Is anyone else having problems at or with there VA dr. About there pain meds?

CDR Terry Boles I will say that I'm glad that my knee replacement and physical therapy are through community care for this very reason, though. NSAIDS and acetaminophen, even with gabapentin and meloxicam, aren't enough for the pain, even a month after.

This is such bullshit. I have administered narcotics for patients for years and really the only people that get addicted are the ones that do not take the right amount of medication for the amount of pain they are in. A good deal of this is the education patients receive when prescribed a narcotic. Narcotics are not like antibiotics, 'follow directions on bottle and finish,' but so many are not taught that. When I have new post op patients, I medicate the shit out of them, both IV and PO, and the better you medicate for new pain, the sooner you can come off the heavy stuff. If I am still giving IV narcs 12-24 hours out, I do not just keep giving them, I call the doctor for concern something is wrong. Same thing for PO narcs, if you are still taking a full dose 2-3 days out from discharge, time to call the doc. Something else people do not realize is ortho docs with fresh surgeries generally do not like NSAIDs, so narcs is the standard until Tylenol works. I have seen nurses give IV narcotics until the moment of discharge and this is so wrong. If I cannot control your pain 12-24hours before discharge on the medication you are going home on, there is a problem. I worked burns while in nursing school and truly feel if you are too scared to use the tools given you to help people, are too lazy to learn about pain and addiction, then maybe you should chose another line of work.

MAJ Byron Oyler
I also did not mention in my prior post That I was a nurse for 18 years after the military. So I know exactly what you are saying.

MAJ Byron Oyler I believe VA's is policy driven. Similar to my PCP not being permitted to write for a narcolepsy med I take, because their policy is the sleep clinic has to write those.
The community Ortho has been giving me percocet prescriptions for 7 days at a time.
I concur with patient education, but believe VA faced patients with mental health conditions along with chronic pain, and likely other factors unique to Veteran patients that led to their overprescribing and changes.

Sounds like you know what you are doing, learn this on your own or did someone in the medical profession properly educate you? Remember you can always ask for a downgrade to T3 and learn other uses of it in your medicine box when no longer needed for pain.

MAJ Byron Oyler - Learned on my own by observing the old guys and the progression of and through the meds. Many developed resistance and constantly had to move ever upward through the meds.

Ya my last two PCM told me they were going to get me I to a pain management dr out side the VA but has never happened.

Thanks SGM