Methadone Rehabilitation

Question by brent b.: My doctor is out of town, i need meds, and i was told to wait by his office. To whom should i report this?
I see a pain specialist for a terrible case of ocular shingles. I was put on 10 mg of methadone, once daily, along with about four other meds, about a year ago. About six months later i began splitting the methadone tablets in half (5 Mg’s). I saw the doctor’s nurse in January and told her i was splitting them in half, and that all was well with her. I called today (Monday) because i only have about 6 days of dosage remaining. I was told the doctor was out of the country for a week, and that i’d have to wait until he returns to be seen.

I explained that i was now only taking a quarter of the methadone pill, but that if i did not take it, i was extremely restless (restless legs and arms), miserable, and could not sleep. The office or nurse (not sure which) told me that i would have to wait. I asked her, “Please put yourself in my situation. I can’t sleep at night if i run out of this, and i have to go out of town for business Sunday. I can’t wait until next Monday. Can someone write me a script to hold me over until i get back from out of town and the doctor is in?”

She replied, “We cannot adjust or refill meds to patients who themselves cut back on dosages.” I explained that when i was there in Jan. I certainly told the nurse (who saw me then – she saw me then for the refill, not the doctor) that i was splitting the tablets in half. She was fine with that. Sometime after that i started splitting the half pill in half.” She told me to hold on.

The “Office Manager” came on next and reiterated that the nurse would not see me, and that the doctor was out of the country until the next Monday (one week). I told her that i was unable to sleep at night and was miserable if i didn’t at least have a quarter pill. She said that they could not do anything for me. I asked her to please refer me. She said they didn’t refer. She said i was free to find another doctor if i could. I told her i did not want another doctor, but that i needed them to help me with this since i had to go out of town this sunday. It was at that point that she said i wasn’t listening and she hung the phone up on me.

I was shocked. Surely this does not meet the standard of care for patients? So i sit here scared to death, wondering what will happen to me when this med runs out and i am on the road with business. I did call my GP and he’s agreed to see me. I sure hope he can write a script for this tho. This is scary.

Would someone in the know please advise me on how i should properly report this? I think my GP will take care of me, but i am afraid for others without such options facing this from this office. This kind of treatment is surely not approved by the TX medical board???

All help is appreciated. I have no idea of whom to turn to report this. But it just happened today and i don’t want it to go unpunished. Thank you!!
For those mouthing off before reading my question: This was not last-minute. This doc asks for five days before scripts expire. I gave them five days.

The “mental” response guy should be reprimanded. No cause for that.

If you aren’t going to actually read the question seriously please don’t respond. No need for wiseguy responses.

I appreciate the care of the other responses. Thank you very much..

Best answer:

Answer by TedEx
So the doctor is the bad guy when you could have avoided this whole mess by noticing 2-3 weeks ago that you were running low on this medication.

Answer by U Hate ME! U Really HATE ME!
Make sure you document everything you can remember from the phone call.
If a Doctor is out of town, there is usually a referral Doc that will cover for them.
You can complain to the Doc licensing board, or the RN licensing board (assuming it was a nurse you talked to and not some clerical lackey making med decisions for you, which is what it sounds like to me.)
The least they could have done is give you a short script to cover until the Doctor got back.
I am sure your GP will help you out.
The last resort is the ER.

Next time, don’t let the nurse know you are trying to adjust down your meds, just do it on your own.

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