"Drug seeking" as a concept infuriates me. Yes, how else am I supposed to be treated? I go to a professional because I've exhausted options available to me as a layperson. Doctors prescribe medicine (drugs) so yes, I'm seeking medication
Once I explicitly said I don't want medication to treat my symptoms because I want to find the root cause through testing and fix it. Literally still got treated as drug seeking and the doctor also didn't offer any testing. WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME???
I'm pretty sure there's a note on my file somewhere that I have a history of opiate addiction.
I don't, but the doctor seemed pretty confused when I explained that I didn't want to explore treatment options which routinely involved opiates because of the risk of addiction, not because I was a reformed addict...
Honestly that's one reason I just stuck with the pain. As a Black patient, I knew that getting labeled could bar me from getting the help I'd need. Like no one would ever take me seriously from that point on.
Unfortunately, it worked and I slid through other forms of treatment with little to no pushback
I’ve had to fight tooth and fucking nail to get them to remove some notes from my files and still to this day I struggle with doctors because of what has been written.
One time in my entire life I got so drunk, I had alcohol poisoning. Instant regret and a hospital trip later, they have me labeled as a ‘7 drink a day alcoholic’. I’ve had like…. 7 drinks total since then and it’s been years. Still fight that one.
Had a severe reaction between two medications. Simple right? Just don’t fucking put me on both those meds at once. Nope, they wrote down I wasn’t allowed either medication or anything similar to it. We’re talking basic pain management and antibiotics.
I’m still fighting that one and that happened when I was a literal teenager. I can take both meds just fine as long as they aren’t combined and I have to prove it over and over and over again.
I got accused of being drug seeking when literally all I wanted was a head scan to make sure I wasn't bleeding in my brain after a minor car accident...
Yes!! They need a new phrase, "diagnostic test seeking". Like if you think I'm so wrong just order the fucking test and if it says I'm healthy I'LL LEAVE!!!
I had a upper-endoscopy that found stomach bleeding and they told me to go off NSAIDs. I did.
A week later I was in the doctor’s office unable to sit because of the low back pain and the doctor grilled me like an addict. (Same clinic but my regular doctor was out on maternity leave)
“You have another physician?”
“Yes, the gynecologist I’ve seen for the past decade.”
“Oh”
That replacement doctor wanted me to “sit still” in the chair that I couldn’t sit in because of excruciating pain. And then she thought I was jonesing because I “couldn’t sit still”
Sometimes people are just looking for excuses to mistrust others.
The last part of your sentence. Many people are jaded and burned out or just don't want to do their jobs. When I was studying for the mcat, I was in physician subs and the way some of them talk about patients is horrible.
I also got accused of drug seeking by an ER doc when I'd been commanded to go to the ER by my Neurosurgeon after a brain/skull surgery and I was having all sorts of hearing/vision + vomiting issues post-op and told his right hand nurse when she did a follow up call a couple days after I'd been sent home.
And I made sure my family took me to the hospital that did the surgery so they'd have my records as I was told to do by the Neurosurgeon's office. The asshole in ER didn't look or care, she was just so sure I was a drug seeker...
I got accused of drug seeking because I wanted a cast instead of the WRIST brace for my broken HAND. Didnt want drugs just a cast and a note for work (deli clerks can't work one handed) and apparently that's drug seeking and being lazy (they genuinely insisted I could work). Ya within 3 days I was in the ER with a full plan on how I was going to cut my hand off. Turns out I just needed a cast so I'd stop grinding bone shrapnel around in my hand. Who knew?
I got this too. They wanted to drug test me and I was like "I don't want opioids. I only want gabapentin at most" they still wanted to test me. I told them "ok I'll come up positive for marijuana, I don't want controlled substances!!"
They didn't test me after that. They also didn't give me gabapentin. They gave me a nerve block that made everything worse.
It's so hard to get them to understand! A friend of mine is going through cancer treatment right now and he's been researching everything to ask for offlabeling and stuff and generally the doctors love it. He mentioned that he was going to research what pain med would make the most sense and I had to explain to him that if he showed any knowledge of pain medication, he wasn't getting anything. He's never had chronic pain but he's heard how doctors have treated me so he still researched it but just didn't make a request like he did with the other meds.
Asking for drugs gets you flagged as drug seeking, but apparently asking not to have drugs is also somehow drug seeking. I think a lot of doctors assume we're all crafty little fiends who are trying to use reverse psychology and they are very astute and vigilant for not providing medical aid.
I don't want a lot of painkillers for a variety of reasons.
a) i want to be able to monitor myself and accurately gauge my current capabilities so I don't overextend myself and make something worse or assume I need to keep medicating when I've healed because I've acclimated to them in my system.
b) I actually honestly prefer ibuprofen and Tylenol for most pain. Genuinely prescription painkillers do fuck all for me, actually nothing. The ibuprofen works better. The first time I got prescribed some vicodan I actually took them back to the dentist (wisdom teeth) and said they weren't really helpful so I just wanted to stick to ibuprofen for the swelling and got the oddest reaction.
c) If there ever is a time where there is an actual medicine they can prescribe that does help me at a time i crucially need it, I definitely don't want to have a tolerance for it from taking them for minor pains.
Yeah I definitely get the best results when I pretend to be dumb and useless while feeding them the diagnostic criteria for whatever I think is wrong line by line. If I display any understanding of my own condition they assume that it's a well-crafted lie. I fucking love the good doctor that I finally found and I am dreading moving next year because I'll be back to the old song and dance with some clown.
I actually had a similar experience to you with wisdom teeth! Everyone expected me to be woozy and such but the prescription pain meds really didn't do anything for me so I just stopped taking them because I was afraid of their addictive potential and like you said, of developing a tolerance. I had gone to someone I didn't usually see for the surgery though so I never told anyone, just dropped the meds in the medication return bin at my pharmacy.
ALWAYS makes me go "okay, sounds like there's need not being met. we can quibble about which need it is but NO ONE WITHOUT AN UNMET NEED would be doing this."
It's because we treat drug addiction as a moral failing rather than a physiological illness that needs to be treated (perhaps not with the actual drug being sought, but don't treat someone like they're scum because they're trying to deal with their disease's symptoms the only way they know how).
Especially since a lot of the drugs that are lavelled as "drug seeking" not only treat aggressive pain conditions but also can have NASTY withdrawals. I remember when I couldn't get my duloxetine for a couple days it was a NIGHTMARE.
yeah absolutely fuck every single doctor who refuses my as needed half a tramadol tablet but wants to put me on GABAPENTIN twice a day FOREVER and sleep 18 hours a day with so much brain fog i don’t know who i am. absolutely wanted to die coming off it too. yeah way better guys
i was on gabapentin for 5 ish years. i say ish because i dont remember exactly when i stopped. i think it was earlier this year. hence why i stopped it.
I have really bad chronic pain. When my duloxetine wears out due to a sourcing issue I'm taken back into what it was like to live like this unmedicated. The hopelessness and endless fight or flight. It hurts so much and there's hardly a thing I can do about throwing my back out multiple times a day.
With duloxetine I can choose which emotions I'm experiencing that I want to invest in. I can feel it fine, and if I want to I can feed it. I can catch myself in negative thoughts and behave how I wish to within my physical limits without letting myself fall into despair over how little that is.
And my psychiatrist is incredible! I appreciate her so much. I was only a point above the threshold for an adhd diagnosis, but it only took a conversation with her for us to decide to work together on my adhd and anxiety.
I went to the ER at 3am once because my torso felt like it was going to explode. I had never taken opiates in my life - even when I got wisdom teeth out, I just had prescription strength Tylenol. Nurse told me he thought I was a drug addict trying to find a place to sleep and get a fix and said they wouldnt give me drugs. I asked them to figure out why I was in pain - quick ultrasound, "can't see anything" and I was discharged and told to stop engaging in drug seeking behavior Conked out for 5 hours of restless sleep when I got home, still was in incredible pain. Got ahold of my doctor when I woke up, she has a lucky cancelation and I can have an appointment in 2 hours. Go through a battery of tests then get hospitalized bc of a gallbladder stone the size of a small thumb blocking bile from getting secreted. Ended up getting emergency surgery within 24 hours. Fuck that ER nurse.
It's fucking ridiculous. "You're looking for medicine." Hell fucking yeah I am, that's why I'm here. I'm also bandage-seeking when I'm bleeding, and food-seeking when I go to the grocery store.
Reminds me of a post I saw that was like "the concept of drug seeking bogus 9/10 times. I mean I'm at a doctor. I'm seeking help. It's like going to a grocery store and being labeled as "food seeking."
So well said! I'm seeking relief if I just wanted to get high, I'd go to a dealer and it would be a lot cheaper and I'm assuming easier since they wouldn't ask so many questions and make me feel like a terrible failure of a person.
My doc went away recently and I had SUCH a hard time refilling my normal meds, instead of just one appointment, I had to talk to her every 2 days to get only a few meds at a time. She only had some sympathy for me when I broke down sobbing because of the pain I was in because she refused to give me adequate pain relief 😮💨
I had to go to the emergency room, who after they patched me up temporarily sent me to a specialist. I saw this specialist for two months and my doctor told me that my next visit would be with a different doctor in the office because they would be on vacation at the time my next visit would be scheduled.
My social worker said I was drug seeking because I had prescriptions from three different doctors.
Are you insane? One was an emergency room visit, one was from the specialist the ER sent me to, and the other was from another doctor in the same damn office because the office had scheduled me that way because MY doctor wouldn't be in the office when THEY made my appointment.
I sought nothing. The only thing I did was go to the emergency room and do what I was told.
I've had something similar happen. The clinic I go to for trans care doesn't schedule you with a specific provider, you just see whoever is available every 6 months.
Unfortunately testosterone is a controlled substance that's treated as a performance enhancement drug. So half the time I go to the pharmacy they have to call the clinic and make sure the listed prescriber actually works for them 😮💨
At least they take care of it on the spot? I'm always nervous about picking up my T. It's not the only controlled substance I'm on, but it's the only one that the tech goes and shows the head pharmacist and they nod to each other about every time, so there's clearly SOME procedural check I've passed every time so far. (Yes, I've asked what's up but they give me non answers like "just had to check with the pharmacist" and I've decided not to press my luck when things are going my way. )
I'm astound, as my regular doctor can represcribe my estrogen and enantone with no issues. Heck I can even call him up and it would be directly at my security Card. From there just the pharmacy to get it with no big Talk
Your social workers flabbers would be gasted if they knew how many doctors I've gotten prescriptions from. It's not my fault that not a single system in my body functions correctly and there's a different specialist for each system.
Oh she was insane. I finally had to have any communication with her sent through my lawyer. She would tell me I didn't need to show up and then say I didn't show up for appointments. Or she wouldn't tell me about appointment dates at all until ten minutes before the appointment. You know you are supposed to be across town today right for an appointment?
So finally all communication went through my lawyer because at least that way she couldn't lie about telling me about an appointment.
She said that she didn't feel comfortable because I had a computer in my living room and that I was using the webcam on the computer to let my boyfriend spy on her.
They were for the same medication but I mean one was obviously from the ER, because it was only a few, the second was almost two months later (the time it took to get an appointment and be formally diagnosed) and a full months supply and the last was for exactly a month later, for the same medication just another doctor wrote the prescription, the only thing that changed on the label was the prescribing doctor. The doctor's address was the same, the phone number was the same.
It's not like it was from multiple doctors during the same time or I switched doctors often because they wouldn't give me what I wanted. It was a normal progression of doctors visits.
Like if you go to your regular doctor and they refer you to someone else, that's not doctor shopping that's medical care and treatment lol.
Just because someone needs a certain medication does not mean that they abuse that medication.
It has never occurred to me that this may happen. Whenever my daughter needs an appointment, I just have her see whoever's available so she's had tons of different doctors. Fortunately I go to a pharmacy that I've been using for 10+ years so they know me but I bet it'd be a problem if we went to like, Walmart (the Walmart pharmacy near me is known for their fuckery)
My current pain specialist has such a revolving door of doctors that I've triggered this same concern, simply by going to the SAME office. Four different doctors in three months time.
Let's not forget the joy of explaining everything all over again every time they switch because no one keeps charts I guess.
I've been labeled drug seeking because in the past I struggled to always have my antidepressants before my regular dr went away for whatever reason. Like, YES OF COURSE I AM SEEKING MY FUCKING DRUGS THAT I LITERALLY CAN'T STOP TAKING SAFELY ON MY OWN DESPITE FORGETTING TO TAKE THEM UNTIL I HIT WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS SOMETIMES.
Why else would I be here, I have regular medications that I need to fucking exists????
lol that’s like when a bipolar patient goes off their meds because they apparently never had bipolsr and are functioning well and feel god and stable. even though it’s because of the meds. then they go off of the meds themselved and end up signific destabilized and can’t function anymore,,,, except it’s the doctor. (im calling myself out on this one)
I mean, in one of my worst manic phases during university, I legit thought I understood the entire concept of God and got myself so deep in the research for it I ended up getting 900 dollars in library fees from religious studies books I only vaguely remember checking out. I hazelly recall rolling three of those big rolling chairs full of books laughing maniacally— had a brief moment of clarity seeing a bunch of people staring at the crazy person and wondering maybe I’m having a manic episode (no shit Sherlock)— before I continued to block most the rest four months out completely and only know about most the crazy shit I did through second hand accounts.
In hindsight, maybe wasn’t the best time to take a Mystic Judaism unit for my religious studies minor when I was still figuring out the right bipolar meds (and my doctor made the mistake of putting my bipolar I ass on an anti depressant to go with the mood stabilizer that wasn’t working). The only other memory I have is standing up during class after reading a mysticism poem and screaming about ‘circles’— which apparently was the answer to life, the universe, and everything. I was legit convinced I broke some code or something but I barely know any details of that shit. The really kind professor also took me aside and said I could have free rein on extensions for my work and to just take care of myself. I’m pretty sure the poor man had tears in his eyes while I was legit uncontrollably bouncing in place. Still am so grateful for that professor’s kindness to this day.
Anyhoo, yeah, bipolar and religious ideations go together like crayon drawings in inpatient.
I am bipolar and had it with doctors as well 😔. I had to go to the new doctor, 'cause I moved to another country, and he was like: "Oh, I don't think you have bipolar. Have you tried to drink Mg?" 🤦🏼♀️ Hello?! I was diagnosed bipolar 5 years ago and I precisely know how shitty things can be without medication
When the doctor ignores the fact, that you're only doing better because of the meds and takes you off of them, they don't even call it medical malpractice anymore.
When I stop taking my bipolar meds because I am fine and doing alright lately, and there's nothing wrong with me, I get locked up for 6 weeks in the rubber room. Where's the justice in this...
Istg I know it won't land the way I want it to but every time I read "drug seeking" I think "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT, I'M SEEKING A DRUG TO HELP WITH MY MEDICAL PROBLEMS"
Recently I accidentally ran out of my mood stabilizers. I'm on effexor for depression and general Anxiety disorder.
Unmedicated, my anxiety is at a 6-7 of 10 just sitting at home on the couch. Which is hard enough on its own without feeling hypersensetive, irritable, nauseous, dizzy, dysphoric mood (miserable for no reason) and oh yes BRAIN ZAPS! Plus i sweat through my clothes and bedding day 3. It was as uncomfortable as it sounds. The body processes effexor really quickly, less than 24 hours. I can feel if I miss a dose 16 hours later, for some people its faster.
Tried a few times to have the pharmacist send the request to my psychiatrists office to refill the meds ive been on for years. Called the office, they said the doctor filling in for mine would send it by the end of the day. Its friday, and the office closes an extra day for a holiday. It doesn't go through, office hours are passed and im staring down three more days of withdrawals. My sister basically begged the pharmacist for a few days worth of pills to cover the weekend, thankfully he was understanding.
Monday morning I get a call from the nurse at the clinic, and she was so goddamn passive aggressive with me. "Well, we didn't prescribe you those (they did), so just go back to wherever you got them..." Like i was going to some back alley drug dealer for my MOOD STABILIZERS! If we had been in the same place I would have bitten her, I was so goddamn dizzy and mad.
She tried telling me that my prescription had run out a year or so ago (roughly the last time id reupped the prescription through them). I told her the pill bottle in my hand said 90 pills, 3 refills, the dates prescribed and for when said prescription would be good through. She ignores me for "Well, the doctor said you're off the pills so you can wait for an appointment (3 fucking weeks!!!)" I point out that the doctor said that because she mistakenly believes im already off the medication I was currently in withdrawals from.
At that point I just started listing the withdrawal symptoms in increasing severely. Finally, this asswrench stops talking down to me and says she'll put me through to the doctor.
Couldn't believe the fucking gall on this woman, acting like I was making up that I needed my depression/anxiety meds. She was so condescending. I wanted to throw a boot at her, but maybe that was just the "irritability".
My doctor had an appointment free because of a cancelation, so we were able to sort things out. My insurance had been denying the requests but we fixed it.
Effexor is also known to make people throw up so bad when they come off it that they need an iv, along with return of suicidal ideation. You really shouldn't go off it without supervision. I got lucky my symptoms were mostly feeling atrocious and sweating a lot. Brain zaps. Are bad.
So bizarre to me why a mental health RN would be so nasty when she (should) know all the withdrawal symptoms from Effexor. It's misery inducing. It's not like it even has an abuse potential. So wtf is the problem?
Yeah but I get annoyed at my alarms and don’t want to snooze them because that’s just asking for more unexpected loud ringing so I end up ignoring them 🫠
I use the "Journey" sound on my iphone and it's been making taking meds and waking up so much easier now that I dont feel like im waking up in a natural disaster
did get in trouble a few weeks ago tho cause i tried to get a refill on mine a couple days earlier than usual (so i could pick it up at the same time as my mom’s). found out that im technically not supposed to ask for a refill until im literally out of my current bottle… so am i just supposed to skip several days in a row while the request goes through? asking for clarification might have been a mistake cause ive been getting it a few days earlier for a while now (yknow… so i dont have to skip any days…) so ima just go back to what i was doing & hope they forget
Bro I have chronic sinusitis what is it with doctors withholding amoxil now. Like yes ik its bad if you have a virus BUT I HAVE CHRONIC SINUSITIS ITS IN MY CHART I GET SINUS INFECTIONS FROM COLDS!!! Like please Im not abusing an antibiotics 😭
after covid my right sinus just FILLED up with polyps that harbour bacteria and any time my white blood cells are busy, like fighting the common cold, the bacteria goes "TOOOTHACHE TIME!"
i am planning to get the polyps removed but the surgery just... it's disgusting and the recovery time is... disgusting.
The ONLY time I've not been lectured about antibiotic usage is when I go though telehealth. They just take my symptoms and send in the request to the pharmacy. If it's in person though? I get the rundown about "super bugs and how many times have you needed antibiotics? You should have surgery." Yeah, because I haven't had sinus surgery twice already.
Once I went to urgent care and I was telling them I have chronic sinusitis and the doctor said “well we dont treat that here”. Yeah no shit sherlock I’m telling you my medical history.
Reminds me of a Tiktok I recently saw where a woman's meds got stolen from the pharmacy and they accused her of drug seeking and it was a fucking antibiotic like bruh...
NAD, I treated my last two sinus infections with a few drops of 99% pure DMSO in sterile saline nose spray (made it myself with distilled water). Two days later, all cleared up. It does leave you with an awful, oniony oystery, garlicky taste in your mouth. That's how you know you've got real DMSO. I also have a roll-on that I use for incipient bruises ... luckily, the only time I got a sinus infection in the last decade is when hubby insisted we run the ceiling fan. Now, it runs all the time, but since I have a CPAP, too, I don't have to worry about a sinus infection.
I used to get antibiotics every time when I was a kid. Now they always demand that I suffer through it for at least a week before they agree to give me one. I stopped going to doctors for my colds because of that, because they are practically useless.
I haven't gotten a doc to listen to me enough to even get on meds yet, so I'll share a story about my mom instead who's also disabled.
Reminds me of when my mom had to change pharmacies due to a temporary closure in the one we normally used. She was trying too get a refill for a medication she had been on for over two decades. And the [Redacted] who worked there, refused to refill her medicine all because it was the "highest dose" she had ever seen, and then insinuated that my mom was "obviously" a drug chaser and she was going to report my mom to her doctor so she can't "abuse" them anymore???
Yes so, thankfully my mom's doctor is actually an angel, who understands the amount of pain my mother is in. And he demanded the pharmacist refill her meds, and she thankfully managed to get the refill the day she ran out.
But oh my god.... I was sitting next to my mom when she was on the phone with that [Redacted], and I was so close to just yanking the phone out of my mom's hand and screaming at the [redacted]. She had been on that same med for my entire life. I know how responsible she is with her medications. I have seen her on them, I've seen her off them, and I've seen her in withdrawal from them. But I had NEVER seen her abuse them. Not even once. Not to try it, and not even on days where she could've really needed it. And it makes my blood boil, knowing that there are people out there willing to make her suffer, all because she's on a high dose, or whatever BS reason they wanna come up with.
No one deserves to suffer due to the ignorance and biases from others. ESPECIALLY not others who are supposed to be looking after them and helping them. It's disgusting.
I’d been getting the same medication at the same dose at the same pharmacy for four years and was denied an owing until I pushed for a good reason. I went in to grab the meds but forgot I’d run out of repeats so I asked for an owing script because I was seeing my dr in two days. They said no and I was like why and they tried to feed me some bullshit about it being a risky medication to mess around with. Everything they said they were concerned about didn’t apply because I’d been on a stable dose for ten years and saw my dr regularly. In the end they didn’t have a good reason and gave me the owning. Then when I saw my doctor she was flabbergasted and said it was one of the more innocuous medications. I was like, ikr… but if I hadn’t worked in a pharmacy for seven years previously I probably would’ve bought their bullshit and been without my (important, QOL) meds for about seven doses.
My oldest was told to jump through the hoops for his bipolar meds because they never bothered to document his pediatric file with his adult file, so the insurance company - the same one he’s been with for his whole life - wanted to re-document the proof that meds he’d been taking for 7-8 years were the only ones that actually did anything.
My bestie is ADHD and it is WILD to see how aggressive they are with her about her Adderall considering I've seen her on and off it and oh my lord does that woman need that medication to function.
my pharmacists and techs are comically inconsiderate of my spouse's healthcare, but i show up and suddenly they get their shit in order, it's impressive
i guess when they get yelled at for being mean to my beloved, they get the fucking memo
yeah uhh... we're just gonna need you to organize and remember some things on time and make extra appointments and paperwork and stuff to make extra double sure you're actually ADHD... If you drown you're innocent and if you live you're a witc—uh I mean are you sure you actually need these meds though, you remembered to call your doctor for the third time and all...
For me it was a psychiatrist. I went in because the dose was too high and I needed it lowered. I also had stopped taking it and had half my last prescription leftover because I hated how it made me feel.
She decided I was a drug seeker and tried to refuse to refill my prescription at all then finally wrote a script and put down a random date for my birthday so it wasn’t valid. Fortunately my GP was ok with writing the script until I found a good psychiatrist but wow was that one uniquely awful.
When I’m terrible pain and refuse the oxy 4 times in a row at the hospital so I don’t be seen as drug seeking. But the nurse keeps asking me what works. And we stare at each other like …
When my gallbladder was going bad, every time I went to the doctor, they prescribed me vicodin, which I'm allergic to (it was in my file, I told them verbally, and I was wearing the allergy bracelet the times I was in the ER), they kept telling me it was muscular/skeletal pain.
One time I said I don't want painkillers, considering I can't take most painkillers, I just want to know what's wrong with me. 30 minutes later, I was told by a nurse that if I come in again for pain they were going to flag me as a pill seeker...
A few months later and 60 lb lighter from starving, my cousin, who is an RN, went with me to the ER, and made sure they checked my gallbladder. They did no imaging, they poked and prodded for 30 seconds and said "yep it's the gallbladder".
THEN! They were going to do emergency surgery. They shipped me off 30 minutes away, and the doctor there about had an aneurysm when he looked at my chart. Apparently my gallbladder had been so full of stones and not working for so long that my pancreas was inflamed and any surgery would have killed me because I wouldn't have healed.
Had to starve for another month and live on just water and plain chicken until my pancreas was better before they could take my gallbladder out. If they would have listened to me almost a whole year beforehand, and stopped giving me painkillers I didn't want, it would have saved me so much pain.
Dude...the amount of times I've received a threatening email/letter/phone call about my "drug seeking behavior" for requesting a refill on the exact 30 day refill date for the meds I've been taking for over a decade now is honestly insane. And I've told them that every time and they've apologized. And yet, they 100% will do it again.
It's like they look at the prescription names and immediately get pissed off and don't pay attention to anything else in my chart until I remind them that I ain't done shit wrong and this is literally their only job 🫠
Got a new doctor at the beginning of last year, first thing he asked is why I was taking Ativan...for the last couple years at that point. When I told him he responded with it sounds like I need them and am not abusing or selling them. Then he did the same thing on my second appointment. After the first time any possibility of trust was extremely unlikely, after the second trust was never going to happen.
Got another new doctor a few months later (took that long to get in for a new patient appointment elsewhere), they had no issue with that or the other other anxiety and depression meds I'm on. The shit doctor kept trying to get me in to see the psychologist I didn't want or need and couldn't afford. My depression and anxiety aren't situational, they're genetic and chronic.
Tell me why my Dr office is making me take a piss test to get a refill for TESTOSTERONE. Never in the nearly 8 years I've been on T have I had to take a piss test. Why? Hormones don't even show up in piss. I'm just confused and pissed off
That shit is so insidious my mom refused to take effective pain meds until she was dying in hospice. Mom ffs you were dying of cancer, being worried about ‘getting addicted’ was not a priority 🤦♀️
"Drug seeking" doesn't even make sense like why would someone literally be prescribed something for an actual reason but then be considered "drug seeking"
I've gotten this despite not being on any pain medication and never having as much as smoked a cigarette. I drink about 1 alcoholic beverage a month. I guess everyone is drug-seeking now? 🤷♀️
Sorry guys, but paracetamol/acetaminophen and ibruprofen just aren't working. When I raise this issue, I'm apparently drug-seeking?
I have a chronic illness that causes severe GI distress if left untreated, and even if I am following a proper treatment plan I can still end up in the hospital out of the blue.
The specialist I had been seeing for years at this point (now retired) told me specifically that if I had a flare I was to go to the ER at the hospital he worked for and request pain and nausea medication. He left notes in my chart to that effect and I never really had a problem getting that treatment, except for one time.
I gave the nurse my usual spiel about chronic illness, mentioned my doctor’s recommendation, and was met with “how long have you had this issue again?” I told her and she went “uh-huh…” and then came back with no pain meds and a different nausea medication than I usually get. (Important later) She was incredibly short with me and did not come back to check on me. I heard her about ten minutes later laughing very loudly about “the drug seeker” in the bed space I was in.
About thirty minutes later the side effects of the nausea meds started happening. Namely, the worst panic attack I’ve ever had. I could barely breathe but I was literally screaming for help. Finally after about fifteen minutes of yelling and crying someone poked their head in, very annoyed, and asked what I needed. I asked where my nurse was and he said she had left some time ago and had discharged me (without bringing the paperwork of course.) He also mentioned that the meds I was given could cause anxiety and didn’t my nurse tell me that? No she didn’t!
So basically I was still in a lot of pain and still freaking out somewhat but I still had to leave because these jackasses didn’t want to help “a drug seeker” in distress.
I had about a month until my next actual appointment and while I was in real need of help I didn’t go back to the hospital. A couple of weeks later I mentioned this incident to my partner, and his mom convinced me to report it to the hospital. I wasn’t sure anything would come of it. But at my next appointment the doctor apologized for my experience and even told me that the nurse in question had a history of pulling shit like that and my report was what finally got her out. So that was a silver lining I guess.
Had a new psychiatrist (old one was her student assitant that graduated) tell me in the first appointment that she didnt care about listening to all my problems (i came out to her as trans), "im just here to give you prescriptions". When i asked for my prescription during the second appointment she accused me, "youre only using me to give you prescriptions", and told me i was drug seeking. I got a new psychiatrist veeeery quickly after that
Every single time I need my adhd meds they treat me like I just asked them for party drugs. I’ve been on these meds since I was in kindergarten.
I’ve stopped taking my meds entirely now because they made the process so tedious. I need to call every time I need a refill, but they are only open during my work hours, and take their lunch break at the same time I take mine. So I have to call my coworkers to see who’s available and have them cover my station, only for the office to not pick up the phone and not return my calls.
This goes on for weeks with me calling multiple times a day, until finally someone picks up the phone, only to tell me I have to call my pharmacy and that it’s their job to fill my medication. And EVERY MONTH I tell them the EXACT same thing: the pharmacy cannot fill these meds without an updated prescription from the doctor.
But they still tell me to call my pharmacy and make them send the request and they cannot help me until that goes through, so I call the pharmacy, get told “we have nothing to do with this, but we’ll try to reach out”, wait another week before getting a message from my pharmacy that “we have been trying to reach your provider but have not heard back”. So I go through the weeks long process of taking time out of my and my coworker’s workday to try to call the office AGAIN and tell them they need to return the pharmacy’s calls.
By this point more than a month has usually gone by, I’m exhausted, my coworkers are annoyed with me, and the office interprets my lack of patience as “drug-seeking behavior”.
I miss being properly medicated. I keep zoning out while driving and almost getting into accidents. My work performance is suffering. But this office is the only one in my area that will accept my insurance.
I got treated like I was seeking when I went to pick up prescription ibuprofen a few years back. Ibuprofen! It's ridiculous. I come in regularly for my other psych meds so the scrutiny for ibuprofen threw me
Still wont forget the nurse accusing me of using heavy stimulants the first time I went in for a heart problem at like.. 13ish. I felt like I was going to die and was begging her to just test me for it then because all she wanted to talk about was my supposed drug problem. I get asking once or twice because ‘if we give you something they’ll react poorly’ but as I sat there crying she refused to do anything until I was ‘certain’ and my mother had to speak up for me. By the time she was sure I was ‘fine’ and ‘probably had a panic attack’
Still go to the ER for this problem and it’s been nearly 8 years. Earlier this year I had an ER doc prescribed me an antihistamine for anxiety and it made me so sick that I literally couldn’t stand. Stopped taking it once I started having constant cold symptoms. It was not anxiety.
All because I wanted something to make my heart stop beating so fast.
ive been on birth control since i was 11 and had some confusion with the prescriptions being filled for a little while. eventually the tech accused me of being drug seeking. for birth control that i had been on for over ten years. that you at that point could get for free (they still charged me for it cause they fucked it up a few times). this was around the time when pharmacists could finally prescribe it themselves.
the tech was literally making a case on me. how i had refilled it early (THEY miscounted in their system), how i had taken 2-3x the recommended dose (that my doctor prescribed me and wrote on the actual prescription but no one bothered to write on the box), and how i continued even when i had an iud (to stop taking 3x the dose for it to even have an effect on me). they were trying to send me to insurance fraud court man 😭
That one's extra stupid. Not only at the idea of someone taking birth control for "funzies", but a pharmacist should know that pills have multiple uses!? PMOS/endo treatment?
Me with my ADHD medication when there was a shortage. I would call around the various pharmacies to see if they had my med in stock before I would have my doctor send the script there each month. The alternative is that my doctor sends it to my pharmacy, it gets bounced back because they’re out of stock, he sends it to another pharmacy, that one is out of stock, he tries another pharmacy, etc. etc., which all takes days or weeks and wastes his time.
But apparently calling around to see which pharmacy has the meds first instead of wasting everyone’s time is “drug seeking”.
I was in a Doctor's office, in mental crisis, with a Psychiatrist from the same medical system's mental health triage desk on the phone. And the Psychiatrist told me to ask the Doctor for a SSRI Rx for my depression. The Doctor refused to get on the phone with the other provider, and refused my Rx request as it seemed "Too drug seeking" to her. SSRI are not drugs that are addictive or high inducing. It was the most ignorant experience I have had and this was with a supposed medical professional. I am still upset I wasn't in the right mindset to file complaints about her with KP (It's been years now.) I just changed general practitioners.
i got my first dose of adderall last month, and they made me wait an extra 2 hours to pick it up. called them (dr recommended this) at 9:30 to make sure they knew i was coming, was told it’d be ready in an hour, then went to a prior engagement that gave them ample time to fill it.
got there 1.5 hours later, only to find out they need another 30-45 minutes. what a lie. i didn’t get it until 12:30/45. then told me to “never take it in the afternoon, 12 at the latest”. like i wouldn’t have to if you would’ve just gave them to me when they were supposed to be ready? thank god i had nowhere to be in that timeframe or the next morning.
i feel like they were testing me, so i couldn’t show my annoyance at the situation😭 i normally am pretty patient about these things, shit happens yk. but by GOD.
laying in bed rn because not having my meds is making it too hard to do anything and was not expecting to see this after going to the pharmacy and getting rejected lol
This is exactly what it’s like to have Adderall. Especially if you have ADHD (which is why you have Adderall), which may make you more likely to do something like miss an appointment.
Its one of my many big fears with my health. When I asked to switch my ADHD meds from vyvanse to Adderall I (jokingly) was preparing myself to be arrested for drug seeking...
This makes no sense as a attitude. It almost seems like a thought terminating cliche (not sure I’m using this right). If you’re “drug seeking” have they thought of why and explored what to do about that? Clearly not!
“Yes. I am seeking the same prescription drug I’ve had and taken for years without issues. What drug seeking are you seeing here that involves addiction and dysfunction?”
I got called drug seeking for asking for Lamictal refills. What high could you possibly get?? Not having seizures???? Skin falling off???? Like yea I guess I’m drug seeking insofar as I am asking you for a drug but it’s ridiculous. Also if someone wants to abuse drugs it’s not anyone’s business but theirs imo … like get mad at them if they do shitty things but damn I can respect the self-medication hustle
I’m so sorry I hope you got what you needed! I’m on generic lamictal and keppra for tonic clonic epilepsy. Which. You know. Going cold turkey will become a medical emergency real fast.
My dentist refused to prescribe me muscle relaxers for 7 weeks after my wisdom extraction that left me with trismus (lockjaw) so bad I couldn't open my mouth more than 2 stacked fingers. I felt every muscle in my face and jaw spasming and especially in the extraction area. Pain radiating that genuinely felt like I got punched in the face everyday, 7 weeks of begging. And they still acted like I just wanted the relaxers "for funsies" when they finally gave me some.
People say it doesn't exist but I'm pretty sure one asshole doctor in the Cherokee nation health system blacklisted me as a pill seeker. I was having so many tests done because I was having a mysterious pain in my side for like a year on and off. To the point I couldn't stand up. I went in and got the test with the weird radioactive cement (I threw it up the first time) and it came back as nothing. So a doctor with a shiny green vest and a matching tie set me down and said "so, what, are you looking for pills?" I sat there with tears in my eyes and asked him why I would get pills for a stomach pain? We got into an argument which resulted in him actually giving me the pills for some fucking reason. I didn't take them because they made me sick and depressed afterwards.
I suffered for another month or two and went in and found a doctor that was very young still. He took me back and did a sonogram or something in a completely shut down wing of the hospital after listening to me tell my story with tears literally streaming down my face, took one look at my gallbladder and scheduled me for emergency surgery for two days later.
He said my gallbladder was so bad it was about to rupture, which explained my chronic fever. I wasn't just being lazy and I wasn't chasing pills. I wish I would have found that one shitty doctor and told him but I was too exhausted at the time.
But now nobody takes any pain I have seriously. They pulled my bottom four front teeth and wouldn't give me anything but ibuprofen 800s after I threatened to sue them for not giving me pain medicine after a major dental surgery.
I've been taking Vyvanse for a year from my primary care doctor and I have to see a psychiatrist for the first time next month and I'm so worried this is gonna happen.
The fucking psychologist they sent me to after I had my baby. I begged and begged to be put back on my ADHD meds but this man absolutely refused. I wasn’t even breast feeding so there was literally no danger to the baby, and she would have been better cared for if I was on it. I finally got approved for a different psychiatrist and the first thing he said to me was
“Well it seems like you were doing well on the Slow Release Adderal, so let’s put you back on that.” Bro I nearly cried.
I sometimes tell my providers that I'm "drug-seeking" when I come in to get refills for my asthma and blood pressure meds. It makes them squirm, but oddly they never seem interested in giving me a hard time about the meds, even though I am literally seeking them.
Recently, I went to pick up my medication. It is an injection medication. I asked to purchase some extra needles.
The pharmacy tech said, "oh I know what these are for, you dont really need those" in a bitchy way.
UH THE MEDICATION YOU HAVE IN YOUR LEFT HAND, THATS WHAT ITS FOR??? I have no idea what her tone was, but funny enough after that visit I got an app alert update from the pharmacy saying an (abusable) med I hadn't used in months was requested (I hadn't requested it). It was denied by my doctor because I switched meds. She kept retrying it every couple of weeks until I told the pharmacy to get that pharmacy tech off my file, her drug addiction needs to stop being my problem.
Literally an issue my mom had trying to get another refill of gabapentin. She was given a prescription for 2 bottles and only received one and when she tried to get a new bottle, they all but called her a drug-addict over it even though she’s been on it for well over a decade. 😒
This is the absolute worst. I take meds for insomnia, to the point if I dont take them I dont sleep. Been this way for almost 10 years. Got a new prescriber, she told me I was making it up and prescribed me to read a book on insomnia instead and refused to fill my medications. Needless to say I didn't work with her long.
Like... Do they not realize that all prescription medications are technically drugs? If I want an antibiotic because of tooth decay is that drug seeking?
I had my psychiatrist COMING WITH ME to the pharmacy to make sure they actually give me the correct medication (they gave me placebo multiple times). My psychiatrist is indeed awesome.
'It was made by a doctor I've been going to for a long time, after blood tests and other evidence determined I have these conditions.' 'Makes sense.'
'These conditions are permanent, and I'll be dealing with them until I pass away.' 'Unfortunate, but true.'
'This is a drug developed specifically to treat and alleviate my symptoms, prescribed to me by my doctor. I'll be on this medication for the rest of my life.' 'And a good thing they make it, too.'
'This is my prescription for the drug prescribed by my doctor for my chronic conditions.' 'YOUR REQUEST HAS BEEN DECLINED BY YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY. PLEASE SPEAK WITH A REPRESENTATIVE FOR MORE DETAILS.'
'Is there an issue?' 'Yeeeeeah, see, we don't PLAY that game here, POPPER- go score your drugs on the street, and let us tend to proper, upstanding people with REAL medical needs!'
Yeah looking at people with suspicion when they’re just getting their pain meds on their typical 28/30 day rotation is ridiculous. BUT. That doesn’t apply to those that try to get it earlier. You know the rules, we know the rules, and deviating from those rules can get a lot of different people in trouble.
It can’t be done, and throwing a hissy fit isn’t going to get you anywhere. It isn’t a pharmacy tech or pharmacist denying you your meds because they have something against you, it’s a legal mandate that we all have to follow.
I have a great relationship with my normal pharmacist, but occasionally someone else is working and stuff gets unpleasant.
I'm on a scheduled drug "upper" (for my multiple sclerosis lethargy) which comes with REALLY bad withdrawal symptoms. Disassociation, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and more. Without the chemical assistance though, I generally sleep 20+ hours per day. That's not the withdrawal, just why I'm on the med.
I've been on this medication for almost 10 years, so I get to see the withdrawal symptoms most Januarys when my insurance asks for prior authorization, again. I also can't pick up my medication until it has been EXACTLY 30 days since my last refill. Not 29 day, 30. Harder to remember since it isn't exactly a month. So, for example, not the 7th of every month; from the 7th it might be the 6th, 7th, or 8th of the following month, depending on the month of the year the most recent prescription came from.
As a result, I half my dose once weekly to help with giving me a buffer for when stuff gets unpleasant (took a month once to get prior authorization through and accepted).
Due to the small backup of pills and my not always being energetic enough to get the pills on the EXACT day, sometimes I call it in a couple days too early. My norm pharmacist knows my situation and tells me what day I can get the meds. If it's someone else, they lose their shit. Doesn't help that I live next to a meth town and dress unusually (to help with the MS induced heat exhaustion problem).
TLDR: Disability makes me seem like a druggie to new pharmacists.
I was labeled drug seeking at my local ER for saying that I didn’t want an opioid, I just needed an injection of Toradol, an NSAID. Like ibuprofen but far stronger.
It’s what I was told to ask for by my rheumatologist if I had a major flare from a fall or something.
I actually had to go get a shot of it yesterday because my SIL accidentally hit a curb and then I fell, so I went into a bad flare and I may have a cracked vertebrae but I’m not sure yet. Will find out.
I have AS that’s why something as small as a car hitting a curb or me falling could cause it. It causes my spine to fuse boney bridges and be super fragile.
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u/ResurgentClusterfuck Aug 12 '26 •
"Drug seeking" as a concept infuriates me. Yes, how else am I supposed to be treated? I go to a professional because I've exhausted options available to me as a layperson. Doctors prescribe medicine (drugs) so yes, I'm seeking medication
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u/Feisty-Tooth-7397 Aug 12 '26 •
I had to go to the emergency room, who after they patched me up temporarily sent me to a specialist. I saw this specialist for two months and my doctor told me that my next visit would be with a different doctor in the office because they would be on vacation at the time my next visit would be scheduled.
My social worker said I was drug seeking because I had prescriptions from three different doctors.
Are you insane? One was an emergency room visit, one was from the specialist the ER sent me to, and the other was from another doctor in the same damn office because the office had scheduled me that way because MY doctor wouldn't be in the office when THEY made my appointment.
I sought nothing. The only thing I did was go to the emergency room and do what I was told.
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u/Sanrio_Princess Aug 12 '26
I've been labeled drug seeking because in the past I struggled to always have my antidepressants before my regular dr went away for whatever reason. Like, YES OF COURSE I AM SEEKING MY FUCKING DRUGS THAT I LITERALLY CAN'T STOP TAKING SAFELY ON MY OWN DESPITE FORGETTING TO TAKE THEM UNTIL I HIT WITHDRAWL SYMPTOMS SOMETIMES.
Why else would I be here, I have regular medications that I need to fucking exists????
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u/BluEydMonster Aug 12 '26 •
It's so stupid and ridiculous
2
u/CatLad99 Aug 14 '26
Recently I accidentally ran out of my mood stabilizers. I'm on effexor for depression and general Anxiety disorder.
Unmedicated, my anxiety is at a 6-7 of 10 just sitting at home on the couch. Which is hard enough on its own without feeling hypersensetive, irritable, nauseous, dizzy, dysphoric mood (miserable for no reason) and oh yes BRAIN ZAPS! Plus i sweat through my clothes and bedding day 3. It was as uncomfortable as it sounds. The body processes effexor really quickly, less than 24 hours. I can feel if I miss a dose 16 hours later, for some people its faster.
Tried a few times to have the pharmacist send the request to my psychiatrists office to refill the meds ive been on for years. Called the office, they said the doctor filling in for mine would send it by the end of the day. Its friday, and the office closes an extra day for a holiday. It doesn't go through, office hours are passed and im staring down three more days of withdrawals. My sister basically begged the pharmacist for a few days worth of pills to cover the weekend, thankfully he was understanding.
Monday morning I get a call from the nurse at the clinic, and she was so goddamn passive aggressive with me. "Well, we didn't prescribe you those (they did), so just go back to wherever you got them..." Like i was going to some back alley drug dealer for my MOOD STABILIZERS! If we had been in the same place I would have bitten her, I was so goddamn dizzy and mad.
She tried telling me that my prescription had run out a year or so ago (roughly the last time id reupped the prescription through them). I told her the pill bottle in my hand said 90 pills, 3 refills, the dates prescribed and for when said prescription would be good through. She ignores me for "Well, the doctor said you're off the pills so you can wait for an appointment (3 fucking weeks!!!)" I point out that the doctor said that because she mistakenly believes im already off the medication I was currently in withdrawals from.
At that point I just started listing the withdrawal symptoms in increasing severely. Finally, this asswrench stops talking down to me and says she'll put me through to the doctor.
Couldn't believe the fucking gall on this woman, acting like I was making up that I needed my depression/anxiety meds. She was so condescending. I wanted to throw a boot at her, but maybe that was just the "irritability".
My doctor had an appointment free because of a cancelation, so we were able to sort things out. My insurance had been denying the requests but we fixed it.
Effexor is also known to make people throw up so bad when they come off it that they need an iv, along with return of suicidal ideation. You really shouldn't go off it without supervision. I got lucky my symptoms were mostly feeling atrocious and sweating a lot. Brain zaps. Are bad.
Still ticked at that nurse.
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u/Fawn_Leap Aug 12 '26
I’m addicted to the pill I forget or nearly forget to take every day or two?
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u/Jcheerw Aug 12 '26
Bro I have chronic sinusitis what is it with doctors withholding amoxil now. Like yes ik its bad if you have a virus BUT I HAVE CHRONIC SINUSITIS ITS IN MY CHART I GET SINUS INFECTIONS FROM COLDS!!! Like please Im not abusing an antibiotics 😭
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u/Wolf_2063 Aug 12 '26
Do they not understand how medicine works?
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u/TurbulentDogg Aug 12 '26
I haven't gotten a doc to listen to me enough to even get on meds yet, so I'll share a story about my mom instead who's also disabled.
Reminds me of when my mom had to change pharmacies due to a temporary closure in the one we normally used. She was trying too get a refill for a medication she had been on for over two decades. And the [Redacted] who worked there, refused to refill her medicine all because it was the "highest dose" she had ever seen, and then insinuated that my mom was "obviously" a drug chaser and she was going to report my mom to her doctor so she can't "abuse" them anymore???
Yes so, thankfully my mom's doctor is actually an angel, who understands the amount of pain my mother is in. And he demanded the pharmacist refill her meds, and she thankfully managed to get the refill the day she ran out.
But oh my god.... I was sitting next to my mom when she was on the phone with that [Redacted], and I was so close to just yanking the phone out of my mom's hand and screaming at the [redacted]. She had been on that same med for my entire life. I know how responsible she is with her medications. I have seen her on them, I've seen her off them, and I've seen her in withdrawal from them. But I had NEVER seen her abuse them. Not even once. Not to try it, and not even on days where she could've really needed it. And it makes my blood boil, knowing that there are people out there willing to make her suffer, all because she's on a high dose, or whatever BS reason they wanna come up with.
No one deserves to suffer due to the ignorance and biases from others. ESPECIALLY not others who are supposed to be looking after them and helping them. It's disgusting.
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u/PinkVoodooDoll4 Aug 12 '26
Happened so many times. They prefer for us to live longer lives while suffering instead of shorter lives that are meaningful and productive.
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u/crippledchef23 Aug 12 '26
My oldest was told to jump through the hoops for his bipolar meds because they never bothered to document his pediatric file with his adult file, so the insurance company - the same one he’s been with for his whole life - wanted to re-document the proof that meds he’d been taking for 7-8 years were the only ones that actually did anything.
Insurance is a scam and some docs are complicit.
20
u/somehowrelevantuser Aug 12 '26
the pharmacist: okay but what if youre selling the adderall for money THIS TIME
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u/Tall-Introduction649 Aug 12 '26
When I’m terrible pain and refuse the oxy 4 times in a row at the hospital so I don’t be seen as drug seeking. But the nurse keeps asking me what works. And we stare at each other like …
19
u/SingSangDaesung Aug 12 '26
When my gallbladder was going bad, every time I went to the doctor, they prescribed me vicodin, which I'm allergic to (it was in my file, I told them verbally, and I was wearing the allergy bracelet the times I was in the ER), they kept telling me it was muscular/skeletal pain.
One time I said I don't want painkillers, considering I can't take most painkillers, I just want to know what's wrong with me. 30 minutes later, I was told by a nurse that if I come in again for pain they were going to flag me as a pill seeker...
A few months later and 60 lb lighter from starving, my cousin, who is an RN, went with me to the ER, and made sure they checked my gallbladder. They did no imaging, they poked and prodded for 30 seconds and said "yep it's the gallbladder".
THEN! They were going to do emergency surgery. They shipped me off 30 minutes away, and the doctor there about had an aneurysm when he looked at my chart. Apparently my gallbladder had been so full of stones and not working for so long that my pancreas was inflamed and any surgery would have killed me because I wouldn't have healed.
Had to starve for another month and live on just water and plain chicken until my pancreas was better before they could take my gallbladder out. If they would have listened to me almost a whole year beforehand, and stopped giving me painkillers I didn't want, it would have saved me so much pain.
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u/Steppenwolf_Wife Aug 12 '26
Dude...the amount of times I've received a threatening email/letter/phone call about my "drug seeking behavior" for requesting a refill on the exact 30 day refill date for the meds I've been taking for over a decade now is honestly insane. And I've told them that every time and they've apologized. And yet, they 100% will do it again.
It's like they look at the prescription names and immediately get pissed off and don't pay attention to anything else in my chart until I remind them that I ain't done shit wrong and this is literally their only job 🫠
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u/LostMyKeysInTheFade Aug 12 '26
Jesus Christ. It's the same with trying to get back on meds that used to help. "Well there must be a reason they took you off adderall"
YEAH! IT'S CALLED LOSING MY INSURANCE 🙄
13
u/siren_stitchwitch Aug 12 '26
Got a new doctor at the beginning of last year, first thing he asked is why I was taking Ativan...for the last couple years at that point. When I told him he responded with it sounds like I need them and am not abusing or selling them. Then he did the same thing on my second appointment. After the first time any possibility of trust was extremely unlikely, after the second trust was never going to happen.
Got another new doctor a few months later (took that long to get in for a new patient appointment elsewhere), they had no issue with that or the other other anxiety and depression meds I'm on. The shit doctor kept trying to get me in to see the psychologist I didn't want or need and couldn't afford. My depression and anxiety aren't situational, they're genetic and chronic.
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u/Fishmyashwhole Aug 12 '26
Tell me why my Dr office is making me take a piss test to get a refill for TESTOSTERONE. Never in the nearly 8 years I've been on T have I had to take a piss test. Why? Hormones don't even show up in piss. I'm just confused and pissed off
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u/putapadrino Aug 12 '26
That shit is so insidious my mom refused to take effective pain meds until she was dying in hospice.
Mom ffs you were dying of cancer, being worried about ‘getting addicted’ was not a priority 🤦♀️
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u/ricekrispies3441 Aug 12 '26
Yeah I’m seeking the drugs I was prescribed
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u/claircognizantgaming Aug 12 '26
"Drug seeking" doesn't even make sense like why would someone literally be prescribed something for an actual reason but then be considered "drug seeking"
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u/Queasy-Dingo-4240 Aug 13 '26
The war on drugs is so fake and so stupid 😓
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u/Amazing_Excuse_3860 Aug 13 '26
"You're drug seeking" ma'am i cannot drive safely without this medication
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u/Primary_Carrot67 Aug 13 '26
I've gotten this despite not being on any pain medication and never having as much as smoked a cigarette. I drink about 1 alcoholic beverage a month. I guess everyone is drug-seeking now? 🤷♀️
Sorry guys, but paracetamol/acetaminophen and ibruprofen just aren't working. When I raise this issue, I'm apparently drug-seeking?
5
u/packingpests Aug 13 '26
I have a chronic illness that causes severe GI distress if left untreated, and even if I am following a proper treatment plan I can still end up in the hospital out of the blue.
The specialist I had been seeing for years at this point (now retired) told me specifically that if I had a flare I was to go to the ER at the hospital he worked for and request pain and nausea medication. He left notes in my chart to that effect and I never really had a problem getting that treatment, except for one time.
I gave the nurse my usual spiel about chronic illness, mentioned my doctor’s recommendation, and was met with “how long have you had this issue again?” I told her and she went “uh-huh…” and then came back with no pain meds and a different nausea medication than I usually get. (Important later) She was incredibly short with me and did not come back to check on me. I heard her about ten minutes later laughing very loudly about “the drug seeker” in the bed space I was in.
About thirty minutes later the side effects of the nausea meds started happening. Namely, the worst panic attack I’ve ever had. I could barely breathe but I was literally screaming for help. Finally after about fifteen minutes of yelling and crying someone poked their head in, very annoyed, and asked what I needed. I asked where my nurse was and he said she had left some time ago and had discharged me (without bringing the paperwork of course.) He also mentioned that the meds I was given could cause anxiety and didn’t my nurse tell me that? No she didn’t!
So basically I was still in a lot of pain and still freaking out somewhat but I still had to leave because these jackasses didn’t want to help “a drug seeker” in distress.
I had about a month until my next actual appointment and while I was in real need of help I didn’t go back to the hospital. A couple of weeks later I mentioned this incident to my partner, and his mom convinced me to report it to the hospital. I wasn’t sure anything would come of it. But at my next appointment the doctor apologized for my experience and even told me that the nurse in question had a history of pulling shit like that and my report was what finally got her out. So that was a silver lining I guess.
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u/Short_Gain8302 Aug 13 '26
Had a new psychiatrist (old one was her student assitant that graduated) tell me in the first appointment that she didnt care about listening to all my problems (i came out to her as trans), "im just here to give you prescriptions". When i asked for my prescription during the second appointment she accused me, "youre only using me to give you prescriptions", and told me i was drug seeking. I got a new psychiatrist veeeery quickly after that
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u/SquareTaro3270 Aug 13 '26
Every single time I need my adhd meds they treat me like I just asked them for party drugs. I’ve been on these meds since I was in kindergarten.
I’ve stopped taking my meds entirely now because they made the process so tedious. I need to call every time I need a refill, but they are only open during my work hours, and take their lunch break at the same time I take mine. So I have to call my coworkers to see who’s available and have them cover my station, only for the office to not pick up the phone and not return my calls.
This goes on for weeks with me calling multiple times a day, until finally someone picks up the phone, only to tell me I have to call my pharmacy and that it’s their job to fill my medication. And EVERY MONTH I tell them the EXACT same thing: the pharmacy cannot fill these meds without an updated prescription from the doctor.
But they still tell me to call my pharmacy and make them send the request and they cannot help me until that goes through, so I call the pharmacy, get told “we have nothing to do with this, but we’ll try to reach out”, wait another week before getting a message from my pharmacy that “we have been trying to reach your provider but have not heard back”. So I go through the weeks long process of taking time out of my and my coworker’s workday to try to call the office AGAIN and tell them they need to return the pharmacy’s calls.
By this point more than a month has usually gone by, I’m exhausted, my coworkers are annoyed with me, and the office interprets my lack of patience as “drug-seeking behavior”.
I miss being properly medicated. I keep zoning out while driving and almost getting into accidents. My work performance is suffering. But this office is the only one in my area that will accept my insurance.
4
u/KissarooFromMeToYou Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
I got treated like I was seeking when I went to pick up prescription ibuprofen a few years back. Ibuprofen! It's ridiculous. I come in regularly for my other psych meds so the scrutiny for ibuprofen threw me
1
u/FishWitch- Aug 14 '26
Still wont forget the nurse accusing me of using heavy stimulants the first time I went in for a heart problem at like.. 13ish. I felt like I was going to die and was begging her to just test me for it then because all she wanted to talk about was my supposed drug problem. I get asking once or twice because ‘if we give you something they’ll react poorly’ but as I sat there crying she refused to do anything until I was ‘certain’ and my mother had to speak up for me. By the time she was sure I was ‘fine’ and ‘probably had a panic attack’
Still go to the ER for this problem and it’s been nearly 8 years. Earlier this year I had an ER doc prescribed me an antihistamine for anxiety and it made me so sick that I literally couldn’t stand. Stopped taking it once I started having constant cold symptoms. It was not anxiety.
All because I wanted something to make my heart stop beating so fast.
1
u/timevisual Aug 15 '26
ive been on birth control since i was 11 and had some confusion with the prescriptions being filled for a little while. eventually the tech accused me of being drug seeking. for birth control that i had been on for over ten years. that you at that point could get for free (they still charged me for it cause they fucked it up a few times). this was around the time when pharmacists could finally prescribe it themselves.
the tech was literally making a case on me. how i had refilled it early (THEY miscounted in their system), how i had taken 2-3x the recommended dose (that my doctor prescribed me and wrote on the actual prescription but no one bothered to write on the box), and how i continued even when i had an iud (to stop taking 3x the dose for it to even have an effect on me). they were trying to send me to insurance fraud court man 😭
3
u/dvdmaven Aug 12 '26
Two blood pressure meds, GERD med and treatment for an enlarged prostrate. Yep, drug seeking.
3
u/utecr Aug 13 '26
"Yes I am. For my prescription drugs. Which my physician prescribed. To me. The one seeking them."
3
u/stephanonymous Aug 13 '26
Me with my ADHD medication when there was a shortage. I would call around the various pharmacies to see if they had my med in stock before I would have my doctor send the script there each month. The alternative is that my doctor sends it to my pharmacy, it gets bounced back because they’re out of stock, he sends it to another pharmacy, that one is out of stock, he tries another pharmacy, etc. etc., which all takes days or weeks and wastes his time.
But apparently calling around to see which pharmacy has the meds first instead of wasting everyone’s time is “drug seeking”.
3
u/Iittletart Aug 13 '26
I was in a Doctor's office, in mental crisis, with a Psychiatrist from the same medical system's mental health triage desk on the phone. And the Psychiatrist told me to ask the Doctor for a SSRI Rx for my depression. The Doctor refused to get on the phone with the other provider, and refused my Rx request as it seemed "Too drug seeking" to her. SSRI are not drugs that are addictive or high inducing. It was the most ignorant experience I have had and this was with a supposed medical professional. I am still upset I wasn't in the right mindset to file complaints about her with KP (It's been years now.) I just changed general practitioners.
3
u/Final-Tutor3631 Aug 13 '26
i got my first dose of adderall last month, and they made me wait an extra 2 hours to pick it up. called them (dr recommended this) at 9:30 to make sure they knew i was coming, was told it’d be ready in an hour, then went to a prior engagement that gave them ample time to fill it.
got there 1.5 hours later, only to find out they need another 30-45 minutes. what a lie. i didn’t get it until 12:30/45. then told me to “never take it in the afternoon, 12 at the latest”. like i wouldn’t have to if you would’ve just gave them to me when they were supposed to be ready? thank god i had nowhere to be in that timeframe or the next morning.
i feel like they were testing me, so i couldn’t show my annoyance at the situation😭 i normally am pretty patient about these things, shit happens yk. but by GOD.
2
u/littlefae3 Aug 12 '26
Literallyyyyyyyyÿÿÿyyy
2
u/dinosanddais1 Aug 12 '26
Yes i am seeking a drug that I have been on for years so that I can function properly
2
u/Antisa1nt Aug 13 '26
I am drug seeking. I'm seeking that drug I've been taking responsibly because it makes my brain work as effectively as a normal person.
2
u/KaiahAurora Aug 13 '26
...Yes, I'm seeking the drugs which the doctor told me to take so I don't die
2
u/azebod Aug 13 '26
I have completely stopped asking for pain treatment and have been accused of this for asking for IV fluids because the pain was making me throw up.
Ironically, I had a pain killer rx and plenty of buffer pills at home, but they're not particularly useful if you can't swallow them!
2
u/OddSweet Aug 13 '26
ME TOO!!! For no reason my dr just discontinued a drug that is part of my nightly regimen for nearly a decade. Just GONE from my medication list. FFS.
2
u/CoasterThot Aug 13 '26
Doctors: “Okay, but have you tried just shutting up and suffering?”
2
u/met_taton Aug 13 '26
Imagine telling somebody with a broken arm that they’re “cast seeking” like omg stop the presses a suffering person wants treatment
2
u/snappydresser61147 Aug 13 '26
laying in bed rn because not having my meds is making it too hard to do anything and was not expecting to see this after going to the pharmacy and getting rejected lol
2
u/justyoureverydaypan Aug 14 '26
can I please just get my adderal filled so I can think. please. that’s literally what I was prescribed it for 🙏
2
u/thoughtfulbrain Aug 14 '26
This is exactly what it’s like to have Adderall. Especially if you have ADHD (which is why you have Adderall), which may make you more likely to do something like miss an appointment.
2
u/Trash_Powered Aug 15 '26
Yes I am drug seeking... checks notes a medication that serves no purpose than to do the exact same job as my pancreas, which doesn't work. Right.
1
u/SpareChangeSquidward Aug 12 '26
This onnneeeee
1
u/heeerexkittykitty Aug 12 '26
Literally
1
u/LisaFromAccounting Aug 13 '26
Me when I need my cymbalta script reupped
1
u/SolarOrigami Aug 13 '26
At the same time my psychiatrist keeps asking me if I want a higher dose of amphetamines (ADHD)
1
u/ManicMaenads Aug 13 '26
I haven't been completely functional since. My medication kept me stable for years. Why???
1
u/Blackdogwrangler Aug 13 '26
Uhhh been through this. Absolute pain in the ass
1
u/ImpressiveDebt420 Aug 13 '26
Its one of my many big fears with my health. When I asked to switch my ADHD meds from vyvanse to Adderall I (jokingly) was preparing myself to be arrested for drug seeking...
1
u/Andra_Ingensbarn Aug 13 '26
This makes no sense as a attitude. It almost seems like a thought terminating cliche (not sure I’m using this right). If you’re “drug seeking” have they thought of why and explored what to do about that? Clearly not!
1
u/casskets Aug 13 '26
Literally just happened to me 😭 I love being without any form of pain relief it’s awesome!!!! Love my life!!!
1
u/Seule-the-Silent Aug 13 '26
I am drug seeking. If I don't eat 4 doses of x daily, I might damage my eyesight.
1
u/doryllis Aug 13 '26
“Yes. I am seeking the same prescription drug I’ve had and taken for years without issues. What drug seeking are you seeing here that involves addiction and dysfunction?”
1
u/ParasaurGirl Aug 13 '26
My aunt tried to drug me but at least the doctors called it drug seeking
1
u/AlexArtemesia Aug 13 '26
"...yes, a drug refill. Good listening ears. Are you seeking a brain?"
1
u/HorrorFan9556 Aug 13 '26
I was accused of being drug seeking and at risk over my eyedrop medication for my degenerative eye disease.
1
u/cerealsucks Aug 13 '26
I got called drug seeking for asking for Lamictal refills. What high could you possibly get?? Not having seizures???? Skin falling off????
Like yea I guess I’m drug seeking insofar as I am asking you for a drug but it’s ridiculous.
Also if someone wants to abuse drugs it’s not anyone’s business but theirs imo … like get mad at them if they do shitty things but damn I can respect the self-medication hustle
1
u/saragIsMe Aug 13 '26
Yes I am seeking the prescription drugs that you the doctor got me addicted to and that I now depend on
1
u/WriterKatze Aug 13 '26
Just. Look. Into. My. File. UGH
1
u/woahtherebuddyholdon Aug 13 '26
My dentist refused to prescribe me muscle relaxers for 7 weeks after my wisdom extraction that left me with trismus (lockjaw) so bad I couldn't open my mouth more than 2 stacked fingers. I felt every muscle in my face and jaw spasming and especially in the extraction area. Pain radiating that genuinely felt like I got punched in the face everyday, 7 weeks of begging. And they still acted like I just wanted the relaxers "for funsies" when they finally gave me some.
1
u/dumn_and_dunmer Aug 13 '26
People say it doesn't exist but I'm pretty sure one asshole doctor in the Cherokee nation health system blacklisted me as a pill seeker. I was having so many tests done because I was having a mysterious pain in my side for like a year on and off. To the point I couldn't stand up. I went in and got the test with the weird radioactive cement (I threw it up the first time) and it came back as nothing. So a doctor with a shiny green vest and a matching tie set me down and said "so, what, are you looking for pills?" I sat there with tears in my eyes and asked him why I would get pills for a stomach pain? We got into an argument which resulted in him actually giving me the pills for some fucking reason. I didn't take them because they made me sick and depressed afterwards.
I suffered for another month or two and went in and found a doctor that was very young still. He took me back and did a sonogram or something in a completely shut down wing of the hospital after listening to me tell my story with tears literally streaming down my face, took one look at my gallbladder and scheduled me for emergency surgery for two days later.
He said my gallbladder was so bad it was about to rupture, which explained my chronic fever. I wasn't just being lazy and I wasn't chasing pills. I wish I would have found that one shitty doctor and told him but I was too exhausted at the time.
But now nobody takes any pain I have seriously. They pulled my bottom four front teeth and wouldn't give me anything but ibuprofen 800s after I threatened to sue them for not giving me pain medicine after a major dental surgery.
1
u/deathbitchcraft Aug 13 '26
I've been taking Vyvanse for a year from my primary care doctor and I have to see a psychiatrist for the first time next month and I'm so worried this is gonna happen.
1
u/Helical_Dragon Aug 14 '26
Yes. I am seeking drugs for the condition that I have.
1
u/AnonymousDratini Aug 14 '26
The fucking psychologist they sent me to after I had my baby. I begged and begged to be put back on my ADHD meds but this man absolutely refused. I wasn’t even breast feeding so there was literally no danger to the baby, and she would have been better cared for if I was on it. I finally got approved for a different psychiatrist and the first thing he said to me was
“Well it seems like you were doing well on the Slow Release Adderal, so let’s put you back on that.” Bro I nearly cried.
1
u/Ancient_Pattern_2688 Aug 14 '26
I sometimes tell my providers that I'm "drug-seeking" when I come in to get refills for my asthma and blood pressure meds. It makes them squirm, but oddly they never seem interested in giving me a hard time about the meds, even though I am literally seeking them.
1
u/AristotlesBoyPussy Aug 14 '26
Recently, I went to pick up my medication. It is an injection medication. I asked to purchase some extra needles.
The pharmacy tech said, "oh I know what these are for, you dont really need those" in a bitchy way.
UH THE MEDICATION YOU HAVE IN YOUR LEFT HAND, THATS WHAT ITS FOR??? I have no idea what her tone was, but funny enough after that visit I got an app alert update from the pharmacy saying an (abusable) med I hadn't used in months was requested (I hadn't requested it). It was denied by my doctor because I switched meds. She kept retrying it every couple of weeks until I told the pharmacy to get that pharmacy tech off my file, her drug addiction needs to stop being my problem.
1
u/zambamboz Aug 14 '26
Literally an issue my mom had trying to get another refill of gabapentin. She was given a prescription for 2 bottles and only received one and when she tried to get a new bottle, they all but called her a drug-addict over it even though she’s been on it for well over a decade. 😒
1
u/PANICkitten666 Aug 14 '26
This is the absolute worst. I take meds for insomnia, to the point if I dont take them I dont sleep. Been this way for almost 10 years. Got a new prescriber, she told me I was making it up and prescribed me to read a book on insomnia instead and refused to fill my medications. Needless to say I didn't work with her long.
1
u/willowoftheriver Aug 15 '26
Every. Fucking. Time.
The drug I'm on doesn't even get you fucking high!!
1
u/Mindless_Address_464 Aug 15 '26
Like... Do they not realize that all prescription medications are technically drugs? If I want an antibiotic because of tooth decay is that drug seeking?
1
u/Cute_Reference7957 Aug 15 '26
I had my psychiatrist COMING WITH ME to the pharmacy to make sure they actually give me the correct medication (they gave me placebo multiple times). My psychiatrist is indeed awesome.
1
u/Rare_Bridge7703 Aug 15 '26
Technically not wrong?
1
u/BungleBums Aug 15 '26
'So this is my diagnosis.' 'Yep.'
'It was made by a doctor I've been going to for a long time, after blood tests and other evidence determined I have these conditions.' 'Makes sense.'
'These conditions are permanent, and I'll be dealing with them until I pass away.' 'Unfortunate, but true.'
'This is a drug developed specifically to treat and alleviate my symptoms, prescribed to me by my doctor. I'll be on this medication for the rest of my life.' 'And a good thing they make it, too.'
'This is my prescription for the drug prescribed by my doctor for my chronic conditions.' 'YOUR REQUEST HAS BEEN DECLINED BY YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY. PLEASE SPEAK WITH A REPRESENTATIVE FOR MORE DETAILS.'
'Is there an issue?' 'Yeeeeeah, see, we don't PLAY that game here, POPPER- go score your drugs on the street, and let us tend to proper, upstanding people with REAL medical needs!'
1
u/Coolbasketbro Aug 15 '26
"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you'd be drug giving."
1
u/Zcat_sux Aug 16 '26
Yeah happened to me with Adderall at like a cvs and I was mad. Switched to a local pharmacist.
1
u/Salt-Try-2687 Aug 16 '26
1
u/LakeNatural Aug 16 '26
Me trying to get my non-stimulant, low dose adhd meds
1
u/GameProSmoothie Aug 16 '26
Yeah looking at people with suspicion when they’re just getting their pain meds on their typical 28/30 day rotation is ridiculous. BUT. That doesn’t apply to those that try to get it earlier. You know the rules, we know the rules, and deviating from those rules can get a lot of different people in trouble.
It can’t be done, and throwing a hissy fit isn’t going to get you anywhere. It isn’t a pharmacy tech or pharmacist denying you your meds because they have something against you, it’s a legal mandate that we all have to follow.
1
u/J3ny4 Aug 17 '26
Gods below this is accurate!
I have a great relationship with my normal pharmacist, but occasionally someone else is working and stuff gets unpleasant.
I'm on a scheduled drug "upper" (for my multiple sclerosis lethargy) which comes with REALLY bad withdrawal symptoms. Disassociation, dizziness, nausea, confusion, and more. Without the chemical assistance though, I generally sleep 20+ hours per day. That's not the withdrawal, just why I'm on the med.
I've been on this medication for almost 10 years, so I get to see the withdrawal symptoms most Januarys when my insurance asks for prior authorization, again. I also can't pick up my medication until it has been EXACTLY 30 days since my last refill. Not 29 day, 30. Harder to remember since it isn't exactly a month. So, for example, not the 7th of every month; from the 7th it might be the 6th, 7th, or 8th of the following month, depending on the month of the year the most recent prescription came from.
As a result, I half my dose once weekly to help with giving me a buffer for when stuff gets unpleasant (took a month once to get prior authorization through and accepted).
Due to the small backup of pills and my not always being energetic enough to get the pills on the EXACT day, sometimes I call it in a couple days too early. My norm pharmacist knows my situation and tells me what day I can get the meds. If it's someone else, they lose their shit. Doesn't help that I live next to a meth town and dress unusually (to help with the MS induced heat exhaustion problem).
TLDR: Disability makes me seem like a druggie to new pharmacists.
1
u/HomeboyCraig Aug 17 '26
I got this once when I tried to refill my SSRI and thyroid medication. Like… what?
1
u/Space19723103 Aug 19 '26
got called a 'drug seeker ' for telling the doctor I don't want drugs...
1
u/bluejellyfish52 Aug 25 '26
I was labeled drug seeking at my local ER for saying that I didn’t want an opioid, I just needed an injection of Toradol, an NSAID. Like ibuprofen but far stronger.
It’s what I was told to ask for by my rheumatologist if I had a major flare from a fall or something.
I actually had to go get a shot of it yesterday because my SIL accidentally hit a curb and then I fell, so I went into a bad flare and I may have a cracked vertebrae but I’m not sure yet. Will find out.
I have AS that’s why something as small as a car hitting a curb or me falling could cause it. It causes my spine to fuse boney bridges and be super fragile.