Did quick search, turns out big brother has a name and of course these are men in black:

http://www.mib.com/html/request_your_record.html

Q, they say one can dispute the records. On a bright sde, you are AF, for some it could be even worse, still addicted and with Nal on their record. Thanks for posting I sure am grateful to see this heads up.

I don't remember who, but somebody kindly pointed out to me that there could be issues with
having a prescription for naltrexone on my medical record when I first showed up here,
and so I decided it was both easier and less risky to just order online. Since things
are working out well and in light of this information about people being denied insurance,
I'm very happy with the decision and grateful for the advice.

Should this information be in a sticky somewhere?

If you want to go talk to your doctor, seems like this shouldn't be a problem, the doc
should be willing to personally advise you on taking nal/bac that you've got over the internet, without
writing any prescriptions or putting anything on your permanent record.

So sorry this happened to you, Q. I hope you find some measure of comfort in knowing that others surely will learn from your experience.

I posted this on "Big Brother" but it bears repeating.

Looks like MIB is subject to the same rules as credit-reporting agencies. I for one am going to get my free report and mark my calendar to do that annually. I did a little homework and just learned MIB is not the only Big Brother reporting agency -- They're there for prescriptions, and all sorts of other stuff. Here's a VERY informative article:
http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs6b-SpecReports.htm#5

I think "trust but verify" is a sage approach to heeding advice offered on this -- or any -- board. Even as we grow close in this virtual world through sharing our common experience, the truth is we are strangers.

I sure wouldn't count on this. Anything you say to your Doc can, and very likely will, get transcribed into your medical record. HIPAA rules may protect people from looking at this record at will, but what happens when you need to do something that requires you to give consent to someone to look at your records? This was the case with me applying for insurance.

My advice is to play it safe and say absolutely NOTHING to your Doc about having problems with AL drinking nor any type of "treatments" you might be trying to help with it.

Q

Thanks for the info lena. I'm definitely going to see what's on my record.

My guess is that there is something in there that says I was in some kind of AL treatment program, or similar. I will likely also need to go back into my Dr. and see exactly what he's put in my record (I meant to do this earlier).

I'm hopeful that I should be able clear some of this up, as I was never diagnosed with a drinking problem nor did I ever attend any type of a treatment program. Given that I now have "normal" drinking patterns, but not totally abstinent, I think one could argue to mainstream medical professionals that I never did have a drinking problem in the first place. They all think abstinence is the only real long term solution to alcoholism anyway, right? I could just say I was going through a really stressful time and was grasping at solutions and ran across Nal on the internet and wanted to try it. Might as well try to use their ignorance of TSM against them.

Q

Those of us who do choose to take on the role of physician by self-prescribing have a sobering (ha) responsibility to ourselves to be very prudent. I'm adding this thought in light of some recent scary baclofen anecdotes.

Yeah, you've changed my mind. I think one's chances of success aren't improved by talking to the doc... the people on this board know more than they do. We can be grateful that the original doctors involved have published "how to" books on the topic.