(541)386-9500 Vicodin is a schedule II on October 6th, 2014
Good morning and welcome to you be all you are tv i’m your host brad harmon and today my guest is dr. trey rigor with columbia pain management in hood river oregon dr. rigor welcome to the broadcast morning brad pleasure to be here we’re grateful for you taking your time out of your busy schedule to join us now dr. rigor over the last few weeks we’ve been talking a
Little bit about the changes that they’re making the vicodin how it’s becoming a schedule 2 controlled substance and the possible changes that will make for prescribing it for pain medication for long term chronic pain one of the things that’s kind of popped up that’s a bit of a concern is what if they can no longer get their medicine because their doctor changes
The prescribing practice and doesn’t want to prescribe it anymore or if people have just decided that they no longer want to use it because it’s a schedule to type medicine what can they do to stop using vicodin so they won’t have to suffer with the terrible withdrawal symptoms yeah that’s a great question brad so we know that coming up here on october 5th 6th
Vicodin will be a schedule 2 which is in recognition that it has a higher risk of addiction and abuse then was originally thought what that means practically speaking is that vicodin can no longer be called in people need a handwritten prescription and they will no longer be able to receive refills on the medicine so we suggested earlier that it’s a good time for
People to sort of stop and take a deep breath and decide you know is the medicine if they’re taking it really doing what it’s supposed to do for them and if they decide that it’s not if they decide that the medicine is more harm than positive in their life it’s a good time to do something and then we’ll also have to admit that there will be physicians that aren’t
Comfortable prescribing bike anymore so what can you do on the one very reasonable choice is just to taper off with the assistance of your provider some people actually don’t have much withdrawal if they taper off and they feel pretty decent ah increased pain after this stop the medicine that’s what we call post acute withdrawal for so so for those folks that
Have that really difficult withdrawal syndrome have a really hard time coming off the medicine you know what is there to do um one solution that we deploy is the medicine called buprenorphine which is a substitute for the vicodin the hydrocodone the norco um it’s another opiate but it is a schedule three opiate it’s felt to have a safe – better safety profile so
There’s less risk it is felt of overdose in addiction it comes in a patch it’s called butte rands and it comes in a tablet that you can melt under your tongue um there’s a bit of a process to make the transition so people would have to speak with their provider or someone that prescribes the medication about making the transition but we’ve had you know a couple
Three hundred people now make the transition and be happy with their pain control i’ll avoid the protracted withdrawal and are doing quite well for those folks that decide they don’t like the medicine and are able to taper off easily that’s obviously a superior solution and then you can move to medicines perhaps like gabapentin or tylenol for your pain control and
Be in a good spot but for those folks that can’t and you know we’ve seen on our comments section some people can beep norfolk can be a very viable option that’s good to know we appreciate you taking your time to share that with us now so summing it all up with the big change with the vicodin to schedule two controlled substance what do you think the big takeaway is
For chronic pain sufferers right now because of the change yeah the big takeaway right now is to contact your physician or your mid-level provider get in and make a plan for those folks that have refills right now they do get a little breathing room because we do have guidance that most of those refills will be honored till next spring but don’t just assume that
Everything is going to be the way it was now is a good time to talk to your family ask them you know has this made a positive change in my life talk to your provider what’s it going to be like to get my medicine from here forward and make a plan don’t just ignore the changes and be caught off guard because it could be um you know uncomfortable for people that go
Into precipitous withdrawal great thank you again for sharing your accounts and advice with us we always appreciate your wisdom thanks for asking brad and thank you for joining us on you be all you are tv we hope you’ll tune in soon for another broadcast
Transcribed from video
Vicodin – Hydrocodone: How to Avoid Withdrawl Symptoms When You Stop Taking Vicodin By Trey RigertliveBroadcastDetails{isLiveNowfalsestartTimestamp2014-09-29T140314+0000endTimestamp2014-09-29T140823+0000}