April 16, 2009 - 11:33am
I have a friend with severe back problems that goes to a pain management Dr. for his opiates. He finds that though the opiates help tremendously that they work 2x as much when he smokes a little marijuana. He has taken urine-test drug screens before and the Dr. had said nothing about it, but my buddy said the Dr. had asked the nurse if everything was okay with his test and she said yes. I guess there could be many reasons for this. These are a few of my ideas for possible scenarios but which do you guy's think of the most likely.
1. The test wasn't even really checked, just used to scare heavy-drug abusers from even bothering to follow through with their appointments once they find out it's screening day.
2. The nurse herself cut my buddy some slack and lacked to mention it to his Dr.
3. The Dr. doesn't frown upon the use of Marijuana for medical purposes and looks the other way, but screens more for the check of cocaine, x, etc.
4. The test itself only checks for Opiates.
what do you guy's think? I'm only posting this because my good friend is concerned whether or not he just got lucky or if he can continue to do what get's him through work, taking care of his kid, and life itself.
April 16, 2009 - 11:48am
#2
THE TEST
THE DR WAS MAKING SURE HIS OPIATES WERE IN HIS SYSTEM AN THEY WERE, SOME DR S ARE OK WITH POT USE, BUT IF DR ASKED YOUR BUDDY WAS HE SMOKING POT I WOULD TELL THE TRUTH, AS THE PROOF IS IN FRONT OF THE DR, AN THERE S NO REASON TO LIE, BEING TRUTHFUL IS A SIGN OF GOOD CHARACTER, YOUR FREIND KNOWS OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING POT OR DOING ANY OTHER STREET DRUGS AS GROUNDS OF BEING DROPPED IF HE SIGNED A PAIN MANAGEMENT CONTRACT, I HAD A FREIND I WORKED WITH IN COAL MINES HE WENT TO DR FOR BACK PAIN AN AT HIS NEXT APPTMT. THE DR ASKED HIM DID HE SMOKE POT, MY FREIND SAID YES, THE DR WAS THERE ANYTHING ELSE HE WANTED TO TELL HIM, MY FREIND SAID I DID A LINE OR 2 OF COCAINE, DR CHUCKLED AN WROTE HIM A FEW LORITABS, BUT DRS ARE DIFFERENT AN IN TODAYS TIME WE PLAY BY THE RULES
April 16, 2009 - 11:54am
#3
Well how long has he been
Well how long has he been going to pain management and how long has he been smoking while going to pain management? I have read horror stories on here about people getting cut off from pain management for smoking marijuana. I mean if you have chronic pain and you smoke while going to pain management you run the risk of getting cut off. If this happens then the only thing your friend can do for pain is marijuana and I doubt that alone is effective as any kind of opiod. As far as I know Florida doesnt have any kind of medical marijuana law like here in California. I think marijuana for pain might be in your friends head or it actually reduces his stress levels which can definitely cause more pain. My suggestion would to get clean from marijuana and then ask the doctor how he feels about it. If he doesnt feel that its a problem then you can still do what you do without worrying about getting kicked out of pain management. I have never been to pain management but I have read peoples posts and would hate for your friend to be in pain because he got kicked out. These are just my opinions, I am sure by the end of the day someone that has been in pain management can give you some firsthand advice.
April 16, 2009 - 12:10pm
#4
Ive been on pain mgmt with my
Ive been on pain mgmt with my pcp for a while. Honesty is the way to go. She knows I smoke weed. I didn't figure there was any reason to hide it, because they were just gonna find it on a drug test and then ask me about it, so I was just upfront about it and she doesn't have any problems with it...Keep in mind that I'm HIV+, so that might have alot to do with it, I use it for appetite mostly and it does help...She mentioned Dronobinol at our last appt, but its very expensive and she said that she has alot of patients that smoke and they prefer the weed to the pill...The only thing I hate (and her) is that weed is illegal, and I've been in trouble with that before for the same reason....I flat out told the judge what the problem was and that I would continue to smoke, and there was really nothing he could do about it...He was sympathitic and dismissed the case....Oh well..........Thanks, Ray
maybe this should have been under the Chronic Pain and Pain Management forum section but I wasn't sure, seems like more people check/read this section so I posted it here--but if it's in the wrong place. My apologies to the forum moderators.