AP: Pain medicine use has nearly doubled

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

08/20/2007 12:17:17 AM PDT

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C.—People in the United States are living in a world of pain and they are popping pills at an alarming rate to cope with it.

The amount of five major painkillers sold at retail establishments rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005, according to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration.

More than 200,000 pounds of codeine, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and meperidine were purchased at retail stores during the most recent year represented in the data. That total is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in the country.

Oxycodone, the chemical used in OxyContin, is responsible for most of the increase. Oxycodone use jumped
nearly six-fold between 1997 and 2005. The drug gained notoriety as "hillbilly heroin," often bought and sold illegally in Appalachia. But its highest rates of sale now occur in places such as suburban St. Louis, Columbus, Ohio, and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/healthandscience/ci_6667698

[onehandle]

1. Steven Colbert is currently on pain medication for his broken wrist.

He's hooked and it appears to be affecting his performance.

When will someone have an intervention for him!?

;-)

[Exiled in America]

7. God, remember that crazy thread about that?

*shivers*

[onehandle]

10. I missed that thread.

Did some DUers think he was for real?

Wouldn't surprise me.

[JVS]

48. oh please give me the link to that!

[kirby]

2. CORRECTION...

Usage nearly doubled during that period due to Rush Limbaugh's addiction.

[bluedeminredstate]

3. My husband is on

Oxycodone for pain related to recent double knee replacement. The visiting nurse commented on the medicine he was taking in a judgemental way like he should be going through bullets insted of pills for the pain. I couldn't believe a medical professional would be so ignorant.

:eyes:

[bpeale]

9. i would so love to get off mine

if the doctors could figure out a way to fix my knee, but i cannot walk or function if i don't take it because of the pain.

[nashville_brook]

20. i have doctor stories that would curl your hair -- doctors are terrified of pain patients

i guess, b/c prescribing "too many" pain meds will get you in trouble professionally. people in pain tend to be going to a doctor to have the pain stopped -- if pain medicine is that only thing that keeps you out of constant, soul crushing pain, this makes you no different that a "drug seeker." you are, in effect, seeking drugs. you would like to have your pain-free body back. i would like to walk like a 40-year old instead of an old lady. i've had experiences with doctors that makes my physical pain seem like cake. i wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy.

[pitohui]

28. agree this makes me so angry

what is the point of living in a technological world when i know people who are kept in screaming agony without proper medicines unless they are willing to deal w. criminals -- most aren't

this piece is pure propaganda and i wish on the writer what he wishes on us -- unending pain that is not treated by medicine

as for the doctor at the end of the article who refuses to prescribe pain medicine to ANYONE -- he belongs in prison for life for torture and in a just world one day this will happen

there needs to be a SERIOUS price to be paid for refusing to prescribe pain meds

[Lance_Boyle]

4. pain management has been a priority issue for medical professionals

in the past decade. This "alarming rise" in medication usage corresponds pretty damn closely with the arrival of those silly "which smiley face best approximates the level of pain you feel today" questions at the doctor's office. In other words, asking the docs to focus on pain is having the intended effect. Where's the next dog-bites-man story?

[nashville_brook]

19. i've had chronic pain since 2003 when i got an infection in my spine

and i can tell you that it's a RARE primary care doctor who will treat pain. they might ask the "level of pain" question (with the attending happy-face chart) but that doesn't mean you'll get treatment. pain treatment has been pushed out of mainstream family practice largely as a result of oxy-mania. if you have a chronic pain condition you either have to see a quasi-medical pain-specialist or go without. the problem with this is that the underlying medical problem doesn't get treated and the primary care doc gets left out of the patient's care.

articles like this are pure propaganda and it would make me hopping mad if i hadn't already given up on ever getting reasonable pain treatment. the articles are going to continue to be written -- people who don't have chronic pain will continue to believe that pain is overtreated -- and people with chronic pain will continue to leave behind a normal life while the pain-free world perceives us as a bunch of drug abusers and whiners.

nice.

[mantis49]

22. So true.

"articles like this are pure propaganda and it would make me hopping mad if i hadn't already given up on ever getting reasonable pain treatment. the articles are going to continue to be written -- people who don't have chronic pain will continue to believe that pain is overtreated -- and people with chronic pain will continue to leave behind a normal life while the pain-free world perceives us as a bunch of drug abusers and whiners."

I guess my patients are contributing to this "alarming" rise in use of narcotic pain meds. I'm a hospice nurse. Heaven forbid we use a little morphine to make someone comfortable in their last days/ hours!

I previously worked in a nursing home. The amount of undertreated pain in elderly patients is criminal. Doctors are scared to write the scripts because the FDA may investigate.

[nashville_brook]

33. here's a story for you -- when the infection came i went to an ER

i was rehabbing the family house here in FL and figured i had either herniated a disc OR had a kidney infection, as some of my symptoms didn't jibe with straight-up back injury.

the first visit to the ER was at 6am and i was given high dose ibuprophen and some low dose vicodin with the instructions that IF IT GOT WORSE i needed to come back. it got worse. it got much worse. i was alone, in an empty house, barely able to drive my stick shift car, and i was terrified. so i went back at 4pm.

there was a different ER doc. he said he couldn't "just give me pain medicine" which i thought was really weird b/c the problems and fears i presented were that i was afraid this wasn't just another back strain. one thing that was different was that i had a fever and i couldn't stay awake. after some discussion the doc said that he could give me an EPIDIURAL and admit me to the hospital and do MRIs in the morning. I had FULL insurance, btw.

i said yes, that's fine. he then tried to dissuade me from doing this, saying, "do you know HOW BIG THIS NEEDLE IS? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH THIS IS GOING TO HURT?"

i thought i had entered the twilight zone -- no, i had never had an epidural, so i wasn't aware of what was involved. but, i told him, "i'm in so much pain right now, i would agree to having a foot hobbled if i thought it would help."

get this:

after putting me in the restraining chair he got in front of me with the needle and waved it in front of my face -- fucking taunting me -- saying, "are you sure you want this needle? it's gonna hurt!"

i was sobbing now as i was not only terrified of the pain, but now i was terrified of the doctor. i put my head down and said, "just please, continue."

the next day, in the hospital, i was visited by another doctor. my fever was over 100 and all he had to say to me was that i was discharged and i HAD TO LEAVE because "this isn't a hotel." i was in shock for being sick and barely able to understand what was happening. sobbing, again, i tried to get dressed, but couldn't because the pain was so horrible. that's when a nurse came in and... GET THIS... gave me a shot of morphine, saying that no one could make me go anywhere for 6 hours -- by law. this gave me time to call my husband in TN and have him fly down (we were on our way to getting divorced which is why i was in FL -- so, he was little help).

an hour later a social worker visited with a list of HOTELS in the Rockledge area -- a full hour away from where i was at in Melbourne. she reiterated the bit the hospital not being a "hotel" and that i needed to find appropriate accommodations. still with the >100 fever, the pain and falling in out of consciousness i got really mad and asked about the MRI i was promised. every time she tried to tell me to leave i said i wasn't leaving until i got an MRI.

2 days later i got the MRI and when i finally got to see the films, they were basically useless -- full of artifacts, like scratches and dust -- only -- there shouldn't be scratches and dust on a DIGITAL image. my neurologist in Nashville was amazed.

the story keeps getting worse. i became jaundiced, but no one believed me when i said i looked yellow. i couldn't eat and threw up everything. my left leg swelled and hurt so bad i couldn't put any pressure on it. when i went to my primary care doc (back in nashville) she dismissed all this. i was so sick i had to be wheeled in in a wheelchair, and had to have a container for vomit -- but in her estimation, i was fine. probably sushi poisoning she said.

just to sure, tho, she took some blood and as i was being wheeled out she RAN after me -- "your liver levels are off the chart. why don't you come back --- we need to do some more tests."

two weeks later (TWO WEEKS!) i'm still in the wheelchair as i can't walk. i don't have a good explanation b/c my back was the problem i was supposed to be having, and i couldn't walk because my leg hurt so bad. she ordered an ultrasound (2 weeks later) and found giant DVTs up over my knee and down my calf. i was RUSHED to the hospital.

the osteomylietis wasn't diagnosed for another 2 months. i nearly died. i wanted to die. and ALL ALONG THE WAY there were "healthcare professionals" worried that i was a DRUG SEEKER.

we are so totally fucked in our healthcare system. it's not just insurance and corporate robber-barons -- there's a witch-hunt. pray that you never have a serious illness that has a pain component, because doctors look at you like a junkie.

just to be clear -- i'm a 40-year old house wife and freelance marketing schmoe. i was treated this way in FL and in TN (by doctors i had known for 10+ years). i have a college education and even taught at a medical school (i speak medical-ese). i do not appear to be a street person. i have no tattooes. no body piercings. no bright pink hair. i look like the girl next door. i am the girl next door.

[mantis49]

36. OMG.

That's a horrible story! I'm glad it was finally figured out, but you shouldn't have had to go through all that!

Tell me again how we have the best health care in the world?

[youngdem]

25. Yep.

Who would have thought that a focus by healthcare professionals on pain management AND a $30BILLION dollar annual investment in marketing pain meds would increase consumption of pain medications?

:crazy:

I wish companies would make more of an effort to make them less addicting, though. Perhaps companies could be forced to pay for treatment for the drug if they don't find ways to make them less addictive. No incentive at all for them to do that though, sadly.

[hedgehog]

38. Are you addicted if the underlying cause of the pain doesn't go

away, can be treated, and the only way you can function is on the pain meds? The key verb is "function". People are taking these meds to get on with life, not to get high!

[youngdem]

40. Yes.

You can be addicted to pain you actually need. Happens all the time.

They could easily make these meds less addictive if they wanted to with additives that meter or titrate the dose, reducing the likelihood of abuse.

I fully appreciate that millions of people need these medications every day, and I am appalled at the prosecution of pain management clinics. However, there isn't any reason they shouldn't work to make them less addictive, so that when people do wish to come off of them, they don't find that they have a new problem to contend with.

And by the way, MILLIONS of people take these medications to get high. In fact, I used to be one of them.

[hedgehog]

43. I should clarify - you're labeled "addicted" if you continue to take

these medications for more than a few days even though the pain may be a permanent part of your life. My father-in-law has severe osteoarthritis in his knees and now has back pain as well. When he was taking an NSAID, the pain was controlled, he slept well, he got around well and he was interested in life. He got nagged by certain family members about being addicted to pills. Now he doesn't take medication, he's in constant pain, he's not sleeping and he's becoming clinically depressed. Said family members complain that he has a dour attitude and doesn't want to do anything!

[Mojorabbit]

5. Good

The medical profession has undertreated pain for a long time. There are a ton of studies on it.

[StatGirl]

6. Bad statistics! Bad, bad! Go to your room!

"That total is enough to give more than 300 milligrams of painkillers to every person in the country."

Per year. Whoopty-spiff.

What big event happened between 1997 and 2005? The baby boomers entered their 50s in large numbers. Aches, pains, failing joints, surgery . . . all part of the deal.

I'm not convinced that I should be concerned.

[Proletariatprincess]

8. Here here!

About time someone says it...again. I have never believed anything that it said about drug use in this country...it is all hype. I also never believed that there was or is a drug problem here or elsewhere. The problem is the so called war on drugs and its effects on society. Add to that Big Pharma's interest in selling its own chemicals and we have a perfect storm of misinformation.
Of course there are people who abuse substances. Always have been and always will be those people. Let us finally accept the reality of human frailties and quit being so judgmental and willing to punish others so eagerly.

[depakid]

18. Unfortunately, journalists are often innumerate

and that inability to provide context and analysis makes them easy prey for those with agendas.

[pschoeb]

21. Besides the fact that population has increased by 40 million

from 1997 to 2007. You think more people use more pain killers? journalists are some of the dumbest people on the planet. Yes, and the percent who are elderly is also growing at a very fast rate as well.

Also Oxycodone accounts for most of the jump in the five pain killers they are looking at, which isn't surprising as OxyContin(a new sustained release form), was created in 1995.

[DemBones DemBones]

46. Yes, it must be remembered that there are

more older people now. The baby boom started in 1946, people born that year are now 61. People born in 1957 turn 50 this year.

The baby boom continued until 1964, and the highest number of births were in the late Fifties through 1964. There will be a large elderly population for a long time to come. Many of them will have medical conditions that cause pain that requires regular use of painkillers.

People who are "on" pain meds don't want to be on them any more than those on insulin or meds for high blood pressure want to be on those. But you cannot wish chronic pain, diabetes, or high blood pressure away.

[Seedersandleechers]

11. So fucking what....

What is the purpose of this article? Glad people are getting treatment for their pain with opiates. How long has that been going on?

[OnionPatch]

24. Hear, hear!

It always ticked me off that you can get any drug you want in abundance, even antidepressants, from your doctor, but ask for a pain pill and you're some kind of criminal.

My father spent the last few years of his life in chronic, severe pain from a back condition and had lung cancer on top of it the last year. He was dying, but they were so stingy with the pain pills that he was asking me to find some for him on the black market! (I wouldn't know where to look, anyway.) Would it have been so horrid to just let him have some pain relief in his last years?

[bemildred]

12. Hey, it's good stuff, just ask Rush Limbaugh. nt

[RantinRavin]

13. Where do you think the increase

came from ? Talk about some serious doctor shopping.

[Trillo]

14. While the poor people without health insurance must rely on alcohol

for their pain killing (it's similar to an anesthetic). Back in the days before the FDA (1800s), at least poor people could get powerful pain killers easily and cheaply.

So this is wonderful news if you can afford to see a doctor and don't mind your health information being aggregated and mined ($$$).

[reprobate]

15. I'd like to see a per capita survey of US vs EU countries.

Just off the top of my head, and with nothing to back it up, I'd be willing to bet that EU has just as many prescriptions being written, but with far fewer addictions.

My wife and I have been using the same doctor for the past ten years. If everyone had a long term relationship with one doctor, there would be far less drug problems. But she has a strange attitude towards prescribing pain meds. She says that if you are in pain, take something to relieve that pain. There is no honor in hurting. The advantage of having such a long term relationship with her is that she knows the cause and has seen the progress of the problem.

Recently she put me on hydrocodone/acetaminophen 5/500 three times a day for my two blown disks. She's been following the progress of this problem for at least five years. But then the pain meds are not the only intervention she's ordered. First comes physical therapy, then a cervical, thoracic and lumbar MRI, followed by a referral to a neurosurgeon. (Up till now I thought neurosurgeons only worked on the brain. Surprise! The spine and spinal cord are a big part of their business too.) Then we'll see what is necessary to cure the problem causing the pain. She prescribes pain meds as a palliative to bridge the gap from onset of the pain until the cause is found and a cure available. I've had some serious discussions with her about this and I really feel this is the best method of pain control. Of course, there are conditions that require long term pain meds. By having long term relationships with her patients, she knows who really needs them and who is becoming addicted.

[nashville_brook]

16. pain is UNDERTREATED in the US

[sarcasmo]

17. Doctors have become pill PIMPS thanks to big Pharmaceutical.

[pop goes the weasel]

29. riiiiiight

:sarcasm:

That would explain why so many people with chronic, unremitting pain don't get any treatment for their pain at all.

[nashville_brook]

34. see post #33

[daleo]

23. The population is getting older

And the Bush administration has caused a lot of pain...

(someone had to say it)

[dbt]

26. And what's been going on in the SKY since roughly 1997?

CHEMTRAILS.

Coincidence? Ask all the men with Erectile Dysfunction.

Funny how all these "diseases" have appeared in the last decade or so, neatly dovetailing with the first widespread reports of artificial cloud cover generated by jet aircraft.

Debunk it. Go ahead, but be convincing here in this place where LONERS can get a SANCTIONED group, but Chemtrail Observers cannot because "I'm sorry, we can't do that."

:evilgrin:

dbt
Committee On Noticing Spray Pogroms Involving Real Aircraft Calculated Yearly

[Psephos]

31. Heh heh

Funniest part is that some people will take you at your word.

:tinfoilhat:

[dbt]

32. What's even funnier is that

some people will take your side.

:rofl:

[ohio2007]

27. Comercialized medicine

TV sends the subliminal messages so your doctor will give them to you

[Freddie Stubbs]

39. What prescription painkillers are advertised on TV?

:shrug:

[gulfcoastliberal]

42. Vioxx tv ads used to be on all the time.

Before Merck and the FDAs cover-up that it was killing people finally came to light .

[gulfcoastliberal]

30. What's alarming is the people who died from NSAIDs

They'd probably be alive if they had taken opiates instead. Opiates have been around as long as we have. Forget these modern "miracle" drugs that happen to have a problem with death being a common side-effect.

[nashville_brook]

35. eggsactly.

[DemBones DemBones]

45. ALL NSAIDs, not just Vioxx, can cause erosive gastritis, gastric bleeding,

etc. I've been through this personally and it is not fun at all. I simply cannot take NSAIDs, period.

You CAN die of an overdose of opiates but it must take a hell of a lot of Oxycontin to kill anyone, based on what I've read about the amounts some people consume for a high.

Used properly, opiates are safe, and effective for relieving serious pain. When you have pain and take opiates, you get pain relief only, not a high.

[Demeter]

37. If I thought It Would Help, I'd Pop Pills

But I'm too busy draining the swamp for that...

And there aren't any pills for psychic pain, anyway. People with physiological pain have my suppport for whatever makes their life better.

[dogfacedboy]

41. I saw evidence at Walgreen's just this morning.

I went to the pharmacy for my diabetes medication today, and the four people in front of me were ALL picking up pain meds. The only reason I know this is because they ALL made some kind of comment out loud as to what they needed these pills for.

[Maddy McCall]

44. And Rush Limbaugh accounts for roughly 30% of that increase.

:)

[JVS]

47. Well people have a lot of pain to kill