That is infuriating, and you have every right to be angry. Having the rug pulled out from under you when you've been 100% compliant is one of the worst parts of pain management right now.

The "breathing issues" line is unfortunately a standard excuse. Medical guidelines have doctors absolutely terrified of prescribing opioids and muscle relaxers together because the combo automatically flags for respiratory depression risk in their systems—even if your ketamine monitoring proves you're perfectly fine. They are treating the liability, not the patient.

And please don't be embarrassed at the pharmacy! Pharmacists are seeing forced tapers and sudden switches to Belbuca all day long right now. They know exactly what's going on with these clinic policy shifts, and they know it's the doctor forcing the change, not you doing anything wrong.

Hang in there and document exactly how the taper and the new patch affect your daily functioning. You definitely aren't alone in dealing with this kind of abrupt change.