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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsChronic Pain Sufferers are being screwed by the..
new emphasis on halting/reducing opiate pain medicine prescriptions. Chronic Painers are being denied appropriate medicines, forced to search for pharmacies that will fill their prescriptions, and even being let go by doctors who do not want the hassle by govt. regulators.
The DEA has wasted billions upon billions of dollars since their war on drugs began. Except for an occasional big seizure they have mainly arrested low level dealers. Now the big PR campaign is to blame the national addiction epidemic on prescription drug sales. Give me a break! They should be focusing on following the money trail to the big dealers, and cartels. The cartel heads seem to be untouchable.
It is a horrible situation for these people who suffer with pain 24/7. Instead of relief it is getting harder, and harder for them.
Below are a few stories on the topic.
]http://www.wesh.com/news/dea-reacts-to-accusations-made-at-floridas-board-of-pharmacy-hearing/34663416http://www.wesh.com/health/patient-roundtable-discussing-floridas-prescription-problem/35885254
http://www.wesh.com/health/state-of-pain-a-wesh-2-news-special-presentation/35883094
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FarPoint
(14,546 posts)The drug abuse population has created this quagmire.... When chronic pain sufferer's are forced to try and navigate this convoluted red tape system, they are being victimized and feel shame that is not their shame to bear.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)in and of itself, this would not be a problem. I haven't noticed that adults are having much difficulty getting booze just because a large population of alcoholics exists. Why should so many roadblocks be put in the way for users of other addictive drugs?
FarPoint
(14,546 posts)The drug abusers steal money from families, friends, forge prescriptions, engage in robbery etc...all to support their disease so, we can't white wash that component. Strong criminal connection exits. Yet, chronic pain individuals suffer due to the convoluted red tape to get their legal analgesic therapy.
fasttense
(17,301 posts)If we had programs to help instead of locking people up, drug abuse violence would be very low.
Right now, my 85 year old mother is seriously restricted on her pain meds because some fool thinks she might get hooked on it or be down at the streeet corner dealing. Really? The woman is 85, she's not going to be hunting the streets and getting a little more pain releif would not hurt her.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)
jonno99
(2,620 posts)
A hug for your mom...sigh...
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)If the crime associated with addiction is really your concern then you should enthusiastically support decriminalization. If on the other hand you wish instead to punish addicts for their moral turpitude, carry on.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)would rob and shoplift even if not addicted.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 19, 2015, 05:44 AM - Edit history (1)
Fixing would be "there exist addicts who would rob even if the drugs were legal". People have robbed for alcohol and tobacco money, so we know that's true.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)War AND a system that makes pain patients suffer needlessly, by clucking and tut-tutting about "the drug abuse population".
(Edit: I'm not talking about other warren)
ion_theory
(235 posts)People may be born predisposed to addiction, but they still need to begin taking those drugs at some point to become dependent. Where are they getting them? The usual answer is from a family members cabinet, but that drug had to get into that cabinet somehow. What I'm getting at is blaming addicts for being addicts doesn't help the situation. Someone had to write those scripts, and someone had to fill them for the patients. Big pharma knew these drugs are extremely addicting and were pumping them out at incredible rates, in turn making more and more money. It's easy to blame pill heads for being at fault here, but those who write/fill prescriptions are just as much to blame, if not more. They were, and are, directly profiting from over-prescribing of pain meds, and it's backlash is now affecting those who truly need these medications.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)both doctors, and pharmacies, can not be bothered with the hassle of distinguishing between real chronic pain sufferers, and the phonies. So they don't deal with anything opiate related.
I also doubt very much the amount of pills available on the street came from cabinets, and perscriptions. Way too much volume! There are illegal plants manufacturing the drugs, as well as opiates finding their way to the street.
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)You nailed it. They aren't getting their meds from a doctor - they are stealing them.
The studies show that 9/10- opiate addicts DO NOT start out as pain patients. They don't even start out with a legitimate Rx from a doctor. They obtain those opiates to get high, not to treat pain.
If chronic pain patients are not the problem, punishing us might make reactionaries feel good, but it won't do a damned thing to stop this epidemic.
Let me also address the theft issue:
Most pain clinics (if not all) are very strict about requiring that their patients keep their meds locked up. In fact, if meds (or a script) come up stolen, it's tough luck. These won't be replaced: you just do without. It's far easier to prevent your medication from being stolen.
Meds are being stolen from people who are being treated for acute pain: toothe ache, etc. The better action to take would be to make sure that pharmacists inform all patients receiving opiates that such medications MUST be kept under lock and key.
It's not chronic pain patients who create the problem. AND: it's not necessary to kill a mosquito with a sledge hammer. The problem with Americans is that we go overboard and forget that in doing so, real people are hurt.
elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)With no fucking consideration for facts or science.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)Seriously? All those DUI's and the carnage on the roads they cause don't count? Do you really believe that alcoholics don't steal if they need money to buy booze? Besides all that, alcohol is a factor in many, many violent crimes, up to and including murders, because of its effect of lowering inhibitions.
Alcoholics are just as destructive as other addicts. Just so you know where I'm coming from, I just spent last evening with my alcoholic sister-in-law and her alcoholic husband. My recently widowed 88 year old father-in-law, not formerly much of drinker at all, used to have a beer from time to time, has moved in with them and is now drinking vodka heavily right along with them, because they keep giving him drinks and he doesn't know what else to do but drink them. I watched that sweet old man get drunk before my eyes last night and it was so fucking depressing knowing that's what's going on there every single night. Do you have any idea how damaging heavy drinking is to old people especially? They can't metabolize it as well as younger people can. And these two don't give a fuck, they just want everyone around them to drink along with them. They're also pushing drinks on my 20 year old niece, who wants no part of it, but they keep on trying to get her to drink too. The only reason they lay off me is that I'm allergic, for real, and they've actually seen me break out in hives from a sip out of the wrong glass.
FarPoint
(14,546 posts)Issue is about chronic pain and the struggle for treatment. The Alcoholic issues could be another thread with much to discuss.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)is no reason to restrict access to that drug for anyone else, except for minors. We practice this with alcohol, in spite of the devastation it causes. It should be that way with every other addictive drug as well.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Why so many people can't see that is a matter of conjecture.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)It's that they don't want to see it. Because, you know, someone who has a few beers and gets a buzz on during the weekend is morally superior to someone who gets high on the weekend, and an alcoholic is morally superior to a junkie or a pill addict. Somehow.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)You do understand that, right?
Mariana
(15,613 posts)that alcohol isn't a drug, that people who drink too much of it aren't drug abusers, that alcoholics aren't drug addicts, and that alcohol abuse isn't as harmful and destructive as any other kind of drug abuse.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)I mean, by any "ZOMG look at teh societal harm and health damage caused by drugs" yardstick, the freaking havoc that booze creates wins by a mile.
FarPoint
(14,546 posts)Get effective analgesic treatment.... Alcohol is not a prescription drug...yea, essentially a drug but not a narcotic.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)And the situation we have now, where patients endure agonizing pain because their doctors live in terror of the DEA.
Because the primary concern is making sure that anyone who catches an unauthorized buzz pays for it with a decade or two in prison.
That's how we get situations like Richard Paey, the man who was dragged off to prison in his wheelchair for a 25 year mandatory minimum prison sentence for trying to manage his own spinal pain.
See, unlike you, i don't blame "the drug abuse population" for the authoritarian clusterfuck that is the drug war. That results in babies getting flash bang grenades thrown in their cribs, or college students being locked in DEA interrogation rooms for 5 days with no food or water because they were caught smoking pot at a fraternity party.
No, I blame the people who support and enable the stupid fucking drug war itself. Full stop.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 19, 2015, 03:24 PM - Edit history (1)
Either we GET TOUGH ON TEH DRUGGGGGZ- which, as we know, works fuckin' great as an approach- or we accept that the price of adequately managing the pain for people who need it is, some folks will abuse prescription meds instead of turning, say, to street heroin.
To my mind it is morally inexcusable to make pain patients jump through ridiculous hoops because we have the moral panic authoritarian police state mentality that has its number one priority keeping anyone from getting high.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)The vast majority of drugs enter this country through organized crime families, and cartels, not left over prescriptions.
CTyankee
(67,791 posts)make me, if not addicted, dependent and I would seek stronger and stronger doses. THAT'S the argument.
My latest try at some pain relief, Lyrica, is not going so well. Not as badly as Tramadol which made me so dizzy I couldn't walk. So it is extra strength Tylenol and Tizanidine (a muscle relaxer for nighttime pain). I'm doing physical therapy and doing my stretches and exercises every day. But the Lyrica is making me feel dopey and I can't not be alert and functioning.
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)So stoned I sat and drooled. Lyrica is for NERVE pain. If your pain is from bone or muscle - it won't work.
Tramadol did absolutely nothing for me.
There are tons and tons of meds out there. Don't give up. If you can take NSAID's, try them. I think they can be very effective in treating back pain. Have you ever tried Voltaren gel?
CTyankee
(67,791 posts)worth mentioning at my next appointment.
Right now I am applying IcyHot gel roll on. It helps a little.
I can't take some otc stuff because I have high blood pressure, which I am treating.
Kali
(56,616 posts)but very expensive in the US.
you can order it on line, it never takes as long as it says to arrive. you can get it OTC for cheap in a lot of countries but here it is insanely expensive. the oral is good too and pretty cheap (at least with my insurance, yet they won't even cover the gel) - generic is diclofenac. it can cause the same stomach problems as other nsaids and aspirin though.
Dustlawyer
(10,536 posts)everything else. I have had to go down on the Lyrica due to hands and feet swelling.
Due to a local pain management Doctor lying to me, I fired him and then found out no one locally would treat me. I drive 2 hours each way and must fill my pain prescription there in Houston because local pharmacies will not fill a prescription from a Houston Doctor. The Houston pharmacy I use has threatened not to fill my prescription because I live in another city. The whole thing is out of control.
We need medical marijuana in every state as it works very well for some types of pain. Things like neuropathy, fibromyalgia, chemo.... It has the same side effects as the others, drowsiness, memory loss, weight gain, but doesn't become physically addictive, react badly with other medications, cannot overdose, and less expensive (if you grow your own).
Instead, patients are piss tested like probationers and treated like criminals!
hunter
(40,367 posts)I suspect they are also the cause of my tinnitus.
Yep, their are tons of meds out there, it's just that our society is afraid someone might take the more effective ones to get high.
Oh no, opiates! Oh no cannabis!
Here, have some acetaminophen, destroy your liver, here have some nsaids, destroy your stomach...
Addiction is a health problem, but it's also indicative of a society that sucks so bad some people want to drop out.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)last surgery (broken arm - proximal humerous - worst pain ever). Tramadol did nothing for me. The only thing that helped was constant ice, but that gets messy and difficult to manage. The idea of external pain relief appeals to me very much. What is Voltaren gel and how well does it work on severe pain?
Kali
(56,616 posts)also REALLY good for menstrual pain
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)for pain relief causes addiction. Instead there is growing evidence that 1) restricting access to opiates for people with chronic pain drives them to unregulated self medication solutions; 2) addiction is most likely a response to a hopeless and intolerable life situation. Google "rat park".
Portugal decriminalized all drugs and their addiction rates decreased. Crime associated with drugs decreased. Vancouver started treating addiction as a health issue instead of a crime problem and addict death rates from disease and overdose dropped drastically and the addiction rates dropped as social service intervention found ways to fix hopeless and intolerable life situations.
There is a better way.
FarPoint
(14,546 posts)That if a patient takes a narcotic as prescribed, following recommended PDA/ FDA guidelines, addiction is not going to occur...
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)the dosages are very high and frequent. So use itself does not cause addiction, there are other factors in play. As I noted, "rat park" is one of the critical experiments that is challenging the standard wisdom on addiction. The "other factor" may just be "your life sucks and is hopeless". We could fix intolerable life situations at a far lower cost than our current approach, and possibly with stunningly better results.
FarPoint
(14,546 posts)Well said...good food for thought .
CTyankee
(67,791 posts)the hydrocodone, so as I healed the surgeon prescribed lower and lower doses of the drug. It was fine, tho, since I was in less pain. I made full recovery and guess what, no need for any pain pills because I wasn't in pain! Duh! Same with dental surgeries. So I kept the extras around just in case and had to use them on a couple of occasions where I couldn't get opioids.
I am still in pain after this, yet another round of bullshit (Lyrica) that doesn't work. I like my rheumatologist but on my next visit I am going to confront him on the LIE that is being propagated here about everyone getting dependent when I have proof in my own experience to the contrary. I will ask him to prescribe an opioid and see what happens. At least he will know my displeasure and either deal with it or have a patient he cannot or will not help!
Ms. Toad
(38,240 posts)But I hoard them, so that we always have access to them. When they give me a prescription for a week, refillable - I refill them even though I can't recall ever using them for more than a few days.
Comes in handy when my spouse has her very frequent kidney stones & the urologist's recommendation is to go to the ER, since he doesn't have open appointments on a same-day basis - and he can no longer prescribe opiods over the phone. What a blatant misuse of ER resources, merely because it has been decreed that we have to address the criminal drug abuse problem by making it more challenging to obtain appropriate pain relief for a chronic pain condition without a visit to the doctor.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Clearly makes it more difficult (to say the least) for people in pain to manage it effectively and humanely.
We terrorize doctors, we terrorize patients.
Hell. sometimes, like with Richard Paey, we toss pain patients in prison for decades for managing their own pain.
How anyone can look at the situation we have now and say it's preferable -or even acceptable- because, you know, we dont want anyone catching an unauthorized buzz...
boggles my fucking mimd.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)I have tried explaining it too. Just so much furor over opiate abuse...I see a bunch of laws passed that just make it harder for chronic pain patients to get appropriate treatment.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)As happened in the 70's, politicians began getting heavy pressure to do something about hard drugs. Many upper, and middle class kids were becoming addicted to opiates, and heroin. Parents were clamoring for treatment centers.
You have the same large increase in drug abuse, and addiction.
The police agencies, and politicians, have ramped up their big campaign to crack down on doctors, and pharmacies, making it more difficult to get needed pain medicine. Many pharmacies, and doctors, have just stopped dealing with them. Needless to say pain sufferers still suffer.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)For managing his OWN spinal pain.
25 fucking years.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/prisoner-of-pain/
That's your drug war, right there. Yay.
Generic Other
(29,077 posts)Busted for supposedly selling pain meds which he claims he never did, given a mandatory sentence by Jeb Bush, and then provided morphine drips in prison. The crazy makes no sense.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)There was never any evidence he was doing anything with the pills other than managing his own considerable pain.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)
MiniMe
(21,877 posts)has gotten so bad. People who are in pain go to great lengths to be pain free
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)That's a good point. Studies are pretty conclusive that the people getting addicted aren't pain patients. If patients are well controlled, they won't go out and seek heroin. Honestly, I'm facing some very hard choices but I think I'll choose suicide before I'd consider heroin. (Prison would be hell on earth for me).
This move toward restricting pain meds will just cause people to seek alternatives, like heroin or suicide.
Unforgivable when we have the technology to relieve pain. But a whole lot of moralizing gets mixed into the equation where it doesn't belong.
shanti
(21,784 posts)is that the increase in heroin use is BECAUSE of the opiate restrictions that have been recently put in place. it's the high that's sought for many, not pain reduction. combine the opiates with alcohol, and you have a deadly cocktail.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)people believe in that myth. Stolen, fake, or real prescriptions did not lead to the heroin problem. I do not have the time right now to list my reasons why it is wrong, but I will be back.
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)I'll try to summarize my experience briefly. I was diagnosed with an incurable and severe form of arthritis which has attacked my spine. Recently, I've developed a profound curvature which has added to the misery.
For about a decade, I've been managed with a fentanyl patch and breakthrough medication to take in between. Fortunately, I've read the writing on the wall and cut way back on my breakthrough meds.
My regular provider (for about 5 years) went on vaca this summer and was replaced without warning to any of her clients. They brought in an MD who was extremely conservative. Before even seeing her for the first time, she had decided to cut out my breakthrough meds. That's fine during the summer, but the cold weather brings on agony for me.
So, sure enough, during my intro appointment she told me she was going to "wean me off" of the oral meds. I told her I didn't need to be weaned since I only took it when I need it. So she stopped it right there.
It was only later that I began to panic about winter. So the next time I saw her, I brought up breakthrough pain. She promptly informed me that I "should not have" breakthrough pain with these patches. (So sue me, I do have breakthrough pain which can be significant).
Here's the rub. I can't make an issue of it because she'll just stop my patches and then I'll go in a downward spiral. The attitude is that if they don't get the "bang for the buck" they anticipate, they may as well not prescribe this stuff.
These patches have been miraculous. I went from not being able to walk from my bed to the bathroom unassisted to being able to ambulate with a cane most times. (Sometimes I need a walker, but I'm resistant since I'm young). I do have help 5x/week with my laundry, cooking, etc. I had to give up working completely. (I was a practicing lawyer). I can't predict from one day to the next if I'll be able to function without pain.
This is the other consideration. I lost my support group when I stopped working. For other reasons, I'm estranged from the one sibling who is still alive. So my life isn't great to begin with. If the only thing I can look forward to is uncontrolled pain - what's the point?
I live in a State where the legislature is going to take up a max daily opiate level (regardless of the patient's need). As I said, I've never asked for a dose increase and I've actually decreased the meds I take voluntarily. But I was under the incorrect assumption that human beings have a right to pain relief.
And yes, I tried all of the non-opiate alternatives. Pot doesn't touch this. (Plus, if they catch you with pot in your urine, they kick you from the clinic). And I nearly died from a hemorrhage thanks to NSAIDs so they are not an option. As the weather becomes increasingly cold, my life quality goes down. What am I supposed to do? Lie about it and tell this physician I'm just fine?
randys1
(16,286 posts)God damn children making decisions about people in pain.
I say god damn children because it would take a rightwing thinking brain to even conceive of politicians telling doctors how to doctor
madokie
(51,076 posts)and it sucks.
blondie58
(2,570 posts)We Voted to make it legal- Even recreational. It is just a very helpful plant. I use it for my occasional Pain i Get from MS. Legalize it nationwide!
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)That's more of the morality crusade. But it's also important to remember that it doesn't work for everyone.
blondie58
(2,570 posts)Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)And yeah, im somewhere where it's legal now, too. Well past fucking time.
It is a really amazing plant.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)Central Florida, at that. Both central and south Florida have had MAJOR issues with pill mills. What you're seeing is the result of that.
With that said, it does suck for legitimate chronic pain sufferers, but pill mills have been a major issue in FL for quite a few years.
XenaAmazon
(37 posts)I think that's a legitimate point, but let's not forget the tendency to moralize. I've had people tell me that they'd rather be in agony than be an "addict". (So easy to pass judgment, right?). I got to the point of desperation before I agreed to being put on opiates. What I didn't know is there would come a time when they'd be taken away thanks to a morality crusade.
There is also a whole lot of money to be lost if we give up the Drug War. Those shiny new SUV's your police department drives around in, as well as the military gear they're kitted out in, as well as the shiny new computers in their vehicles: all thanks to the "war on drugs". No one's giving up on that gravy train without a fight: those huge federal grants are pretty addicting, too. Patients with chronic pain are the low hanging fruit.
I think it's an incredible irony that my State is going full on crazy with the "opium epidemic" while it maintains state liquor stores on all of our major roadways. Talk about skewed priorities.
Honestly, what's most upsetting is the attitude displayed by liberals:
"...(I)t does suck for legitimate chronic pain sufferers, but pill mills have been a major issue in FL for quite a few years."
Oh, the big BUT... How willing are people to stand by while thousands of their fellow human beings are left to suffer living death?
Let's not forget how well Prohibition worked in the past.
People who adopt the attitude of "oh, well, it sucks being you" tend to forget this opiate epidemic isn't our problem. We didn't start it. And the STUDIES show that people don't get addicted while being treated by a health care provider for a legitimate condition. So, politicians bow to the reactionaries by hitting the most politically vulnerable people rather than dealing with the problem effectively. (The average chronic pain patient is unable to work, and is therefore poor). There are few sins as grave in this country as poverty.
http://www.lynnwebstermd.com/dea-inflicts-harm-on-chronic-pain-patients/
http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/11/09/chronic-pain-patients-caught-in-the-middle-of-growing-opioid-abuse-problem/
ileus
(15,396 posts)I keep telling her they won't have enough patients to keep the doors open at her FQHC if they keep dismissing all the pill sellers /pillheads.
And it's the real patients that suffer the consaquences. The docs don't want to see "real" chronic pain patients because it's just such a hassle so they "refer" them to bogus-ass pain clinics or should they be called pill mills???
Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)before I found one that had oxycodone in stock. They would not tell me over the phone. It should not be that hard!
Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)
mountain grammy
(28,676 posts)She uses prescriptions along with marijuana. Pot is at the top of her list, but she often needs stronger meds. Her new doc wants to test her for pot before prescribing anything, even though marijuana is legal in Colorado. No tests for alcohol, also legal. It's insane, just insane. She has had to give up prescription pain meds because she won't give up pot, so she suffers needlessly.
FlaGranny
(8,361 posts)to say this. I hope you do not think I'm being judgmental. I'm not. Just want to tell my pain story. It took me many years of pain to really get my butt in gear and do something about it. It has been a little over a year of work and I'm nearly pain free. What work? The gym with a trainer. Most of my pain was from weak muscles. I do a well-rounded gym workout including aerobics. I got very frightened because I had difficulty walking and at my age (mid 70's) I was looking forward to a wheelchair. I've also lost weight. Some days it was a struggle to go because I didn't feel up to it, but it worked. Boy did it work! I had back pain, and generalized muscle pain. It still is not 100%, but I have another 25 pounds to lose and losing that weight and more workouts will probably give me even more benefit. I still have my underlying osteoarthritis but that is better too because my muscular structure is supporting my joints better.
If you haven't tried weight lifting/muscle strengthening, try it, but do it correctly so you don't hurt yourself more. I tried physical therapy but weight training did a better job.
If your pain is due to something other than muscle weakness, of course this probably will not work. Best wishes for recovery from your pain.
Ms. Toad
(38,240 posts)And a well-rounded gym workout including aerobics is not a solution.
I have been to at least 5 physical therapists - they all believe they can help me. All they do is make it temporarily worse, until I refuse medical treatment (and occasionally fire them) and go back to the pain management that makes my pain level tolerable. One PT session typically takes me a month of management to reduce to the background level that existed before they decided they needed to play (even though I was seeing more than half of them for completely unrelated medical issues).
I have done weight training - all I got for that was an aggravation of a different condition, for which I needed removal of my top rib on my right side.
I have engaged in regular aerobic activity - of two varieties - regularly for multiple periods of more than a year. (Swimming 1+ miles 3x a week, and bike riding for 2-4 hours at a time twice a week.)
It may have worked for you, but suggesting even that it will work (generally) for muscle pain is an unreasonable stretch from your personal experience.
(I do not use opioids, or other medication, for pain management - that is not a solution I find tolerable. But I would not suggest upsetting the apple cart of someone who has spent years achieving equilibrium, whether pharmaceutically - or by other means. It costs me too much every time the medical providers I encounter do that to me.)
FlaGranny
(8,361 posts)to mean that I think it would work for everybody. I just know that many people, when they have pain, take the path of rest, because moving hurts. Physical conditioning is something that definitely should be tried, if it hasn't already. I have had pain of one sort or another most of my life. I have multiple sclerosis, osteoarthritis and psoriatic arthritis. I never took any prescription meds. Severe muscle spasms have been a part of my life (it started in my early 20s). The worst though was my back. I could do very little and had to sit down every few minutes when doing the simplest of chores. It took me all day to vacuum the floors, sometimes two days. Strengthening those muscles around my spine was more effective than any medication.
There are certain pain conditions that conditioning will help and others that it won't. In my first post I said that if your is due to weak muscles, it will help and I believe that to be true. Anyhow, even if it did not do much for pain, it would do wonders for one's overall health and sense of well being.
Best wishes for overcoming your pain.
roamer65
(37,814 posts)that destroy cartilage, tendon and have many other painful side effects.
Sad state of affairs.
JCMach1
(29,082 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)I live in Kentucky and the legislators here overreact to everything so it's near impossible to get even a small prescription here. I can't tell you how much worthless flexeril I have in my medicine cabinet.
randys1
(16,286 posts)politicians should be in jail.
Response to bobGandolf (Original post)
olddots This message was self-deleted by its author.
Crunchy Frog
(28,214 posts)A few months ago, I went to the ER with excruciating, sudden onset, abdominal pain, that turned out to be a kidney stone. They left me in a cubicle for about 3 hours, literally screaming in pain. The only thing they did to address the pain was to step into the cubicle every so often to tell me to STFU. I was finally given a single, tiny dose of hydrocodone, after the stone had shifted and the pain mostly resolved on its own.
It took me two months to pass that stone, and my own doctor threw a tantrum and accused me of being a "drug seeker" when I brought up the issue of getting a small prescription for pain medication from her.
I'm looking into `ahem` "alternate" means of dealing with pain if something like that happens again. I swear that I would almost rather die than go to the ER again.
I absolutely detest most of the doctors around here. I can't even imagine what it's like for people who deal with long term, chronic pain.
ProfessorGAC
(75,839 posts)My wife has severe stenosis and a bad arthritic condition in her lumbar vertabrae. Constant pain. Her family doc prescribes a mild pain med and she takes it very conservatively.
This past summer, she tripped on the basement steps and broke her fibula. The doctor prescribed a very similar med for the pain. The state prohibits her from getting that scrip, because her normal one is not over a month old. But, she had a lot left as she was taking only one per day.
So, she has a pain med for chronic pain, but if she doubles up because of the leg break, she'll run out and won't have it for the long term, chronic pain.
There appeared to be no exception for an added acute pain condition, just so she could take an extra one for (just say) 10 days.
Stupid.
demtenjeep
(31,997 posts)One I have to call the morning before I need it (my doctor is brilliant but has ADHD and is forgetful) They now have a portal and that is much easier. I just have to send a message on the portal and then go pick it up and then go to the pharmacy.
The other is from my gen pract. doctor. I just call the patient coordinator and she gets the message to the doc. Within an hour the nurse calls me to tell me she is walking my script next door and I just have to pick it up after work.
Thankfully, it has not impacted me too to much. If, however, my pharmacy was clear across town it would be a totally different story.
One thing---do not ever use WalMart or Walgreens.
I have a really hard case of Crohn's. It is super painful and I started on Chemo ever 8 weeks and now it is every 4 weeks and some cycles we are not sure if they are effective enough. Anyway, I used to get my meds at Walmart. I called in my script one morning. Went to get it that afternoon after three as had been the norm. When I went to pick it up, the lady at pharmacy said they had no authorization from my doctor. So right then on the spot at the counter I call my doctor. They tell me they had called in my script at 8:30 AM that morning . So, when I got off the phone, I told her that my doc had called it in earlier. She then said well I was getting my script too soon as it was a 12 day fill I reminded her that it was day 14....deflated she finally filled it. Due to her attitude, I had a strange filling so I dumped them out on the counter right in front of her and counted them. There were 10 short. I then called my doctor back and asked him what to do. In the end, we got the pharmacy manager and walmart manager involved and my husband, daughter, myself and my inlaws ALL changed our pharmacy stores THAT day.
Ms. Toad
(38,240 posts)for opioids every three months. Under our plan, that is an additional $60/year in copays.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)I'm genuinely curious. Other countries don't have anything close to the use rate we do. Do they have less chronic pain to begin with? Do they have better ways of treating it? Do people just suck it up and suffer?
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)ingredient in hydrocodone is. There's nothing magical about it, it's an opioid derivative. One of plethora of effective painkilling agents derived from or synthesized to mimic a derivative of, that particular plant.
So I guess my question to you is, do you really believe that the US consumes 95% of all opiate derived drugs and painkillers? Or just that particular one?
And I suspect somewhere in the answer to my question, is the answer to your question.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)This is something my wife knows a lot more about than me (when she was at the UN a few years ago she was trying to work on some protocol language to get more opiates into developing countries because they have a huge shortfall), but it's puzzled me for a while. We really do use a lot more opiates than most other countries.
Now I think a lot of that could just be that our health care access is so shitty compared to the rest of the world, so we get interventions too late, which leads to more need for pain management. That's clearly possible, but I don't know if it makes up the entire difference or just some of it. Many other countries really don't seem to do "pain management" at the same level we do.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Beyond that, it's well-established that people who really want opiates tend to acquire them either legally or illegally.
Perhaps the reason the US has such high rates of prescription is that the US also spends tens of billions of dollars a year on a drug war whose sole purpose is to turn the question of what people choose to put in their own bodies, into a matter of criminal law.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)I mean, tramadal, maybe, but that's not really an "opioid" technically.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)But I don't believe American citizens are so fundamentally different from all the other human beings on the planet that our general rates of addiction to things like painkillers are vastly different than that of other countries. So I'm not sure what the answer to your question is.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)It certainly wouldn't be the only indicator we lag other industrialized countries on...
Crunchy Frog
(28,214 posts)a common approach has been to just give them pain pills and send them on their way, rather than trying to diagnose and treat the underlying problem. That's basically what happened with my nephew in Indiana, and I'm pretty sure that's how he ended up addicted to painkillers.
My guess is that in other countries, they are more likely to treat the underlying problem, so that the person doesn't end up with chronic pain.
I also know that there is a low dose, opiate painkiller available over the counter in Canada. I researched that as an option when I had my kidney stone, and wasn't sure that I would be able to wrest even a tiny prescription out of my (soon to be former) doctor.
REP
(21,691 posts)bobGandolf
(871 posts)Thanks for taking the time to write. 
Paula Sims
(913 posts)I'm in chronic pain because of Myotonia, Lipoedema, and Ehlers-Dahnlos Syndrome. The only thing I can take is Ambien and only 10mgs since 1993. Because of high adrenaline I have insomnia and low levels of stage 3/4 sleep. I can't take pain meds and have to watch how much Tylenol or aspirin I take.
Hang in there guy. There are many many of us.
bobGandolf
(871 posts)uplifting to see all the responses from fellow painers. Very discouraging having to fight to get the needed pain relief. The lunacy of trying to blame perscription pain meds abuse causing the heroin epidemic, has created nightmares for those who need the meds for legit purposes.
Warpy
(114,381 posts)but I've been on pretty much the same dose for 20 years, getting a few hours of relief during the day that allow me to function. I don't know what people who need it at night are going to do, their dose has to increase as they become tolerant and sudden withdrawal will make them sick, if not kill some of them outright. The rest will start to think suicide is a good idea.
Of all the petty tyrannies we experience every day, the ones cause by the futile War on Drugs are the worst. That's most of the reason the cops are all out of control, they've been given carte blanche by a racist and renegade agency, the DEA.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)With some drugs it is indeed very dangerous to stop taking them suddenly after physical addiction sets in. Alcohol is among those, but opiates are not.
Warpy
(114,381 posts)Also, what makes you think opiates are the only drugs the DEA doesn't want us taking to treat legitimate health problems? There are a lot of drugs out there that need to be weaned off very carefully.
Mariana
(15,613 posts)the DEA doesn't want us taking. I have no idea why you think I believe that. I only said that opiate withdrawal is not life threatening. If opiate withdrawal does in fact kill people, I'd like to know how many. I can't seem to find any numbers.
jen63
(813 posts)kill you. You may wish you were dead, but they aren't deadly. Alcohol and benzodiazepines (valium, xanax etc.), are the only two drugs that the withdrawal will kill you. I get so angry at doctors who cut off benzos. I mean, where in the hell did they get their medical degrees. Not to mention the Pharmacists who can see what the client has been on and for how long. How about a call to the doc. to tell him/her that they are going to kill a patient with seizures.
I have chronic pain and swore I would never get on the opiate bandwagon. I take two scripts from my GP that somewhat take the edge off. My quality of life absolutely sucks. The opiate bandwagon is sounding better and better. I want to be able to participate in life and the life of my son and future grandkids. I couldn't do that now if you gave me a million dollars. I can't work and spend a good portion of my life in bed. This is no way to live. No one understands, unless they are also a chronic pain patient. End rant.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)bobGandolf
(871 posts)I feel the frustration all of you are going through. My Mom recently passed away, at 90, and the nursing home kept wanting to cut back
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)DEA.
CTyankee
(67,791 posts)give her enough morphine to keep her out of pain. She passed peacefully and gently so I believe they told the truth. To think otherwise is to much for me to even consider. I would certainly want that morphine for myself or my husband in such a situation. There is no excuse for dying patients to suffer needlessly...
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)
A dear friend's mother was dying (end of the line) of metastatic melanoma. She was in incredible pain for the last 4 months, and yet they were so worried about addiction. This country has gone nuts in the war on drugs.
CTyankee
(67,791 posts)(like Shirley McClain in Terms of Endearment: "Give my daughter the shot! Give her the damn shot!!).
But mother died 10 years ago and perhaps things have changed. Maybe the Hospice movement has taken over the medication piece. We have a hospice here in New Haven and I had two friends die there from cancer. They were medicated adequately to the very end and I visited them before and after the heavy meds were given, depending on how dire the pain was. I was glad to see they were not suffering...
bobGandolf
(871 posts)your post. Unfortunately, I have heard otherwise, and saw it once.
Warpy
(114,381 posts)that the whole cartel is largely untouchable. So they're going after doctors and people in serious, long term pain.
If the FBI isn't paying them the DEA is and the upshot is that if local law enforcement gets lucky and gets a bigger fish, one of those agencies will give him a get out of jail card as one of their "assets."
BBC did a great documentary on this stuff sometime in the last couple of years, can't find it on You Tube now, funny how that works.
The War on Drugs is a farce, a fiasco, and a total failure. All it did is get us more and worse drugs.