Old 06-15-2022, 02:10 PM
  # 2 (permalink)  
slimjim30
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 270
Originally Posted by CobraCommander View Post
this doesnt totally fall in the category of addiction but i have no where else to ask this question. so i will tell a little backstory of where i got to where i am and then my question

a few years ago i had a high dependance on oxycodone. i posted alot of messages on this forum as i got off them, took notes, helped others, others helped me during my sickness. i use to work as a mechanic and had to take 6 pain meds a day. when i got social security and didnt have to work i said to myself i think i can finally get off these and just take ibprofin. its been a few years now that i been off opiates. i wouldnt consider it a addiction issue. but more of a dependance. i was easily able to stop them and not crave them even though i was on pain meds over 10 years i can reflect back and say my pain was unbearable and even to this day is still feels so.

after i quit pain meds my anxiety sky rocketed. i live in a very bad area. i have already seen 6 drivebys this year. ive seen 3 people shot. i live by the worst people ever. i own a house so its hard to leave since housing market is high and im on social security. but my anxiety is usually sky rocketed mostly by who i live around

ive also been on anxiety meds roughly 15 years but i only take them when something crazy is happening. example, i see a swat team swarming my entire street and im in fear bullets may fly through my window because i dont know what the low life next door to me is up to. i think thats pretty justifiable to take legal anxiety meds

heres where the issue comes into play. i had a dr i would see once every 3 months. he would prescribe me klonopin. the dr visits i would say were a waste of time, but 3 months i figured eh i can tolerate it one day out of 3 months even though it was hell. well that dr retired. they threw me onto another dr who said i had to see a psychiatrist and he couldnt prescribe me anymore anxiety meds. i said drs have been prescribing them to me over 10 years, why cant you? basically the reason is no one wants to take the risk of losing there job

fine, i said how do i go about this then? he said we will have a psychiatrist call you to set up a appointment. i said ok then i'll get the meds from her? yes, they said thats the best way to go about it. i didnt like it but i said fine, im at their mercy. well, they never called me and i was without my medication. i call them and there like oh i dont know why we never called etc etc. so after 2 months i finally schedule some random lady. i go in for some sort of pre interview and she was really mean. i said if your tlaking to me in a demeaning way the first time you met me, then im never coming back here because you wont improve and you will only make my life worse

well after 3 more months of hell trying to find someone to prescribe klonopin and not knowing what to do i finally found a place that deals with mostly insane people and recovering drug addicts. so i try this place and im literally sitting next to people telling me they are a wolverine. but the staff was super friendly so i stayed because a friendly staff is key to me

so now that i gave my background story, heres where my question starts to form. the first month they said they need to see me every week. i said for anxiety medicine ive already been on for 10 years? they said yes. let my also say ive never had any red flags, i have no record medically thats bad, i never been to jail etc. there is absolutely nothing on me in any aspect that would suggest im a high case of anything. but i said ok, this is a new place, they wanna monitor me, im a new person, they are nice people i'll roll with it

every week turned into 2 weeks, and then turned into a monthly visit. i figured this would go into the 3 month visit which i would be ok with. now its been about a year and a half and i think they are just milking me for my insurance at this point. they make me come in every single month and they make me do a urine test every single month. now with corona i dont feel safe there and im getting a bit pissed off. i think its extremely excessive to drug test me every single month and make me come in every single month. the place is so unorganized, not once have i seen the same nurse practitioner. every single time ive scheduled with someone they have gave me someone else. i think the people keep quitting because they cant handle the other patients. so im retelling my driveby stories and crime i see trying to explain to a new person each month that my anxiety is caused by people around me that i cannot control. they also try to up my dosage and make me take more and i tell them no i do not want a high dependance on medicine that can be cut off whenever you want to because i know whats causing my anxiety. it isnt random. its stress from what the world puts on me.

so my question is does every place make you urine test each month now? and does every place make you come in every month now? ive dealt with this as long as i can but i hate knowing at the end of each month my anxiety gets worse knowing i have to go to this place. i wish it was as simple as just finding another place but the restrictions on benzos have become ridiculous over the past few years.

can anyone tell me how often they have to go to their dr, and do they get drug tested every single time? when i went to drs before i was only drug tested 2 times in the amount of 10 years lol. i asked a friend to ask their dr and they said that seems like alot oof urine testing and they are surprised the insurance company hasnt questioned them why its so frequently. but im looking for more opinions based on experiences. thanks
My experience is in Australia not the USA so may be different. I've been on Ativan since 2008 and methadone since 2017. I had 2 urine tests early on when I started methadone and nada since,

I've seen other Doctors and got my Ativan with no issues (methadone is linked to a single prescriber). I think your opiate crisis has the DEA breathing down everyone's neck. Sucks.
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