your state, put your state name AND Prescription Monitoring Program in th search bar.

Missouri is the only state that has Pending Legislation regarding Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) There are a few states that have enacted the program but they aren't operational yet. The other states have up and running PMP.

Alliance Of States With Prescription Monitoring Programs-
pmpalliance.org/content/state-pmp-websites

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Doctor shop all you want. You pay the bill.

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Hi Guys,

Stumbled upon this thread and wanted to provide some insight. I am a Pain Management Physician and these kinds of threads scare me. The reason controlled drugs are enforced so highly, is because they have a very high abuse potential, on top of the fact they are strong medications that can alter many things, apart from mood, diet, hallucinations, etc.

Lots of pharmacies share electronic records. If you get multiple prescriptions for the same or similar drug and try to avoid the system, you will get flagged sooner than later. The computer systems with medical programs have been catching up and it is not so easy any more. It is surely not worth getting caught for something like this.

This is what you need to do. You need to see a physician that is correct for your needs. If you just had surgery, your surgeon will prescribe the correct pain medications. If you are in chronic pain, a pain management physician can assess your needs and provide you with the correct amount and dosage needed for the prescription amount. Do not try to get multiple Rx's from different physicians at this stage. You are risking the physicians license by ingesting more than the known quantity to him/her of that said drug, and you are also harming yourself by possibly taking a dosage larger than safe. Reconcile all your files with one prescribing physician.

You should only see a family physician for controlled substances, IF, you have been long term on the said controlled medication, AND, your family physician is comfortable with writing you the said controlled medication(they may not be and don't blame them). Controlled medications have high abuse potential as known. When consumers abuse them, you risk your life, our license and the integrity of the Rx system.

Best way, explain to a Pain physician what you need exactly, to a tee. Only go to a family physician if he/she is willing to write you that controlled prescription based on your forwarded records. Also plan frequent appointments to check your vitals and important criteria to make sure these drugs are not taking a toll on you. If you avoid these frequent check ups, you will not be aware, unless you are well read on all the side effects of the drugs, how low or high other hormones/neurotransmitters/vitals can go.

Please everyone, do yourself a favor, once again, visit one physician, get all your medications for that specific need from only that one physician.

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Can anyone answer this! If a doctor did surgery on a knee and gave you 5mg percocet for pain, and you get a rx from a different doctor for 30mg roxys will the pharmacy fill it....keep in mind i been regularly getting roxys from this pain management doctor, who dont do knee surgery.....the doc that did the surgery is an orthopedic but didnt write anything but the 5mg perks....im in jersey and laws are tuff here now...is 5mg perks and 30mg roxys considered the same drug?

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so u r gonna dumb enough to try it again? u wont b able to talk ur way out of it a second time being your 1st time is on record with dea! that is just plain dumb! u need to go to a dr that will medicate u for all your problems! its people like you who make the drug laws tougher for the ones of us that really do it legally! i cant believe u r even dumb enough to put it on the internet that u r breaking the law like that!

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If you are not honest with your doctors, then you could be getting zero prescriptions. It will make your DR very angry.

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You're very lucky the pharmacy didn't call the police and turn you in for doctor shopping, which is a felony. But to get back to your original question, you didn't specify the amounts of hydromorphone (dose in mg and frequency taken) or 10/325mg oxycodone/acetaminophen "percocet 10" (frequency taken). Everybodies opiate receptors in their brains are a little different, meaning one opiate based drug may work better on pain perception than another even though said drug is supposed to be more potent. The hydromorphone is more powerful than oxycodone, but that doesn't mean it will work better on your pain perception. Only "YOU" can judge what works best on your own pain situation. I was wondering too why you're not on a time released opiate like oxycontin, mscontin or opana, unless cost is a factor. Alot of doctors these days seem to only want to prescribe the more tamper resistant time released opiates for long-term use. I hope that since you are now aware that pharmacies in your state are all using a controlled substance database. That you won't try filling multiple controlled substance prescriptions again, next time you might get arrested. I wish you luck with your pain management issues and hope you find a doctor that isn't afraid to do what's necessary to manage your pain situation.

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You got a refill on Percocet? I find that hard to believe since Doctors can not give refills on schedule 2 narcotics. It contains Oxycotin and Tylenol. Norco comes in 5/325, 7.5/325 and 10/325 which is a schedule 3 narcotic and can be refilled up to 4 times, which is usually enough for a month supply. So 60 =240 tabs which is 8 a day, the norm. Look, you are seeing a pain doc for controlled meds. You got 2 other scrips for pain medication from other docs. That is doctor shopping and is illegal. 95% of the time the doc will just cut you off and will communicate with the pharmacy to make sure you do not fill any more controlled medication. They are not out to get you arrested but to keep you safe. If they know you are getting all these meds and end up dying then they get in to major trouble and lose everything. The DEA gets involved if anyone reports them about your activity. The DEA is so busy with real cases that you incident will be noted, they will take a look at your refill records and put you in a file. 6 months later they will re check your file to see if you have broken the law anymore. They look for constancy and a pattern in your refill history. If this happened once or even twice they are not going to make a huge case about it right away. Just know at any given time they can be watching you and you will never know. DEA looks at people in the medical field first for this type of behavior. The reason is because these are the people who call in phony scripts, steal prescription pads and steal peoples identity to obtain drugs. If you are not going to 5 doctors once a month, picking up scripts and then filling them in different pharmacies then I would not worry too much about your deal. People who have stuff called in for them or refill different scrips of the same drug will have a lot harder time being prosecuted for a crime. It is also the pharmacists job to check your record before filling these medications. If you go there a lot and fill with the same doc, at the same time and the same quantity then they are less to see you as suspicious and turn you in. The Doctors are always notified first and depending on what their feeling are on doctor shopping you will usually get away from this with a slap on the hand and having to see a new doc. Most people arrested for this stuff and involved in huge rings or off duty cops or doctors who get made an example of. At that, it only takes once to get in to some serious trouble and just stop while you are a head. No withdrawals are worth going to prison over and losing your life with a felony or accidental overdose.

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I am again baffled by some of the misinformation that floats around on these Message Boards. For example, someone states "Doctor-shopping is not illegal". Well, it could be that you're writing in from outside the United States, because it IS illegal here. Schedule II drugs are NOT refillable, a written prescription must be used (no phone-in scripts) and the maximum supply of the Schedule II Rx is 90 days worth. (Although most doctors and virtually NO pharmacies are going to hand someone a 90-day supply of a Schedule II drug. Usually, the max a doc will write for is a 30-day supply.) Additonally, Schedule II drugs must be stored by pharmacies in designated secure areas, like a safe. Schedule III drugs allow for a doctor to phone in a prescription (a lot of pharmacies won't accept the request and ask for a "hard copy" of the prescription), allow for 5 refills, and the prescripton expires in 6 months from the date of issue. Anyone with questions about prescribing limitations should probably do a Web search based on the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 - and not rely on what is usually inaccurate information provided on Message Boards. Another misconception is that you can't simultaneously be prescribed more than one narcotic. Of course you can! There are plenty of cases where a doctor prescribes one narcotic analgesic and the patient either finds the drug ineffective or the side effects of teh drug intolerable. The physician can certainly write a prescription for another narcotic medication - if a pharmacist says otherwise, he or she is lying to you. Pharmacies and doctors can and do get monitored by the DEA to ensure compliance with the Controlled Substances Act. A lot of pharmacies and physicians simply can't be bothered with the potential scrutiny, and place their own limits on prescribing controlled substances to their patients.
Although this is a Message Board and I have provided accurate information, it's a poor source for general research and verifiable facts. Stop using chat boards and start looking at search sites that can provide you with factual answers to your questions.

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While I sympathize with your situation, what troubles me most about your post is the way you refer to your doctor's decision to stop treating you as "this most recent discharge". This implies that this is NOT the first time you've been turned away from a physician; that's disturbing. Are you failing to be adherent to this doctor and earlier physicians' orders? If so, and a lack of adherence continues, your "discharge" (which is really a sweet way of wording the doctor saying "Get out of my office and don't come back!") you will run out of doctors to play with. You also refer to multiple car accidents, which bring an obvious issue to mind: Is there a connection between your car accidents and your consumption of pain medication?

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I feel sorry for you Telly, but you have experienced the norm for emergency rooms today. Because of the REAL prescription drug abusers emergency rooms look at most people the way you were treated. I won't even go to an emergency room unless I know something is broken because of the way you get treated.

I don't know how Canada monitors people who alter scripts, but here in America doctors don't do background checks on patients.
If you don't have any history of doing this or other drug related things you should get parole. You definitely have mitigating circumstances to what you did, but you still commented a felony. Try to get deferred adjudication for the charge, meaning the charge will go away if you do everything the court asks and stay out of trouble for a certain period of time. A felony will follow you forever... Now you know what people go through who have legitimate pain and the way they get treated. Next time you see someone abusing prescription drugs you can thank them for the way legitimate pain sufferers get treated by alot of doctors. I hope everything works out for you.

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Your old PM doctor should have set you up with a new PM doctor that would continue your current treatment plan. I've had this happen to me once before, but my retiring PM doctor set me up with a PM doctor that didn't try to reinvent the wheel... The bad thing with the PM industry is that there isn't any uniformity with how and what doctors prescribe their patients. I started PM in 1989 and now in 2014 it's still like the wild west.
In all those years I've been around alot of different people with different PM doctors and nothing is etched in stone.
All I can say is always be honest with your PM doctor about meds from all doctors and pharmacies used. Most make you sign an agreement to use one pharmacy, but things happen and you might have to use a different pharmacy. Always notify the PM doctor that you had to use a different pharmacy. Some PM doctors will fire you for taking any narcotic meds from any other doctor or even a dentist even though it has nothing to do with what their treating you for, even though you kept them informed. This type of PM doctor you want to stay away from. I actual know a guy who was in PM and broke his arm on a Friday evening. The emergency room doctor gave him 30 10mg Norco after they set his arm and put it in a cast, he told the PM doctor about it on Monday and the PM doctor fired him. Sounds ridiculous?, but it actually happened...
With your current situation all I can say is use your same pharmacy, make sure those 5mg Roxicodone aren't overlapping any other narcotic pain meds that have been prescribed to you. Inform the new PM doctor of everything pertaining to your situation. Be completely honest, but don't go overboard on the honesty. Going on and on can make you appear like your trying to convince them of something.
Seeing several different PM doctors may make some PM doctors think your doctor jumping to get drugs your after, because drug seekers do this. Unfortunately this day and time alot of PM doctors are paranoid about drug seekers. Seeing a new PM doctor can be like starting from scratch, they don't know you and they don't know if they can trust you with schedule II opiates. Be patient, don't insist on certain drugs first time around, be open to trying what the new PM doctor wants to do and understand your developing a new relationship with a stranger who doesn't know you at all nor you them. Eventually you will get what you need to have some quality of life(hopefully), but it's more than likely not going to happen up front.
Good luck with your new PM doctor...

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I live in Fort Worth, Texas and see a PM doctor in Dallas, Texas. I've heard about those Gabapentin PM doctors from other PM patients I know who have had the misfortune to have run across their paths, what a Nightmare!... I'm glad Oxymorphone is working good for you. Alot of PM doctors won't write for Roxicodone since the Oxycontin reformulation. The drug abusers are after the Roxicodone to abuse it. I've lucked out so far with the two PM doctors that I have had over the last 25+ years. Neither were liberal with medications, but weren't afraid to write for medications when the situation called for it and I also have been using SCS(spinal cord stimulator) since 1989 too. Fast87 you have found out first hand like alot of us already have that drug addicts not abusing drugs is more important than someone suffering who needs these medications to just squeak through another day in our lives of nightmarish suffering. This is just another thing this country is now upside down on and no one seems to care! Over the last 25+ years it's gotten worse every year, it's hard to believe we live in a country where loser drug addicts are a higher priority than someone suffering. Lead by the government and the pharmaceutical industry ruining medications that worked extremely well for so called tamper resistant medications that are still abused by addicts and now give the chronic pain sufferer a lesser quality of life... Fast87 you now also know what it feels like to be treated like a 3rd class citizen because you are a chronic pain sufferer that more than likely has NO surgical option to help you. I personally know of hundreds of horror stories over the last 25+ years here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Doctors who are extremely liberal with medications are causing as many problems as drug seekers in the PM industry. My original PM doctor who retired 6 years ago told me that for every 1 good PM doctor there's 5-6 bad ones, but thankfully you got lucky and evidently found a compassionate caring PM doctor who isn't afraid to do the right thing, which these days is getting harder and harder to find! I hope this new PM doctor will be able to see you for many decades to come, because having to change from a PM doctor that is helping you is a certifiable nightmare beyond an average person's comprehension... Good luck to you.

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ScooterKat welcome to another failed Obama policy! Any imbecile knows the majority of pharmaceutical drugs on the street are coming into this country across our borders! Not the patients!
So Obama creates a lie that their coming from patients here and woosh here comes policies that punish suffering Americans and the pharmaceutical drugs are still all over our streets! Gee I wonder who the liar is that lies about everything and has our borders running like monstrous flood gates?
I wish you luck ScooterKat in trying to keep your sanity while attempting just to have some type of less suffering in your life, but as you and others are finding out just how low on the food chain we have become as suffering Americans. A drug abuser has now obtained a higher level of importance than us thanks to more failed socialist agendas and policies... Suffering Americans are an easier target than big cartel drug dealers bringing pharmaceutical drugs across our borders, so they come after the weakest people of all!

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Hi my name is cindy and I go too a pm and a orthopedic dr this month i went to fill my script for diliuds bt the pharmacy told me they cannot fill because I go to two diff doc for pain the other med is for perk 10 what should I do drop one doc talk to my doc

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Dont do it. You will get flagged for Dr shopping. the data base will come up with your info.Then no pharmacy will fill any of your prescription for pain.

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There is no law that says you can't doctor shop. It would be ridiculous not to. Would you buy a car without looking at a lot of them. If I hadn't doctor shopped, I would be DEAD. I doctor shop when I find the answer not acceptable. I will continue to do so, and it is NOT illegal. If you don't doctor shop, don't blame them for anything. I will continue to doctor shop, and encourage it. BUT, be sure you are not drug seeking. Pain is a whole different ballgame that most people who haven't lived with, don't understand. I am a psychologist who knows exactly how doctors work.

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Maybe I am missing something but if your going to pay cash at the second pharmacy then why not just wait the 28 days and do it the legal way? You just said you can't use your insurance twice cause clearly that will get you caught again. But you said you were doing it cause you were not going to have insurance while he changes jobs. So since your paying cash why would you have to do it now? If your doing it to feel high then just tell us. I know thats why I would be doing it. Also to answer your question it depends on the state you live in and if they use a monitoring system.

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