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I was sure that I wouldn't be the only one on here that this had happened to. The type of meds we take make people do crazy thing, even to "friends".

When he came over here with 13 of the roughly 30 pills he stole, I really came unglued. I mean, I take these things for legitimate purposes and took them from me to either use to get high or to sell them! If I had been able to get up from the chair faster without hurting my back, I might have beat his @$%. And, he never even came close to replacing what he took, and now I'm stuck IN PAIN until my script is ready tomorrow. I have never gone into withdrawal from anything before, so I don't know how long it would take before that would happen. I feel lousy today, my back is throbbing, but I don't know if I would know withdrawal unless it kicked me upside the head.

Hi, Dr. Lois, and thanks for your response. I have nothing left -- I ran out yesterday afternoon-- and I can't get a refill until tomorrow morning. This so-called friend of my bf really wiped me out. When I called my doctor yesterday, thinking that my refill was due today, I was dismayed (almost in tears, really) that I had mis-counted the 30 days and that it wasn't due until Wednesday. Even prior to that, I was really stretching what I had for as long as I could and was taking barely enough to get by without my back pain keeping me in bed. I still cannot believe that someone invited into our home did this to me. This is medicine to me....not recreation. And I wouldn't take it unless I had to. I have learned a valuable lesson from this experience; all meds will be kept locked up, no matter what. I just still can't believe this happened. I do the right thing, I take what I'm prescribed, I go to my doctor and keep up our relationship, and I so wish they could help me without these pills. I am ashamed that my dose just keeps being increased because I can't take the pain. I know that it makes me an addict...even if not the illicit "street" kind.

As for the way I'm feeling today: crummy. My back is absolutely throbbing, all my joints ache, and there's no relief possible until tomorrow. I don't think my regular GP would help me out because he is the person who sent me to the pain management practice; he is uncomfortable Rxing pain meds of this sort. Thank God, my bf arranged for my son to spend the day with his grandparents today so that I will be spared the task of trying to keep up with a 3.5 year-old while in pain. My bf feels somewhat responsible for the situation I'm in because it was his "friend" who pillaged my medicine supply. Obviously, this person will never set foot in my home again. I considered having him arrested for what he did, but the derelict already has so many problems that I saw no reason to add to his misery.

Do you think that maybe a soak in the tub will help my back a little bit? Heat pack? Try my lidoderm patches that normally don't help much? Do you think taking my Flexiril and using my TENS unit will help a little? I just need to find a way to function until tomorow morning. Right now, I have tears rolling down my face from the pain. Any advice would be great. Thanks a million, Dr. Lois.

chronic use of as little as 20mg a day can cause a physical dependence resulting in unpleasent symptoms on sudden discontinuation.  If this arises in the future, Dr. Lois gave good advice in lowering the daily dose to stretch out the remaining medication.

many people that use these meds long term purchase safes and keep the medication locked up.  small office safes are cheap, sometimes even as low as $50.  get something larger and heavier than just a locking steel file box because someone can just slide the whole box in their purse while visiting. 

it's good to lock up these meds because going back to your prescribing physician for replacing stolen meds is often not an option.

Although I agree that locking up the pills is the safest option, it is not a persons responsibility to keep another person from stealing. It is against the law, therefore it is the laws responsibility. Now you may have to help them out, and if you don't want to then you take some of this responsibility. You can't lock everything of value away in your own home and even if you could people steal safes often enough to make them fairly worthless to some extent. I would recommend searching the web for "diversion safe cans" which look like common household products, such as hairspray, you could keep in the bathroom. I also wouldn't call 50mg a day a low dose and would def. not say it will cause little or no withdrawal. After 2 years of steady opiates you would have withdrawal even if you took only 20mg a day. Good luck, and flexiral may help the back pain in general but won't keep you from have WD's, although in my experience it is a good sleep aid in high doses. I personally would make you boyfriend kick his friends butt, thats just me though.

Check with a licensed MD before you take any suggestions!

I understand about being mad, but my mom has been a pill head all my life and as soon as I got my meds I knew she would do it. My kids don't have any g'parents that I'd let watch a dog much less my kids, and my hubby works 6 days a week 16 hour days so I have been on my own with my kids since this started. Even driving them everywhere before I was given any meds. I remember driving down the road crying all the time!! Thank God I've had friends step up to help and they do most of the driving now. My hubby does come home and do dinner, baths, bed times,etc (bless his heart) but I have been riddled with guilt since this started. The only thing I ever wanted to do in life was be a wife and mommy and now I am I pillow that decorative throw pillow on my bed. I was depressed for many months, but I have learned to be creative and find positive things that have come from this such as my oldest daughter and I becoming much closer than we were before I got sick. It's the only thing you can do in situations like this and at least when you have your meds you can function on a somewhat normal level. Hope you are making it!!

The controlled release oxycodone (oxycontin) are supposed to last 12 hours. I say supposed to b/c many people who take them say they do not always last that long.

I am happy you got something to help the w/d, but it would be wrong for me not to say that you should not take something that is not prescribed to you. You never know what someone else's prescribed drugs could do to you, especially since you have never taken this kind of med. Also, you never know when your doc may decide to give you a surprise urine screen. Prescription pills like oxycontin usually stay in your system for about 3 days.  That said...

It is a good thing you were able to get some pills back, and make them last this long. I am actually surprised the guy admitted to stealing them, and that he returned some. Most people who do things like that will not admit to it, even when they know they are caught. I had a roommate (who was also my best friend) steal from me. I was getting #180 10/325 Norco a month, and was always afraid of people stealing them. As soon as I got my script I always divided it into 4 different bottles- 2 bottles with #60 each and 2 bottles with #30 each. I would keep out 1 bottle that I was taking my meds from and I would hide all the other bottles to keep them safe.

My roommate, Heather, had been gone a lot staying a friend's house since my car was broke. She was supposed to be watching my son for me to go to school so she came over at 9am to pick him up. I tried to get her to leave before me so I could lock the door (she didn't have a key), cause at the time we were on bad terms and I did not trust her too much. She was still there when I left but I had to go. 

I came home from school at 11:30am and checked to make sure everything was still there... My two bottles of 30 were there, and one bottle of 60 was there because they were hidden very well. The bottle of 60 that was under my night stand was missing though! I immediately called her and asked if she had take some and of course she denied it.

I kept asking her several times later but she always denied it, even though I knew it was her. She very soon no longer lived with me. She still always denied it to me but finally about two years after it happened I heard that she saw one of my friends at a store and told my friend she hoped I was in pain after she took my #60 pills! 

Sorry for such a long story but I just wanted to tell you that you never know who will steal from you, and that anyone can do it. We always want to trust the people we know and love, but unfortunately cannot. I have had MANY friends steal from me, thinking I won't notice 5-10 pills missing since I get #330. Just like you said though, when you take it as you are supposed to you notice when even one is missing.

I am just happy he did not take all of yours and that you were able to find a way to make it through. I am sure it was a wakeup call for you, and from now on will know not to be so trusting of everyone. Be careful what you take though- I know right now you are just looking for some relief, but still be careful. 

I'm a social worker, not a medical professional. All comments and thoughts are simply my opinion and experience.

I take Oxycontin for chronic pancreatitis pain with Dilaudid for BT. I used to live down in midtown in a lovely large loft that was in a carriage house (part of an old auto magnate's mansion), and became very close friends with the couple living below me. They would always have coffee at my place in the am, and we would hang out all the time, and it was not unusual for us to crash out in one apartment or another if we were up late watching a movie or TV.

In any event, I was ALWAYS running short on my meds at the end of the month. I even employed one of those "Monday-Tuesday...." pill boxes that covered a whole month and then I still ran short. I figured maybe I was waking up in the middle of the night and taking some and thus not remembering. When the end of the month came, I would just lower my doses a bit and make it through.

Come to find out that one of these neighbors/friends -- who will I call Tamara for purposes of this post -- was known to be selling 40 mg. Oxycontins. I thought this was odd because when I ran low, I would ask her if she could get me some as she gets all kinds of well.....goodies? She said she could only get Vicodins and not Oxycontins. The person who told me about Tamara's selling of the 40 mg pills described the pills perfectly but didn't know their name, though she did know that around January Tamara stopped selling the "beige pills" (the 40 mg ones) and instead was selling larger, blue colored pills. I thought that was odd, since my doc had switched me to the 80 mg pills, which are bluish, about that same time.

I asked Tamara about it, and she denied it. I told her if she had a problem with these pills I would get her help.  I think she has a MAJOR problem and I am happy I don't live near her anymore.  I also don't run out of pills near the end of the month.  Coincidence?

I now also use a safe.

M

I know someone whose own sister stole all of her hydrocodone pain meds when she was flat on her back and couldn't move. This person had been walking her large doberman up the street and the dog yanked her unexpectedly and badly hurt her neck and back....she hurt her back so badly she was in bed for 3 months in extreme pain. Her sister came over to visit her on Christmas Eve and went into her bedroom to visit her in bed...after her sister left, this person realized that her sister had taken her newly filled pain medication prescription of 50 hydrocodone pills with her, right off the nite stand!...the whole thing!...walked right out and left her laying there in bed with nothing! She did a slight of hand thing putting the pills in her purse where she wasn't noticed...slipped the whole bottle right into her purse real quick....and well knowing her sister desperately needed that medication......very sad.

You are so right JpD. I treat my meds like gold.

You should dump this person because if they overdose then a lawyer could come up with a theory and say that you were negligent in leaving them out or that you were knowledgable of it since they had done it before. DUMP EM. Anyone who steals from you breaks your trust and to be honest, anyone who does that isn't a friend. SO DUMP EM regardless of the regret thing. EVERYONE knows the difference between right and wrong BEFORE they do something like that or anything. They made the choice so.... you know where I am going. 

Good Luck and I would get a safe anyway because burglers could get it too also children.

First time shame on them, second time shame on you.  Let us know what else happened.  

I learned the hard way, and twice.  I am a cancer patient, and was in the hospital last year for a bone marrow transplant.  While I was gone, my brother stole about 100 xanax tablets from my nightstand drawer. I even called the sheriff, but it's a he said-she said situation so they didn't care to pursue it.  None of the witnesses who saw him with them (in my bottle) would cooperate with the DA, which really makes me wonder about most people.

I had my locks changed and carried on as usual.  It turns out that one of my friends who has a serious back problem (and is on oxy, etc), has been taking my xanax.  I kept wondering what was happening to them and thought I was going nuts.  I eventually set  a trap that told me that she was most certainly taking them.  However, when I confronted her, she denied having even gone in my room.  Well, that tape on my nighstand didn't unstick itself and the 19 tablets didn't walk off on their own.  She even emptied her pockets and took off her shoes to show me that she didn't have them.  My guess is that they were in another pocket that couldn't be turned inside out.

Anyway, I've now learned that I can't ever trust anyone where my rx drugs are concerned. I'm still looking for a good hiding place though.  I had always just kept them in my night table for convenience.  Turns out it was convenient for people who  wanted to steal them, too.

I keep all of my meds in a back-pack locked in a desk. When I leave it goes with me. It is always either locked up in a desk or in my truck or right next to me by the bed. I also went to Walmart and bought some small metal keychain pill vials with rubber o-rings to seal them. I keep a smal amount in these in my pocket and the rest LOCKED up. That way if someone does get my RX I still have a few days supply to buy some time. You alone are responsible for your meds. Never trust anybody! I mean ANYBODY. LOCK THEM UP at all times. Keep them with you as much as possible! Even the most trusted freind can be influenced to steal a narcotic because they are just that powerful to someone who wants them or thinks they need them. Sad but true!

I know of a perfect hiding place that no one to date has ever discovered. I almost hesitate to disclose it. But here goes. Go down to your local electronics store. Purchase a large portable radio that has a big battery compartment. Hid your RX in the battery compartment. That is the one place that no one has ever found anything I put there. Even my dad could not find my mary jane there when I was a young dumb teenager.

I count every controlled RX. I get 60 30mg Avinza, 120 350mg Soma and 90 10mg Norco a month right now. First thing I do is dump them out and count them. The most off I have ever been is 1 pill. However, I did have a Walgreens fill a 120 Norco rx with Lortab????. The bottle said Norco with the description of the Norco on the lable. I just dumped them in an old Lortab bottle with a current date and went on my way. Basically the same thing anyway. I wonder if they ever had an audit issue later on. Screw em! However I could have been arrested if a COP had found the bottle with the wrong pills in it! 

I just picked up my script and I just finished counting for the first time. Its six pills short, would you say something? I never even though of counting b4, I thought it would make me look weird. I know the guy who is taking them, he said to me one time when I called to see if my Rx was ready that it was and then jokingly said but I can take them off your hands for you if you want. I was blown away, this same guy has asked me whats wring with me, why do I take such and such, he creeps me out. I wouldn't normally have rx's filled there but the Dr. calls them in to that pharmacy  b/c its in front of the clinic. I will have him write it out from now on.

The very first thing I do when I arrive home with my script is count them. I have only had one occurrance when it came up one pill short. The pharmacy is a well known major chain..I got right on the phone and told them..they said no problem, just come back in..I went back in and they put one tablet in a bottle with a new label etc. and I was on my way. Even one pill short is one too many. Also found 2 Lorazepam in my Atenolol (bp) prescription once, so its always a good idea to look at each pill also...pay attention to what you get..especially small white tablets because they can look alike, such as Lorazepam and Atenolol etc...someone probably made the mistake of putting extra Lorazepam back in an Atenolol dispensing bottle thinking they were Atenolol? Never have been quite sure how that happened.

For sure agree with you about the creepy pharmacy help and that amount of pills..I would definitely file a complaint about that clown..none of that was any of his business..he was way out of line..plus it sounds like he could be the culprit of the missing 6.

Ok tell me if this doesnt sound weird.  I went to get my prescription filled at Walg..... and I wanted the name brand.  She said ok let me go check.  She came back and said we only have 20....no I mean 25 left of the brand name.  I think she was lying for some reason because she studdered and sounded like she was hiding something.  She said that she can fill only 25 of the brand name for the price of 30 and can't put 5 generic in there with them.  Basically I would have to pay for 30 brand names and get only 25.  Is this normal or does this sound fishy.  Do pharmacys try to hold on to their brand name products and make people buy the generics?

Are you saying that I might be a problem client? I hope im not and im not trying to be. That makes no sense to hold pills that are "more expensive" it would seem that they would want to make more money on their client. Only if they make alot more money on their generic products would I buy that bc when I went there that was the first time I had been there.  I normally go to the pharmacy closer to my house but it so happened that I was on the other side of town. Normaly busnisses try to make their customers happy and if that means filling their prescriptions with brand name instead of generic then they should do it.  I dont see how that would be much more trouble to fill brand name instead of generic.  Its not that big of a deal really.  Some people just prefer the quality product. Most people cant tell the difference between coca cola and the generic version but they buy coke and some people go with the value.  Someone explain to me why its such a big deal to ask for the original product that was made first and set the standard for the generic.

I still cannot understand why you are always getting the brand name.  Save your money man.  They are the SAME THING. 

Also it could be very possible that they were out of brand name. Although they are required to have the brand name in stock if having generics they usually order more generics than brand name although i cant see why they couldnt give you a partial refil or just filled the other 5 pills with generic. 

wow i cant believe i never thought of that. That definitely seems possible. It would also say why she said 10 wait 25...cause first she got greedy and then realized you might not go for it so she said 25. This is a very logical way to explain why she would not just do a partial refil if they were indeed low or substitute the 5 for generics.