Yesterday I almost Chose to Relapse, because of the New Opioid Laws

The new Florida “Opioid” laws almost forced me to actually HAVE to go get Oxy YESTERDAY. 

Brief backstory: As I’ve stated in the past, I’ve been on Suboxone for almost 6 years. A quick summary of just my recent two:

I had just finished recovering from a triple lumbar fusion, and my apartment ceiling collapsed on my head. 

-concussion, tinnitus, lots of PT, and finally a quadruple cervical fusion.

-12 year old lab, both grandmothers, my best friend in Florida, and after 6 months of pancreatic cancer... my mom all passed. You could say that I’ve had a bad couple of years, and I left things out! One of my last coherent conversations with my mom...she joked that I must have driven a school bus off a cliff in a previous life! Lol

I was in Virginia to bring my moms SUV back to Florida when Hurricane Florence neared shore. Since the new July laws, I can no longer fill my RX in VA (even in an emergency). So running low, I had to drive around the flooding and had a long 2 day drive. I can still barely move my neck, and was fortunate my Doctor fit me in on Monday. I immediately went to Sams Club, where’ve filled it since day one. I was told that they “Don’t have it, don’t have it on order” and rudely said that I’d have to go “find it elsewhere”.

-Walmart the pharmacist nicely said “Hello”, glanced at my RX, and disgustingly tossed the script saying “We don’t carry that Stuff”. 

-3 Wahlgreens, 2 CVS’, all sayings they didn’t have it and if they did it was 5/600$!!

I went home Monday night angry, in awful pain, and anxiety through the roof. Thank my mom for giving me an outgoing personality, as Tuesday I approached a Publix Pharmacist. I told her about my predicament, and she told me some angering information.  Did you know that Florida patients are now on all have “Overdose Risk Scores”?? Ranging from 0-900, I clocked in at a high 600! The pharmacist explained that since July, they’ve been under serious scrutiny. She explained that the stigma was bad enough, now the new laws are making hard on them as well. You also are now to have a valid DL in the County you fill the RX! A lot people in FL have places in other states, and I’m one of them! Luckily, I brought her proof of residence and she agreed to fill it... the next afternoon. Last night my BP was 167/112, and spent the first 15 hours of my birthday (9/26) being reminded what detoxing feels like! I continued to play through my mind what I would do if this rush order didn’t make the delivery. Should I have to go through Suboxone detox because they’ve decided to crack down on the wrong people? 

Thankfully, Publix and their pharmacist showed me absolute professionalism and I had my RX at 4:00pm. I’ve already been given every reason in the world to crawl into a hole of pain meds. I didn't need an actual reason to justify it!

Pain meds like Subsys have been demonized (often deservedly!), yet do hold a very important place in society. I watched my mother need stronger meds in her final days, but was told nothing was available. They just don’t want the scrutiny of even writing Subsys! We need stop the over-correcting and punishing the wrong people! Does the Government and blatant stigma get dictate good people getting punished? Indivior your hands are most certainly not clean! Stop with lawsuits fighting off generics, you’ve made your money!