I remember a story long ago where this woman was in pain and dying from cancer. Her husband told hospital staff not to give her pain meds because he didn’t want her dying as an addict.
My ex was a victim. Don’t give me that deal.
Watch.
A huge part of the problem is that doctors prescribe opioids instead of attempting treatment. Real treatment. People get addicted instead of healed.
The VA prescribed me some crap and I said no thanks! I found treatment and healing outside of the VA system. Still have my problems for sure, but I’m not an addicted drooling zombie.
I think a big part of this problem is not doctor’s overprescribing but cheap pain pills coming across our border from China.
The opiod crisis started when the first doctor was sued for not prescribing and the judgement went against the doc and hospital. Not a drug company conspiracy.
People who don’t suffer chronic, debilitating pain, pain that do not qualify for surgery or surgeries that either were useless or worse yet, left the patient with greater pain, fail to grasp that the proposed situation is leaving many law abiding citizens with slim choices.
For decades, pro-abortion adherents have told us decisions between doctors and their patients should be the only people who have a say so in matters involving women’s bodies yet some of those same people believe patients suffering chronic pain should be deprived of the only medication that gives them quality of life because some people who lie, cheat and steal take overdoses or others who have themselves taken meds when no longer needed, get hooked and thus believe the drugs should be outlawed.
This issue reminds me of mass shootings vs. 2nd Amendment argument that is apples and oranges.
Americans should never be confused by trying to equate gun confiscation of law abiding citizens vs criminals with guns being removed from society and painkilling drugs being provided to those who need them and penalizing those who both provide illegal prescriptions and those who pursue them for so-called “recreational use!”
Oh look! Another histrionic from the "let's legalize drugs Libertarians" at a magazine deceptively named "reason."
You say we should legalize drugs? Isn't this like the thousandth time you've said this?
A story from out of the vault. Many moons ago...like 1971.. my beloved ww2 vet uncle lay dying of terminal pancreatic cancer in a major Chicago hospital. I went to visit him. He was in excellent humor..smiling, laughing , chatting with me, smoking Lucky Strikes (yes,America used to be a free country). My recollection is he had a line in him with some sort of cobra venom extract as a pain killer. There is no way I can confirm that but it is my memory. Anyhow, we bid adieu and I went home. He died that night.
I don’tl know what my point is except that no one should interfere with pain relief for the suffering.0
Good article.
1. No one is addressing the cause of the pain,
2. Pain is the body telling us something is wrong,
3. Thus, the solution is not to mask the pain.
That’s my .02. I cured my own arthritic condition, carpal tunnel and debilitating back & neck pain; I don’t think it is any coincidence that the pain disappearing was concurrent to how I recovered my health. I take nothing: No aspirin, acetaminophen nor ibuprofen. It’s our culture that’s killing us.
I know a guy who was a medic in Vietnam. His role was very removed from combat, serving in a facility treating all manner of conditions from foot rot, yellow fever to opium addiction. I didn’t expect our conversation to shift to a telling tale of opium: It’s not addictive if it’s pure. Only refined “opiates” are highly-addictive. Those soldiers who developed a dependency upon the opium were simply placed in isolation for 3 days, they developed symptoms of a cold, and walked out with no desire to do more (of course, some did anyway...lots of repeat patients, I was told).
The difference between those who used opium and heroin was night & day according to him, mirroring the conversation we were having about the prescription drug crisis and opiates.
Just fyi, fwiw.
I’ve been on opioids numerous time. Right now, I’ve been on them for about 4 years. I take a 10mg NORCO every day, but never more. I function well and never take them early in the day. I’m physically active in spite of my pain. Don’t smoke a drink rarely.
There HAS to be a way to keep addictive pain medications out of the hands of those who abuse them to sell or get high and those who legitimately need such medicines in order to lead a somewhat normal life free of debilitating and chronic pain. In lawmaker’s rush to appear to be “doing something” about the crisis, too often the honest and suffering patient bears the brunt of the fight. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and obstacles to navigate in order for the patient to receive the medications they have been legally prescribed and are monitored closely. We shouldn’t be making it HARDER for genuine sufferers to get what they need.
In WI, opioid overdose deaths are up and opioid prescriptions are down.
“Opioid prescriptions fell 20 percent in Wisconsin over the past three years, as doctors curbed painkiller orders amid soaring overdose deaths.”
“Despite the drop in opioids dispensed, overdose deaths continue to climb. In Wisconsin, 827 people died from opioid overdoses in 2016, up from 614 in 2015, a 35 percent increase. The figure isn’t available for 2017.”
More death, Thank you State and Federal government for your brilliant public policy! .