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I live with chronic pain. I've refused opioids because I can manage my pain with non-pharmaceutical interventions and NSAIDS.
I'm always going to feel a certain amount of pain, but I have learned to live and function with it.
To me, a 10/10 pain means you're passing a kidney stone, you have a dissecting aorta, trigeminal pain or you're giving birth without any anesthesia.
Agreed.
My back's getting bad but; I WON'T take any kind of oxy/vicodan kind of drug UNLESS I'm dying of pain. Addiction runs in my family and, I ain't going down THAT road.
I don't need to read articles when I know first hand.
Let's do a few hypotheticals:
Person with active drug addiction comes into the ER with third degree burns over 30% of his body. You are the ER doc. You are going to just tell him to "suck it up"?
A drug addict comes in and is found to have a kidney stone. You are the ER doc. You are going to just tell him to "suck it up"?
A drug addict comes in after having been hit by a car. He has multiple fractures, deep lacerations, and bruises. You are going to just tell him to "suck it up"?
What about fractures? Multiple trauma due to motor vehicle crashes? Shingles - or post herpetic neuralgia?
What if someone had exactly the same condition that is causing your pain but cannot manage with "non-pharmaceutical interventions and NSAIDS"? Cannot manage in the sense that he cannot tolerate the activities of daily living and is unable to work or sleep?
This is why there is now an entire specialty of pain medicine. There are folks who need opiates, and anyone who takes them should be aware of the potential for addiction and how to avoid it. For those who like the psychological effects the problem is the addictive personality, not the doctor who originally prescribed the drug for a legitimate indication.
Surgeons have long prescribed narcotics for post-op pain - without causing an epidemic of heroin overdoses.
EXACTLY!
There is something else going on here.....perhaps people are more in need of an escape from their lives nowadays or are so weak they can't ignore a twinge of wanting more after completing a course of pain meds.....not sure what it is, but it isn't the fault of using pain meds when needed.
At 63, I have been prescribed narcotic pain meds multiple times in my life and never became addicted.
Last summer I was in the hospital on IV morphine for 12 days, then given a script for a narcotic pain killer when released.....in the hospital again 6 weeks later for another 8 days on morphine and another script for pain meds......AND I DID NOT BECOME AN ADDICT......not even close.
Last spring I had a root canal done after an abscess......unlike the other two times I had a root canal, I was not given a script for Vicodin, instead I was told to take aspirin.
Well, after a week of taking aspirin three times a day as directed, I ended up with inadequate pain relief and an ULCER.
Had to see a doctor for stomach pain, had to have an endoscopy, had to take a course of Protonix to heal the ulcer.
All because the endodontist was too paranoid to give me the Vicodin I should have had in the first place.
Never again.....and I told him so on my follow up visit.
I feel bad for the kids: the hell with the "parents"; they doped themselves up.
Hard to for me to say this but; like how herion use dropped when I was a kid cause word got out it was just nasty, maybe it'll take some more people to die before others wise up. Same things with crack 30 years ago in the hoods; people said ENOUGH.
Yeah, I wonder what is going to happen to the kids. The two whose father previously died from an overdose are now parentless, and I wonder if the other two (his previous two) have mothers or a mother who can be in the picture? Or perhaps the grandmother mentioned in the article can raise them or help raise them?
About three years ago I got into a great conversation with a father at a Starbucks. He was trying to set up a computer he had just purchased, and I helped him out just a little bit. His wife had left him a note, and just abandoned him and their four daughters. A couple of years later he met a woman who had three daughters, and they became engaged. Very soon after the proposal, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she died. He didn't have any legal obligation to those three girls, but emotionally he might as well have been their father from birth. He adopted the three girls. He decided they all needed a different environment, so he sold his townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and moved them to Texas, buying a house with a pool in a gated community on Lake Conroe (northern edge of the Houston metro). His seven daughters were all between the ages of 9 and 14, with one set of twins. They kept calling him while we were trying to set the computer up, and he mediated the disputes that prompted the calls with aplomb (not too surprising...he's an attorney). All of his daughters attend the same private school, and his live-in housekeeper takes them to school and keeps the house running, but he deals with keeping up with all other 'things parental'. He looked tired, but a very happy tired. I told him that after all of his daughters are grown and gone, they'll appreciate his efforts and love for the rest of their lives, and that love and appreciation will flow back to him from them. I hope the four children from the tragic story in this thread can find enough of the stability illustrated in my recollection to have a successful upbringing .
Some money makers get pushed out fast, it it cures a disease good luck with it getting on the market. Facts
Not pilot as in a pilot drug trial, pilot as in an airline pilot. The guy in the article this thread is about was an airline pilot. You might want to actually read the linked article.
Addiction runs in my family and, I ain't going down THAT road.
Same here. One of my cousins on my mother's side is an alcoholic, as have been some other family members on both sides...almost all who are now deceased (mostly having lived pretty long lives). I, and my other cousins on my mom's side, don't have that issue...but I'm not going to take any chances. Except in college, I was never more than a very light social drinker, but decided 10 years ago not to have any alcohol at all. I've never been a smoker, but my father smoked 4 packs of unfiltered Pall Malls a day for 35 years. Fortunately, I'm not in any chronic pain, nor on any medications. I get a few headaches a year, and Advil easily alleviates them.
To me, the underlying cause of addiction is addictive thinking. Addictive thinking has different manifestations: alcoholism, gambling, food addiction, narcotics, etc. All those destructive behaviors are addictions.
The posters up thread who have observed these behaviors in their family and have chosen to avoid the same pit falls are wise to do so.
Mindfulness is a wonderful thing.
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