Rush's Dilemma: The Truth about Oxycontin

Patriot Paradox ^

[strela]

This stuff can be a godsend when someone can't take 30 or fourty Vicodins per day.

Vicodin might as well be so many M&Ms for all the pain relief they provide to me. Plain old codeine is MUCH more effective for me. The last time I had dental work done, I called my dentist at 2 in the morning and got an emergency scrip for codeine after he foolishly prescribed Vicodin. I tried to tell him at the time they didn't work on me, but he became a believer when his phone rang waking him from a sound sleep.

One codeine pill later, the pain disappeared within 15 minutes and I was out like a light for 8 hours of sleep.

Demerol also kills pain for me, but I see stuff crawling up and down the walls as a side effect.

[eno_]

Have we become nothing but pampered sissies?

We believe in the perfectability of life. A foolish belief. So we are both pampered sissies and cruel bluenoses that deny enough medication in cases of truly severe chronic pain. The worst of both worlds.

[ladylib]

There was a woman who called Savage's show last night and said that she takes it and takes a lot of it. She said if you take it properly, it zaps the pain and you won't get high on it.

I believe that this is the drug that has the side effect of making abusers go deaf.

It would be ashamed if it's banned, because apparently it's very effective if taken properly.

[wardaddy]

Gorilla Biscuits have sadly been banned for some time. There was even an international accord to stop the production of generic methaqualone.

Those were fun....I don't recall anyone "addicted" to them...if you were addicted to Ludes, I guess you would have just existed in a numb stupor.

They produced some rather wild parties that I'm sure would bring a blush to yer average now Mom and Dad's face.

Oh well...I don't advocate drug abuse for anybody but Quaaludes were fun but dangerous for driving, mixing with alcohol, and embarrassing moments of normal sexual inhibitions being tossed completely out the window by otherwise prudent folks....the world's only true ever "Spanish Fly" that I know of.

Am I 46 now....pinch me and tell me I'm dreaming!

[Devil_Anse]

Thanks, great article. Oxycontin is just plain frightening.

[Hildy]

I know...44 here. Still can't believe it.

[libhunt]

while the case can be made that the drug companies are irresponcible,it's hard to blame the doctors,most of whom underprescribe pain meds.lots of people are in horrible pain because the docs are too conservative or too afraid to prescribe by the guidlines-i have seen doctors prescribe 2 mg morphine every 4 hours for someone who has just had a leg torn off...part of the reason they are afraid is because there are assholes who lie and doctor shop to support a habit.In any case rush was getting his supply ultimately from a dishonest pharmacist,and bi- passing the doctors. funny thing is,the only spinal surgery I know of that rush had was correction of his pilondial cycst.once corrected,chronic pain is not common in those sorts of neural tube defects,and as i recall he had it fixed back in the 70's,after avoiding the draft because of it.perhaps after he kicks the habit he will be more honest about what really happened?

I generally like Rush,but as a trauma center RN,I have little respect for anyone famous and/or of the role model type like rush,who's high profile addiction makes it harder for the docs to feel comfortable prescribing what are very useful drugs. this lack of respect would of course includes Winnona Ryder,but not so much Brett Farve who at least had real chronic pain to deal with. rememebr when farve said "MVP stands for more vicodin please" ? rather than being facetious,He was talking about the sacrifices he made for the GBPs

[ladylib]

Ron Hoffman, a doctor who has a talk show on WOR, said doctors are constantly monitored individually by the government regarding this drug. They can get into a world of you-know-what (loss of license, criminal penalties) if they prescribe too much.

[ChemistCat]

YOU obviously don't live with severe and chronic pain.

I can't tolerate any of the codeine family. It's probably good for me that I can't, because I would surely be taking all the oxycontin I could get my hands on by now. I am under no illusion that I am stronger than my pain is. Nor do I believe that the pain is as bad as it could get--I have seen cancer patients suffering worse, and childbirth gave me a definite clue as well.

I suffer daily and constant pain that is obviously beyond the imagination of some people. If I found a drug that made it feel better, I don't think anything could stop me. That's just fact.

[Archangelsk]

Yup, rural, poor Western PA has a tremendous OxyContin problem.

[eno_]

According to the DEA site is was originally used as a safer alternative to barbituates.

So, because people were having fun with it, it is banned.

Such is the logic of the Drug War.

[NittanyLion]

drug companies should be held accountable

I guess you were totally in favor of suing Big Tobacco, huh?

[J. L. Chamberlain]

She said if you take it properly, it zaps the pain and you won't get high on it.

That is correct. I've taken Percocet for post operative pain several times and never had nary a hint of a buzz. Just no more pain. Like I said, it's not the drugs...it's the way these folks are using them.

J

[Two_Sheds]

I would say YES to this question!! If, in fact, a person can become a addict ( far worse than the original pain !), simply by trying to aleviate pain at the start, DON'T GIVE it to them to begin with...pain management is the answer IMHO.

So, because some people abuse the drug, you would deny it to people who truly need it? That is truly scary.

BTW, people who properly take Oxy daily for chronic pain are technically addicted, yet they show no ill effects. It is only when it is improperly taken in the absence of symptoms that it becomes a problem.

[libhunt]

anti depressants are used for chronic pain though,as well as gabbapentin

[RaceBannon]

I was given Hydrocodone 7.5/750's, they stopped working after 4 hours, doubled up on them so I culd sleep because of the pain.

It was a waste of time, I stopped taking them after 4 weeks, sleeping in a chair was more painless then taking the pills and sleeping on my back!

[At _War_With_Liberals]

That's now.

I'm in NY. Dr Ron Hoffman is not someone I would rely on for info on this issue.

Also, Drs are now in defense mode, and rightfully so. It's all political now, and to be taken in that context.

[I still care]

The big worry for me in all of this, is that Oxycontin will get such a bad name that the people who desparately need it won't get it. There is not much like it for, say, people with devastating cancer.

It is a documented fact that doctors tend to underprescribe pain med instead of overprescribe. They are worried about lawsuits and such. In fact, I saw a lawyer ad on TV last week advertising for people who felt they had been damaged by oxycontin prescription.

But I know people who have really needed it, and I hate to see them denied access. Intractable pain is a horror story to live with.

[ChemistCat]

The key is to have the pain med geared to the level of pain. If you're taking the right med at the right dose, it works. That is a problem with the doctors.

I remember as an adult having a tonsillectomy. My husband had the same surgery, along with an adenoidectomy, the next year. That's about the most painful surgery there is! The pain just ATE the pain medication for both of us. It would let us sleep, and we'd wake up about half an hour before we were allowed to take the next dose, and count seconds. We'd swallow the liquid very, very slowly because that's all we could do, and count seconds again for the next half hour till it was working again, and then sleep again. I wouldn't believe ANYONE who claimed they didn't take the pain meds prescribed after that surgery.

We did have some left over after we felt better, though. I guess the doctors assume that you are going to take more tha you're supposed to, but we were watching over one another. If you really have the pain to match the pain meds prescribed, you won't get addicted.