I know the opioid crisis has made physicians scared to prescribe any opioids, benzos, or ADHD stimulants for fear of the DEA coming down on them.
Having a few friends who moved to California from Ireland, they argue that Americas ‘stricter’ prescription culture is still much more relaxed than here or anywhere else in Europe. It’s unheard of for someone here to get anything stronger than codeine for a wisdom tooth but in America it seems that people can get a months supply of hydrocodone or oxycodone.
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I’m not sure that getting a wisdom tooth removed is a typical ploy for getting narcotics, but yes I was prescribed OxyContin after getting them removed.
Pretty easy, I tell the doc what I want to try (typically nothing serious, not high dosages, or anything that’d be a red flag, so maybe they know I’m just a dude not a dealer or addict) and they write up the script.
it’s hard to get drugs like that prescribed from your doctor. at least in my experience
I went to my doctor for panic attacks while flying. he wouldn’t even give me a xanax and gave me SSRIs for anxiety instead.
I even went to my doctor for ADHD and he didn’t refused to give me adderall. He didn’t believe in prescribing it. and i’m actually grateful he didn’t in retrospect
however if you’re rich and fluent. You can get doctors that will pretty much get you anything. I remember I met this guy off grindr who was rich in NYC. and he told me that his doctor gives him anything. and he show me
“I know the opioid crisis has made physicians scared to prescribe any opioids, benzos, or ADHD stimulants for fear of the DEA coming down on them.”
Have you heard of any legitimate doctors being harassed by DEA?
> It’s unheard of for someone here to get anything stronger than codein
Speaking of which, can’t you get codeine over-the-counter in Europe? It’s prescription-only here. Weird how easy a controlled substance is for you to get there!
If you ask my hydrocodone addicted parent, unfairly hard
If you ask me, the ER was happy to prescribe them to me just other year
I recently had my wisdom teeth out and wasn’t prescribed anything. I was advised to pick up some Advil and Tylenol before the procedure so I had it afterwards. That ended up being plenty to completely eliminate the discomfort afterwards, so it’s likely my surgeon knew that’s all I would need.
I also was recently diagnosed with ADHD and was prescribed Vyvanse without asking for a prescription for anything. I ran out last week and asked my doc for a refill. He sent it to the pharmacy, which filled it no problem.
I can’t speak beyond my own anecdotal experience, but in my experience I’ve had no trouble getting what I need.
The DEA doesn’t really come down on individual users, that would be local PD. They cares about beg time trafficking and interstate ordeals.
Otherwise, pretty easy if you run in that crowd.
There’s a federal law- and more stringent state laws that limit how many, what dose and for how long prescribers can write for opioids.
They aren’t “scared”… it’s literally the law
When I had my wisdom tooth surgically removed in Japan, they told me to take ibuprofen lol.
Yes, the US is more relaxed about narcotics.
After a root canal in New York, I was prescribed a week’s worth of paracetamol with codeine. It gave me hives and I wasn’t in much pain anyway.
After back surgery I got a week’s worth of Tramadol.
The largest amount I was ever prescribed was after I gave birth: a one month supply of Percocet.
I regularly take Adderall for ADHD and Klonopin for anxiety. Small doses though.
The DEA won’t bother the doctors unless they prescribe controlled substances excessively.
Given the number of overdose deaths in southern Maine it can’t be all that hard.
It’s been twenty-something years, but when I had all my wisdom teeth removed, I got a LARGE bottle of hydrocodone for the pain, and then ANOTHER large bottle after I got dry sockets. Probably had em daily for 3 months. I was able to quit after the pain subsided, but they were handing them out like candy.
I recently had an extremely painful surgery and was prescribed only 1 week of oxycodone that I had to take in between Tylenol 3 doses. This is a lot more strict compared to when I had just 1 wisdom tooth removed 15 years ago and I was given 3 months prescription of Oxycontin with an option to refill.
A relative is in severe chronic pain. There is no cure. It’s been pure Hell for her. She’s seen many Doctors, and they all agreed that she needs a higher dose of pain medication, but if they prescribe it, they could risk losing their medical license, so they won’t do it. She just has to suffer.
The best answer here is “it depends…” If you’re an average Joe and you’re not constantly bugging your doctor for scheduled meds, you likely won’t have any issue getting them when you need them. Doctors aren’t stupid, and they have a decent nose for sorting out the drug seekers.
I had a wisdom tooth removed and was advised to take ibuprofen. My husband asked for Xanax for flight anxiety and got an rx for 3.
I had to argue that I did NOT want narcotics, and would just use tylenol and ibuprofen. Said that about 3 or 4 times before leaving the office with no prescription. In their defense though, I’d literally just had all of my teeth pulled with only local anesthetic, so I understand why they thought I was crazy. I understood even better a few hours later when the anesthetic was wearing off and I couldn’t swallow a pill yet. Lol.
I’ve never had a problem getting prescribed my adhd medication (Ritalin), but I also don’t feel stimulated from using it, it just makes me able to focus like a normal person.
Actual schedule II narcotics like oxycontin? Hard.
Adderall or benzo prescription? Easy.
My daughter goes to a pediatric pain management clinic because she has a chronic pain disorder.
They have a very strict policy. Absolutely no narcotics/opioids are prescribed to any of their patients- with the exception of terminally ill and some cancer patients.
I think adult pain management clinics here have similar policies.
A lot of times, trends regarding prescribing go in waves. When the opioid crisis (and risks related to other drugs, like benzodiazepines) became salient in the public conversation, prescriptions were greatly reduced. But now, people are starting to see the effects of taking people off of medication that they truly need, and from my *personal* experience, doctors are starting to move back to center again.
Evidence suggests that cutting people off, even those who are overusing prescription opioids, benzos, etc isn’t always the best option. A while back, the DEA made hydrocodone (Vicodin) harder to prescribe. It did result in fewer hydrocodone prescriptions, but many people were cut off abruptly and began using heroin or fentanyl, which is very unpredictable and has a massive overdose risk when not in a form where the potency is standardized (like how fentanyl, when prescribed for pain, is).
As a person who is prescribed a controlled substance completely legitimately, I haven’t had much difficulty obtaining it. The answer isn’t to crack down on prescriptions, the only answer is to increase treatment for people who do struggle with substance use disorder. Otherwise, people will find ways to obtain drugs (which are far less predictable and far more dangerous) from sources other than a doctor.
Legally? Somewhat challenging.
Illegally? I live in Philly. Google “Kensington Philadelphia”. Laughably easy.
Nice try fed boi, you’re not getting anything out of me
Doctors are rather willing to write one-time prescriptions for opioid painkillers for short-term intense pain like post-operative pain (like oral surgery), but when it comes to ongoing prescriptions for pain medicines they get VERY reluctant to do that.
The way that pain medication is monitored and tracked, it’s more about how much someone is receiving someone over time (or how much they’re being prescribed). Giving a patient a bottle of oxycodone after some surgery, with no refills, is fairly routine. . .but giving someone an ongoing supply of opioid pain medication for a problem is something doctors are VERY reluctant to give.
People in chronic pain have serious problems getting ahold of ways to treat it. When my father was dying of cancer, until he was moved into a hospice status even an active cancer diagnosis wasn’t enough for most doctors to give enough pain medicine to deal with the pain. . .only when he was in an “end of life” hospice status in a care facility did doctors feel free to give him all the pain medicine he needed.
My dentist gave me 10 opioid pills for a root canal which didn’t hurt at all. ADHD stimulants are fairly easy to come by. They sell Kratom at head shops.
Depends. I got plenty of hydrocodone after my bone surgery. My dad had a surgery though and they barely gave him anything, I had to lend him my extra.
I live in NYC and even pain specialists are pretty limited on what they can prescribe. I visited my family in Alabama a couple of years ago and came down with laryngitis and they gave me a prescription for cough syrup with codeine with no problem.