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Local veteran struggles to get prescribed medication in light of drug epidemic
(WEAR) — The opioid epidemic is a major concern across the country and in Northwest Florida.
The national crisis recently caused the VA to update guidelines for healthcare professionals prescribing pain medication.
A local veteran, Donald Houghton, tells WEAR’s Chorus Nylander the changes have left him nearly bedridden.
“It takes all my energy just to live,” Houghton said.
He is a father, grandfather, great-grandfather and Air Force veteran, a lot to live for while suffering from terminal prostate cancer.
“I can’t do the things I know I can do,” Houghton said.
For the past 12 years, he said he’s relied on fentanyl, an opioid prescribed to him by the VA, to deal with the pain.
“When that pain breaks through, the sciatic pain, I can’t explain it to you,” Houghton said.
For the past year, he said the VA has begun tapering him off of the drug as a result of new guidelines in light of the opioid epidemic. A change his son, Everette Houghton, said has been devastating.
“It’s destroying him. He’s been hospitalized four of the last five months with heart failure and it’s probably tied to his drastic cut into his pain meds,” Everette said.
Everette is a Navy veteran himself.
He said as the opioid doses have been fading away, so has the strong active man he once knew.
“This is not my father,” he expressed.
He said his father had been under a prescription of 200 milligrams given over a three-day period. The dose has been reduced each month.
The VA guidelines recommend patients currently prescribed more than 90 milligrams get evaluated for tapering, reducing doses, or discontinuing the pain meds.
Houghton’s now on his final month before being rid of opioids all together. For his family – that is not a good thing.
“I just want him to have some relief for this pain, this shouldn’t be happening,” Everette explained.
WEAR spoke to Dustin O.T. Perry, an opioid specialist, at the Lakeview Center Clinic. He cannot speak on the Houghton case directly, but said opioid dependence is a growing concern.
“If you go to the doctor and take the prescribed amount over time, you will become dependent on the substance,” Perry explained.
He said each case is different and requires a medical consultation, but tapering off the drug typically shouldn’t lead to major complications.
“If you felt the person was in a safe place you would want to taper them down comfortably, and I think that would be up to the doctor and patient,” Perry said.
The Houghton family said Donald wasn’t given a choice in the matter, with little communication from his doctor.
“I’ve been to war, I’ve seen a lot of ugly things, but never anything like that. Seeing my own father like this,” Everette said.
We spoke with a representative from the VA Hospital out of Mississippi, who tells us they cannot comment on the Houghton case, but sent us the following statement:
VA is recognized by many as a leader in the pain management field for the responsible use of opioids across the VA health care system. For instance, in January the department became the first hospital system in the country to release its opioid prescribing rates.
Because some Veterans enrolled in the VA health care system suffer from high rates of chronic pain, VA initiated a multi-faceted approach called the Opioid Safety Initiative(OSI) to reduce the need for the use of opioids among America’s Veterans using VA health care.
Since its launch, the program has resulted in 308,911 fewer Veteran patients – a 45 percent reduction – receiving opioids from July of 2012 to June of 2018.
Filed under: General Problems
Is this a state to state guideline?In Florida,every surgeons office has a notice posted which reads “New laws for opiod prescriptions-No person may recieve more than a 3 day supply for acute pain.Only persons excepted are those in hospice,pallative care or extreme injury”that is as close as I can remember it.There was more but I dont recall.Seems that each state does what they want.Cant see a more dangerous time to be alive!Montana,W.Virginia,Kentucky and Ohio seem to be the worst.I call the W.House and scream about it every day,but it”s on the back burner due to govt.shutdown.And that bitch Pelosi keeps people out of work while the south border sewage pipe flows into America non stop.The garage produced fentanyl continues to get here.That is the reason we suffer!!!
No cannabis, no pain medication. But here’s thai chi for you in the lobby.
“‘If you go to the doctor and take the prescribed amount over time, you will become dependent on the substance,’ Perry explained.”
The same thing happens when one takes medication for high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, schizophrenia, seizure disorder, and even those on oxygen therapy, you effin moron
Equally outrageous is his wife and son saying that there was nothing anyone could do about it!
The patient is terminal, has cancer, both of these conditions I thought were an exception to the tapering, or any control on opioid prescriptions. So what is up with this?
It just seems that his son and his wife are complacent in this situation. As well as the doctor. Who is in charge here?
So they mention a large number of V A patients no longer receiving opioids, but do not mention how many of them may have killed themselves or living in agony and waiting for death as release from pain.
This is not a good recruiting tool for the military.
The story reminds me of something that may have been told to us as we were children, about how horrible it could be, to live in Russia or communist China, and be subject to the kind of treatment that we are now reading about in our own country.
Note that the news organization put together a pile of cocaine with a razor blade while they were talking about this man’s pain medication. It all just seemed so par for the course. Who’s in charge at the TV news desk?
I would be interested and getting together a group of this man’s Buddies from the military and together dusting off their gear and making a trip to the VA Hospital in order to straighten this mess out with the doctor. The next stop would be to local congressman’s office. And then as far as necessary keep marching until Justice is served and there is Peace.
So would a 45% decrease in chemo be good? Sure…IF that’s because patients were cured and didn’t need it! If you denied them meds that made a chance at living possible you’d loser your medical license and be sued for everything you every had! ITS CRIMINAL MALPRACTICE
“Since its launch, the program has resulted in 308,911 fewer Veteran patients – a 45 percent reduction – receiving opioids from July of 2012 to June of 2018.”
Gollee, they don’t mention the increase in suicides due to that program. Qu’elle surprise.
And yet another physician who’s apparently jumped onto the “physical dependence is the same as addiction” bandwagon…MORON. Anyone with half a brain or any knowledge whatsoever of the reality of the two conditions can NOT make that equivalence.
May that doctor & the entire VA go straight to Hell.
ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL!!!