PHARMACIST STEVE

Watched my 80 year old neighbor in congestive heart failure be forced to change pharmacies after 20 years because his insurance no longer would cover his old grocery store pharmacy. He hand delivered new scripts to the CVS across the street where we live. They filled everything but his pain meds and said they didn’t have them. This was a Friday. By Sunday night he was forced to call an ambulance. He was in so much pain, his body so swollen his blood pressure was well over 200/100. He was treated at the ER for BP and pain and released. The next day, Monday he talked with his docs office who promptly called the local CVS and sure enough, his pain meds were filled that day.
I felt awful for this man being forced to suffer even more than normal. The cost of the ambulance and ER visit and additional stress almost killed him.
As a chronic pain patient with RSD and pulmonary sarcoidosis, I can’t even begin to tell of the horror stories in support groups about being cut off from meds, blacklisted because not enough med was in their system. It’s not unusual to not take a dose if not needed in chronic pain as flare ups come and go. Now we are forced to take it if we need it or not?? The suicides I have seen in each of these support groups is heartbreaking. You will never find a true chronic pain patient taking any med they don’t need. We don’t enjoy taking meds or giving up our lives to pain. We don’t enjoy being discriminated against in our communities. We don’t enjoy the countless side effects of medication. We don’t enjoy being alienated by friends and family. This cruelty is beyond words and is a crime against humanity.

Filed under: General Problems