Should the "war on opiates/pain killers" be better described as "war on pain relilef"? (defibrillator, dentists)
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I understand, but this is not new. Phillip Morris has been striving to addict as many people as they can for decades and has killed many times more people than Perdue can ever hope to match. I think most corporations are evil or have the potential to be, but as long as stock prices rise no one really cares.
I agree it's analogous to the tobacco companies, but compared to oxy addiction that causes many to move on to heroin is a much bigger killer than cigarettes. Few die young due to smoking. Parents are not losing children to cigarettes.
Tobacco reps are not going to Drs telling them they must prescribe them. Jon Oliver did an 'expose' about how bad tobacco companies still are. Moving on to tiny countries whose GDP is less than PM's. Suing them over labeling and such but I am sorry, as bad as that is it is not as bad as the concentrated effort to addict THE WORLD to ****ing oxy. I hope Jon Oliver does an expose on that. He puts such things together nicely.
I agree it's analogous to the tobacco companies, but compared to oxy addiction that causes many to move on to heroin is a much bigger killer than cigarettes. Few die young due to smoking. Parents are not losing children to cigarettes.
Tobacco reps are not going to Drs telling them they must prescribe them. Jon Oliver did an 'expose' about how bad tobacco companies still are. Moving on to tiny countries whose GDP is less than PM's. Suing them over labeling and such but I am sorry, as bad as that is it is not as bad as the concentrated effort to addict THE WORLD to ****ing oxy. I hope Jon Oliver does an expose on that. He puts such things together nicely.
Simply saying it’s not new for corporations to deliberately harm people to make a buck. The poster called Perdue “evil”, they are IMO no more evil than tobacco companies who try to make their products more addictive or more evil than food companies who put additives in food that make us want to eat more. They are no different at all. This is why corporations need to be regulated, but the powers that be have convinced people that regulation hurts “job creators”. Corporations will get away with whatever we let them get away with. The fact of whether one addictive substance kills you now or later hardly matters in that regard.
Simply saying it’s not new for corporations to deliberately harm people to make a buck. The poster called Perdue “evil”, they are IMO no more evil than tobacco companies who try to make their products more addictive or more evil than food companies who put additives in food that make us want to eat more. They are no different at all. This is why corporations need to be regulated, but the powers that be have convinced people that regulation hurts “job creators”. Corporations will get away with whatever we let them get away with. The fact of whether one addictive substance kills you now or later hardly matters in that regard.
I understand you. I rail against all of them. We just have to agree to disagree that the quest to addict the world to either oxy or oxy then suboxon is worse. It is to me. Just my personal opinion I am not seeking anyone to convince. I honestly wonder if they even work with the Cartels to deliver heroin when addicts can't afford or obtain their oxy anymore.
and at your patient's age..... what does it matter if she DOES become addicted?? she's not going to be out robbing people to get her fix on the street corner..... she should be kept as comfortable as possible......
I have often thought the same thing.
What is the point of not allowing the elderly the pain killers they need so they don't have to spend the rest of their lives in misery?
SO WHAT if they are addicted?
Nearly 20 years ago, a friend of mine's mother was wracked with pain from osteoporosis and arthritis. She was nearly 90.
While my friend was at work, Passport would come in during the day and check on her mother and one of those workers stole a newly filled bottle of her mother's pain pills....nearly 30 days worth of pills.
I was there a day later and her mother was lying in bed crying in pain and begging her daughter to do something. It was just awful and so heartbreaking. The doctor absolutely refused to refill the script until the 30 days was up, even though he had known my friend and her mother for YEARS.
After a few days of her mother suffering and literally crying in pain, my friend's husband went out and bought the pain pills she needed from a drug dealer on the street.
After that, my friend kept her mother's pain pills with her and only left one or two pills at her mother's house, just enough for the day.
Now, there was my friend's husband, a veteran and the most law abiding person you ever met, risking everything to alleviate a poor old woman's suffering......thank goodness he didn't get caught.
And......thankfully, the mother died years ago before the current insanity against pain medication took hold. If she was alive today her life would be a living hell.
I understand you. I rail against all of them. We just have to agree to disagree that the quest to addict the world to either oxy or oxy then suboxon is worse. It is to me. Just my personal opinion I am not seeking anyone to convince. I honestly wonder if they even work with the Cartels to deliver heroin when addicts can't afford or obtain their oxy anymore.
Long before Oxycontin there were other pain meds. Anyone remember Tylenol 2, 3, and 4's? They worked quite well, they just weren't time released like oxy.
I really don't think the pharmaceutical industry deliberately set out to addict people.
For years and years and years people took a variety of narcotic pain meds and few became addicted.
Even now, I would like to see the percentage of people who have used narcotic pain meds without becoming addicted compared to those who do. What would that look like? 95% to 5%? 90% to 10%?
I am willing to bet the VAST majority, like myself, have used narcotic pain meds on and off over the years with no problem.
As for chronic, legitimate pain patients that need paid meds constantly, again, my feeling is so what if they are addicted as long as that addiction is managed by their doctor? If they can legally get the pain meds they need they will not be forced to buy unregulated narcotics off the street that end up killing them.
As for the few, percentage-wise, who become addicted for a temporary condition, they should be ferreted out by their doctors and treated for that addiction before they take it to the streets. Doctors should be more aware of that potential and better trained to deal with it.....the DEA and others who are not on the front lines of pain should not be the ones practicing medicine. They should only deal with the ones who slip through the cracks, the ones who break the law.
Someone like my friend's mother, whom I mentioned earlier, should NOT be required to see a doctor every 5 or 7 days in order to get the pain relief they need everyday for the rest of their life. Plain and simple....it's CRUEL.
Couldn’t agree more Annie! The 5-7 day is true for NEW prescriptions but not existing. I see my doctor once a month for my new 30 day supply but this may vary by state. I am not addicted in that I have no desire to take them unless the pain is severe and can go days or weeks without if it’s not bad, but then take them exactly as prescribed when I need them. My doctor has a very thorough screening they do once a year and a mini one at each appointment to ensure that you aren’t at a significant risk of addiction. They also drug test at each appointment to ensure that only the medication you’re prescribed comes up and if it doesn’t, they’ll ask for a pill count. I am thankful to have a compassionate pain management provider. My heart breaks for those who don’t because I know what it’s like to be in agony.
I also think that some people on this thread and in general need to understand that there’s a huge difference between addiction and physical dependency. Both can cause withdrawal symptoms but they are different.
Also re Tylenol 2/3/4 codeine isn’t effective for everyone or can be over-metabolized and release too rapidly in others. It all comes down to whether your body converts codeine to morphine. Mine does not, so it’s not an effective pain medication for me. On the flip side some, especially children, can essentially OD on morphine because the opposite is true. You can get tests done to determine this.
I have often wished for some sort of medical device that would simulate pain that these opiate watchdogs would be required to wear for, let's say, two weeks, before they are permitted to put forth any opioid restrictions.
There could be a variety of devices made to simulate different types of pain and they would be required to wear them for two weeks. Pretend they need a refill of their pain meds.....walk down to the bus stop, wait for a bus, ride to a doctor's office, spend an hour or two waiting to be seen to obtain a prescription refill, walk back to the bus stop, back on the bus, get off close to a pharmacy, walk a block or two to the pharmacy, wait in line for another half hour, walk back to the bus stop, ride the bus back to the neighborhood bus stop, walk another block or two to get home.....all the while IN PAIN.....and dialing UP the level of pain as the day goes on.
Let these people get a small taste of what it is like to live with chronic pain that never goes away, that only goes from bad to worse throughout the day, EVERY DAY.
We have the technology to make it happen but I am pretty sure it would be declared too cruel to implement........imagine that.
No thanks, I already had four kids via natural childbirth - and lived to tell about it.
I've also had pain that was serious enough to be addressed via opiates - prescribed for two weeks. After that - yes, I was still in pain, but guess what - I'm not in pain AND addicted to opiates.
Here's the thing - no one is saying to deny people with real, serious, chronic pain the pain relief they need. People are simply saying that TOO MUCH OPIATE PAIN RELIEF IS BEING PRESCRIBED AND ABUSED. And it simply IS. So Houston, we've got a really serious issue here, one that needs desperately to be addressed. So let's address it. And pretending that most people who are prescribed opiates are in serious, chronic pain that can't be addressed with any other pain relief is simply untrue. Simply untrue. So let's please drop the emotional ploys and stick to facts.
This is a skilled nursing facility, and it's the doctors who prescribe, not the facility. People don't believe it, but this IS the new normal. Opiods are being so severely restricted even for the elderly. It us overkill to an insane degree. Of course the doctors know. That is what the hospital doctor prescribed for her when they sent her back after diagnosing her fracture.
Every prescription is being watched, they are keeping track of how many prescriptions the doctors write, and doctors are now afraid to write them.
My elderly mother who broke her arm and is in assisted living has had absolutely zero problems obtaining both morphine and Vicodin for her pain. She has a standing prescription. Yes, she does have to be re evaluated every three months but so far so good. Of course anyone in that much pain should be seen by a doctor and reevaluated once a quarter.
yes...it's very sad that in this day and age we have the drugs to ease patients pains yet refuse to give them...I've seen many people in agony for days after a surgery...very sad, especially when there is no need for them to suffer.
It happens all the time.
Not sure where you live but since we're trading personal anecdotes, I've never seen it happen, and it also hasn't happened to me - and I was in considerable pain after surgery.
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