WP - One-third of long-term users say theyre hooked on prescription opioids

[malaise]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/one-third-of-long-term-users-say-theyre-hooked-on-prescription-opioids/2016/12/09/e048d322-baed-11e6-91ee-1adddfe36cbe_story.html?utm_term=.5509ab7dbd04
<snip>
One-third of Americans who have taken prescription opioids for at least two months say they became addicted to, or physically dependent on, the powerful painkillers, according to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Virtually all long-term users surveyed said that they were introduced to the drugs by a doctor’s prescription, not by friends or through illicit means. But more than 6 in 10 said doctors offered no advice on how or when to stop taking the drugs. And 1 in 5 said doctors provided insufficient information about the risk of side effects, including addiction.

The survey raises sharp questions about the responsibility of doctors for an epidemic of addiction and overdose that has claimed nearly 180,000 lives since 2000. Opioid deaths surged to more than 30,000 last year, according to new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with deaths from heroin alone surpassing the toll from gun homicides.
-------------------------------------------------
This is fugging scary.

[Squinch]

1. Most of the other 2/3 swear they can quit any time.

They're opioids. ALL of us would become addicted with long term use.

[malaise]

2. Our youngest sister died of cancer in 2005 but she was seriously hooked

on opiates.

She worked in hospitals as a dietician.

[Squinch]

4. I'm so sorry about your sister. Work in hospitals is so hard

for people with addictions. I too have loved ones who are struggling, and the access makes it nearly impossible.

[malaise]

5. The access is the problem

That's why I mentioned that.

When we cleaned out her garage I was able to donate boxes and boxes of needles to a local hospital.

[Squinch]

7. Wow. Glad you could donate, but that had to be hard to find.

[malaise]

8. No - I'm in Jamaica

They were unopened and sterile - boxes and boxes of them.

[NightWatcher]

3. That's what I was going to say. If it's been more than a month, you may not realize it but

you're hooked.

I can say this as someone who was on them for two months following a shoulder reconstruction surgery.

It's a major deal to get off them and I'll never go back.

[Squinch]

6. I know myself. I am an addictive personality to begin with. After a

codeine issue in my youth when they prescribed THAT like candy whenever I got bronchitis, I'll never use an opioid again.

Was never a problem that got me in trouble, but at that point I could easily see how it could be.

[malaise]

9. A good friend had a hysterectomy earlier this year and opted for six weeks of pain

with mild pain killers rather than opiates.

[Egnever]

20. I really am just dumbfounded by these stories

I am not sure if anyone has a more addictive personality than me. Went through years of drug addiction and for some reason opiates just never did it for me.

I take them for migraines some weeks I will take them for three days straight. Most weeks not at all. I just never feel the urge to take them unless I am in a lot of pain. Cocaine I totally get the addiction and I also get the addiction with Heroin. Have tried both and abused cocaine like crazy in the 80's. Heroin I tried a couple of times and right away recognized it's pull and stopped because I was scared of it. For some reason though I just have no desire to take the opioids I have. Get all kinds of shit every time i see the doctor about them but for over 4 years now since the migraines started I take em when I have migraines then don't even think about them again until i have another.

Obviously some people have problems with them I just find it odd that I don't considering my other attractions to addictions.

[Squinch]

21. Why risk it? I used to take something called Axert for migraines. It was magic.

As I've gotten older I get them much less often and less severe and one Excedrin Migraine plus one Ibuprophen, taken right as my vision begins to distort and I'm getting the migraine halos, takes care of it.

[Egnever]

24. Shrug

Will look into it.


Like I said though I just don't see the attraction. My script is usually long expired by the time I go in for a refill my doc is not worried about my usage but I do get to pee in a cup ...Weeee.

[kcr]

74. Why assume that what works for you will work for everyone? Especially with migraines.

Excedrin Migraine actually makes mine worse. It took years to find something that helps and even then only a little. Nothing completely eliminates migraines for me. If opioides got rid of my migraines I'd take them and fuck off to anyone who didn't agree with it.

[Squinch]

77. What in what I said suggests that I assume that what works for me works for everyone?

Why assume that someone is assuming something that they aren't assuming?

[kcr]

79. You said "Why risk it?"

then offered your solution. What do you mean, how does what you said suggest it? How does that not suggest that you think your treatment is an alternative to opioids as if it's some kind of guarantee?

[Squinch]

81. Wow. That's bonkers. Have a lovely day.

[Moostache]

32. Vicodin, Percocet, Oxycodone...they are all chemical analogs of Heroin and Morphine...

They all work the same and if taken in high enough doses, they produce the same initial euphoric high. Prescription pills are supposed to be formulated to release over extended periods to avoid the freight-train rush of a heroin or morphine shot.

People taking these things for extended periods build up a tolerance in their brain to the effects and as the addiction takes hold, their brain chemistry becomes wildly unbalanced and the way their brain processes dopamine and pain signals is rewired. The bigger the usage duration and dosage, the bigger the risk for dependency. Doctors who are over-prescribing these things (USA consumes 80-90% of GLOBAL opioid prescriptions with barely 5% of the global population) should have their medical licenses revoked. First, do no harm....my ass, now it is first see how much the pharma rep is offering and then turn a blind eye and say "I thought they would follow the directions from the pharamcy..."

Drug companies lied to get opioids into wider distribution...same as with cigarettes and nicotine in the 80's or "weight-loss Phen-Fen" in the 00's ... same story over and over....profits over people. Nothing different than tobacco companies, supplement companies, oil companies or other drug companies and other drug issues.

Cash is King and Trump is Lord...that about sums up the people who wish to turn a blind eye to this issue...but don't fret, I hear Jared is on this and as soon as he cracks that Israeli-Palestine issue, he'll solve this just like "Not Sure" figured out the problems with Brawndo...

[Egnever]

34. I guess what is different for me is it is not chronic pain

it is occasional. So I only take it occasionally.

That said I was a big fan of the high in my younger years but never for pills for some reason and the hydrocodone I take does not illicit anything like getting high in me. They just make me tired and dull the pain when I have it.

Lucky I guess

[Moostache]

36. If you have used other opioids in the past, that may be a factor...

Chronic use will eventually cause almost everyone to become addicted due to the way the brain processes the drug and interrupts the usual mechanisms and hormone balances...you may just be lucky, but I would recommend great caution with too much use of the pills over extended periods....sounds like you know your own body and tolerances and reactions though, so I hope it works out for you better than some of the other stories I have seen/heard/read...best wishes

[Egnever]

37. I don't doubt people are getting hooked

I just find it completely baffling that someone like me who like I said used to love the high in my younger years, you name it I have likely tried it if it was around 30 years ago, just never ever had the urge or desire to use pain killers I have hung with friends who dumpped tons of cash on them and were more than willing to share but I just never got the attraction. still don't

Not posting in this thread to deny there are people out there with issues from it just navel gazing really at my own odd reaction to them.

I will say this. I do get nervous when that bottle is almost empty because I don't know if it will be refilled and when those migraines hit it is no freaking joke. Usually the bottle empties long after the pills expire and I never know what new loops they have put in place. The idea of not having them when the migraines hit scares the shit out of me.

[Skittles]

88. everyone is different

I was prescribed Vicodin and it made me so sick I have requested my dentist to always give me the heavy-duty Tylenol instead; my mum said Vicodin made her sick too

[Eliot Rosewater]

26. I was just about to say, only 1/3rd admit it, anyone who uses long term

becomes addicted as a physiological reality, fact.

[Tikki]

44. I am not. And when I get this last hip replacement, next month, I see no reason to continue .....

taking pain meds.

The side effects I get from taking the pain pills are awful.

Tikki

[riderinthestorm]

51. Nope. Opioids have no effect on me. I also never get hangovers

2 hits of weed puts me out like I've been hit with a baseball bat. I once did lines of coke for 5 hours straight and went home to get a good night's sleep without repercussions. I can now verify my own anecdotal experiences after several decades.

Body chemistry is weird. While you can make generalities, you can't make absolutes. As a horsewoman involved with high energy sport horses daily, I personally administer intense performance enhancing drugs/supplements daily to several top competing athletes. Nothing is a sure fire panacea. Adequan may work with one, while Pentosan is the only help for another. They can't fake a placebo. They get relief or they dont.

It's given me a jaundiced view on addiction. They're really ARE body types/genes that are addictive (yup, its a disease), and some of us, who despite our best efforts, are simply chemically unable to be addicts. Body/brain chemistry is in it's infancy on this imo.

I love the Portugal model on treating drug offenders.

[tblue37]

52. Nope, sorry, that is too absolute a claim. I have used hydrocodone long term for

chronic pain, but I go off it during the summer when I don't have to work as much (I teach college). I often would take my meds less frequently than prescribed, because if I don't have to stand up and teach for four hours straight, then sit for student conferences for several hours a day, and grade papers for several hours a night, I just deal with the pain. I have never increased my dosage or frequency. I don't like that the meds make me less energetic, so I simply was never tempted to use them more than prescribed--quite the opposite, because I always used them less.

I was on Fentanyl patches for a while, but then took myself off them, and a couple of months ago I stopped using the hydrocodone altogether.

Some people actually do not get addicted. Long term use will create a physical dependency, of course, so you shouldn't just go off cold turkey, because that risks withdrawal symptoms. I just kept reducing the dosage and frequency until I was completely off. It took 3 days.

I will be 67 this month, and as you age your liver becomes less efficient at detoxifying, so a dosage that was fine for a long time could end up being too much for your body to handle. I don't want to accidentally OD on the same dosage that has been fine for so long, so I decided to just stop taking them.

I have to lie down a lot to read (because of the pain), and I have to soak in a bathtub when the pain gets bad, but I don't feel any urge toward taking the meds.

I

[Crunchy Frog]

57. There is a difference between physical dependency and addiction.

Anyone who uses long term will become physically dependent. Not everyone will become an addict.

I've been physically dependent on a number of antidepressants before; doesn't mean I was addicted.

[Drahthaardogs]

63. I don't know. I hate the way they make me feel.

I had spinal fusion and could not wait to get off them. I do not like how they make me feel and sure don't get euphoria from them. We all process drugs differently

[loyalsister]

10. So what?

Last edited Tue Aug 1, 2017, 11:21 PM - Edit history (1)

I wish the media would stop demonizing physical dependency and equating it to the kind of desperation that destroys lives. I know a couple of people who go to pain management clinics and would have uncomfortable physical symptoms if they suddenly stopped takiing them. And yet, they function better in their daily lives because of that physical addiction- not in spite of it. Addiction to opiates is manageable and can even be helpful. It would make more sense for those drugs to be available in safe doses and conditions and provide a situation where they aren't committing crimes and dealing with dangerous people.

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. I wish the media would report the difference between opioid meds and heroin.

last couple years there will be headlines about "opioid" deaths which turn out to be talking about heroin.
For whatever reason, there has been a lot of hype about the dangers of opioids recently, till it is almost impossible to not hear it.
It is confounding the issue in most people's minds.

[loyalsister]

23. Heroin is an opioid

It binds to opioid receptors. You may be referring to the increase in Rx opioid addiction. They are linked. People who lose access to legal prescription opioids sometimes replace them with heroin because the effects are so similar. In my view, people who have such severe pain that is only eased by opioid medications are being punished because there are also people who use those drugs recreationally.
Both populations have sought heroin when the Rx was unavailable. Neither group should have to jeopardize their freedom or safety because opioids have been demonized.
If policy makers seriously want to help curb the deaths and reduce the dangers, they should support legalization of marijuana, and or make the pain clinic model of addiction maintenance available to all people who stuggle with physical dependence on opioids - even heroin.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. Many will become addicted and stay that way, we need to do managed care on those.

But we wont, we have this puritanical attitude about drugs that prevents us from dealing with them appropriately.

[Moostache]

35. Too many people see this as a "will power" issue or a "punishment" issue...

Addiction is a disease, and in the case of heroin or opioid addiction it is a physical and psychological combination that destroys most of the people it ensnares.

Some people do come to heroin through a series of bad choices, others through abusing pills that they were told were OK to take, and some just because they want to get high and escape their problems in life....but ALL of the addicts end up slaves to their brain's NEED to get a fix. It is beyond will power by the time the addict realizes they are addicted, and absent serious medical and psychological treatment and support for YEARS if not DECADES, relapse is one moment of weakness away and its immediately back to square one.

If we continue to have people believe that this kind of addiction is a crime problem instead of physical dependency and mental health issue, we will fill up jails and morgues before we ever dent the rate of increase in abuse, let alone helping any of the addicted.

[dixiegrrrrl]

39. I was a sub. abuse counselor for years. I think you miss my point.

By using the same word to describe heroin statistics and prescription drug use statistics, it muddles the image of the problem, which will muddle the response to the problems.

[loyalsister]

42. An opioid is an opioid

Rx opioids are substituted for heroin and vice versa. Neither is worse than the other. Accepting that one substance should be judged more harshly than the other based on origin and source is part of the problem, as we learned with crack vs cocaine.

[RobinA]

46. I'm Going To Disagree

here. Heroin is often adulterated with god knows what that is the main OD problem. Percocet and fentanyl-laced heroin are not really the same.

[loyalsister]

47. So a person seeking one would not settle for the other?

If one was available safely, it wouldn't reduce the chances someone would OD on the substitute?

[Docreed2003]

53. The only point I would add to your reply

In many areas of the country, people switch to heroin when prescription opiates become too costly. I've know a couple of families who have had family members addicted to heroin that started with prescription opiates. But your point remains, despite heroin being an opiate, there should be a separation in the reporting statistics.

[TheFrenchRazor]

48. thank you; i am so sick of this hysteria; i'd rather be addicted than in constant pain until i die.

[loyalsister]

73. I want that to be possible for people

I don't even care about the original motive for using opioids. I would just rather see people be able to relieve withdrawal symptoms and treat their pain safely without having to break the law or deal with criminals.
I doubt that it would be simple to implement but the most difficult part is to put an end to demonizing people and substances.

[Warren DeMontague]

60. because we'd rather pain patients suffer, than have someone somewhere catching an unauthorized buzz?

'MURKA!!!

[Aristus]

11. But if we refuse to write a prescription for someone coming in and demanding "my Percs!",

then people curse us and our families, yea, even unto the seventh generation.

Calling us butchers and irresponsible medical providers, and any one of a number of family un-friendly names...

[malaise]

12. You know the day I started seeing ads on TV telling us to tell our doctors what pharma

wanted, I realized the pharma companies were the new bosses.

It's crazy.

[Aristus]

14. I guess it's our good luck that the health insurance industry doesn't talk to the pharmaceutical

industry as often as it could.

The drug companies put out a new, very expensive medication, hoping for a windfall. If a patient requests the medication, I put him or her on an older, tried-and-true generic that their insurance will pay for, knowing that they will likely decline to pay for the new costly med.

If the two industries ever take steps to correct this, we're in a lot of trouble. We're already seeing drug companies boosting the price of inexpensive legacy medications through the roof, for no other reason than to increase profits and shareholder value.

[malaise]

16. For profit healthcare will either kill

all of us or leave us bankrupt.

Tried and true are just fine.

[Ilsa]

13. I heard ten days is all it takes.

An advance practice nurse told me that a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what her source was or what the mitigating factors could be.

[Aristus]

15. It depends mostly on the medication itself.

How high or low the dose. Quick release or slow release. Prescribed frequency of dosing, etc. Medical provider competence, and patient compliance are two other important variables.

[Eliot Rosewater]

29. My fear is when I really need the very best, you and yours will be scared into

not giving it to me.

I have had broken ribs before, needed and got oxycontin, saved me.

I could tell immediately why it was so addictive, however.

[Aristus]

30. Well, broken ribs, or really any verifiable acute injury will get the appropriate pain medication.

But if some 20 year-old kid comes in complaining of 10 out of 10-level back pain, no acute injury, no evident distress, blood pressure, pulse, and respiration within normal limits, a documented history of drug-seeking, and demanding Vicodin for his 'worst pain ever!', he's going to be sent packing.

[TheFrenchRazor]

49. they give it to you for acute pain, but if it's chronic and going to last the rest of your life, you

you're just supposed to STFU and suffer until you die. yeah, that makes total sense. it's no wonder people scream at you; etreme chronic pain does tend to make people disagreeable.

[Aristus]

54. See? I told you the cursing even unto the seventh generation was going to happen.

I don't tell my patients to STFU. I prescribe appropriate medication treatment, physical therapy, therapeutic massage, orthopedic treatment, joint injections, and any one of a number of other treatments that work on addressing the underlying problem, and not just mask the pain.

Someone who demands opioid pain meds without expecting to have to comply with all of the treatment modalities I just mentioned isn't really interested in getting better.

[kcr]

83. Why would someone like that be seeing a PA? n/t

[Aristus]

85. Someone like what?

n/t

[Warpy]

31. You could have been managed just as well on short acting opioids

that are much less likely to produce dependency than the 24/7 oxycontin pills did. That shit should never have been marketed to anyone with acute pain.

That it was is one reason we have so many people with dependencies they don't know how to break, or are terrified to try to break.

[Crunchy Frog]

59. It's a well founded fear. I was given fuck all for a kidney stone,

even when I was screaming in agony. I will never trust my pain management to doctors again.

[Warren DeMontague]

89. To be fair, a lot of them are bullied by and terrified of the DEA.

But yes, all the hand-wringy puritan outrage that someone might be getting a forbidden buzz leads to patients suffering and pain needs ignored, if not judges sending wheelchair-bound pain patients themselves to prison for 25 years because "youre not allowed to take that many pills"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/opinion/punishing-pain.html

[KitSileya]

18. And genetics too, I bet

I had alcoholics on both sides of my family tree, and both parents smoked, even though both managed to quit (dad at once, mom after a decade-long struggle.) So I know I am predisposed to addiction, and so I am very careful. Little alcohol, no recreational drugs ever, and the minimum of prescription painkillers. I'm not taking any chances. Heck, I am beating carb addiction right now, since I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes in January - I am doing ok so far, but it means constant vigilance.

[Ilsa]

19. I'm fortunate not to have addiction problems in my family history.

Sadly, that isn't true for my husband's family, so we keep very little alcohol (a four-pack of cheap single serve wine) here.

I know what you mean about the carb craving, though. I'm not addicted, but I have a tough time working around it with other people to feed here.

[Adrahil]

66. I guess I'm lucky...

I was on them pretty heavy for 3 weeks following knee replacement. Floowed the recommended taper off the last 5 days and no problem. But I was concerned about it... and my other knee is coming up next month.

[Crunchy Frog]

58. I had to go through a kidney stone with essentially no pain management.

I've made provisions to ensure that I will never have to go through something like that again. I certainly will not be offending the delicate sensibilities of any medical providers.

I will confess that I wished golf ball sized kidney stones on the entire ER staff, but that will never happen again. I'm all for self sufficiency where pain management is concerned, especially in the current climate.

[Aristus]

68. If 'delicate sensibilities' not getting our patients addicted to opioids,

so be it.

I have noticed that it's never the genuine pain cases who curse me out. It's the narcos, the drug-seekers, and the pill-heads. A patient is known by the company he keeps...

[Crunchy Frog]

69. I never cursed anyone out.

I was as pleasant as I was capable of being while in that amount of pain, while everyone there treated me like absolute shit.

The wishing golf ball sized kidney stones was in retrospect, and in my own head.

Meanwhile, their attempts to "save me from myself" simply ensured that I would look for and find alternatives that are potentially far riskier. Not anything that isn't completely legal BTW.

In retrospect though, I think it was a valuable lesson.

I'm guessing the shitty treatment was because I was on Medicaid. Anyone who's on Medicaid must be a drug seeker, even if they haven't been to an ER in decades.

[kcr]

75. "medical provider" Not a doctor. Keeping right at that, I see.

[Aristus]

76. I'm not sure I follow you.

I'm a Physician Assistant. I'm licensed to practice clinical medicine. I'm a medical provider.

[kcr]

78. Yes. Not a doctor.

You talk about your patients and writing prescriptions as if you're a doctor. I think people should know who they're talking to.

[Aristus]

80. I have my own patient population, and I write prescriptions.

Are you confused about that?

I've never implied to anyone, here or anyone else, that I'm a doctor. When referring to myself and my colleagues, I say 'PA' or 'Physician Assistant'. When referring to clinical practitioners as a class, that is, MD's, PA's and nurse practitioners, (ARNP's) I use the term 'medical provider'.

My patients always know who they're talking to. When meeting a patient for the first time, I introduce myself as "Bob. I'm a Physican Assistant. How can I help you today?"

[kcr]

82. You imply it by omission.

You don't state that you're an assistant. You just talk about your patients and writing prescriptions. You sound and appear to be a doctor in your posts.

[Aristus]

84. No. I think that's just you.

You probably noticed that the minute you made it an issue, I disclosed that I'm a Physician Assistant. I've never pretended to be anything else. And it doesn't really matter to anyone who matters. I have my own patients, I write prescriptions, perform office examinations and procedures, order and review lab results, and refer to specialty care as appropriate.

Many is the time when I finish a clinic visit, and my patient will say: "Thank you, doctor." I tell them: "Thank you. I'm a Physician Assistant. You can call me Bob." Even then, many of my patients like to call me Dr. Bob. As long as I make the legal disclosure to them, they can call me whatever they want.

[phylny]

17. After my cancer surgery, I was so scared of the painkillers, that I tried to stop on Friday (surgery

was on Monday). I couldn't. The pain was too bad. I ended up stopping on Saturday. I was in terrible pain, but just terrified of becoming hooked.

[malaise]

25. I know several folks like you

They just don't want that addiction

[Warpy]

33. Most people start to try to tough it out after 3-4 days

They're not afraid of dependency, they just want their brains to work right.

Yes, I was a surgical nurse.

[Mariana]

43. The pain itself can slow down healing

because it is so stressful to the mind and the body.

A few years ago, my father took away my mother's painkillers one day after she had foot surgery because he was afraid she'd get addicted. She called me and she was sobbing from the pain. I sent my stepdaughter, an RN who lived near them at the time, over there to set him straight.

The vast majority of people who take painkillers short term, after surgery or an injury, don't get addicted. Most people take less and less as their pain decreases, and they stop when they don't need it anymore.

[phylny]

45. My better sense agrees. I was still afraid :) n/t

[oasis]

28. That is really bad news. nt

[ProfessorGAC]

38. Don't Believe It

If the painkillers make you comfortable enough to get through a day, you're dependent on the POSITIVE effects!
That's not drug dependency!

[smirkymonkey]

40. I don't know whether it's fortunate or not, but I am violently allergic to opiods.

They gave me hydrocodone when I broke my humerous and I was projectile vomiting and broke out in horrible, itchy hives all over my body. It was almost as bad as the pain. I had to go off them immediately and they gave me Tramadol, which didn't do much for me and made me kind of nauseated, so I just took a lot of ibuprofen and used tons of ice packs.

It was the worst, prolonged pain I have ever had and I barely got any sleep. I hope I never go through anything worse because I really don't know what they could give me for pain that I wouldn't be allergic to.

[malaise]

41. Give thanks

I take two 81 aspirin daily - I've been very healthy all my life, but I know something will get me eventually.

[TheFrenchRazor]

50. if you live without very much pain, you should indeed give thanks; however i can assure you

that many many people live every day with significant amounts of pain, often in multiple parts of their body simultaneously, and pain relief can be the difference between those people having a life and not having a life. every time i hear anti-opiate crusaders moralizing about the evils of "addiction" i could really scream; all they're doing is forcing people with chronic pain to suffer (physically) even more, and to go through the psychological struggle of having to constantly beg some doctor to please, please allow them to have relief from their pain, and never knowing what the future holds for them, in terms of whether or not, or how much pain they will be suffering. these people should not be punished because some other people abuse drugs.

[cwydro]

91. I'm the same - those drugs make me sick.

I've still got god knows how many bottles of oxy and hydrocodone around here.

Mom was prescribed them for her knee and hip surgery, mine for shoulder surgery.

Neither of us took them.

[OrwellwasRight]

55. In other news,

the sun will rise tomorrow.

Yes, OPIOIDS are addictive, people-os!

[Hekate]

56. I've had some extensive dental work, and the amount of painkillers typically given ...

...after oral surgery is always a surprise to me. Since I tolerate pain pretty well (sometimes too well; I almost died of appendicitis) I take the stuff for at most 2 days and then store the rest on the top shelf out of sight "in case." After several years I toss it. It has shocked me to learn that the reason I am given, say, two week's worth, is that there are NO standards. Damn. Just damn. The poor souls in torment...

[Warren DeMontague]

61. I've had extensive dental work, too, and if someone told me I should suck it up or do yoga

instead of adequately treating some of that excruciatingly shitty pain, I might have told them to fuck off.

"crackdowns" on doctors and pain management means people in pain will suffer.

[Hekate]

71. See my post #70. I think I answered for both of you.

[Mariana]

62. Some people need it for two weeks.

Some people heal much faster than others, for various reasons. It's not for you to decide how much is "too much" for anyone else.

[Hekate]

70. I don't get to decide for others, but I am also not a medical professional. As the opioid crisis...

...worsens, one of the shockers for me has been learning (Los Angeles Times, not the internet) that doctors are not themselves given any kind of rigorous training in dispensing these drugs, but often learn by example in residency. If they work with a doc who overprescribes, they overprescribe. They they go to medical conferences put on by drug companies and are told that this shit is not addictive.

Something in this picture is not right.

As for pain, I live with fibromyalgia. My sister (gods help her) gets vicious migraines, which is worse, and from the time she was a little girl I've always known she feels pain more acutely than some of the rest of us.

I believe in appropriate pain management, including acute pain and chronic pain. Believe me, I don't WANT to be the decider -- but something has gone terribly wrong in this country. We went from letting terminal cancer patients gasp out their last weeks in excruciating pain to having 30,000 OD deaths a year among otherwise healthy people.

[Warren DeMontague]

72. So here's the problem with knee-jerk responses like "just make it harder to prescribe teh drugz"

http://www.opb.org/news/article/oregon-heroin-opioid-prescription-addiction-treatment/

The "addicts" who are supposedly the big problem, just turn to the black market. Guess what? Legit Pain patients like this guy do, too.

What comes after that, since we run down the same damn playbook every time someone decides there is a "crisis" of people catching unauthorized buzzes? Yeah. More prisons, more SWAT teams busting into living rooms because someone smelled pot, etc etc. More flash grenades thrown into cribs.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/family-toddler-injured-swat-grenade-faces-1m-medical/story?id=27671521

More guys in wheelchairs sent to prison for 25 years for treating their own spinal pain with what some prosecutor decided was "too many pills"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/19/opinion/punishing-pain.html

It goes without saying, more people with bone cancer in screaming untreated agony because their doctors are terrified of the DEA.

Maybe it is time to TOTALLY revamp our attitudes on these things, and take a harm reduction approach to addiction. If that means allowing those actually addicted to opiates to safely and cleanly maintan their addiction until they themselves decide to clean up, thats what we do. Probably far cheaper than maintaining the multibillion dollar drug war apparatus we currently do, so that ae can fill our prisons with pot smokers and the like.

Speaking of which, cannabis has been shown to help people get off opiods. States with medical mj have lower rates of prescription drug problems, statistically.

[Orrex]

64. 180,000? Yikes! That's almost as many as have died from pot overdoses.

[malaise]

67. As we say here

Deading wid laff

[aikoaiko]

65. It bothers me more that people can't get pain meds because others misuse.

When I was having bad sciatic/back pain I was counting the minutes until my next dose.

Opiod addiction is rough, but untreated or under-medicated pain is worse.

[SonofDonald]

87. I agree 100%

I am dependent on morphine, I've been on it for five years now, to take it away from me would mean my destruction.

I have, spinal stenosis, bad hips, still one bad knee, osteo arthritis in my legs, joints and shoulders and spine.

I've broken my right leg three times, my right ankle once, my left leg once, three operations on my left knee and then it was replaced, they want to do both of my hips next.

I've been stabbed in the spleen and had open chest surgery, I've broken all my fingers at least once and all my toes, the metatarsal bones in my left foot.

I've broken my left collarbone and dislocated my left shoulder, green stick fractures in my left arm also, sprained everything at least once, the list goes on.

I've tried all the prescription non-opiates before going to opiates, I tried all again recently to see if they would help now, they don't.

I know pain at a level most can't fathom, I wake up people in the house some mornings moaning in my sleep, after I wake up and get a pill down it's an hour before I can move around, every day for seven years now.

Dependent yes, addicted?, I guess you could say that, I cannot live without them, not by choice except that I do choose to take them, I would be in a wheelchair without them and my quality of life would disappear overnight.

I don't abuse medications, they don't do anything for me to abuse their use, at my length of time with them all they do is take the pain away, and for that I'm so very thankful that I can be trusted with them, you do have to go through some steps to follow with your pain clinic doctor but if you are doing it right there's no worry's.

Opiates are the only reason I have any quality of life, and there's so much to live for.

[Betty88]

92. Thank you

I have cancer, stage 4. With my pain meds taken as directed I am able to have a decent quality of life. However, I live in fear of the day some one decides that I really don't needs these. Don't tell me its for my own good. There is no reason to feel pain when a simple pill will take it away.

[heather blossom]

86. Candy

In a previous life, I worked in the insurance industry and in Workers Compensation. Doctors would give out opiods like candy for minor back, neck strains. It was not unusual to see the original script for 90 pills. I would always call the doctors office to question this. Most doctors would be appalled that I questioned them, but a few would redo the RX. Many patients who got the large prescription pill amount on their first prescription would later go from emergency room to emergency room to obtain more drugs. It was hard to get these people back to work. Just ruined their lives and the doctors suffered no consequences.
I am all for stage IV cancer patients getting all the pain meds they need. Addiction in the treatment or end stage is the least of their worries. There are other medical conditions for which opiods ard appropriate but they are not appropriate for minor sprains/strains.

[Dem2]

90. I felt the call of addiction after a single Vicodin pill

Since then I have been extremely angry and will scream at any doctor who thinks it's a good idea to toss opioid and opiate like drugs at me.