spouse ordering prescriptions under my name for him

[sakurarose2022]

This is the first time I have posted here.... Here goes....

Not sure what to do but my husband has been ordering painkillers under my name... Co codamol. He requests the prescription for me however he uses them for himself. He regularly requests tramadol under his own medical records and is therefore not able to request co codamol since they should not be taken together. So I have since found out that he has been ordering co codamol without my knowledge and consent, I am mad about this because he has been ordering them on a regular basis, typically every 2 weeks. There are 100 tablets per prescription so roughly speaking it works out that 7 pills are taken daily. This is on my health records! So it looks like I am taking these when I am not. . More to the point it looks like I am addicted to them as the guidance says you are to have tablet free days. I am worried because I have health conditions where this could impact my treatment, etc. I am so cross about this, I spoke to my husband about it but he thinks I am not supporting him by allowing him to continue with ordering them.

I have explained to him how I feel about this and how it could effect my health plan in the long run but he doesn't seem to get it, it's like his need is greater than mine. He is obviously addicted to pain killers but I need to put myself first. He gets angry when I explain and tell him that I will speak to the Drs to prevent anyone other than myself to request medication. I am in a stuck situation... Continue to let him do this or put a stop to it and have to put up with his behaviour towards me.

Any words of wisdom of advice would be gratefully appreciated!

I don't want to get him in trouble for it as that will cause further problems

Your husband's health will be seriously affected by taking so many painkillers, probably already is. The trouble he will be in for making use of your prescription without your knowledge is nothing compared to how ill he will eventually make himself if he continues. I honestly think you have to go down the route of full disclosure as he will not be able to just stop taking all those extra pills, he'll have to taper off, and will need medical guidance and supervision.

Contact your GP immediately and let them know exactly what's going on and what is going to be done to help your husband get off those pills. Think of it as helping him, not 'getting him in trouble'. He is already in deep trouble.

You need to tell the gp what he's been doing, get your records amended and leave him.

Yes!

My husband was given tramadol after an op. Apart from one tablet the rest are still in the bathroom cabinet years later. He hated them.

Your husband is an addict op?

Not the point but I get Co codamol and tramadol on my prescription

Please report him, this will affect your future.

Get your GP to remove the Co-codamol from your repeat list. Then he wont be able to order it!!

@sakurarose2022 you need to phone the police and report him for prescription fraud and theft !
Then whilst he is being questioned by the police you need to get you and your ds out of the house and go somewhere safe, do you have family or friends that you can stay with? If not go to women's aid.
This may sound extreme however you need to understand that he is a heroine addiction (yes I know he takes pills but it's exactly the same stuff) who is already stealing, lieing, manipulating and threatening you to try and keep his supply of drugs going just having cut his supply off puts you at a massive risk of harm. Add to this he will be forced to go cold turkey unless he gets help from his doctor. Addicts in the grip of withdrawal have been known to kill for a fix. Please protect yourself and your child

Tell the GP the whole story. Everything.

Your husband is an addict.

He could use an online service, provided my companies such as Pharmacy2u, it's all done electronically so he wouldn't even need to speak to anyone. It does have to be authorised by your go though and I'm surprised they will authorise it in such large quantities. Speak to your gp and ask for it to be removed from your repeat list and I'd fo so far as to say you don't want it again so please done prescribe it.

As you said, it's on your medical records and could impact how they deal with any future procedures

I agree you should tell the doctor absolutely everything. Your ex needs help not more pills.

When I was in agony with sciatica and other related issues a few years back I had to literally beg for co codamol, and I only got them in very limited amounts as the GP said they were high addictive. I had to go back for more regularly and make my case for needing them each time. Nobody could request them for me. And I wouldn't be able to request medication for DH either.

What your DH is doing is illegal and it sounds like he's addicted if he's obtaining them fraudulently.

There’s a lot of misconceptions on this thread.

I have lupus and many other painful conditions. I take Tramadol and Cocodamol 30/500 - not at the exact same time but I might take the Cocodamol during the day and then Tramadol at night. It is perfectly okay to have both on the same prescription, there is a risk of increased side effects if you take both at the same time but many people with chronic long term pain like me do have both prescribed. So the fact the doctors won’t do this for him means something is weird somewhere or they know he’s an addict.

Many people on long term pain relief like me have these drugs prescribed routinely - I have both on my repeat prescription and collect a large box of each every single month. I do not always use the max amount depending on my pain (in fact sometimes I only take 2 Tramadol a day and nothing else at all) so I actually have quite a lot extra in the cupboard. Many people like me do. It’s just the way it works out. If I need more I can just go online on my doctors surgery and tick a box and a repeat prescription for whatever I need is automatically sent to the pharmacy for collecting. I don’t need to keep speaking to the Gp.

People who don’t have chronic long term pain don’t seem to understand how easy it is to get repeat prescriptions for things like Tramadol etc.

Anyway- that isn’t the point of the thread I know. You need to be really honest with your GP so they can put a stop to your dp doing this. Maybe they need to implement a rule that they actually need to speak to you before they issue anything.

You need to ‘get him in trouble’ by telling the GP. They need to know that he’s addicted to the tramadol and is using your repeat prescriptions facility to get more opioids.

He’s an addict. He won’t be happy about his supply being cut off. But it’s important for you and him to be totally honest with the GP.

They’re not going to report him to the police. They’re going to recognise his addiction issues and realise they need to address that (ideally help him to address it).

They need to know so they can help him reduce.

But he's an addict so he'll struggle. Talk to addiction charities. Is it AlAnon for families? You need advice on how to manage this. They will have seen it all before.

He is addicted. He will do absolutely anything to get these medications. You need to tell your gp what’s been going on, but make preparations to leave if you need to first. I’ve seen painkiller withdrawals, it’s not pretty.

Be safe, I hope you’re ok!

You absolutely have to do something about this OP. If something happened to him from taking those meds, and it was discovered you knew what was happening and did nothing to report it, then you'll be in trouble. It could also have an affect on your own treatments if your medical records show you're on heaps of co-codomol.

As pp said, don't think of it as 'getting him in trouble', think of it as helping him. Make an appointment to have a frank discussion with your GP. Tell them everything that's been happening, get your repeat prescription cancelled and ask for your notes to be amended. The GP will also have to wean your husband off the strong co-codomol if he's not allowed to have it in his own right.

You need a chat with the GP, practice pharmacist or community pharmacist. Consider asking for all you prescriptions to include the direction ‘only to be collected by patient and ID to be shown’ or something to this affect. You might also want the prescription to ‘name the pharmacy’ so no other community pharmacy can dispense, this is done for substance misuse patients for example. Also discuss with the GP practice the need for you to use a third identifier when you contact the practice, this would be like an extra password that no one else would know.

You also need to discuss with the GP about all this incorrect info on your medical records. If clinical staff think you are taking all this medication they may prescribe you too high a dose in hospital, but you will be opioid naive and end up overdosing.

If you need more advise happy for you to PM me.

That’s a massive amount of codeine. I’ve got co-codamol on receipt, 30mg codeine, but you need to be careful with them. I take about 6 a week and only when I really need them.

why is he taking them? I’d get them removed from the repeat prescription immediately

This is seriously the only option you have

you can say you don’t want them on your repeats any more can you also change your pharmacy to an online one so it posts to you? Then he can’t pick anything up.

Painkiller addiction with opioids is horrific.

O/P - I suggest that you watch “Dopesick” - a TV miniseries on Netflix starring Michael Keaton.

Surely something should have flagged up at the doctors if 'you' are constantly requesting addictive medication or going through them quicker than you should be? DP misplaced half of a strip of the medication he has (not painkillers) and the doctors questioned why he was asking for more already, he had to tell them he had lost them

He is addicted or selling them on. Get a medication review and get cocodamol removed from your prescription then he can't access them via your medical records.

You can just ask the GP to remove co-codomal from your repeat prescription. I look after my dad's repeat prescriptions and place an order once a month via the Patient Access app.

He had diazepam on repeat order but wasn't using it so I just called the surgery and had it taken off his regular meds list. If dad wanted diazepam now, he'd need to have another consultation with his GP.

With repeat prescriptions you usually have to place the order every 3 weeks. This is to give the GP time to approve the meds and for the pharmacy to put the meds together. Depending on the GP/pharmacy and how quickly they dispense, you could(in theory) be getting meds every 3 weeks or so.

Tell the GP that it looks as if the alert on your file isn't working and ask them to make sure all the doctors are aware. And tell the pharmacist so that they only dispense co-codamol to you and no-one else.