Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.You are exactly right, and it's an outrage. I am a chronic pain patient. I get meds, and one time my doctor told me what the DEA does, and how even honest doctors treating real patients can get into trouble just for doing their jobs. Every month the DEA pulls many random DEA numbers of physicians, and then go through the physician's office like the IRS would go through a cooperations books for an audit. He said they just assume any patient getting pain meds is a criminal, until proven otherwise, and they look upon the doctor with suspicion for prescribing such medicines. The doctor told me that he, or even I could go to jail if his records were anything less than perfect. I'm sure many people are suffering right now because their doctors are simply unwilling to put up with all of that...
I’ve felt for a while that prosecutors and drug agents should be charged with conspiracy to commit murder if their actions cause pain patients to later die due to insufficient treatment. I can only hope that some of them, sooner or later in life, suffer chronic pain themselves, and find themselves hanged by their own belts, so to speak, when their own efforts to seek relief are blocked.
Like so many other perjorative statements, this is completely incorrect, and in general, pretty ignorant. Doctors DO know how to treat pain. I am a board certified anesthesiologist, and believe me, I treat pain very, very well. There are two competing problems here, one is societal and one is patient oriented -- first things first...
As usual, society COMPLETELY uses the wrong word with all its miserable connotations do define a problem. People with chronic pain do not become ADDICTED to pain meds, the become tolerant of them. When properly administered, pain meds, specifically narcotic reduce the amount of pain felt. Over time it take more and more of the drug to achieve the same pain relief. This is TOLERANCE to the drug. As the patient becomes more tolerant, the dangerous effects of the drug are also better tolerated.
The prime concern with pain medications is a DANGEROUS decrease in respiration -- namely the patient stops breathing. In someone who is not exposed to pain meds on a regular basis, a high dose can be fatal. The same dose in a patient with chronic pain on pain meds for several years may not even provide a little relief.
Thus, as more drug is required, a patient is not ADDICTED. Addiction is when the drug is used improperly, typically for its "feel good" effects. (In other words, used to get stoned, not to relieve pain). If a patient has a medical reason to hurt, and is treated appropriately and takes the drug appropriately, they cannot become addicted. This brings us to the patient problem.
The vast majority of patients who illegally seek drugs are just that -- drug seekers. Instead of buying their fix on the corner, they try to fake their way through the medical establishment. I used to work in emergency rooms to make ends meet, and I would say 80% of patients who came in demanded a pain medicine of their choice, and often with the most ludicrous excuses -- they lost their perscription, they flushed their pills on accident, yada, yada, yada...One evening, I worked a case in an ER with an obvious drug seeker (story did not check out) and the next night worked in a different ER 150 miles away. Sure enough, same couple came in with the same complaints trying to get drugs.
THe bottom line is this -- doctors are forever in the bind that they addict patients, and have the DEA looking over their shoulder ever willing to come down on a doc who is legitimately treating pain.
For those in chronic pain, my suggestion: see a board certified pain specialist. The American Board of Anesthesiology certifies experts in the field of pain management. There are physicians who have gone through the 4 years of anesthesia residency and then have an additional year in pain training. These tireless physicians dedicate their lives each day to their field, and do a superb job of helping all who hurt.
But please do not use words that are incorrect, and I hope all who read this now understand the difference between addiction and tolerance. As usual, the MSM cannot accurately report on anything.
Thanks for listening to this rant...
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