The war on pain patients (disabilities, child, parent, friend)
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May depend on what state you live in. I, unfortunately, am in Florida, where, because of the pill-mill problem, they have gone totally overboard in the other direction now. Because Walgreen's got in trouble for filling pill-mill prescriptions some years back, they have now given their pharmacists the power to not fill a legitimate prescription, or to cut you off without even talking to your doctor. It was done to me. Plus, the federal government is implementing laws that do nothing but punish legitimate pain patients. For example, if they find a pattern of a pill distributor sending mass quantities of pills (such was the case in a small West Virginia town), they can stop shipments from that distributor. Which means everybody's medication gets held up. And the thing is, it's Fentanyl that's causing the overdoses these days!!!
I guess I don't fit the profile, either, because I have no trouble getting prescriptions. I don't like taking them; they don't relieve the pain, just make you care less about it.
Me either; not a fan ... they make my face itch & Ibuprofen works better for me anyway. As a rule, though; I fill every script I’m handed & for any type of drug but especially antibiotics & pain medications. I store them high (as in out of sight),cool & dry.
j
Can’t really put my finger on it as to why I’m “stockpiling” but between reading people’s experiences here & having an urgent care doctor tell me a few months ago that she wasn’t “allowed” to prescribe antibiotics? There is a certain level of mistrust.
It would be ironic if the “profile” turns out to be “ didn’t ask for them”.
Me either; not a fan ... they make my face itch & Ibuprofen works better for me anyway. As a rule, though; I fill every script I’m handed & for any type of drug but especially antibiotics & pain medications. I store them high (as in out of sight),cool & dry.
j
Can’t really put my finger on it as to why I’m “stockpiling” but between reading people’s experiences here & having an urgent care doctor tell me a few months ago that she wasn’t “allowed” to prescribe antibiotics? There is a certain level of mistrust.
It would be ironic if the “profile” turns out to be “ didn’t ask for them”.
Oh yeah with the antibiotics. I had a blown up infected finger full of pus and no antibiotics given. Are they nuts, I could have gotten blood poisoning. I also used to get antibiotic premedication for dental work, now magically they say we don't do that anymore. Well I do, so I have my own which I use.
Doctors withholding needed meds no longer have the patients best interests in mind and should rethink their profession. I certainly would make every attempt to hold them accountable if they refused treatment and I got sicker.
When doctors sign that script pad they don't know who will receive the medication. Just because the prescription is for the patient doesn't mean it won't get into someone else's hands. The fact is bodies are piling up. The life expectancy rate is falling. I worked on an ambulance and now work in a hospital. It's getting ridiculous. Overdose after overdose. Moms with young children being declared brain dead, kids stealing from family members cabinets, putting patches under their tongue and all over their body, getting hep c from needle drug use, getting addicted following a broken bone or oral surgery. People think it won't happen to their son or daughter but it does. Across all demographics.
I hear you, I have seen it too but I want to add this.
In criminal law, Blackstone's formulation (also known as Blackstone's ratio or the Blackstone ratio) is the principle that "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer"
It is more important that innocence should be protected, than it is, that guilt be punished; for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world, that all of them cannot be punished.... when innocence itself, is brought to the bar and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, 'it is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue itself is no security.' And if such a sentiment as this were to take hold in the mind of the subject that would be the end of all security whatsoever.
Benjamin Franklin stated it as, "it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer"
So how many legitimate pain patients should suffer wile attempting to stop the recreational drug users from harming themselves ?
"getting addicted following a broken bone or oral surgery"
That really doesn't matter to the system. If you are out their feeding the addiction and get caught in possession they will give you a prosecutor and jail cell, take you driver license to so you can't get to work, then probation hoping you fail like most do and get trapped in the system making payments. If you do survive it they give you a permanent record to ********* out of job opportunities. The system is designed to destroy your life and turn you into a revenue source. Designed to create an underclass. Designed to create hopelessness so users say "f-it" and keep using.
Its really not that difficult to start thinking its a conspiracy to kill off "undesirables" when everything they do "inadvertently" makes the problem worse and they benefit at the same time cause support for the drug war was at an all time low so they need this opiate crisis to continue.
For some perspective, I don't even live in a state with a huge opioid problem (such as WV or OH or any other number of states) but I've personally known several people who started out taking prescribed opiates and then moved on to addictions, eventually ending up with heroin addictions. One of these people is now serving two back to back seven year sentences for manslaughter (driving under the influence, she wrecked and killed two people). Prior to this, she had no criminal record and was a college student. Another person now has a criminal record so in spite of his college degree, he has had a hard time finding a good job, though he did seek treatment and is now "clean" (on probation) and has a decent enough job, though not at the level he probably would have had without the record and all that drama. And frankly, the odds related to addiction are not in his favor, so we're just hoping for the best for him.
Also, about half his friends from high school are addicts. They started by either being prescribed opiates or their parents were and they stole the prescriptions. Started selling them for pocket money...and then started taking them. Don't assume that the people who are getting the prescriptions are the ones taking the pills.
These friends, without exception, are from "nice, middle class" (and above) families.
If you are really interested in the causes and effects of massive opiate prescriptions, read "Dreamland" - you will never look at a non descript car parked in a public parking lot the same way again. DREAMLAND - The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
The US has by far the highest rate of opiate prescriptions of any country in the world. Sorry, but I don't think Americans are suffering from a higher level of pain than other first world country inhabitants. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/maps/rxrate-maps.html Opioids - OECD
People always use worst case scenarios when discussing this topic, but frankly the majority of opiates prescribed are not being used to treat chronic, relentless, debilitating pain. Just a few weeks ago, for instance, I had outpatient surgery and was prescribed opiates with no issues whatsoever. I took them for 24 hours and then quit, leaving a hefty dose of them for me to lock up in our safe - where I found to my surprise a cache of over 100 pills prescribed to me LAST YEAR for a case of shingles - which I had not used and had forgotten about. I have over $1000 worth on the street of opiates in my safe! YIKES.
And I found that other methods of pain relief were at least as effective, without making me drowsy and constipated.
I don't know what the answer is but Houston, we've got a problem. And Dayton, and Williston, and St Louis, etc.
A lot depends on your age and gender. My friend was 37 when he had his 12 hour surgery for bone cancer. They cut out part of his lung, 4 ribs and more. After a certain amount of time they told him he 'shouldn't' still be in pain. Of course none of the doctors had ever done this kind of surgery. His cancer is very rare. They really had no idea how long he would be in pain. Because he was a male and in his 30's, they cut him off. He was in agony like I've never seen or heard of. He didn't sleep for 6 weeks. In desperation he bought heroin.
You and your mother don't fit the profile so it's no problem for you to get opiates.
I had a relatively minor surgery and they gave me 100 pills, oxycodone. I was shocked. I don't think I took more than 5. I don't fit the profile either!
This example is just sad and tragic - and I think is the crux of the issue. There are unfortunate people like this in SEVERE pain, who NEED intense drugs until they finally die - I would like to understand better - is it that these people are not on hospice care? Or not on Palliative care? If not, why not? I think this is the issue because those two designations allow you to be drugged to the max, right?
For some perspective, I don't even live in a state with a huge opioid problem (such as WV or OH or any other number of states) but I've personally known several people who started out taking prescribed opiates and then moved on to addictions, eventually ending up with heroin addictions. One of these people is now serving two back to back seven year sentences for manslaughter (driving under the influence, she wrecked and killed two people). Prior to this, she had no criminal record and was a college student. Another person now has a criminal record so in spite of his college degree, he has had a hard time finding a good job, though he did seek treatment and is now "clean" (on probation) and has a decent enough job, though not at the level he probably would have had without the record and all that drama. And frankly, the odds related to addiction are not in his favor, so we're just hoping for the best for him.
Also, about half his friends from high school are addicts. They started by either being prescribed opiates or their parents were and they stole the prescriptions. Started selling them for pocket money...and then started taking them. Don't assume that the people who are getting the prescriptions are the ones taking the pills.
These friends, without exception, are from "nice, middle class" (and above) families.
If you are really interested in the causes and effects of massive opiate prescriptions, read "Dreamland" - you will never look at a non descript car parked in a public parking lot the same way again. DREAMLAND - The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
The US has by far the highest rate of opiate prescriptions of any country in the world. Sorry, but I don't think Americans are suffering from a higher level of pain than other first world country inhabitants. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/maps/rxrate-maps.html Opioids - OECD
People always use worst case scenarios when discussing this topic, but frankly the majority of opiates prescribed are not being used to treat chronic, relentless, debilitating pain. Just a few weeks ago, for instance, I had outpatient surgery and was prescribed opiates with no issues whatsoever. I took them for 24 hours and then quit, leaving a hefty dose of them for me to lock up in our safe - where I found to my surprise a cache of over 100 pills prescribed to me LAST YEAR for a case of shingles - which I had not used and had forgotten about. I have over $1000 worth on the street of opiates in my safe! YIKES.
And I found that other methods of pain relief were at least as effective, without making me drowsy and constipated.
I don't know what the answer is but Houston, we've got a problem. And Dayton, and Williston, and St Louis, etc.
Can't believe you just glossed over the bold without going into detail, given that so many people are desperate. Pray tell, what did you find?
There truly is an opioid epidemic. I live in an area where, if people can't get their pill fix, they shoot heroin. Every single day there are people ODing. My nephew ODd 18 months ago. He had been injured and was put on pills, when the doctor stopped writing the prescriptions for him, he turned to heroin. Not because of pain, because of the addiction. He got clean for a short time, then bought what he thought was oxy and it turned out to be laced with fentanyl. My brother came home and found him, tried to revive him by the strength of fentanyl is 100 times that of heroin. He didn't stand a chance.
My husband was addicted to pills for 10 years. He had a doctor who would write him prescriptions for ridiculous amounts of pills, like 360 for a month and those would be gone in two weeks. He started doctor shopping and was getting them from a couple of different sources. I fought with his doctor for those 10 years, I told him he HAD to stop giving him scripts. The doctor told me that maybe I needed to put my husband in rehab. I told him I wouldn't need to if the doctor would just stop prescribing the pills. That doctor eventually lost his license, thank god. My husband finally stopped taking pills when I told him I was divorcing him.
Flash forward 11 years and yesterday my husband had surgery. He had told the surgeon on the pre-op visit that he couldn't take opioids. The doctor brushed him off and said we'd address it after surgery. A recovering addict can't take 1 pill, just like a recovering alcoholic can't take one drink. It will start that downward spiral into addiction again. After the surgery, I met with the surgeon who told me that he was putting him on oxy. I told him no, the surgeon got a nasty attitude with me an stomped off after telling me he'd consult with the anesthesiologist. I never saw the surgeon again, but the anesthesiologist came to the recovery room with a plan in place. My husband doesn't want to take oxy, but they gave me 10 pills, just in case he's in horrible pain (which he's not so far, thank goodness) and I have the bottle hidden. We are using some other meds that will help stave off the pain, including but not limited to tylenol.
If you don't have addictions, you are very fortunate. It's a choice to NOT take the substances that you are addicted to, but it's not a choice to become addicted. The brain of an addict is wired differently. It just is.
Me? I have no need or desire to take pain meds. I had surgery many years ago and took two pills the first night before bed, but then never took another one. When I had my c-section 30 years ago, I was not given pain meds after surgery, just tylenol. I never even had a second thought about it, honestly.
Can't believe you just glossed over the bold without going into detail, given that so many people are desperate. Pray tell, what did you find?
Different things work with different conditions and different people. Also, I wasn't expecting, nor did I get, a pain free situation - but it was manageable pain. Though I experience pain every single day of my life, I didn't go into any detail because I don't want to argue it, since I've found that people experience and categorize pain very differently and it does no good to say "I was in considerable pain" because no one knows anyone else's pain levels. I also don't know other peoples' pain levels and won't judge those, but I will say that for the vast majority of people experiencing pain, there are alternatives which are pretty widely known (and easy to research) and are effective in many cases.
For some food for thought, I had four kids without any anesthesia. Different experiences each time, from short and very painful but over quickly, to ongoing agony but they couldn't give me anything because of the baby's heartbeat. With that one, I actually wondered if the pain alone would kill me or if I would just pass out (neither happened). I did, however, literally start throwing up while in labor due to the pain. And don't get me started on having to have both my Achilles tendons surgically rebuilt - that's ongoing and persistent pain which lasts for months - and is very limiting. I have had pain at some pretty significant levels over the course of my 57 years (I haven't shared all of it, but I just deal with it). I just say all that to show that I do understand the nature of severe pain - been there done that, and often for months at a time. But I found ways to cope with it without opiates (after seeing first hand the havoc that opiates can cause), as has most of the rest of the world.
The US has a huge prescription rate, that far outpaces other first world countries, even Canada, Germany, etc. In fact, it's the highest rate in the world, by a long shot.
People always use worst case scenarios when discussing this topic, but frankly the majority of opiates prescribed are not being used to treat chronic, relentless, debilitating pain. Just a few weeks ago, for instance, I had outpatient surgery and was prescribed opiates with no issues whatsoever. I took them for 24 hours and then quit, leaving a hefty dose of them for me to lock up in our safe - where I found to my surprise a cache of over 100 pills prescribed to me LAST YEAR for a case of shingles - which I had not used and had forgotten about. I have over $1000 worth on the street of opiates in my safe! YIKES.
Well that is just futher evidence that everyone who takes them does not fall off their rocker and speed off into the world of addiction.
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