Popular Painkillers Harder To Obtain. Thanks, Rush.
[su_right_ad]Remember when you were in elementary school and the class bully acted up and, as a result, everyone had to stay in for recess? Those days have come again.
As of today, it will be far more difficult for those who suffer from severe pain to obtain pain killers containing hydrocodone. Those drugs include Vicodin, Lortab and Norco. They account for more prescriptions than any other drug, with more than 130 million prescriptions filled each year.
Beginning today, patients who need hydrochodone-based drugs to control their pain will be required to obtain a new hand-written prescription from their doctor. Doctors will not be permitted to call in or fax prescriptions to the pharmacy. There will be no refills on that prescription. Patients will need a new hand-written prescription every 30 days.
Considering that hydrochodone-based drugs are widely abused and result in more deaths than car crashes, many consider this new rule to be a good thing. But many doctors and pharmacists think it’s going to have a very negative impact on the majority of patients who do not abuse the drugs – those who suffer from cancer, for example. The disabled. Those confined to nursing homes and hospice care.
They, too, will be required to obtain a new hand-written prescription from their doctor every 30 days. That will be a severe burden for the vast majority of them and almost ensures many of them will be without medication a day or two each month – thanks to the actions of the irresponsible class bullies who ruined it for everyone.[su_csky_ad]
An American in Canada October 6th, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Ask your doctor to give you 2 extra post dated scripts..
Rusty Shackleford October 6th, 2014 at 3:29 pm
And trans men have to deal with their prescription testosterone being a schedule III controlled substance because thousands of cis men abuse it to beat each other at sportsball.
arc99 October 6th, 2014 at 3:30 pm
I do not think that Mr. Limbaugh’s medical history is the sole cause of this change in the law or if his case had any bearing at all. However for someone who has earned millions of dollars pimping hatred, by taking the actions of a single person or small group and implying those actions are representative of millions of people, as the saying goes, you reap what you sow.
William October 6th, 2014 at 3:31 pm
Beginning today, patients who need hydrochodone-based drugs to control their pain will be required to obtain a new hand-written prescription from their doctor.
….or a maid with some street drug connections
M D Reese October 6th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
Rush can’t even SPELL hypocrite…
edmeyer_able October 6th, 2014 at 3:35 pm
The legalization of marijuana can”t come soon enough.
Yenta October 6th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
There is a lot of misinformation in this article. Here is a more valid explanation for changing these drugs from Schedule III to Schedule II:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidkroll/2014/08/22/what-you-need-to-know-about-new-restrictions-on-hydrocodone-combinations/
mea_mark October 6th, 2014 at 4:28 pm
Good article.
Ayn Onomous October 6th, 2014 at 4:21 pm
This is a step backwards, to be sure. The opposite of progress. These drugs should not be controlled with bigger government regulation but instead by making sure everyone who uses them has the knowledge to use them correctly and the rehab they need if they fail to use them correctly.
Red Eye Robot October 6th, 2014 at 4:22 pm
oooops! rush was addicted to Oxycontin which is Oxycodone based not hydrocodone. based.
mea_mark October 6th, 2014 at 4:27 pm
Oxycontin is included in the rule change. http://www.shelbystar.com/news/local/most-prescribed-drug-in-country-coming-under-stricter-regulations-1.380269
Chinese Democracy October 6th, 2014 at 4:43 pm
whats his excuse now? Just desperate for attention?
Anomaly 100 October 6th, 2014 at 4:44 pm
You say that like it’s a good thing.
mea_mark October 6th, 2014 at 4:47 pm
Yeah, he abused something worse but very similar. It isn’t mixed with other safer painkillers, it is stronger and more pure making it susceptible to even worse abuse.
William October 6th, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Well that’s really good information, and all this time we all thought he was just some drug addict.
Abby Normal October 6th, 2014 at 5:14 pm
Read the search warrant yourself. Hydrocodone.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/crime/warrants-detail-rush-limbaughs-drug-use
Abby Normal October 6th, 2014 at 5:43 pm
I take a prescription drug that is a controlled subtance. Unlike schedule II drugs, I can have up to 5 refills. Even so, I ran into a severe problem getting a refill back in 2008 and had a very unpleasant week. I had been on this prescription drug for 5 years. It is dangerous to stop cold-turkey. Doing so can cause seizures or even death. In December 2008 I was on the last of my five refills. Five days before running out, I phoned my refill into the pharmacy. Four days later I stopped by the pharmacy. No pills. They said my doctor had not responded to several of their faxes. I called my doctor’s office. He had gone home (another country) for the Holidays and wouldn’t be back until after the first of the year. There was an emergency number to call. I called. I told a physician I was out of medication and my doctor wouldn’t be back for another week.
“You’ll have to wait until he gets back,” he said and hung up.
I waited. I did not sleep for five nights. I had withdrawal symptoms. I went to the ER and they gave me 1 mg of medication. That’s all. Then they told me to see my doctor when he got back in town. I did not have a seizure but I did have a TIA that gave me mild aphasia and other unpleasant symptoms. It cleared up in a few days.
I’m not a rocket scientist but I am capable of rational thought and taking care of myself. I worry about elderly people in nursing homes and those in hospice care. Many if not most nursing homes are understaffed and the people over-worked and underpaid. Will they go the extra mile under these new DEA regulations to make certain their terminal patients will an uninterrupted supply of Schedule II drugs to control their pain? From my limited experience with relatives in nursing home, I am not confident they will.
tracey marie October 6th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
A bit overstated, the doctors of in the nursing homes and out of house hospice care will not be inconvienienced.
Abby Normal October 6th, 2014 at 6:02 pm
My mom was in an acute nursing center the last few weeks of her life. There was only a doctor in the building once every 10 days or so. One RN for the building. One LPN for each wing. The LPN dispensed the drugs. One LPN tried to give my mom someone else’s medication. Had I not been there she would have done exactly that. Another LPN told me my mother could go without medication for a day or two until the next pharmacy shipment came in. I had to twist arms to get people there to do anything. I am not at all confident that people in nursing homes will get the pain medication each and every day they require. I believe anyone who has had a child or elderly parent in a hospital will agree with me that they must have an advocate to speak up for them.
tracey marie October 6th, 2014 at 8:35 pm
I stand corrected
linkeditin October 6th, 2014 at 7:55 pm
Rush Limpbaugh extorted pain pills from his illegal alien housekeeper for years and was arrested, charged and sentenced for it. Then he was caught with a prescription for Viagra in his doctors name in the airport on his way back from a sex trourist trip back from the Dominican Republic which was a violation of his parole.
thule October 6th, 2014 at 10:27 pm
A few bad people mess things up…. Now you know how many people feel about gun control.
edmeyer_able October 7th, 2014 at 5:28 am
pffft
fancypants October 7th, 2014 at 12:01 am
one more reason to legalize pot
here’s to you rush…http://youtu.be/WS6-vI70oc0