The reason why the pendulum is swinging back is because opiates were being given out like candy by doctors. The medical community created a class of legal drug addicts and thousands died every month from these prescribed meds.
Federal law enforcement is targeting the doctors for being pill mills and legit doctors are afraid of being targeted. The doctors are being overly conscious - something they should have been all along and as a result, they've made legitimate patients suffer.
None of that matters to you.
Doctors, carriers and pharmacies are hyper vigilant for drug seeking behavior. That's what's going on. To overcome this your doctor needs to show that both your subjective complaints and objective findings are in harmony with each other and if so, they should write the script.
Also consider that perhaps the amount of meds your are on is causing other internal complaints that can only be addressed by switching out your meds or rotating them. You might be showing drug tolerance and that's why, say, Norco isn't approved but they will approve something else.
If you don't have one already, ask for a referral to pain management. They are the pros at treating chronic pain. Given what you've shared, a general practitioner or even an orthopedic doctor isn't going to provide pain management level of care.
It's very possible that you have been slowly turned into being drug dependant when your physical condition isn't as bad as your subjective complaints.
Best of luck to you but do explore your options and don't think your days are numbered. Seems like your needs for care require a different area of expertise.