Hydrocodone Rescheduling Survey
2015 National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association Survey
Hydrocodone Rescheduling: The First 100 Days
If you are someone with fibromyalgia and/or chronic pain who has taken prescription hydrocodone medications (Vicodin®, Lortab®, Lortab ASA®, Hycomine®, and Vicoprofen®) to alleviate your suffering, please consider taking part in this very important survey. Your voice matters. Along with several other patient advocate organizations, the National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association (NFMCPA) is interested in how new government opioid medication regulations are affecting people with chronic pain. Deterring illegal and illicit use of prescription drugs is an important and mandatory campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to help stop criminal drug abuse and illegal drug prescriptions from infiltrating into mainstream American society.However, during their strong efforts to create new laws limiting access to these medications to deter illegal activities, the DEA and law enforcement agencies have not heard from the many people with chronic pain conditions who need these pain medications. This has resulted in unintended, negative consequences to chronic pain patients legitimately seeking pain relief. On October 6, 2014, hydrocodone was moved from a Schedule III medication to a more tightly restricted Schedule II opioid medication. This means that a person who is prescribed one of these drugs is now required to:
1. Sign a contract with their doctor for their prescription hydrocodone medications
2. Fill a 30-day hydrocodone medication with only a hand-signed prescription from their doctor, which ordinarily requires a monthly medical appointment. These prescriptions can no longer be called into the pharmacy, emailed or faxed, nor can prescriptions for hydrocodone drugs be refilled from an original prescription.
3. Designate which pharmacy will be used to fill the prescription.
To give chronic pain patients a voice about this new law, the NFMCPA created a survey with a group of medical experts for people who have been impacted by hydrocodone rescheduling. The goal of the survey is to collect data to publish an accurate assessment of the rescheduling impact to help counterbalance stigma or limited access to care issues that people with chronic pain face.
Hydrocodone Rescheduling: The First 100 Days is the first in a series of three hydrocodone-specific surveys that will be conducted over this first year of rescheduling. These anonymous surveys are hosted on Survey Monkey, and all collected data results will be used for the sole purpose of this survey. Confidentiality will be promised to the extent allowed by law. Data will be reported without any personal identifiers and in aggregate form.
The National Fibromyalgia & Chronic Pain Association thanks you for agreeing to contribute your personal experiences with the rescheduling of hydrocodone.
