Painkiller use breeds new face of heroin addiction

[Jesus Malverde]

The biggest problem seems to be the connection between prescription painkillers and heroin. The opiate high that teens seek from drugs such as Oxycodone (the actual drug contained in OxyContin brand pills) may also be obtained from heroin, which is much cheaper, easier to buy, and offers users a more intense high.

In dozens of interviews with former young heroin addicts, NBC News found that every single heroin user had arrived at shooting up the same way: starting with expensive prescription drugs, which they purchased from friends for $20-$60. When they became too addicted to afford pills, they listened to friends who told them they could get a better, cheaper high if they used heroin instead. For $3-$10 a bag, they said, they started off by snorting the drug, never thinking that they would end up injecting it. Most of them started shooting up within weeks.

http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/19/12303942-painkiller-use-breeds-new-face-of-heroin-addiction?lite

[pinto]

1. Another aspect, as well, Oxy was reformulated so it couldn't be crushed & injected.

Users who had begun to inject Oxy moved on to heroin.

[cali]

2. all I know is this: Oxcodone is the most effective way to control my severe pain

and the ridiculous hoops my doc and I both have to go through are one more stress factor I'd rather not have.

Last week I was in her office and she said she needed a urine sample. "no prob", I told her. She asked when I lost took a pill. I told her around 12 hours prior. She responded that in that case, I'd have to come back within 6 hours of taking one because it wouldn't show up and if it doesn't show up, I'd get investigated for selling my pills.

I've tried everything- from spinal blocks to morphine to acupuncture. Oxycodone works the best and I'm extraordinarily careful with it. I've had days go by when I could handle the pain with just ice packs and ibuprophen. I don't get high from it. I always take the minimum to reduce the pain to a manageable level.

It's not a good thing when docs get so afraid of prescribing that people are left to suffer- and that sure as hell is happening. I'm lucky. I've known my doc for 25 years.

The pain I endure is like having a bad burn from boiling hot sugar syrup. Not to long ago that happened to me when I was making a creme caramel, and I thought, "I can deal with this. It's no worse than what I deal with all the time.

this is why I take pain killers. It's the result of smashing my leg to pieces (literally) a couple of years ago:

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) formerly reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), "causalgia", or reflex neurovascular dystrophy (RND) is an amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome (AMPS). It is a chronic systemic disease characterized by severe pain, swelling, and changes in the skin. CRPS is expected to worsen over time.[1] It often initially affects an arm or a leg and often spreads throughout the body; 92% of patients state that they have experienced a spread, and 35% of patients report symptoms in their whole body.[2]

<snip>

CRPS has the unfortunate honour of being described as the most painful long term condition (of those that have been tested), scoring 42 out of a possible 50 on the McGill pain scale, above such events as amputation and childbirth.[7] Lack of social awareness has inspired patients to campaign for more widespread knowledge of CRPS,[8] and lack of clinical awareness has led to the creation of support groups seeking to self-educate with the latest research.[9]

<snip>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_regional_pain_syndrome

[Jesus Malverde]

3. I've never heard about being made to take a drug test like that.

It seems a real violation of the doctor patient relationship when the doctor is documented as considering the patient a liar.

What a shitty situation, not even considering the underlying pain. Hang in there Cali.

[dionysus]

5. i don't know if it's a law or a standard procedure, a lot of docs require

urine testing for you to be prescribed pain or anxiety meds...

[riverwalker]

7. becoming more common

grandson brings grandma in, says her pain is intolerable, needs stronger meds, grandma nods. Urine tox screen shows nothing in grandmas system.

[Jesus Malverde]

8. I had heard that some low income seniors were supplementing their income selling pills.

I had no idea the docs would force them to take a test like that. Disgusting really.

[JNelson6563]

11. Here's why...

My brother got addicted to opiates. He got shot in the leg and had complications. He was sent to a pain clinic who gave him lots and lots of very serious drugs. Then they told him there was nothing more they could do for him and that was that. Well he was left with a raging addiction and took matters into his own hands and went the black market way.

He burned through everything he earned and then some. He took many along the way who ended up suffering terribly. He exhausted all career options and was left with nothing. For the last few years of his habit he bought 200 mg morphine pills through a third party who got them from someone who was prescribed them. He would travel about 250 miles to get them, spend everything, entire paychecks (rent, elec bill, grocery money, etc.) and on it went. Nearly died 3 times. Went through short term withdrawals many times before that (violently ill until drugs were attained).

This is a common practice. Lots of people sell their drugs and make A LOT of money doing it. You would be surprised how many addicts are out there willing to pay any price. Many arriving at that point through no fault of their own.

My brother has manage to come through it all ok but many don't. These people who get meds to sell them are criminals, not the doctors they fool into prescribing them. Oh and they get around those drug tests by keeping a few on hand for those occasions. They are prepared for testing at every office visit.

It's terrible, the trouble they have caused good doctors and *real* patients.

Julie--who is very glad her brother never went down the path all the way to heroin.

Julie

[Jesus Malverde]

12. Thanks Julie.

That sounds like a terrible way to live and must have been very stressful.

[Ghost in the Machine]

14. I wish I could rec your post! See my post #13.... n/t

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. It is standard procedure when you are in Pain Management. You even sign a consent form before they

will take you as a patient. You are also subjected to be called in at any time during the month for a random pill count and urine screen. I don't know why cali's doctor said 12 hours was too long, as most opiates stay in your system up to 72 hours. They can also tell compliance by testing the nanograms per milliliter of opiods in your blood or urine samples.

I've been in pain management for 4 years and have NEVER failed a urine test or a pill count, yet I get tested every visit. At one point I was on 180mgs of oxycodone per day. That was one 30mg pill every 4 hours. As with all drugs, you build up a tolerance after a while. Now I am on 2 40mg Oxymorphone 12 hour extended release tablets/day and 2 15mg Oxycodone instant release for "break-through" pain. Oxymorphone, otherwise known as Opana, is the parent drug of Oxycodone. I have read that it is 3 to 5 times stronger than Oxycodone, but I'm not convinced. I got better pain relief when I was taking a 30mgs every 4 hours. It takes an hour and a half to 2 hours for the coating to wear off of the extended release before they even start working, then they only last about 8 to 9 hours.

For the record, I have never gotten high from my medications. All I get is some much needed pain relief. I've never understood how, or why, people take them recreationally and get "high" from them, but I guess the drugs react differently on people who aren't in pain. Also, for the record, I have turned people in for obtaining pills under false pretenses and then selling them. I can't STAND people like that, as they just make it harder for those of us who really NEED them to get them. I would never sell even ONE of my pills, as it isn't worth the risk. You could be charged with Medicare fraud, causing you to lose your Medicaid, Disability and blacklist you from ever getting ANY kind of pain relief again. Not to mention the Felony counts for EACH pill sold, and the prison time. It's just not worth it.

Best of luck to all of my fellow DUers who suffer from chronic pain, and I wish you all some pain-free days ahead.

Peace,

Ghost

[dionysus]

4. sorry it hasn't gotten better cali...

[cali]

10. thank you. I have found things that help- exercise

meditation and laughing- not necessarily in that order.

[bravenak]

9. That's is so wrong on so many levels.

You should be able to get anything you need to manage pain without your doctor fearing arrest or you being thought of as a drug dealer. This is why a lot of people turn to heroin, getting cut off of their medication causes the pain to magnify and they can't not find a way to stop the pain.
Nobody should be writhing in pain just so the DEA doesn't bother them.
It would be nice if we could let doctors treat their patients without all of the interference. Most doctors are not a part of a drug ring. They're just doctors.

[Comrade Grumpy]

6. Opiates are certainly a two-edged sword.

The best pain relievers known to man. And they'll get you strung out and kill you, too.

I'm not a big fan, but grew my own poppy crop last year. Now I have a little bottle of raw opium for emergencies.

[kalisto2010]

15. Vicodin use has EXPLODED in the California Suburbs

So many of my friends and coworkers are regular users of Vicodin it's startling. I worked for a major corporation for the last 3 years and couldn't believe how much dealing was going in the office. Vicodin use in California has become as normal as drinking. People tell me they take it for stress relief, and how good it feels to take one right before work which makes the day fly right on by. These people aren't your normal archetype of drug abusers. In California, teenagers smoke pot, and adults abuse Vicodin.

[tridim]

16. I guess they don't care that it destroys their livers every day?

What a waste of life.

[sorefeet]

17. I have been in a pain program for

about 7 years now. I take a drug test every time I see the doc/probation officer. They are scared shitless of the DEA. He told me he didn't trust me as a new patient and I told him because of all the doctors I had before him, That I also do not trust him, let that be known. DOCTORS LIE. That is why I am also seeking poppy seeds, to always have a backup plan for when the doc bows down to a new corporate policy that kicks me to the curb. My pain does not allow me to NOT take opiates. I fought the VA for this because they REFUSED to treat pain if you used marijuana. Which also helps my pain.
I tried to tell the doc how people were cheating his drug test and he said as long as grandmas piss can pass it wasn't his concern. And you always get the threat "don't make waves".