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Agree. "Failure to treat" is happening. People are suffering due to addicts. Even I was given the once over many times at the ER while having a heart attack (genetic issue). Even had a nurse tell me they would screen me for drug use before I got relief...DURING a heart attack.
After many surgeries, I still get the side eye at Walgreens for post op meds. It's insanity now.
Sometimes one has to decide which one of two evils are worse. Pain control or potential risk to one's body. That's a decision only the patient can make with the information at hand at that time. I'd certainly regret my choice if it led later on to my death but would understand it was my doing.
My doctors have and do blood work every 3 months (and have for 20 years) to monitor liver/kidney functions as well as several other things to make sure I'm not going toxic in any way from the meds I take.
I'd hate to have to make a choice should something go awry...
Well, the good news is that since you're seen every three months, you should have no problem getting necessary prescriptions filled for 90 days at a time per federal law.
Good luck - I do sincerely hope you enjoy a full life.
These are the losers in the "war" on pain killers.
Those stories are so sad, and they make me furious! The one with the 30 year old, and how she was treated in the hospital, just gives me flashbacks of how I was treated as an addict just for needing pain relief by nurses, doctors and pharmacy workers. They put you in the position of "proving" you're not an to addict. How do you prove you're in pain? This is so terrible, I feel for these people and my own future. I can only hope the pendulum swings back to the middle before my spine gives out again.
Right - well, we all know that addictions are hard to beat. Incredibly difficult. Especially when there are years or decades of denial of the problem.
And even if you quit smoking after a lung cancer diagnosis, you have only about a 50 percent chance of being alive in five years IF it is diagnosed in the early stages (only 16 percent of lung cancer is diagnosed in the early stages). Late stage diagnosis - five percent survival rate. Heck, I'd probably just keep smoking at that point!
Are you saying that in spite of my uncle's pain and his liver disease, he should have quit taking opiates? At that point, why? Like I said, the damage was already done.
I'm not offering any opinion on your Uncle, But you said it like it was ridiculous to think someone might quit an addiction once the damage is done.
I'm sorry - I thought I had answered multiple questions - please repeat them. Thanks.
But drop the snark. I never said or implied that "losers are the ones that REALLY need opiates." I don't consider myself, or my mother, or my grandmother losers in any way.
If we can't discuss this civilly then I'm out. But if you really want to discuss the topic reasonably without sarcasm and without putting words I didn't say or think or imply into my mouth (well, fingers), then let's keep talking.
He meant the losers are the ones who really need them and now can't get them. Not that they were losers for needing them.
' My mother is not going to be denied her opiate prescription. All she has to do is have a face to face visit with her doctor once a quarter, like everyone else on long term opiate prescriptions. Heck, she sees her doctor more often than that anyway, so I don't see the problem. You're creating a scenario that doesn't exist.
I am saying that years of prescription opiate use severely damaged my uncle's liver, and that he died of liver failure. That's what I'm saying about his death. I am also saying that he expressed great regret many times over taking prescription opiates for so long. He firmly believed that in the long run, they were more damaging and detrimental than helpful for him, in spite of his health conditions that created chronic pain.
And sorry, but that's the last time I'm going to repeat that - I've said that in every way I can come up with multiple times.
As has been explained many times and through various links, long term users are now being forced to wean off of them, and it is resulting in a skyrocketing suicide rate among chronic pain patients. Your mom is one of the lucky ones, so far.
I'm not offering any opinion on your Uncle, But you said it like it was ridiculous to think someone might quit an addiction once the damage is done.
How did I say it "like" it was ridiculous? Wow, there is a lot of conjecture on this thread.
My point was, he had liver failure due to taking opiate pain relief for years. He was at the end of his life. Why add breaking a decades old addiction and all the pain and effort that takes to the end stages of his life? No, I didn't say it "like it was ridiculous" but I did say it as a serious question. What good would that have done him at that stage?
Agree. "Failure to treat" is happening. People are suffering due to addicts. Even I was given the once over many times at the ER while having a heart attack (genetic issue). Even had a nurse tell me they would screen me for drug use before I got relief...DURING a heart attack.
After many surgeries, I still get the side eye at Walgreens for post op meds. It's insanity now.
The CVS I had been a regular customer of for 20 years treated me like a criminal or an unclean person somehow when I tried to get my prescription filled. I got "We don't stock THAT" and then coldly dismissed, while, in terrible pain and with a cab waiting outside, I begged them to see of another CVS in the area had any. She just said "no we don't do that" and went on to the next person. I had to have the cab drive me around to pharmacies until I found them in stock at a Rite Aid (who treated me much better than CVS, but I still felt like I had to somehow prove myself).
As has been explained many times and through various links, long term users are now being forced to wean off of them, and it is resulting in a skyrocketing suicide rate among chronic pain patients. Your mom is one of the lucky ones, so far.
They are still being prescribed -actually at record rates per capita.
And I wouldn't call my mom "lucky" in any sense of the word, though I'm sure that she will continue to be able to get the prescriptions she needs to treat her pain, so I guess in that sense she's "lucky." Not a single law prohibits her from access to needed medications for her conditions.
I'm going to tell you a story from this past week. A personal story. I have a painful condition. I went to see a specialist again last week. I've been in pain, in varying degrees, with this particular flare up, since March. At times, the pain has been at what I would call a Level 8. I mean, a level 10 to me would be basically being set on fire alive and conscious, so a level 8 is pretty damn high.
A month ago when I was there, he had prescribed a non opiate pain reliever, and also some pointers on a particular diet (not to lose weight, but one tailored to my condition). He said to just give it a try. His office, while specializing in the treatment of some very painful and chronic conditions, does not prescribe opiates. (Don't worry - there are plenty of local offices that DO, however.) I tried the diet plan and also the prescription. Wow. MUCH improvement. Thankfully, I found I can live with this level of pain - it's not gone but it's now manageable. It required a pretty significant lifestyle change, and it also required a sort of re-adjustment in my mind, an acceptance of a level of pain that in the past would have probably been addressed with an opiate prescription. In fact, it's been offered to me in the past several times.
This specialist was absolutely thrilled with the lifestyle changes I had made. He was literally beaming as I thanked him for the various pointers he had given me the month before. Now I am not saying that this would work with everyone - this is just my personal experience I'm relaying. But it's a valid personal experience.
I know I could change doctors and get a prescription for Vicodin. And you know what - if I couldn't live with a certain level of pain, I WOULD change doctors and find one who would prescribe Vicodin or whatever to me.
My brother broke his back. He also tore up his knee. He was on opiate prescriptions for years, probably twenty years. Under a doctor's care, he weaned himself off of the prescription. He still has pain. But he no longer is dependent on the opiates. Get this - he is STILL regularly offered that prescription by another doctor he goes to. He's not asking, he's not taking, but the doctor asks him EVERY SINGLE TIME HE VISITS HIM if he wants a refill. This is in a state with a definite opiate crisis, a very, very high rate of opiate abuse. Why on earth is that doctor offering that scrip to him EVERY SINGLE TIME HE GOES IN? Honestly, that's a problem.
Not only that, but get this - he just moved to another state. He is in transition and due to mental health issues, he has a very difficult time with stress. I would be willing to bet my last dollar that within three months he is dependent on opiates again. I'll update the thread in three months in fact. Of course, he may not level with me about it but it will show up in his actions eventually. I am praying he doesn't go back down that trail but I'm a natural born skeptic when it comes to substance abuse issues. I've seen substance abuse in all sorts of forms ruin too many lives.
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 09-18-2018 at 11:42 AM..
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