New Prescription Rules for Hydrocodone Set to Start in October.

Effective October 6, 2014, a federal law change will impact the way hydrocodone containing products can be prescribed and dispensed.

- All refills prescriptions containing hydrocodone written prior to October 6 will not be available for refill beginning October 6.

- Beginning October 6 all new prescriptions that contain hydrocodone can no longer be refilled.

-A new written prescription must be obtained from your doctor each time. They can no longer fax.

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They claim this is to help with addiction. No it will not help anything, but cause more hassle and grief for doctors and patients that need it. Doctors will now be burdened more by not being able to fax in the prescription. A fax approval is a A WRITTEN prescription only it is digital one. It seems we're going backwards in time with technology here. Patients who need the drugs will be forced to go see the doctor each time. In some cases that might not be possible if the person is laying in bed recovering.

So now patients are to call and make an appointment, wait for that appointment and then hop in their vehicles and drive their broken bodies to the doctors office. In what way does this stop addiction?? If the Doctor is approving it over a fax then it is the same thing as going to the doctor's office. It's hard enough to get pain medication. God forbid if your doctor prescribes you pain medication for PAIN. So now patients are to suffer even more. On the other hand, Marijuana is become more legalized. What Irony! You can't get a pain meds that are opioid based, but you can smoke all the Mary Jane you want. Be sure to vote Yes on your ballots to legalize nurse Mary Jane, you might be glad you did come October 6th and the next time you break your leg and you live 50 miles from your doctor.

Once again we punish the people who follow the rules because of the actions of people who don't.

Just like gun laws can't we just enforce the regulations we already have?

a reply to: sean

I quit seeing my doctor last January because he expected me to come in every two weeks for pain meds, I have a ruptured disk in my lower back, I also have a bone tumor in my knee that basically I can get a pain prescription at will but I hate the side effects so I often just deal with the pain. Its all a money making scam forcing you to pay for extra doctor visits and increasing the taxes the government can collect. Has nothing to do with helping anyone.

Did the do nothing congress do this change? Love there sense of priorities.

BTW no doctors in my area will treat pain related illnesses...none.

I thought that was already a rule. No doctor in my area will refill pain medications without an office visit. They will write out two or three months worth, but when those are gone... There is no faxing. You have to show up and be seen.

I think they are slowly going to make narcotics only available through pain management doctors. I had to see one for long term use as any other doctor here does not like to write out pain meds for extended use because it draws too much attention to their prescribing habits.

At the pain management clinic, I have to do urine samples and pill counts. It sucks that everything has to be so complicated because a few abuse anything they can get their hands on.

I think they should legalize it all. Yes... Even scheduled narcotics. Rules like this only make it more difficult for those who need their medications. The people who use it illegally will still use it.... illegally.

This plays out as such...... Those who abuse the drug have absolutely no harder time obtaining it. Those who need the drug legitimately have a harder time obtaining it and will bear the burden of increased cost due to the new regulations. Yeah, that seems to be par for the course in America today.

a reply to: LDragonFire

I think it was mainly the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, but we can certainly thank congress for not letting us buy prescription drugs from overseas. (Big government, nanny state... *sigh*)

a reply to: Elton

There will always be addiction in some fashion, but tying your doctor up and not accepting faxes from the doctor? That's ridiculous! Medical expenses will rise as now you're forced to do a office visit.

a reply to: LDragonFire

Well if you ever need to get a scribe for more you will have to crawl to your doctor.

a reply to: sean

I agree!

originally posted by: sean
a reply to: LDragonFire

Well if you ever need to get a scribe for more you will have to crawl to your doctor.

I'm still really messed up but not near as much as I was while taking the meds...funny. I can actually walk a few blocks now. Eventually I will need surgery to repair the damage, when I have surgery it will be around 150 miles away, so if they expect me to travel this distance every two weeks....

As a recovering addict of opioid addiction i think this is great. I have Crohn's disease and have been treated for it since i was about 16. This includes, over the years, copious amounts of everything from hydracodone, oxycodone, morphine, etc. Some doctors would rather prescribe an opiate when other treatments are not only more effective but actually help more in the long run. I dont think it was ever any of my doctors goals for me to be an addict, they were just trying to keep me "comfortable". Unfortunately opiates are HIGHLY addictive- whether you legitimately need them or not. Just because the doctor tells you take take two pills 4 times a day for the rest of your life... doesnt mean that your body isnt going to magically NOT get addicted. To my knowledge they are just starting to treat hydracodone the same way they do any other opiate medication... What is so wrong with that? Do i think this will help? nope not really, in my experience addicts will find a way to get high regardless. Do i think its a good step in the right direction? eh... kind of. Until this country starts treating addiction, specifically opiate addiction, as a health issue not a criminal issue- i dont think we will ever see an end to it.

Now I understand what you are saying, that its going to make it more difficult- but that's the point. Some doctors over prescribe, or even prescribe when there is no real need to. THis will atleast make them think about that. From experience i know quite a few people who received a legitimate prescription from a legitimate doctor, and did so on a regular basis... with no legitimate medical problems. They only had to go in once every 2, 3, 6 months to see the doctor for all of 10 minutes. I would think THAT situation - is what this is supposed to help with

How does this stupid law curb addiction? It's not like you can get 100 bottles of it with each refill. Usually one refill is good for 30 days if taking one pill daily. If your doctor is writing you scripts for more pills than you need to be taking, the problem lies there and not how many refills you can get. Unless people hoard the pills fire a year and take then all at once, which sounds retarded.

Don't forget if you do get Hydrocodone be prepared for a urine test.

It's mandatory...I pay $616.00 every three months so the can check your urine.

They not only test for illegal drugs. They check the levels of the drugs they give you.

The Doctors blame Obamacare.

I wonder if I could save money by sending my p!ss directly to Obama.

Yet the FDA continues to approve new narcotics like Zohydro which is hydrocodone without the Tylenol and available in much higher doses. There's a new Oxy that will be coming out soon also.

For anyone who has never had to be on pain meds long term let me tell you... It sucks. Obviously it's never fun to hurt and have to take harmful chemicals but then you also deal with everyone treating you like an untrustworthy med-seeking drug addict dredge of society. I dealt with that for 9 years. I was constantly harassed by pharmacists and techs even though I had legit, valid prescriptions. It's a nightmare and made me feel even worse. Luckily I don't have to go through that anymore.

OP I completely agree with you. This new rule will only cause more problems for patients and will not do anything to stop addicts. If they wanted to make a change they should go to an all digital system. Especially since many pharmacies won't refill a narcotic script until the last day. Even then there's no guarantee they will have them in stock. Many pharmacies aren't carrying these meds in large quantities due to theft. CVS and Rite Aid in my area have both been under investigation for employee theft of narcotics, but this only causes more hassle for patients. I've even had pharmacists flat out refuse to fill a script for no other reason than they "aren't comfortable" with it, even after verifying with the prescribing physician.

There's no one advocating for patients in this mess!

a reply to: sean

Well that particular medication and its "variations" causes me to get horrible stomach cramps and severe nausea.

So I have never been fond of it and rather experience the pain than dealing with the side effects.

After my last major surgery I could no even take morphine, so I know pain, I can only imagine how people that deal with pain in a daily basic can even function without pain killers at least my pain has been limited to surgery recuperation and will always go away, eventually.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

The law change also says that scrips cannot be for more than 30 days at a time. That means seeing the doctor at least once a month.

As a VA retiree it doesn't effect me but for people that pay for visits I can see this being a major hassle.

I wish this had been law 15-20 years ago. My brother was addicted to this crap. It eventually destroyed his liver and his heart. He was 53.

My pain management physician has operated this way for awhile now. I'm on a patch for 24 hour pain management but I take hydrocodone for breakthrough pain. I have to go to the office every month for the hydrocodone script but my patch is written for 2 months at a time. It's inconvenient but I understand his reasoning. Hydrocodone is a sought after drug for those who abuse opiates. On the flip side of the argument though, it sucks that I have to jump through hoops to get the drugs that give me a reasonable quality of life because of idiots who just want to get high.

originally posted by: 200Plus
a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

The law change also says that scrips cannot be for more than 30 days at a time. That means seeing the doctor at least once a month.

As a VA retiree it doesn't effect me but for people that pay for visits I can see this being a major hassle.

I missed that part and without insurance... I suppose I can look forward to some good days ahead.

Unreal.

a reply to: whyamIhere

They did the piss testing before obamacare came out so your doctors are lying to you.
Sounds like you go to a pain management office.

Sorry people, this will help stop the addicts, the amount of fraudulent prescriptions stopped alone will put a dent in it.
As it stands you can call this type of script in, and almost all the info you need is on most RX's regardless of what it is written for or they just need one controlled form and then they got the info.