Drug Makers Hope to Kill the Kick in Pain Relief

[Khephra]

Worried that millions of Americans are using prescription opiate painkillers to get high rather than to ease severe chronic pain, drug makers are working on ways to prevent abuse.

Cooperating closely with government officials and pain specialists, the companies are educating doctors, rewriting warning labels and tracking pills as they move from pharmacy to patient.

They are also reformulating pills with added ingredients. One combination blocks euphoria. Another produces a nasty burning sensation.

"The problem of prescription painkiller abuse is much bigger than people realize," said Dr. Clifford Woolf, director of the neural plasticity group and professor of anesthesia research at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Harvard Medical School.

more.............

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/20/health/policy/20DRUG.html?hp

[bobthedrummer]

1. In other words modify the pain killers and let those in pain experience

"burning sensations", etc?

Up is down, north is south too!

[BostonTeaParty04]

2. there is a problem.....

I went to a club to hear some music. Met some cool people. One guy... said he was feeling no pain. A 'friend' gave him a couple of vicodin. I was all... dude, that is drug abuse.... "ahhhh, come on, I have been under a lot of stress. This is fun."

Now... my question is: If I had a pain-related problem and a doc gave me vicodin, I sure the heck wouldn't be giving them away. So where did the friend get it? The streets?

I also remember when I really did have a pain issue - chronic. It never dawned on me to work to get scripts for it, for fear that I would fall victim to addiction as so many have. I suppose I could have made a mint...

[Raster]

5. don't drink and step up to the vic....vicodin is full of acetaminophen...

...that in and of itself is VERY hard on the liver... coupled with alcohol, it's a potentially dangerous combination

[Q]

3. The problem is that the 'euphoria'...

...is part of the pain relief. The answer is to put a tighter control on where the prescriptions end up...not to penalize chronic pain suffers with drugs that are even less effective.

- The real answer could be quite different than what the drug enforcement puritans desire: medical marijuana. Marijuana has been used for thousands of years to relieve pain...and the side effects are nothing compared to the toxic drugs the drug companies want you to take.

[mulethree]

8. omg NO!!

Can't have people growing their own herb and poppies in their yard!

How are the drug companies supposed to make billions if you can reach out the window, pluck, and bong? ??bongilate?? What about the doctors and pharmacies!

[Mandate My Ass]

10. Big Pharma is ready to patent a marijuana derivative

The FDA is currently fast-tracking the testing.

John Ashcroft's jihad on medical marijuana starts to make more sense when you see this development coming down the pike.

From cheap plant that you can grow for pennies but is illegal, to huge costs for pills that do the same thing and are promoted as a new breakthrough in pain relief by drug companies.

[thecrow]

4. If you are really in pain

painkillers do not give you a "high".
They just make you feel more normal.... i.e.: not in pain.

[Corgigal]

6. exactly

and you would think docs and other scientist would understand how pain receptors work. However if they change those old pain pills just a little then they can jack up the prices. I'm sure its not for that reason but to stop addictions, of course. HA.

[mouse7]

7. When I used them after dental work, the made me...

...sleep. 10 mins after taking one and I was out. I'm such a lightweight ;-)

[Sparky McGruff]

9. When I used them after dental work, they made me...

...nauseated. Felt like the worst hangover I ever had. I hate nausea more than I hate pain, so I just took advil and tried to ignore the pain from my lower jaw (wisdom tooth with deep roots-- they cracked it into four pieces to remove it)

But, really... They've tried for years to find a pain killer that works as well as opiates that isn't addictive and doesn't give a "high". If they found such a drug, it would be worth a fortune! Every few years, someone thinks they've done it, but it appears that the two are closely linked.

[Skittles]

13. same with me, Sparky

I got Vicodin following endoscopic sinus surgery; it made me really sick. I got the doc to write me a script for darvocet.

[shimmergal]

11. Those reformulating steps are going to make chronic pain a real hell

for a lot of us.

In the article, it says they hope to design pills so, if they're crushed, the nasty/pepper/whatever-other horrible effect will be released. Seems those Law and Pharma types can't imagine anyone except "drug abusers" wanting to mash up the pills.

Surely I'm not the only person who CAN'T SWALLOW large pills or capsules.

For a couple of months last winter I was taking prescription hydrocodone for severe back pain. It comes in large oblong tablets. I had to grind them up and mix them with ice cream, cream cheese, or some other soft food in order to get them down at all. Anytime I try to swallow them directly, I choke.

There _is_ a liquid form of this drug, but for several reasons it's less satisfactory than the powdered/pill form. Anyway, no matter how many times I tell doctors that I can't swallow large pills, they hardly ever listen. If the medicine _can_ be taken with food, it's easier just to cope that way.

Fortunately I feel much better now and am off the meds, but who knows when this kind of pain will come back? It's awful that "they" who make decisions about these things are trying to make treating pain even harder.

[hunter]

12. They try so hard to make earth into hell...

"Another produces a nasty burning sensation."

No, no, we can't allow anyone suffering chronic pain feeling the least bit euphoric... that might close the doors to Heaven on them.

Bullshit. I think this is all about sucking the life out of people, one way or another. We have very inexpensive drugs that work for pain, but we are not allowed to live in a society where we can use them.

No, no, they've got to make everybody suffer, from the people who need these drugs, to the people on the streets who abuse them.

Our overlords will fuck us all over, take our money, and then abandon us when we are no longer useful.

I am angry.

All the pain in the world ain't gonna get you into heaven Mr. Ashcroft. But I do understand your deep, deep perversions... May you dream of nude big-breasted women with whips and motorcycles rounding you up like a freshly branded steer on the paths to your heavenly pasture. --Ezekiel