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Perhaps, but the whole idea of self medicating is risky. Maybe I'm taking other medications or have other conditions that I shouldn't be taking hydrocodone with. I would be better off, safer, if the doctor was prescribing the painkillers I'm going to take anyway.
I only answered a specific statement, of COURSE there's a risk of self medicating if one doesn't take all information into account... One could always just go ask a Pharmacist if it is contraindicated. That's what they're trained for, much more than doctors are btw...
That article is writing about something which is not what the manufacturers recommend. They clearly state their storage requirements. Freezing them does not stop the degrading process. If anything, it could ruin the physical tablet. The expiration dates on medications are dates of convenience. They are required to test potency for a certain period. The expiration dates are based on those tests. The medication might be potent for a long period of time afterwards.
Of COURSE they don't recommend it, they want you to buy MORE. Yep, toss out everything, keep buying and buying so the profits keep flowing.
I've shown you evidence that clearly says it does stop the process for that specific medication and you just expect me to take you at your word that it's wrong.
I have chronic pain. My cartilage in several joints is basically disintegrating due to taking Cipro for a week five years ago. Believe me, this is painful. I've had to have several surgeries and am looking at another one most likely. Please do not tell me that "surely I must not be dealing with serious pain or I'd feel differently about opiates" because that's simply not true. I have been prescribed opiates in the past specifically for my joint and tendon issues.
Guess what - I don't like opiates. I don't like how they make me feel, even though yes, they do take away much of the pain as long as I keep them in my system. But I don't like the foggy feeling I get. Yes, I can function on them. I am not "high" or incapacitated - but I just don't like NEEDING them in order to keep the pain at bay. I don't like having to keep them in my system.
I have found that other things work well enough - other non opiate meds, some OTC stuff, ice packs, massage, meditation, etc. LOSING WEIGHT helped tremendously. Eating healthier, taking supplements, etc.
I am not pain free and probably never will be. Pain is a drain too - an energy and an emotional drain. But I have found that I can keep the pain at bay without resorting to opiates.
My brother was on opiates (legally, with a prescription, for a legitimate health issues) for years. He decided to get off opiates and was able to do so successfully. He feels MUCH better now.
I am absolutely aghast at the devastation that opiates have caused whole communities - whole states for that matter. To me, they are too easy to abuse, too easy to get addicted to, too easy to steal, too unethically prescribed too often. And for many people, they truly do become a "gateway drug." I have known several people who started with opiates due to a real injury, and within a couple of years they were heroin addicts. One of them is now serving 14 years in prison for causing a wreck that killed two people, due to her being impaired. This is (was) a beautiful young girl, a college student, with her whole life ahead of her. Now she's in prison - oh, well, at least she can finish her degree there.
It also depends when they were diagnosed. It took YEARS for me to get my diagnosis and the damage was done. Would you like to trade with me? I also live with Venous Insufficiency - Fibromyalgia - Type 2 Diabetes- Degenerative Disc Disease (had surgery - cage put in at L5 S1 ) Did I mention BEFORE that surgery I had a Discogram? I want Jamin to understand there are those who are seriously ill with debilitating diseases/pain and perhaps EMPATHY would be nice. Been hospitalized for Cellulitis twice. First time I barely made it to hospital in time. Had a waited another few hours would have gone to sepsis.
What is a Discogram: Discography (also called a discogram) is a diagnostic procedure used to determine if one or more discs are the cause of back pain. The procedure involves pressurizing discs by injecting them with a sterile liquid to induce pain in the affected discs. ... Discography Video: Non-Surgical Back Pain Diagnostic Procedure.
The test tells them where the pain is and in what disc. It's very painful and not all people like to do it. My surgeon wanted to be sure. So it was L5 S1 that was bothering me and needed the surgery. Only problem is this was back in 2008 and here we are 10 yrs later and I am experiencing pain ABOVE the surgery.
RSD is the worse pain you can have. It's terrible. You are lucky if they diagnose at early onset - that is the KEY. My legs/feet are real bad. Double whammy w/ the Venous Insufficiency.
I don't like to be rude and I rather educate others about being chronically ill. Just remember Jamin, we are all different. I have always enjoyed posting with you but please be understanding as well. Like I have said many times - I have a great team of doctors and I also do preventative care.
You're the first person I've ever run into that's had that form of TORTURE called a Discogram. Thankfully they shot me up with Fentanyl and Versaid to make me forget what happened. I was told I screamed so loud and long they almost had to empty the waiting room nearby for fear of scaring people.
Years ago Workers Comp loved to push that test because only the very serious and desperate would subject themselves to it.
As for your pain above the surgery site, welcome to the world of back surgery. According to 2 Chiefs of Neurosurgery that have worked on me, once you've had one fixed that part of the spine is now stronger than the rest and damage starts marching up the spine as you get older. I started with L5-S1 at age 26 and about 10 years later went to L3/L4 and L4/L5.
Now at C4/C5 and maybe C6.
I have chronic pain. My cartilage in several joints is basically disintegrating due to taking Cipro for a week five years ago. Believe me, this is painful. I've had to have several surgeries and am looking at another one most likely. Please do not tell me that "surely I must not be dealing with serious pain or I'd feel differently about opiates" because that's simply not true. I have been prescribed opiates in the past specifically for my joint and tendon issues.
Guess what - I don't like opiates. I don't like how they make me feel, even though yes, they do take away much of the pain as long as I keep them in my system. But I don't like the foggy feeling I get. Yes, I can function on them. I am not "high" or incapacitated - but I just don't like NEEDING them in order to keep the pain at bay. I don't like having to keep them in my system.
I have found that other things work well enough - other non opiate meds, some OTC stuff, ice packs, massage, meditation, etc. LOSING WEIGHT helped tremendously. Eating healthier, taking supplements, etc.
I am not pain free and probably never will be. Pain is a drain too - an energy and an emotional drain. But I have found that I can keep the pain at bay without resorting to opiates.
My brother was on opiates (legally, with a prescription, for a legitimate health issues) for years. He decided to get off opiates and was able to do so successfully. He feels MUCH better now.
I am absolutely aghast at the devastation that opiates have caused whole communities - whole states for that matter. To me, they are too easy to abuse, too easy to get addicted to, too easy to steal, too unethically prescribed too often. And for many people, they truly do become a "gateway drug." I have known several people who started with opiates due to a real injury, and within a couple of years they were heroin addicts. One of them is now serving 14 years in prison for causing a wreck that killed two people, due to her being impaired. This is (was) a beautiful young girl, a college student, with her whole life ahead of her. Now she's in prison - oh, well, at least she can finish her degree there.
It's great you can deal with your pain doing what you do. Some can, others can't. As for the "devastation that Opiates have caused whole communities", I don't dispute there's a problem BUT I do dispute the current meme that it's largely prescription Opiates that are to blame as nobody is actually logging what the Opiate that caused the deaths/overdoses actually are/were.
As for rest, yes it can happen just like it does with Alcohol...
It's great you can deal with your pain doing what you do. Some can, others can't. As for the "devastation that Opiates have caused whole communities", I don't dispute there's a problem BUT I do dispute the current meme that it's largely prescription Opiates that are to blame as nobody is actually logging what the Opiate that caused the deaths/overdoses actually are/were.
As for rest, yes it can happen just like it does with Alcohol...
Opiates have their place - I just happen to think that it's a much smaller place than is currently occupied by opiates.
I think that many doctors prescribe opiates without fully exploring other options with their patients. I think a lot of people reach for opiates first rather than as a last resort.
I think that opiates are over prescribed. I think that prescriptions are often abused.
Opiates are often legally prescribed (wisely or not) and then find their way into the community in nefarious ways. I know this first hand. I've seen it first hand. I've seen the addiction, the gateway effect, the consequences first hand.
I will try ANYTHING - even hanging garlic around my neck if necessary (so far I haven't had to resort to that) before reaching for an opiate prescription. And the few times I've done so (because like I said, sometimes opiates ARE the best option for handling severe pain), I've locked up those meds because they have an uncanny way of getting out of one's house and into the local market.
I am lucky enough to live in a state with tough laws and restrictions (and education) regarding opiates. It's tough to get a prescription and tough to refill one, thank goodness. For a good look at which states have the highest opiate prescriptions per capita, this is a good source. Houston, we have a problem. Except it's not as much of a problem in Houston as it is in Dayton. Now why is that? Are people in more pain in Dayton? I doubt it. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing.html
Opiates have their place - I just happen to think that it's a much smaller place than is currently occupied by opiates.
I think that many doctors prescribe opiates without fully exploring other options with their patients. I think a lot of people reach for opiates first rather than as a last resort.
I think that opiates are over prescribed. I think that prescriptions are often abused.
Opiates are often legally prescribed (wisely or not) and then find their way into the community in nefarious ways. I know this first hand. I've seen it first hand. I've seen the addiction, the gateway effect, the consequences first hand.
I will try ANYTHING - even hanging garlic around my neck if necessary (so far I haven't had to resort to that) before reaching for an opiate prescription. And the few times I've done so (because like I said, sometimes opiates ARE the best option for handling severe pain), I've locked up those meds because they have an uncanny way of getting out of one's house and into the local market.
I am lucky enough to live in a state with tough laws and restrictions (and education) regarding opiates. It's tough to get a prescription and tough to refill one, thank goodness. For a good look at which states have the highest opiate prescriptions per capita, this is a good source. Houston, we have a problem. Except it's not as much of a problem in Houston as it is in Dayton. Now why is that? Are people in more pain in Dayton? I doubt it. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing.html
I did everything I could find to avoid Opiates, my doctors asked me if I'd be willing to try all manner of things from PT with Electro-stimulation (think giant TENS unit) and Hypnotherapy to Acupuncture and none of it worked. I tried every non-narcotic available, several they've since banned due to bad side effects.
Opiates were the last resort. I'm tired of it, I don't like it but the alternative is worse...
I did everything I could find to avoid Opiates, my doctors asked me if I'd be willing to try all manner of things from PT with Electro-stimulation (think giant TENS unit) and Hypnotherapy to Acupuncture and none of it worked. I tried every non-narcotic available, several they've since banned due to bad side effects.
Opiates were the last resort. I'm tired of it, I don't like it but the alternative is worse...
So you have legal access to the meds you need?
If that's the case, then great. But that doesn't really address the bigger issue, which IS a huge opiate addiction (legal and illegal) in this country and in some states in particular. Heck some states are so rife with opiate addictions that their economy is severely affected. It's a tragedy of epic proportions and the fix for it has to start somewhere. I do not personally believe that tight control of opiate prescriptions is a "war on pain relief." It's a war to save our heartland in my opinion.
If that's the case, then great. But that doesn't really address the bigger issue, which IS a huge opiate addiction (legal and illegal) in this country and in some states in particular. Heck some states are so rife with opiate addictions that their economy is severely affected. It's a tragedy of epic proportions and the fix for it has to start somewhere. I do not personally believe that tight control of opiate prescriptions is a "war on pain relief." It's a war to save our heartland in my opinion.
First they need to quantify the problem. This has not been done yet given the information at hand. Again, the stats they've stated are flawed. They should have tightened up the stats, made them simple and provable before running around like chicken little getting people all whipped up.
If someone comes to me and says "we've got proof that 50 people out of the 100 that have OD'd were due to prescription pain meds" then yes, there's a huge issue but that's just not the case.
As I and others have said before, there is no quantifiable evidence of what particular Opiate that any one person is OD'ing on because in most cases it's just listed as "Opiate overdose" not "overdose of Oxycontin" as an example.
First they need to quantify the problem. This has not been done yet given the information at hand. Again, the stats they've stated are flawed. They should have tightened up the stats, made them simple and provable before running around like chicken little getting people all whipped up.
If someone comes to me and says "we've got proof that 50 people out of the 100 that have OD'd were due to prescription pain meds" then yes, there's a huge issue but that's just not the case.
As I and others have said before, there is no quantifiable evidence of what particular Opiate that any one person is OD'ing on because in most cases it's just listed as "Opiate overdose" not "overdose of Oxycontin" as an example.
I'm not even talking about ODing. Let's just look at the stats on opiate prescriptions per capita. Are people in the Appalachian region in more physical pain than people in, say, California, or Virginia, or Texas? I doubt it. Then why are SO MANY opiates prescribed in that region (other states are affected too but honestly, the Appalachian and Ohio Valley regions are awash with prescription opiates)?
And why does the US, with 5 percent of the world's population, imbibe in about 95 percent of the world's prescription opiates? Are we in worse pain than any other country? Not likely. Do we have the only first rate medical systems? No. So what's the problem? I mean, I now we have an opiate problem - what's at the root of it?
The only two countries in the world that surpass the US in opiate prescriptions per capita are Afghanistan and the Ukraine. No other First World countries even come CLOSE to our per capita prescription rate. PROBLEM.
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