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* Doctors for most part have stopped prescribing opioids under any circumstances.
Where did you get that information? In my neck of the woods they are still handing out opioid painkillers like M&Ms.
If you are going to a heroin dealer to get pain relief because your MD has cut you off, your MD obviously feels you are addicted or in danger of getting addicted. And if you are going to a heroin dealer to keep yourself supplied, that doctor is probably absolutely right. Ask for a referral to a drug-free pain clinic to help get you started on a better track than opioid dependency. All that class of painkillers ever does for anyone is LOWER their pain thresholds so they feel they are in far more pain than they would be if they had never taken the stuff. They'll feel wretched when they stop, but not forever. They will gradually start building up their pain tolerance again. Studies have made clear that physical therapy is far more effective in helping with chronic pain than any pill on the market. You can get a referral to one of those, too. There are plenty of other methods that help -- massage, for instance, or the anti-inflammatory diet.
Where did you get that information? In my neck of the woods they are still handing out opioid painkillers like M&Ms.
NO WAY!
Quote:
The Montana Board of Medical Examiners voted unanimously Thursday to suspend the medical license of Dr. Mark Ibsen for unprofessional conduct. Ibsen was one of the last doctors in Montana willing to prescribe opioid pain medication to new patients, including many who drove hundreds of miles to see him.
I don't know, it amazes me too. I can see taking them for a few days after surgery, but to take them every day for years because you have back pain? That's just nutty. Have you seen the commercial for some kind of laxative specifically for people who take opioids? I guess so many people take them now and have chronic constipation that some enterprising drug company came up with a special laxative for them
In my case, the problem was it took 8 months to get to the surgery stage. That is what many don't realize, especially those who back the "3-day" rule. I was getting conservative treatment, PT, chiropractic (not for manipulation but a special technique called Active Release) I did everything my doctors said and went everywhere they wanted me to go, and my pain got worse and worse. I had to BEG for an MRI after doing this for 5 months and pain getting worse (my doc screamed at me "You don't NEED an MRI, you have tendonitis!!!" and yes, I paid a $50 co-pay to get yelled at) By this time I am in agony in the morning, but still functioning during the day. Not taking anything but OTC meds and didn't ask for anything else.
So I complain then they give me MRI Rx, turns out I have L4 L5 herniations and spinal stenosis compressing a nerve. The doc doesn't even want to see me anymore after that (cause he was wrong and docs don't like being wrong) and dismissed me to pain management. Before my appointment even came, March 1 happened. On March 1, I woke up in so much pain I couldn't get up. I slid myself onto the floor, and over a 10 minute or so period of time, crawled 15 feet to the bathroom, hoisted myself onto the toilet using the towel rack on the shower, crawled back to bed, and ended up unable to get back up, so I ended up laying on the floor crying waiting for the pain management people to call me back.
When they do, they yell at me, too (cause everyone who is in pain now gets treated as an addict). They say if it's that bad, call 911. I am laying on the floor naked, the bolt i on the door which I can't get to, but sure, call 911. Thank GOD I had leftover opiates from a surgery 10 years ago, or I might not be alive today. I know many think that's BS but if you do, you have never been in 10/10 pain. A week or so later I got my prescription. The pharmacy (CVS) I have been going to for 2 decades suddenly gruffly tells me "We don't stock this" with an angry and disapproving look, sending me off in a cab (I cannot drive due to pain, and even in the cab I have to lay on my right side across the seat) to try different pharmacies until I found one who stocked it (thanks Rite Aid, especially for treating me as a human)
What followed was not immediate surgery. What followed was first an SI joint injection, which didn't do squat, then 4 epidurals over the next 6 months, which helped for a few days to a couple of weeks max. When my team finally decided surgery was my only option, months had gone by. I was out of work now since March it is now September. I can't drive, I live alone, I dread falling asleep even for a few hours because when I wake up I will be in so much pain I now keep diapers next to me, just in case. This is WITH opiates. My blood pressure went from 120/70 to 160/100. Again I know if I didn't have these meds, I would not be alive today. And again, anyone who doubts that has never been through 10/10 pain. I am still traumatized by it.
My surgery is scheduled for September. 2 weeks or so prior, my surgeon's office calls me to tell me Blue Cross denied it, because they consider one of the materials he uses (to replace fusion) is experimental, despite his use of it for years. Experimental in this case means it's expensive and we don't want to pay for it. My surgeons's office appeals, and I finally get the surgery in October last year.
The surgery went awesome, and less than 2 weeks later, I stopped taking any opiates. No withdrawal at all after 6 or 8 months or so of all day use, no problems at all. I still have some left, which I am hoarding because my spine is a mess of arthritis and it is a matter of time before I wake up in pain again, hopefully not for a while (the surgeon says we can maybe go 10 years till I will need fusion).
I believe my case is pretty common in terms of how sloowly the bloated cogs of our health care system move. There is NOTHING that could have been done in 3 days or even 3 weeks (even the epidurals took weeks to a month to get me on the schedule, and I had 4 of them).
So I would like to ask people how they think my prescriptions should have been managed? How many days would I have gotten if you had your wish to see these drugs restricted even more? It wasn't chronic pain, it was acute, but it took almost a year (and 10 months out of work and $14,000 in co-pays and Uber rides) to get resolved.
I am telling my long tale because it really is not as simple as many seem to think.
P.S. I take Chia seeds, and added a stool softener, and never had a constipation problem. Natural things and OTC meds do work for many things.
Well sadly, it's taken my mother to arrive at her death bed to not be questioned about opioids. When she was going through chemo for lymphoma, it always seemed the Dr's were trying to steer her away from them to find an alternative for pain management. She's 84 fighting cancer, yet that fear pushes logic aside. Now at home under hospice, no problem giving her oxy, and I assume pretty soon morphine once her passing is imminent.
How many days would I have gotten if you had your wish to see these drugs restricted even more? It wasn't chronic pain, it was acute, but it took almost a year (and 10 months out of work and $14,000 in co-pays and Uber rides) to get resolved.
I'm truly sorry for what you have gone through, but to be fair, I did not say it is my wish to see opiates restricted more, I said it makes no sense to take them for years or decades for chronic pain. It seems that you took them for less than a year and during that time you diligently looked for another solution to your pain issues, and that's commendable. My personal thoughts are that all drugs should be decriminalized and you should be able to take whatever you want whenever you want, but that is not going to happen so it's probably better to deal with the reality of the situation.
My concern is with people who didn't see the crackdown on opiate prescriptions 2 or 3 years ago and realize then that at some point they will not be getting their 30 day prescriptions for years at a time. If they've taken them for a long enough time, they will experience physical withdrawals, that's inevitable and it's how opiates work. But to be clear, that is not the same as psychological addiction which only occurs in 10% or less of people who take opiates, or even among those who try heroin.
Well sadly, it's taken my mother to arrive at her death bed to not be questioned about opioids. When she was going through chemo for lymphoma, it always seemed the Dr's were trying to steer her away from them to find an alternative for pain management. She's 84 fighting cancer, yet that fear pushes logic aside. Now at home under hospice, no problem giving her oxy, and I assume pretty soon morphine once her passing is imminent.
I work in nursing home rehab (O.T.) elderly patients post surgery Who have Tylenol ordered for pain. It is pathetic and it slows down their rehab because they can't tolerate anything. The really ironic thing to me is that Tylenol is not safe,
it is the biggest cause of acute liver failure in our country now.
I'm truly sorry for what you have gone through, but to be fair, I did not say it is my wish to see opiates restricted more, I said it makes no sense to take them for years or decades for chronic pain. It seems that you took them for less than a year and during that time you diligently looked for another solution to your pain issues, and that's commendable. My personal thoughts are that all drugs should be decriminalized and you should be able to take whatever you want whenever you want, but that is not going to happen so it's probably better to deal with the reality of the situation.
My concern is with people who didn't see the crackdown on opiate prescriptions 2 or 3 years ago and realize then that at some point they will not be getting their 30 day prescriptions for years at a time. If they've taken them for a long enough time, they will experience physical withdrawals, that's inevitable and it's how opiates work. But to be clear, that is not the same as psychological addiction which only occurs in 10% or less of people who take opiates, or even among those who try heroin.
I understand but here is the problem; if I didn't have good health insurance and $14,000 to spend on co-pays I would still be in agonizing pain. Many of these people who are just given opiates don't have any options and the doctors give them opiates because they people don't have the insurance to cover the things that would relieve the underlying issues. I had options because I had money. Many of the places were the opioid epidemic is the highest are places were people are poor. We can't just regulate opioids we have to address the entire healthcare system.
H is cheap thanks to uncontrolled illegal immigration from Mexico. Thousands of illegals bring in H to pay for the transit across the border. That and tens of thousands of semi-trucks flooding across from Mexico thanks to NAFTA. These trucks are never searched.
H is cheap thanks to uncontrolled illegal immigration from Mexico. Thousands of illegals bring in H to pay for the transit across the border. That and tens of thousands of semi-trucks flooding across from Mexico thanks to NAFTA. These trucks are never searched.
There was always easily accessible heroin in this country. There is more now in answer to greater demand, and most of the greater demand is due to people who had docs stop prescribing opiates after they became addicted.
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