Day 14239

So, $%#@&! I've got some seriously hot, boiling blood pumping through my veins right now. A friend of mine suffers from chronic pain. We're not talking headaches here, he deals with pain from spinal damage from a work-related accident coupled with a rapidly deteriating knee. The spinal damage has left him unable to steady his hand, control his facial muscles, and, as an added "benefit", gives him back spasms and shooting pain from his tail bone to his arm pit. The situation with the knee is that he has lost 3/8" of bone in the last 3 years because he no longer has cartilage around the kneecap.

He has a prescription for Oxycontin. Those familiar with the drug know it is some serious stuff and has become all the rage for recreational usage, at least in the U.S.. A few years ago, he was being perscribed 23 Oxycontin pills per day! I don't know the milligram dosage, but I do know this is a very high amount. On top of that, he was also allowed some Oxyfast, which is a liquid form that acts instantly when needed. I don't know how much of that he was prescribed. When he was on this pain program, he was out of work, on disability, and stayed that way for many years.

He took an enormous risk and decided to attempt to go back to work. (This part makes me sick to my stomach. I encouraged him, in fact, it was my idea.) The risk is this: since he was on disability, he was getting his prescriptions paid for by the govt. Going off of SSI (I think), meant that he would lose his prescription benefit. The medication costs thousands of dollars per month!

Well, he has been working for over 2 years now in a job where he must stand for long hours and do some fairly heavy lifting. Initially, he literally had to perservere as his supporting leg muscles (used for balance) became strong enough to allow him to simply stand. His pain specialist upped his dosage of Oxycontin to 25 pills per day and increased his Oxyfast as well during this time! His doctor was stunned that he had even made it through the first 30 days without quitting his job!

In an era, where a certain percentage of these people on Oxy are lying about their pain and selling their excess pills to people who want to get high, he was actually working, paying taxes, etc. His situation and ability to live through a self-induced increase in pain is not common at all for people claiming to suffer from chronic pain. He was also proud to be able to once again help support his family and had an increase in self-esteem that carried over into his marriage. His wife had gotten back the man she met 25 years ago. They were both happy. They thanked me.

Then, in the last 6 months there has been a significant change. His pain specialist's name appearded on the bottle of some illegally obtained Oxycontin somewhere in the U.S.. This doctor was now being watched very closely. My friend's dosage was so incredibly high, that there was speculation that he wasn't using it all for himself. The doctor decreased the dosage to 16 pills-a-day and eliminated the Oxyfast, so he had no breakthrough pain medicine. My friend was asked to take a blood test. The results showed a high enough rate of Oxy in his bloodstream to prove that he was using the prescription for himself. My friend began to get nervous. He can't work without the Oxy, can't afford to pay for it himself, and would need between 90 and 120 days to get back on disability if he were to quit work. That's 3-4 months without ANY pain medication to get through the day!

Through his work, he has pretty good insurance; it is a PPO, not an HMO. But, they have been extremely slow in paying for the Oxy and he has had to cough up $2000 just to get his prescription written on time over the last year. He is supposed to only have a $15 co-pay, which amounts to $180 per year for this prescription. The insurance company also is hounding the pain specialist to decrease his dosage even further and is requiring to see the notes from his monthly visits to the specialist. There has been disagreement as to whether the notes have been sent or not.

My friend is in a lot of pain and is way overstressed at this point. The very doctor he relied upon to make it through the day has become someone who covers his own ass instead of treating his patient. My friend feels he is at the mercy of this doctor, and quite frankly doesn't trust him anymore, but is freightened to say anything. This doctor has become rude and is even complaining about the money he is taking home per year. Apparently 2/3 of his earnings go to lawyers! My friend's insurance company has asked for an opinion from a 2nd pain specialist to back up the 1st doctor's recommendation of the current dosage. His doctor gave him the name and, twice now, wrong phone and contact info. to another doctor for a 2nd opinion. When the correct phone number was finally given, the 2nd doctor didn't call back. It's been 2 weeks now! To make matters worse, this 2nd doctor doesn't appear on an on-line listing of specialists, considered to be the industry standard association.

My friend feels betrayed by the very people/system who were supposed to help him. They had worked with him to get to the point where he could go back to work, encouraged him to do so, only to now threaten to take it all away. If he loses his prescription, he will have to stop working. This will set off a financial chain reaction. His family will lose their home. (While waiting for Workman's Comp to take care of his medical bills incurred during his accident years ago, his family had become homeless.) I don't think they could survive that again. This whole ordeal is just sickening. And, I KNOW it is not about me, but I feel terrible for playing a part in getting him into this situation. Sometimes, this world sucks.

I need to sleep. Hope I can.