Posted on 07/23/2002 7:48:41 AM PDT by weekendwarrior
Spoken like a liberal; smear people in severe pain as if they were weak drug-abusers. Your anti-drug zealotry is making you lose all compassion for those in pain.
I'm fighting back a desire to someday see you in severe, unrelenting, near-blinding pain and then be able to stand in front of you as you beg for relief and say: "Oh no, drugs are dangerous...you can't have any", you might get addicted" - but I won't do that.
I know a woman with spinal bifida who has a variety of related problems and was recently perscribed OxyContin for pain. She uses it sparingly but it does help, although not 100%. Yet you would accuse her of 'worshipping her drug'?
If she was here she would politely tell you to go straight to hell. When you've been in severe, unending pain for 37 years as this person has, maybe you can make statements like the one above with some credibility. Until then, you sound like a fool; spouting anti-drug slogans and warnings at people who would never again take a drug of any kind should their pain ever cease. For some it does, and drugs such as OxyContin are never used again.
You seem to have a skewed concept of all OxyContin users as serial drug abusers instead of the normal people fighting pain that most are. Get a clue and learn some compassion for those less fortunate - and in pain - who welcome relief.
OxyContin is a deadly drug... it should be banned...Auntbee
My husband had back surgery 10 years ago and has severe chronic pain. His doctor prescribed OxyContin about a year ago and it has helped him tremendously. If you follow the prescribed amount it works. He does not abuse it and takes it only as prescribed.Steely Tom
The OxyContin story was one of the things that was hot on the media in the week before 9-11.
Fortunately the back surgery I had last year solved 99% of my back pain. I can take care of the minor aches that I have now with a couple of aspirin or ibuprofen in the morning, and be pain free all day. I am very glad to not need to take Vicodin or any other narcotic, but I am glad that there are drugs like Oxycontin available for people in chronic pain.
I was in horrible shape before surgery. I could barely walk 100 feet without getting excruciating pain, and may pain was increasing every day. I would wake up each morning wondering how it was possible for my pain to get any worse, but While I was waiting (about five weeks) for an appointment with a neurosurgeon in Houston, I had my regular physician in town give me a new prescription for Voltaren. Previously Voltaren had helped to relieve my back pain, but now it did nothing. I called my physician to get something more powerful. He prescribed Darvocet with instructions to take at least six hours apart and no more than four per day. Although they gave some relief, I could start to feel them wear off after four hours. If I skipped my dose before going to bed, I would be in serious pain when I woke up. Unfortunately, I had to skip a few doses the weekend before seeing the neurosurgeon, due to an inability to get an authorization for a refill.
My neurosurgeon determined that the MRI's that were taken in November 1997 showing a herniation at the L5-S1 level did not match the severity of the symtoms I was having. As I had taken my last Darvocet in the waiting room, he gave me a prescription for Vicodin which I could take as often as six times per day or every four hours. We decided to skip another round of MRI's and go directly to a myelogram which my neurosurgeon's office scheduled for the next day (I later talked to the friend who referred me to the surgeon than anyone living in the Houston area would have had to wait at least three weeks).
Two days later on Thursday afternoon, my surgeon called and told me my pictures looked like "crap", and my herniated disk was much worse (it was completely surrounding the spinal chord) than in my previous images. He gave me the telephone number that directly called his office manager (bypassing the receptionists and answering service), and told me to call the next morning and get scheduled for the earliest available slot. He said that I was in danger of "permanent neruological loss" and to call him any time of day or night if my condition got worse. He was afraid that I might have to go in for emergency surgery and told me he had had some patients he met for the first time at 3:00 pm and had in surgery at 4:00 pm. I was able to get scheduled for the next Thursday, and I was the third of four surgeries he performed that day. The Vicodin he prescribed did a much better job of controlling pain, and I was able to go six hours comfortably between doses.
The day before surgery, I had my preop at the hospital, and tried to get back to my surgeons office so I could have my surgeon review my myelogram and proposed surgery with my brother and parents. My doctors office was in a building across the street from the hospital and was connected via a sky walk. I was barely able to originally get from the doctor's office to the nurses' station. After the preop, I got lost and was beginning to get excruciating pain. A nurse who was on her way to a meeting saw me and got an orderly to push me in a wheelchair back to my docor's office. My doctor explained the procedure told us that he had performed over 9,000 back surgeries, and let me look at my images. The CAT scan that was made after the meyelogram fluoroscopy showed my spinal chord going from about one inch in diameter about he first lumbar vertebra down to a quarter inch at the the L5-S1 level.
The next day I arrived at the hospital early in the morning and requested a wheelchair to take me to the day surgery wating room where I checked in. My maind difficulty was waiting my turn sitting in a couch that seem to have been designed by Dr. Mengele. The couch was rigidly divided into chairs narrower than economy class airline seats by partitions, and I could not get into a comfortable position. I tried sitting for about an hour, but I was really uncomfortable. I had been told not to eat or drink anything or take any medication after midnight, so my Vicodin was wearing off. I asked my brother to help me get a room with a bed to lie down on while waiting for surgery. Fortunately when I got to the desk the Orderly who had taken me back to my surgeon's office the previous day saw me and got the nurses to put me into a hospital room. Later on nurse came into my room took my vital signs, had me read and sign waivers describing the surgery and its possible complications. Later I was taken to a room where my anesthesiologist went over my charts, started my IV, and started the anaesthesia. The anaesthesioligist was rather interesting. He was Russian, and he joked that he was going to give me some vodka. I'm not sure exactly what he gave me, but I didn't feel anything till I got out of surgery. Before I got too silly, my surgeon came in to give me my pre-surgery pep talk. He said that I would not beleive how much better I would be after surgery and and how quickly I would recover. He told me about one of his rather famous patients who was 88 when he had the surgery and called two weeks later asking if it were permissible to go on a business trip to London and Moscow. An hour after my surgery, I was in my hospital room having lunch. About an hour later, the nurses had me get up and walk around the hallway and then give a urine sample. Later on, they had me walk some more and my surgeon checked up on me to see how I was doing. Six hours after surgery I was given a demerol injecion and some prednisone and released. My family then drove me to dinner and then to our hotel. I was able to stop taking Vicodin within a week of my surgery.
I am glad that I never had to go on Oxycontin, but I am glad that it is available to people who need it. From what I have read Oxycontin is able to deliver a steady dose of narcotic in one pill that can last a whole day. This avoids fluctating level of narcotics in the bloodstream and allows steady relief from pain without alternately having too much and then too little. So krodriguesdc what credentials do you have to pontificate on this issue. Have you ever had really horrific levels of pain? Do you have an MD degree? Do you have a PHD degree in pharmacology? Are you some blood sucking trial lawyer out to exploit the pain and suffering of real people to make big bucks, because some idiots crush up Oxicontin (contrary to instructions) in order to get high? Or are you just an ignorant busy body who doesn't know what the hell he's talking about?
Steely Tom ought to re-read the stories about Oxycontin prior to 9-11. Those stories were not primarily about chronic pain paitients becoming addicts, they were about people who were either faking conditions such as back pain or breaking into pharmacies at night to steal the all the Oxycontin, or committing armed robbery of pharmacies during the day. There was even an account of a woman with terminal cancer who was not getting any relief from her pain after being prescribed Oxycontin. Her physician told her to bring her pill with her to his office. It turned out that her own daughter was substituting aspirins for Oxicontins and selling the Oxycontins on the black market to drug dealers. One of the doctors quoted about the highest doses available said that for many of his terminal cancer patients had terrible pain when swallowing, and it was much easier for them to swallow just one pill rather than several. I know from personal experience that people in extreme pain do not get high from taking narcotics to releive pain; they just get relief from pain. I really don't give a damn if druggies who deliberately misuse these drugs die of overdoses. Just because some people misuse these drugs does not justify their being taken off the market. I've just about had it with government that treats everyone like idiots just because a few are idiots.
I am not completely ignorant of medicine or medication...Judge for yourself. Read post #44.
I am not completely ignorant of medicine or medication...Judge for yourself. Read post #44.
Laz, you have that exactly right. I did not bother to save it, but right before 911 blew everything else off the map, there was a flurry of stories claiming Oxy was the new "drug from Hell itself..."
Some dern reporter from New York city went down to (?) Tennessee, Kentucky, one of the mid-south states, and according to him, the whole town was using & abusing the stuff.
What got lost in all the noise was one little fact- the people abusing it were doing just that- crushing the pills and snorting them, which the neither the maker not the doctors ever intended as proper use.
It's not a drug problem, it's a people problem.
Look, since she had her neck fused last August, my wife has had to take Vicodin, or Tylenol with codeine at times, and yes, I watch her carefully, because there is a tendency to mis-use the drug- it makes you feel better, like having a snort of liquor-- but the difference between being so miserable she can't even get up, or being a little "souped up"- but functional- is a no-brainer to me.
What is OxyContin?
OxyContin is one of several Opium derivatives available by prescription. It is a high potency pain reliever. OxyContin is formulated by Purdue Pharma of Stamford Ct. as a 12 hour time release pill for cancer patients and others suffering from chronic pain. It has been called the miracle drug.OxyContin is the brand name for the time-release tablet form of oxycondon, an opium derivative similar to codeine but more powerful and more likely to be addictive.
Oxycondone is an ingredient in the prescription drugs, Percocet, Percodan and Tylox, in much weaker strengths than OxyContin. Oxycondone has been around for decades and taken by millions of people for post surgical pain, broken bones, arthritis, migraines and back pain. While Percocet and Percodan have about five milligrams of oxycondone, OxyContin tablets contain oxycontin in amounts of 10,20, 40 and 80 milligrams.
OxyContin is highly addictive and gives a heroin-like rush which is released when pills are crushed or chewed. Many pain patients become dependent on the drug for more than pain relief and find themselves with a full scale addition that has led to severe and damaging consequences.
Purdue Pharma is facing more than a dozen lawsuits from patients, claiming they have become addicted to the painkiller, and others blaming the company for abusers' overdoses and deaths because of the company's failure to distribute adequate warnings.
Lawsuits are Being Filed
A plaintiffs group in Washington, D.C., has filed a $5.2 billion lawsuit against Purdue Pharma LP and Abbott Laboratories Inc. charging the drug companies with allegedly failing to warn patients the painkiller OxyContin is dangerously addictive.The suit was filed by seven people who are former addicts or relatives of addicts, the suit charges the companies with aggressively marketing the drug without warning of the risks. The plaintiffs are also seeking class action status.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue manufactures OxyContin, while Abbott co-markets the drug, a painkiller intended for use by terminal cancer patients and chronic pain sufferers. Allegations have surfaced that the drug has been linked to numerous deaths.
Purdue in May said it had met with officials from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration because of the agency's concerns about its illegal diversion and abuse. Purdue Pharma around the same time said it tried to reduce abuse of the prescription drug through several actions including halting distribution of the drug in 160 mg tablets, its highest-strength dosage.
According to the lawsuit, defendants ``made misrepresentations or failed to adequately and sufficiently warn individuals regarding the appropriate uses, risks and safety of OxyContin.'' It contends OxyContin's sales, which exceeded $1 billion in the United States in 2000, were the result of an ``aggressive marketing strategy'' to physicians, pharmacists and patients that, ``misrepresented the appropriate uses of OxyContin and failed to adequately disclose and discuss the safety issues and possible adverse effects of OxyContin use.''
Specifically, the suit quotes a May 2000 U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning letter to Purdue Pharma ordering the company to cease use of an advertisement for the drug that appeared in a medical journal. The suit quotes a section from the warning letter that suggests the advertisement inaccurately represents the drug as a first-line treatment for osteoarthritis. ``As a result of drug company defendants' inappropriate marketing of OxyContin, the drug has been inappropriately prescribed and used, unnecessarily putting people at risk of addiction to OxyContin,'' the suit alleges.
there are at least two sides to every issue...
Even if used under medical supervision by pain patients, this drug can lead to addiction and worse problems...
there are NO DRUGS that are completely safe - even if taken as directed some people do get hurt...
And ocassionally a very bad drug comes down the line that eventually gets taken off the market because it is too dangerous - witness phen phen, the rotavirus vaccine etc etc
Maybe in Russia and China you can't sue for damages but in America you can - and rightfully so...
maybe in Russia and China with the commie/liberals you can't sue, but not here in America - we can sue and rightfully so...
Dittos on that one. Consider ALL the extra tests a doctor has to order just to cya. The art of medicine is being replaced with the art of avoiding law suits. No harm intended to the Barristers on this thread, but some lawsuits which prove legally succesful amount to more of a case of a "legal shakedown" versus protection of the citizens.
Yeah, and even when guns are stored and used in a safe manner, people still find ways to access and abuse them and people get killed.
Ban all potentially addictive drugs and ban all guns because "some people" are not responsible and will abuse these things. Good thinking.
What we need is TORT reform.
Have you noticed the price of medical insurance lately? Some companies are cutting out medical coverage for their employees others, like mine are requireing employees to foot more of the bill because of the high handed legal business.
Patients should have the ability to sue if they are wronged, but the courts shouln't be allowed to run roughshod over the industries.
I have first hand expirience with extreme pain. I know what it is like to live from one pill to the next. I know what it is like to be undermedicated for pain. I can imagine that if surgery had not corrected my problem, I might have needed a drug like Oxycontin. I also have a relative who has been treated for alcholism and has been on the board of directors of an addiction treatment center. I personally know several professionals who treat drug addicts. I am in no way naiive about drug addiction.
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