Pain meds on the road

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by rollondown

Depending on the drug prescribed, you may be able to go to say a Mexican border town south of Texas or Arizona and purchase 90-day supplies. Maybe even several 90-day supplies. But this depends on the drug.

You cannot get opioids in Mexico.

[okmunky]

Originally Posted by rollondown

Depending on the drug prescribed, you may be able to go to say a Mexican border town south of Texas or Arizona and purchase 90-day supplies. Maybe even several 90-day supplies. But this depends on the drug.

In Los Algondones, south of Yuma, no narcotics or opioids are sold in the pharmacies.

[Wayne M]

Did my VA stint today and picked up my NON OPOID maintenance supply for the next 3 months.

I asked the question about Opoid maintenance and the answer is no. You can only get a 30 day supply. We talked about RV'ers and Full Timers. He said you could create a temporary address but the temporary address MUST be done before your doctor order's your prescription to be sent by mail. If you do it after your doctor's order you have to start all over again.

That is as much as I got from him for information.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by Bahamaniac

With the opioid epidemic it is hard to get pain meds even at home. It's nearly impossible to get them filled on the road. It sucks having to plan trips around medication refills! And pretty much limits trips to under 30 days. Just complaining I guess. Anyone else have to schedule travel around medication?

I'm in Sheridan Wyoming. Monday at the VA hospital I signed in asked for my 90 day refill of my heart medication. The would only give me a two-week supply. With the help of the advocate and the pharmacist in charge and my home VA it appears to be getting done. Hopefully today( Wednesday 12th) I can pick it up.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by carl.swoyer

I'm in Sheridan Wyoming. Monday at the VA hospital I signed in asked for my 90 day refill of my heart medication. The would only give me a two-week supply. With the help of the advocate and the pharmacist in charge and my home VA it appears to be getting done. Hopefully today( Wednesday 12th) I can pick it up.

The OP isn't asking about heart meds - that's a different category. He asking about pain meds - opiods.

[Wayne M]

Not talking OPOIDS in this post, just common meds.

My visit to the VA the other day did get my maintenance meds but they were short of blood pressure medicine. Only gave me 30 and I take 3 a day - definitely not enough. I took another number waited my turn and talked to a consultant again. That's when I found out they were short. She said that they would have some in the next day would I want it mailed or do I want to pick it up. Knowing how slow mail is I opted to pick it up and because of my schedule asked to pick it up this coming Friday. No problem.

Got home, checking my email and one from UPS said I had a package arriving today (tomorrow, yesterday) from Dallas VA VHA. Hmmm! I think I'll wait and see what it is.

Guess I just have to be comfortable with the system and remember that mail can be fast, or UPS.

Sometime later in the day I got a call from the VA. My medicine was in and would I like to pick it up, they are open until 8 p.m. Nope, I'd like to pick it up on Friday. No problem.

UPS delivered package. Yep! All my meds in the package that were missing when I went to the VA. Tomorrow I'll call them and ask them to cancel my pick up and put the meds back on the shelf.


Is there something in there that is regarding left hand speaking to right hand. It never fails.

[jim1521]

I have some inoperable back issues that will often really become unbearable late in the day. I get a prescription for Vicodin (hydrocodone) from my pain management clinic in Florida, but I cannot get it filled up in GA. You cannot get a prescription for it greater than 30 days. It is a federal law. I am fortunate (“fortunate”?) that I can function most of the day without taking anything. But come evening (6:00 pm or so) the onset of the pain can become quite unbearable. Vicodin is a miracle drug for me. “Just don’t take them like skittles and you’ll be fine” my pain management doctor told me. My script calls for one every 6 hours; I can manage on one per day - which allows me a much greater interval between doctor visits.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

The OP isn't asking about heart meds - that's a different category. He asking about pain meds - opiods.

I was referring to the problem, getting enough supply of any medication to cover the amount of time you are traveling.

[UTTransplant]

Truly a classic example of thread creep. OP is interested in approaches for opioids while on the road. Folks are offering their examples of non-opioids. Not applicable at all.

Luckily I am like Jim. I don’t have to take my pain meds every day, but my doctor writes the Rx as if I did, which would be appropriate and may be necessary in the future. It lets me go 90 days on a 30 day Rx. She also prescribed me some non-opioids that work some (but not all) of the time. Those are easy to pick up anywhere. Otherwise it is a really tough call.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by UTTransplant

Truly a classic example of thread creep. OP is interested in approaches for opioids while on the road. Folks are offering their examples of non-opioids. Not applicable at all.

Luckily I am like Jim. I don’t have to take my pain meds every day, but my doctor writes the Rx as if I did, which would be appropriate and may be necessary in the future. It lets me go 90 days on a 30 day Rx. She also prescribed me some non-opioids that work some (but not all) of the time. Those are easy to pick up anywhere. Otherwise it is a really tough call.

If you are referring to my post? It had nothing to do with opioids, but everything to do with having the ability to get enough of any medication to cover the the time on the road.

[okmunky]

Carl, I believe UTTransplant is referring to the original post (OP) which specifically addresses the problem of trying to take long trips while needing an opioid pain medication.

In recent years the laws concerning them have changed dramatically making travel much more difficult. Most other medications lack all the federal laws and scrutiny and are much easier to obtain.

Schedule 2 drugs like Fentanyl require a Dr visit every month, a paper copy Rx with no refills and being made to feel like a criminal for needing them.

I switched to a schedule 3 drug (Butrans) last September that has made my full time travel MUCH, MUCH easier. I have needed opioids for the past 14 years due to severe back pain and an inability to take NSAIDs.

[Bamaman]

My wife suffers from spinal stenosis and terrible arthritis. She had a knee replacement a year ago and that's about the only place she doesn't hurt. She needs two mid foot surgeries where the joint is fused with pins and plates--a 8 month on your back recovery.

She's under the care of a first class pain management doctor who's an anesthesiologist that had a fellowship in pain management at Emory University in Atlanta. She takes Morphine Sulfate ER 3x per day and takes Norco for breakthrough pain.

We have to plan our lives around her 30 day doctor's appointments. She usually sees a Nurse Practitioner/Physician's Assistant because the doctor is doing procedures--mostly spinal steroid injections on site. They do urine drug screens to verify that you have enough of the proper drug in your blood screen and that you're not taking other drugs they didn't prescribe.

We can travel only 30 days at a time because her drugs require paper prescriptions in a very specific format. The Government will not allow prescription to be postdated. The Nurse Practitioner/Physician Assistants are authorized to sign for the meds if they are filled within their state. Since we live 20 miles out of the doctor's state, the doctor has to sign my wife's prescriptions.

Unfortunately, opioids are becoming a bigger and bigger social problem everywhere--especially with Baby Boomers getting older and sicker. And our politicians are making living in chronic pain more difficult to deal with. There are so many people that would be in nursing homes or completely bedridden without their meds. And many patients would be dead taking illegal heroin that's showing up on the streets laced with fentanol.

My wife is a success story for Pain Management. She lives by the rules, and she's living a completely normal life. Without the meds, she would be an invalid in bed. But the rules would keep us close even if we were full time RVers.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by Wayne M

Not talking OPOIDS in this post, just common meds.

My visit to the VA the other day did get my maintenance meds but they were short of blood pressure medicine. Only gave me 30 and I take 3 a day - definitely not enough. I took another number waited my turn and talked to a consultant again. That's when I found out they were short. She said that they would have some in the next day would I want it mailed or do I want to pick it up. Knowing how slow mail is I opted to pick it up and because of my schedule asked to pick it up this coming Friday. No problem.

Got home, checking my email and one from UPS said I had a package arriving today (tomorrow, yesterday) from Dallas VA VHA. Hmmm! I think I'll wait and see what it is.

Guess I just have to be comfortable with the system and remember that mail can be fast, or UPS.

Sometime later in the day I got a call from the VA. My medicine was in and would I like to pick it up, they are open until 8 p.m. Nope, I'd like to pick it up on Friday. No problem.

UPS delivered package. Yep! All my meds in the package that were missing when I went to the VA. Tomorrow I'll call them and ask them to cancel my pick up and put the meds back on the shelf.


Is there something in there that is regarding left hand speaking to right hand. It never fails.

That's what happened to me. Lead pharmacist at both locations worked it out but my home VA did a return to stock. Once that happens my prescription showed " Active" then the Sheridan Wyoming VA was able to fill it for a 90 supply.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by okmunky

Carl, I believe UTTransplant is referring to the original post (OP) which specifically addresses the problem of trying to take long trips while needing an opioid pain medication.



In recent years the laws concerning them have changed dramatically making travel much more difficult. Most other medications lack all the federal laws and scrutiny and are much easier to obtain.



Schedule 2 drugs like Fentanyl require a Dr visit every month, a paper copy Rx with no refills and being made to feel like a criminal for needing them.



I switched to a schedule 3 drug (Butrans) last September that has made my full time travel MUCH, MUCH easier. I have needed opioids for the past 14 years due to severe back pain and an inability to take NSAIDs.

I understand that. However the OP
was being limited to a supply that was insufficient to cover his travel plans. That is a problem regardless of what the drug is.