Dear Mr. President and Government Officials

Notice to people who take any drug to control pain on a maintenance basis.

To the President and Congress: This article is extremely important to thousands of individuals in the United States, regarding the new regulations concerning pain medication, especially those who take this on a daily basis; 24 hour per day dose.

Like many Americans who suffer from constant pain due to osteomyelitis, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis, spinal stenosis, knee injury, bone on bone knee problems, hip problems, lower back problems, and more; you have placed the burden on these individuals to obtain the correct medication, to keep correct levels in their system and bear with the pain if they are unable to receive a 24-hour drug on the exact day..

Due to the new government regulations regarding specific pain killing drugs, people are doing without because they do not have the ability to pick up their prescription at their physicians office on a specific day. Many problems have occurred; if a prescription is mailed it could take up to five days, which means five days without pain control. If the patient is out of town, they have no way to receive the prescription since it is no longer available from state to state, or can it be faxed to a pharmacy.

I understand that many controlled substances have different regulations. But the government is making it impossible especially for those who need the medicine and cannot get around by themselves. When you are taking a 24 hour maintenance pain killer, it means that you have to go to the physician’s office on the day that it is due and not one day before, because the government will not allow printing of this prescription ahead of time or out-of-state, or to a pharmacy.

I understand that many of the narcotic drugs which alter the state of mind of the patient need control, although, there is one drug that is classified as a narcotic drug which has no side effects. The drug is Tramadol HDL 300 mg extended release. When you take this drug for pain it directly works on the pain center of the brain and does not change anything else, it takes away pain. You live a normal life; you can drive a car, use machinery, write a book, manage an office or anything, even be the president of the United States while on this medicine.

This has been written to help the thousands of people if not millions on this drug, who suffer great pain from the most common diseases. Physicians believe that Tramadol works on pain and nothing else. Why must you place such drastic holds on a drug that is used for all the ailments above, placing stress on the individuals each month wondering how they are going to receive them?

Before such action was taken a group of physicians, and patients should have met and talked about a drug used by so many Americans, who are now doing without because they are on able to retrieve the drug on time. I am asking that you read this and others read this and tell the President and the Congress to change this bill and allow the people who suffer from these ailments the right to a good day.

Many medications are used for different purposes, and patients cannot live a quality life without them which brings up the price control of medication. Nearly every month there is a different price for your medication, I am not speaking dollars and cents. One drug in New York State cost $100 more than it does in the state of Florida, how could this be? Another drug is $35 one month and $168 the following month, we are not talking five or $10 increases. We need control the cost of drugs because once you reach your limit if you are covered, to remain on maintenance drugs, you have to pay out-of-pocket. It would be nice to know what the monthly cost will be.  A large majority of people are paying to mortgages, one for their home and the other for their drugs.

The last thing I’d like to mention is control between pharmaceutical companies regarding generic drugs and brand-name drugs. A brand-name drug, familiar to many, recently cost $864 and the generic drug which is not equal to the brand-name drug cost $35. During a recent broadcast I heard you, the President, state that brand-name drugs and generic drugs are the same, they are not. Each time another pharmaceutical company produces a generic it’s changed, and continues to change down the line. Some drugs have at least five generics. Unfortunately, the generic drug for maintenance I received, as a patient, worked entirely opposite on me than the brand-name, so to remain stable and keep the quality alive the brand-name must be used. We must recognize that I am not the only one with stories like this, and it should be known to the public and to political figures who voted on this and other regulations to place their thoughts and regulations in an entirely different direction, for the American people.

In this note, I do not name the pharmaceutical companies but used the name Tramadol long-acting because of the unfair regulations placed on this drug and for the thousands if not millions of Americans who rely on this drug. I believe you should take a second look and understand that a physician is not prescribing a drug for no reason; the doctor should have the say so regarding their patient not a regulation from government that has messed up the apple cart. With this drug stated above all ages use it, and it works without disrupting one minute of a person’s day. Unfortunately, until this is review we will see more people suffer because of the new regulation on a drug that has no side effects only helping relieve pain from the pain center of your brain. Please do not let people suffer needlessly because of regulations that were not looked into, evaluated, and haphazardly placed into effect.

I hope to hear something concerning this issue because there is nothing any doctor or pharmacy can do when the government gets involved. It’s time that we do not let the government become the physician; they were elected to oversee a better state and to govern. Let the physician be the Dr. and take care of their patient, they know best. Hopefully you will take this to heart and reviewed the bill for thousands of people if not millions.