Free Republic

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinians struggling to cope with the Israeli blockade of Gaza and the trauma of war are turning to painkillers and tranquillizers at a rate that risks triggering a wave of addiction. There is also evidence of mounting recreational drug use as Gaza drifts in limbo, with no clear political future. Gaza residents reported health problems after a 22-day Israeli offensive last January, with most citing psychological problems and stress, according to a survey published by the United Nations Gender Task Force on April 21. "With increased trauma and stress and limited access to professional psychosocial services, there...

Patients can recover from orthopedic surgery just as well without using opioid-based painkillers. Study results showed that by prescribing a combination of three non-opioid painkillers to patients, researchers successfully reduced approximately tenfold the amounts of opioids consumed over a six-week post-operative period, without altering their pain levels. Co-principal investigator Olufemi Ayeni and his team gleaned their results by enrolling 193 patients between March 2021 and March 2022. The patients were randomly assigned to either a control group of 98 receiving standard opioid-based painkillers or an opioid-free group (93) receiving a combination therapy of naproxen, acetaminophen and pantoprazole and a patient...

Anyone who is taking a diuretic and a renin-angiotensin system (RSA) inhibitor for high blood pressure should be cautious about also taking ibuprofen, according to new research. Diuretics and RSA inhibitors are commonly prescribed together for people with hypertension and are available under various pharmaceutical brand names. Painkillers such as ibuprofen are available over-the-counter in most pharmacies and stores in popular brands. Researchers used computer-simulated drug trials to model the interactions of the three drugs and the impact on the kidney. They found that in people with certain medical profiles, the combination can cause acute kidney injury, which in some...

FULL TITLE: Supply of Opioid Painkillers NEARLY DOUBLED Under Obama, Trump Is Working to Reverse This Trend and Save Lives The opioid problem in America has reached a fever pitch wherein the abuse of prescription drugs is now matching the level of outcry and desperation that many Americans are feeling regarding this growing epidemic. Under the Obama administration, quotas for opioid distribution just about doubled and pushed a massive level of supply into the pharmaceutical system. The Trump administration is taking active measures to reverse the damage done by Obama, with the current administration officials calling for a 20% cut...

Researchers from the University of Texas have discovered what they say is a powerful painkiller that acts on a previously unknown pain pathway. The synthetic compound, known as UKH-1114, effectively relieves neuropathic pain in injured mice, but it works at a much lower dose, with a longer duration of action. If the researchers can demonstrate that the drug is safe, effective and nonaddictive in humans – a process that can take years – the discovery could address one of today’s biggest public health challenges: the opioid crisis. Opioids are addictive and users quickly develop a tolerance for the drugs, requiring...

Democratic lawmakers introduced a proposal to place a fee on opioid prescriptions with the revenue going to combat rampant painkiller and heroin addiction across the U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, a state hit hard by increases in drug overdoses, are calling for a one-cent per-milligram tax to be added to prescriptions for opiate-based painkillers.

The widow of a scientist who killed himself in fear he was about to lose his job at troubled bio-tech start-up Theranos has told of the company's paranoid culture. Ian Gibbons, the head scientist at the blood test company, died after taking an overdose of painkillers in May 2013 within hours of being summoned for a meeting. According to his widow, Rochelle, he had found faults in machines the company claimed would 'change the world' by being able to diagnose diseases from a single pinprick of a patient's blood. Having recently been diagnosed with cancer, he stopped going to work...

An emotional Gov. Charlie Baker on Monday signed what he called the most comprehensive law in the nation to combat an opioid addiction scourge, including a seven-day limit on first-time prescriptions for opiate painkillers. The Republican governor struggled to maintain his composure while recalling families he had met — some standing behind him at the Statehouse ceremony — who had lost loved ones to a “deadly, merciless epidemic” and others who were desperately seeking help for a family member. In recent years, the opiate-abuse epidemic has claimed thousands of lives in Massachusetts. The law, which was given final approval by...

The outsized influence of New Hampshire on elections gives it a pulpit to focus on pet issues. This election cycle, the pet cause is drugs. According to The Daily Beast, Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas has pressured presidential candidates to address the state’s heroin epidemic and craft policy to address it. Almost a dozen candidates have spoken with Gatsas, and it showed in last week’s Fox News Republican presidential candidate debate. Ohio Gov. John Kasich mentioned Manchester and its drug problems, and Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio have discussed it in other forums. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker spoke on a New...

ATLANTA (CBS Atlanta) – For the first time ever, scientists have linked prescription drugs that affect the central nervous system to an increased risk of committing a homicide. European researchers found that people who were taking a class of tranquilizers called benzodiazpines were more likely to kill someone than those who were not taking these medicines, reports Live Science.

NATURE TO THE RESCUE - AGAINThe deadly sea snail venom that will take away your pain By Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor Times Online A NEW painkiller based on the venom of a sea snail will be available in Britain from today. Prialt, or ziconotide, is the result of more than 20 years’ research by a scientist born in the Philippines, Baldomera Olivera, who is a professor at the University of Utah. It is 1,000 times more potent than morphine but, unlike that drug, is not addictive. It is aimed at people suffering from severe, chronic pain who would normally...

Despite all the advances of modern medicine, the main drugs used to fight pain today are essentially the same as those used in ancient times. Hippocrates wrote about the pain-soothing effects of willow bark and leaves as early as 400 B.C. Opium was cultivated long before that. Aspirin and morphine, based on the active ingredients in these traditional remedies, were isolated in the 1800's and helped form the foundation of the modern pharmaceutical industry. But scientists are now trying to find new ways of fighting pain. The effort has been given new impetus by the recent withdrawal of Vioxx and...

Stricter rules for the country's most commonly prescribed painkiller were rolled out on Thursday by the FDA, the last step in a policy change that has been coming down the pipeline for years, The New York Times reported on Sunday. Hydrocodone will now be in a more serious and restrictive category. Doctors will be barred from calling in prescriptions by telephone, and patients will not be able to get refills on the same prescription, but will have to return to a physician for a new one. It will also have be to kept in special vaults in pharmacies. The Drug...

Scientists have created powerful painkillers from the venom of snails, it has been revealed. The substances, based on a tiny protein found in cone snails’ venom, could be more effective than morphine. They may one day lead to the development of a drug to treat severe and chronic nerve pain. …

FULL TITLE: Terminally sick children have been secretly given deadly overdoses by British doctors in illegal mercy killings, claims retired GP British doctors have secretly killed terminally sick children by giving them 'huge' overdoses of painkillers, it was claimed yesterday. Hours after Belgium became the first country in the world to allow the euthanasia of children, a retired GP suggested it was already happening, informally, in Britain. Dr Michael Irwin told an LBC Radio debate: 'It has happened in this country, very quietly. I know of one or two children over the last few years.'

Heroin abuse has been getting more attention lately. Last week, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin spent his entire 34-minute State of the State address talking about the state's "full-blown heroin crisis," and law enforcement officials in small cities across New England have noted an increase in heroin use. Demand for the drug might be coming from people who are hooked on prescription pills.Health officials and drug experts have started noticing that heroin use has been exploding as states crack down on "pill mills," which get people addicted to Oxycontin and other pain killers even when they don't have a medical need...

Acetaminophen is often used in pain medications with opioids such as oxycodone (Percocet), hydrocodone (Vicodin) and codeine (Tylenol with Codeine). These are called combination drugs, and the Food and Drug Administration is asking doctors to stop prescribing those that have more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dose. Acetaminophen overdose is one of the most common poisonings worldwide," according to the National Institutes of Health. Taking too much of this pain reliever can lead to liver failure or death. n 2011, the FDA asked manufacturers to limit the amount of acetaminophen in prescription combination drugs to 325 mg per capsule...

Should the inquiry determine that the companies made false claims, the city would then seek to recover millions of dollars in health care dollars spent on pain drugs used to treat city employees and retirees, the court filing shows. The investigation, which began this summer, appears to be in an early phase. The city hired an outside class-action law firm, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, to handle the case. It would receive a share in any money recovered through a successful lawsuit, the filing shows. “As part of its ongoing efforts to protect Chicago taxpayers, the city conducts reviews concerning...

You know that smiling woman who was featured on the home page of Healthcare.gov? She asked for her picture to be removed after she was cyber-bullied. She's hiding where nobody can see her — at Healthcare.gov. ~ Conan It turns out that a lot of children could lose their dental insurance under Obamacare. So kids might not be able to go to the dentist. Parents were really upset, while kids said, “Four more years! Four more years!” ~ Fallon According to a new report, over a million Californians are losing their health insurance due to Obamacare. In fact, some...

Thanks to pjmedia.com we have this comment on King Barack’s latest healthcare edit. It comes from David Oscar, the communications chair for the New Jersey Association of Health Underwriters and a partner at Altigro Financial Group. He had this to say regarding Obama’s scheme to trick low information voters with a one-year restoration of canceled plans: “I do not know how the insurance carriers and federal government are going to be dealing with this. First, many states require a 60-day notice of a change in plan or a cancellation. It’s November 15! How can they comply with this new element...