Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The crackdown on abuse of pain medications has resulted in severe shortage in US. Elective surgeries are being cancelled due to inability to treat surgical related post-operative pain.
Quote:
Opioid Shortages Force Improvisation—and Cancellations
The proliferation of opioid abuse and its alarming death toll have become major issues in both medical care and politics, but while many have spent the last several months decrying opioids, alarm has been slowly building over shortages of these same drugs.
Shortages of many injectable forms of opioids have reminded patients, federal agencies and clinicians alike of the vital role they play in a variety of health care settings, and left institutions nationwide scrambling to find alternative medications and analgesic routes. Although these efforts may ultimately somewhat slake our thirst for opioids and promote multimodal analgesia, the immediate fallout of the shortage has left patients in pain, caused the cancellation of elective procedures, and raised the specter of serious medication errors
My mother was in a in Hendersonville NC hospice, in agony from the cancer she was dying from and the barbarians on the nursing staff refused to give her opioid painkillers lest it turn her into an addict.
This was a hospice...not the hospital. They relented when the family arranged to have her moved to another hospice, but my mother shouldn't have had to endure that.
The country is taking the opioid problem too far. Try having back surgery or knee replacement surgery without opioids to get you past the first week or two.
My mother was in a in Hendersonville NC hospice, in agony from the cancer she was dying from and the barbarians on the nursing staff refused to give her opioid painkillers lest it turn her into an addict.
This was a hospice...not the hospital. They relented when the family arranged to have her moved to another hospice, but my mother shouldn't have had to endure that.
The country is taking the opioid problem too far. Try having back surgery or knee replacement surgery without opioids to get you past the first week or two.
Sorry to hear your Mom went through that. Like most things a few people ruin it for everyone. We have all had occasion to use some pain medication, and few of us abused it. But the drug companies were Hellbent on popping these things out like candy and some people were willing accomplices and took them way after the pain was gone, or they may not have had any pain in the first place.
Not sure what the attraction is to take pain pills to get high. Anytime I took them for some pain, all I got was sleepy !
Sorry to hear your Mom went through that. Like most things a few people ruin it for everyone. We have all had occasion to use some pain medication, and few of us abused it. But the drug companies were Hellbent on popping these things out like candy and some people were willing accomplices and took them way after the pain was gone, or they may not have had any pain in the first place.
Not sure what the attraction is to take pain pills to get high. Anytime I took them for some pain, all I got was sleepy !
I don't get it either. When I has a c section, they gave me opiods. I took one and became very disoriented. Thank god my husband was home. They seem to be downers to me.
The crackdown on abuse of pain medications has resulted in severe shortage in US. Elective surgeries are being cancelled due to inability to treat surgical related post-operative pain.
If they weren't cracking down you'd be posting about how they're in the pocket of big-pharma getting people hooked on opiods after their face-life or boob job etc.
My mother was in a in Hendersonville NC hospice, in agony from the cancer she was dying from and the barbarians on the nursing staff refused to give her opioid painkillers lest it turn her into an addict.
This was a hospice...not the hospital. They relented when the family arranged to have her moved to another hospice, but my mother shouldn't have had to endure that.
The country is taking the opioid problem too far. Try having back surgery or knee replacement surgery without opioids to get you past the first week or two.
That's just stupidity on the part of that hospice and when challenged they clearly relented so that tells you all you needed to know.
Again, can't have it both ways. People were screaming and screaming about "Big Pharma" and Opioids so what do you expect from the with hunt and demonization process?
People screamed and demanded action. They got it. *gasp* a government that reacts to the people?
Now, as before, the fault of any consequences is always.....somebody else.
Frankly, there are lots of threads around here about the opioid epidemic, why not post to them and point out the consequences of their actions?
I think the issue quoted by the OP is referring specifically to IV and/or injectable medications for which there are limited effective alternative agents, so there are few options other than cancelling or rescheduling procedures until they become available again.
That said, with regards to pain control post op, a decrease in availability and/or use of opioids need not decrease the number of elective surgeries. As indicated in the article, there are alternative medications and analgesic routes. There are millions of people around the world that routinely have elective surgeries like joint replacements and do not use the amount of opioids post op that we do here. They use prescription Tylenol and other medications, and they seem to manage. We might go that route now here in the U.S.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 05-21-2018 at 05:36 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
