A Strong Response to the Opioid Scourge

[iluvatar5150]

Yes, because a government agency knows better than my doctor.

Is that really the extent to which you can discuss this issue? You can't get any deeper or more nuanced than that?

 

[trunks2k]

Yes, because a government agency knows better than my doctor.

It's not telling your doctor to not prescribe opiates. Rather, giving guidelines that will lead to less opiod prescriptions and better outcomes for long term pain management. Because, and I know this may shock you, doctors can take the easy way out and dole out unnecessary (and potentially harmful) medications when there's data to support the idea that there are better paths to take.

It's kinda like doctors prescribing unnecessary antibiotics because it gets patients out of their hair. Now, that over use of antibiotics is becoming a real problem, there's a push for being more careful about their use (which *GASP* the CDC has guidelines for their use too http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/community/for-hcp/index.html http://arstechnica.com/science/2016...s-doctors-avoid-giving-antibiotics-for-colds/ . Are you angry that the CDC is giving your medical provider guidelines about how to best deal with antibiotics?).

I seriously don't get what you are objecting to.

 

[RedPonyDriver]

When my husband was sick, he was prescribed opiates. We moved and the new pain management specialists were trying to push him into having a nerve block (which is contraindicated for what his disease was). The doctor said they gave them to all the people with his disease...until I showed him the documentation that this treatment was NOT appropriate.

When he had the evaluation for surgery, we found out that if he would have had that nerve block, he would have been denied surgery.

I have chronic back problems...due to taking care of my mother. The doctor prescribed Naprosyn. It doesn't TOUCH the pain. However, I'm afraid to say anything to my doctor because I also don't want to go through what my husband did when trying to get his pain medications refilled...the crummy pain management clinics that look at you funny, tell you that you can't really be in pain and "look that good" and essentially you're nothing but a dirty addict. Those of us in chronic pain make an effort to "look that good" because we have gotten very skilled at hiding how much pain we're in.

 

[blackribbon]

Track the med use instead. It is possible to watch how often a controlled substance is purchased by a single person...and for a doctor to see if the patient is filling multiple prescriptions (from multiple providers) or if the patient really is only buying a 30 day supply to cover 30 days. Make this into a national data base and send a flag to prescribing doctors for over use by a patient. Taking a medication on a regular basis that does what it is supposed to do...relieving pain for example...is not "addiction"...addiction involves psychological need beyond the physiological need. Removing the monitored medications like narcotics does not mean the patient will just learn to live with their pain...it means they will find unmonitored alternatives like alcohol or illegal sources....or just commit suicide because they only want relief from the pain. The numbers can't and don't show how many of those overdoses are really unintentional attempts to control pain that isn't being managed or intentional overdoses because they can no longer deal with the pain. We lost a forum member to this 2 years ago. He saved up his pain meds and took them on top of alcohol in the middle of the night because he could no longer deal with the constant pain he was living with....he didn't want to die, he just couldn't handle living in pain anymore.