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About 20 years ago the medical community began focusing more intently on assessment and treatment of patients pain. The 0-10 pain scale became a common assessment tool. About the same time the JCAHO (the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) required assessment of pain as part of routine patient/provider interaction. Pain was considered the 5th vital sign. In fact, in 2000 Congress declared the next decade the decade of pain and improved pain management.
Now we have the opioid epidemic and many people are being under-treated. I am distressed at the number of family and friends who are suffering and are being denied prescriptions for pain medications whatsoever. They are told to take Ibuprofen (Motrin) or Tylenol which are ineffective for them.Someone I know who is in severe pain and waiting for orthopedic surgery was told, I wont prescribe pain meds for you. Compliments of the opioid epidemic.
I know this is a complex problem with no easy solution. But it appears that the medical community, after years of focusing so much on pain assessment and relief, has now washed its hands of these poor people. Chronic pain is horrible to live with. This pendulum swing in the other direction is not the answer. This will not turn out well.
tblue37
(65,490 posts)BigmanPigman
(51,632 posts)They are all ages and suffer from various types of pain and most are anti-pain med, but when they really do need it they are denied. This has been going on for years and I am fed up after seeing my friends and family suffer and hearing the same BS excuse...the doctors don't want them to become addicted. My 85 year old neighbor broke her hip and was not given pain meds to last for more than 3 days! I was ready to buy fentanyl for her if I knew where to get it on the streets.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(25,902 posts)And the biggest problem is how subjective it is. It's very difficult to look at someone and know just how much pain they're in.
For one thing, we're socialized to minimize pain.
For another, different kinds of pain hurts more than another kind of pain, and the same pain with one person isn't as painful as for another.
Personal example: I consider myself someone with a very low pain tolerance because of terrible experiences with dentists. I can't have my teeth cleaned without novocaine.
But a broken leg? A day or so of chemical pain relief and then I was fine. A cesarean? Again, a day or two of pain relief and I was fine. Fortunately, I have the good sense to understand that my experiences in those areas are not common.
It is my strong personal belief that adequate pain relief is vital. I think we all heal much better if we don't have to be concentrating all of our energy on dealing with the pain.
JudyM
(29,280 posts)real Cannabis calm
(1,124 posts)It only eases mental pain, caused from reading about the Criminal-In-Chief
lunatica
(53,410 posts)No drug side effect which just gives me the munchies anyway. It has helped me a lot which is a real relief.
JudyM
(29,280 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)It was a horrible side effect of taking Ciprofloxin for a bad UTI that was life threatening. It happened 5 years ago. It is crippling and life changing and the pain is constant. Someone on DU asked about hemp oil and lots of people said it worked. The fact it was the non drug kind made me decide to try it. The relief from the pain is very fast and a life changer back to being able to function. My tendons still stiffen up so I have to move around a little to loosen them up, but I can actually walk without hobbling once the tendons relax. And I can walk without being aware of every single step or movement.
I want to spread the message to everyone who has chronic pain!
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I buy it in powdered form and put it in caps, mix it into juice or water, or bake it into brownies.
My doc doesn't want to handle pain management anymore, and the local pain mgmt clinics are not an option for me, so I have been working with her and shifting to Kratom (with CBD Oil added to help with withdrawals as we titer down.)
I buy from a place online in Florida and have had consistently good product and service from them. I have seen a huge improvement in my overall health - compared to the general fatigue etc that used to drag me down from opioid use.
L
JudyM
(29,280 posts)Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I have severe hip joint issues and we live next to the GSMNP in Eastern TN - which is actually a temperate rain forest. That is a very bad combination because the constant barometric changes from all the weather systems hitting the mountains make it incredibly painful for me to live here. We hang on because the national park is gorgeous and we built our home and hate the thought of leaving...but I think it's just a matter of time. If Kratom wasn't such a great option for me, we would have already moved on.
Claritie Pixie
(2,199 posts)From personal experience - yoga saved my life. I suffered from chronic back pain after a serious car accident and decided to try it instead of pain meds and ultimately surgery.
It's simple bit not easy, takes dedication. It's worked for me though. Herniated discs be damned.
10 years later and I'm pain free as long as I practice regularly.
Lucinda
(31,170 posts)I'm so glad it works for you!
JudyM
(29,280 posts)Kudos!
Claritie Pixie
(2,199 posts)As I said it takes time and starting out doing what the body will allow. Yoga is adaptable for anyone no matter their level of mobility.
Aristus
(66,467 posts)But when we determine that opioid medications are contraindicated, we usually have a good reason that has nothing to do with addiction and tolerance.
Opioids are contraindicated in patients with severe lung disease due to the side effect of respiratory depression. Death from respiratory failure will ease one's pain quite effectively.
Any digestive condition for which bowel perforation is a potential outcome is also a contraindication for opioids, due to the attendant constipation. A medical provider must weigh the risks of treating with opioids and stool softeners to decrease the likelihood of perforation. And of course, that level of risk is different for every patient.
And of course, it's natural to assume, when one is in pain, that everyone who seeks opioid medications is in genuine pain and really needs these medications. We have to bear that in mind every time some twenty year-old with an unremarkable past medical history and in no visible distress comes in to the clinic complaining of ten-out-of-ten pain, a reported allergy to every non-narcotic analgesic on the formulary, and insisting that Percocet is the only thing that works.
Just as there are unscrupulous providers out there who will hand out opioids like candy, there are going to be those who exercise perhaps too much caution in their prescribing. The vast majority of medical providers want the best for their patients, and exercise care, compassion, and good, sound clinical judgement in their evaluation and treatment of pain disorders.
Cousin Dupree
(1,866 posts)concerns of providers, but you wont change my mind about what I know and what I see. If healthcare providers gave as much thought and effort as you think they do to relieving patients pain, there wouldnt be so many people suffering. The reality is theyre scared to buck the trend and their patients suffer for it.
Maeve
(42,288 posts)I have been offered opioids for pain several times and had to refuse (they mess with my mind too much, even at low doses, while not killing the pain, and making me throw up). Luckily, I do well with over-the-counter naproxen. My mom has been given opioids and found that the lowest dose in pill form is 2-3 times more than she needs for relief (yeah, I'm talking to her doc about that! She shouldn't have to cut up pills and hope for the right dose).
We need to get off the pendulum swing and actually STUDY the issues properly instead of playing one-size fits all games. But that might take the profit out for the drug companies....