' With Sugar And Spice, ANd Everything Nice ': Part III of III

 ‘With Sugar And Spice, And

 Everything Nice ‘

Part III of III

02/22/12

To my very, very dearest friends, I wanted to tell you how grateful I am for your befriending me, and in caring about me, my illnesses, and my near-constant pain; before I had even heard of MDJunction and its many specific groups, and group members, although I live alone, I was-in truth-alone and lonely ( there IS a marked difference ) by myself, with my dear Daisy.

My few friends of decades live so far away, and never visit…though, two of them do telephone me at least one a week; I really have NO family. And the neighbors have their own lives to live; they cannot be bothered to live mine.

And, as I aged, with one illness subsequently piled upon the other, until I am housebound, except for monthly visits to my various physicians.

At first, I did not think MDJ would either help, or interest me; it was the prodding of Roy, who got me to return, to view the site with new eyes, and a new perspective.  I imagine that is how most of us came to MDJ.

I have since made real friends who actually care about me and how I feel.

And I have found new purpose in writing diary entries, and your increasing readership humbles and delights me; it causes me to think that—at last—I have found my Voice, and realized my intent, which was to ‘be there’ for you, to listen to you as you listen to me; and if, from my long experience in the field of ‘health care’, as well as my experience with global pain.

And if I may ever prove to be of some, slight help to you, or to someone you love, rather than to go on and on about my illnesses ( which quickly—as they should, become tedious and a drag to read ), then, my dear friends, I know a rarified joy, granting to my journey moments of quiet satisfaction; for it is my way of helping, to try to ever keep you safe, and to be that Advocate for perhaps many who have none.

Now, you occupy a place within my heart, and would that I but could, I would gladly have your pain reduced to zero; your fearfulness exposed to light; your errant thoughts made whole, again; and all of your depression, panic, and anxiety whisked from you in an eye-blink. So that indeed, ALL of your monsters would be slain for good, to know—at last—a sense of peace.

But before I launch into this day’s entry, Part III, I feel that I must warn you.  And this is most IMPORTANT:

First of all, please bear in mind that I live in Florida, and so, your State’s laws may be different.  However, it does give indication of how the problem is being recognized, and, dealt with by legislative Bodies.

The Problem: “ Doctor Shopping “

During the visit to my Psychiatrist—this morning—he mentioned that, most recently, the Florida Legislation had passed into law, prison sentences for those caught ‘Doctor Shopping’.

This occurs when someone already seeing a medical Provider, and having a script primarily for that class of drugs known as benzodiazepines ( most often Xanax, as it is quickly becoming the most abused drug of choice ), seeks out another physician, to get an additional prescription for the same drug.  And so on.

And while this class of drug—when monitored and used correctly does have benefit as an anti-depressant; anti-anxiety; muscle relaxer; or anti-convulsing, they can be inordinately addictive, especially Xanax.

It is quite one thing to see one or two Providers, to gauge their interest, and to try to establish rapport, to see which one you might like better than your current Provider, which—in terms of patient/physician relationships, and mutual treatment goals, it is quite another thing to self-dose, until one is out of medication too early, or to use it recreationally, or to share them, or try to sell them.

To self-dose too frequently until one runs out of meds too early, is just imprudent, and foolhardy; though many of us ( myself included ) have ‘been there’.

To use them recreationally, or to buy or sell them is, ‘Drug Trafficking’, and has been illegal.

Now—in Florida, at least—anyone caught ‘Doctor Shopping’ will be subject to arrest, and imprisonment.

BTW, this puts greater pressure upon the Provider to prescribe these medications, even to those who most need them.  Pharmacies, as well, will be under great scrutiny, as will be Doctor referral physicians.

So…once again, the ‘few ?’, have managed to make it much more difficult to obtain prescriptions that do work, and are therapeutically necessary._________________________________

‘ With Sugar And Spice, And Everything Nice ‘

With new information, studies, and Pharmaceutical ‘Specific’ drugs being tested all the time, this growing flood of discovery is often quite beyond the purview of many medical Primaries these days, one can hardly hope that a single Primary care-giver, medical, psychiatric, or Holistic physician will know EVERYTHING, though, it is not unreasonable to expect your Primary to be a least familiar with your condition, or conditions; that is why—so often—physician referrals are used, as these ‘Specialists’ are supposed to well-conversant with a particular need or problem.

And why, so often, mental health Primaries turn to their ‘Pandora’s’ box of samples of medications, about which, they often know little more than they were told by the pharmaceutical rep. while employing that most famous, though potentially dangerous, “…well…let’s try THIS to see if it works.

My dearest of dear friends, I find this to be a most slipshod, irresponsible, dangerous form of ‘treatment modality’. To you, this Primary may be only the one of two, or three whom you will ever see.

To them, you are one patient among hundreds, largely faceless, and invisible.

This ‘approach’ is just wrong for so many ways:

1)            It means your Primary has largely given up one you, but who would rather you try something you’ve never had before, rather than your going somewhere else.

2)            It is a tacit admission that your Provider has failed to make you feel better, or to improve.

3)            It is the practice, then, of medicine, ‘by guess, and, by God’, in hopes that at least ONE dart will hit center.

4)            By accepting these samples, you have just become a needy test subject of results, good, bad, or deadly, that he then reports directly to the Pharmaceutical House first, rather than to the C.D.C.  That automatically makes of you a willing guinea pig, to further line the pockets of the pharmaceuticals, whose actual bottom line is: will they manage to recoup the R&D money, they put in to developing the drug ?

5)            Is it just me, or have you happened to notice that the ‘newer’ the drug, the more dangerous the possible side-effect ?  All that is required is one, severe reaction, allergic or not, to send you to the hospital, or, possibly make one blind; suffer potential psychosis, or, as they like to call it, ‘altered thoughts’. And many, many other equally dire side-effects.

My dear, dear friends, and loyal readers, I feel I must tell you then, that the onus of responsibility for your care falls ( as where it actually should ) square upon your own shoulders.

“But wait”, you might say, “aren’t THEY the professionals ?" Yes, my friends, they are, but even though you suffer as do I, still it is YOU who must remain vigilant, for it is YOU who I care most about, not your Shrink, nor your Podiatrist.

In another post, I shall expand upon your responsibilities. But for now, I would tell you:

1)            Make up an ‘up-to-date’ list of ALL your medications, and make sure ANY provider you see, sees it.  Especially include all your allergies to medications, and to everything else, as you medication will interact with food.

2)            Since you—in effect—have to self-dose, I’d recommend one of those ‘four times a day, seven day pill boxes’; loading in a week’s worth at a time will lessen the chance of having to take one pill at a time, each time, and will eliminate your accidental taking of more or less medication than was prescribed.

3)            Keep ALL your medications in one place, AWAY from children, or nosy visitors.

4)            I have found that this little trick helps me keep track of my medications, since I have to take so many: every time you fill you pill box, turn each pill bottle wither upside down, or, right side up.  If you take many medications, this will tell you which have been loaded into the box, and which as yet have not been.  Such frequent handling will also give you a clue as to when it is coming up on re-fill time. You needn’t alphabetize them, as THAT is just a little too O.C.D. for me, but I do keep my psych meds. together, my medical meds together, and, lastly, my supplements or vitamins together.   My ‘pain’ meds., and those medications I take infrequently I keep separate from all.

I just want to see you safe, and hopefully lessen the chance of inadvertently causing harm to yourselves, or others important to you.

For as always, I love you dearly,

‘Zahc’