excessive urine testing and appointments question
 

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.

It's a liability and safety issue. As you probably know benzos mixed with alcohol or opiates/opioids can be lethal, so they have a legal obligation to not provide them to anyone testing positive for these other substances, which while this is not your case, they can't know. If you think about it from a treatment provider's perspective, they have no way of knowing what else a person might be ingesting regardless of how much they like a person or the person's history, and if someone who is also using illicitly while ingesting benzos they've prescribed and dies as a result, not only is this a tragedy for the persons losing their lives, if it happens enough the clinic gets shut down and no one gets treatment at all. Once a month is infrequent enough that it's really only going to be a problem for someone actively using. Try not to take it personally (as if YOU are being targeted.)

Anxiety is a powerful, total mind/body experience as you know. If you find the benzo medication route continues to be too problematic for you, consider a supervised detox and a hospital (doesn't have to be a rehab or mental health facility) and consider alternative approaches to working through the anxiety. Wish you the best!

Usually the insurance companies don't like to pay for monthly urine tests. For a while I was taking tests and they only tested every couple of months because of insurance balking at the expense every month. I think they got to know me and know I wasn't misusing. I just needed to be on those kinds of meds for a little while.
I don't know that much about your situation but monthly, esp after a long while, in my experience it seems like they don't test as often. Esp if you're doing what you're supposed to be doing.
I hope they aren't bilking your insurance. Seems like the insurance would squak though. I don't know, it does sound a little unusual, but like I said, every place has their own way. Have you talked to them about it? I would.
Good luck. Thoses tests aren't that big of a deal but they can get to be a pain in the tail after a while. So glad your're getting better!

i left that place since then (thank god) that place was the most horrible thing i ever had to deal with that made my life a living hell. i also had 2 friends who went there and they said the same thing. the place should be shut down. if you leave a negative google review (btw the owner stands there and asks you to leave a google review and pretty much pressures you into it) if you leave a bad honest review he threatens to sue you and release you. with how hard it is to find psychs taking in new patients this place knows they basically have you in a lock position where you need them and they take advantage of that heavily. i was lucky enough that one of my friends from school who severely suffers form anxiety gave me the number to her place and i got in there. i been there for i think 2 yrs or so now at least and couldnt be happier. things at the other place got really bad during covid. most of the nurses etc were quitting that place because not only were they bad to the patients but they would lie to their workers about raises etc just to find out after long hours after a year or 2 would get nothing. alot of the workers left negative reviews to. all my appointments had me waiting a hour to get in and they never gave me the dr i requested, they always gave me new random people. then they had nurses working from home doing virtual visits. theyd be in their pajammas giving me attitude through the computer. i specifically told the place dont give me this one woman ever again because the way she treated me was horrible, they gave me her again the next visit and i needed my meds so i tried to get through it. she was being so mean and bossy to me i had it and cussed her out and went to the front desk and shouted i told you dont give me her again you need to fire her! and then i found out they were doubel lab testing me. not only were they sending my urine out to a lab to get tested, they were also doing their immediate testing in their own lab. so my isnurance was being billed for 2 drug tests of the same exact test. i dont know how they even got away with it without the insurance company questioning it.

anyways like i said since then i found a new person and its been a pleasure and not a nightmare. i explained to her everything this last place was doing and she was floored. she said she also heard bad stories about that place but didnt know it was this bad. my new provider lets me do phone calls and gives me a option to do in person visits. i often just do the in person visits because i like talking to her its a joy. and she gives me a 3 month prescription so im not bothered by it. i take what i need and im good. that other place was so bad that they had like 4 locations and i even tried a different location to try new workers and staff and it was just as awful. this new place never drug tests me or does outrageous unneeded bullcrap. they just make sure i need my medicine and got to actually know me and why i have legit anxiety and panic attacks to know im not lying. and now my visits are pretty much me venting about my problems the past 3 months for a bit and im on my way.

Glad to read things are looking up CC :)

D