Workman Comp Doctors limited to the type of pain medication they can prescribe?
I have stage IV cirrhosis of the liver, and sever arthritis that prevents me from working and my Workman’s compensation doctors won’t prescribe anything other than Vicodin for my pain. I know acetaminophen is bad for the liver, and was wondering if workman compensation doctors are only allowed to prescribe a certain class of drugs for pain. The doctors know I have stage IV cirrhosis of the liver, and they still prescribe pain medication that is bad from my liver.
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You are right, you need to be on a diffrent pain med. Your doctor probably does not want to perscribe a schedual II narcotic and thus perscribes vicodin. Ask him about Norco, it has much less tylenol, but the same amount of hydrocodone, and is still a schedual III narcotic, if he wont perscribe any of the numerous painkillers that have no tylenol in them (that unfortunatly are all schedual II due to their potential for abuse).
In a patient with liver issues such as yourself, perscribing a diffrent pain med should be acceptable, although they are all schedual II narcotics, which are usually pain in the ass for the doctor to perscribe, but that should not deter a good doctor in your treatment as in your case there is a strong medical reason calling for them. If he wont change your meds I would find a diffrent doctor as you don’t want to be harming yourself through your treatment. (and maybe talk to a lawyer as it my constitute malipractice as vicodin says in the perscribing information not to perscribe to patients with liver disease.)
Also, as a last resort that I mention to you purely in the spirit of harm reduction, If you are unable to see another doctor or have your perscription changed, learn about cold water extraction (aka CWE), which is a method of removing the tylenol from your vicodin. Google it and you will find many sites with instructions on how to do it. It is easy, basically requiring only water and a coffee filter, and relativly quick to perform. Your liver will thank you for it.
I have dealt with arthritis pain for a while but have never taken pain medication for it because of my dislike of drugs. A friend told me about a TENS machine which delivers electronic pulses which block pain. After some research on the internet I bought one from this website that had the cheapest prices I could find. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, I can’t live without it. My pain is much more manageable now. That website is a good source to finding pain management items, I strongly suggest you check it out.