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Frustration with Witch Hunt

belize44

Senior Member
Messages
1,662
For lack of a better term, I will call this newest attitude towards pain meds a witch hunt. I don't often have a need for pain medication but it is getting next to impossible to obtain it because of a growing problem with abuse of these drugs. I read about it in the papers, about people overdosing and dying, etc. If you come in to your doctors office and complain of pain and ask for help, you are treated like a career drug addict! I have a bottle of Tramadol sitting around that was prescribed last summer. I find that it does very little for acute pain. The one thing that does help is Oxycodone, and in very small doses at that.

Last night I had to visit the ER because of a severe pain flare up brought about from our recent moving house activities. I was reluctant to take the Tramadol because one, it is expired as of last July and two, because it doesn't work anyway. So after a grueling four hours of contrast dye CAT scan, Ultrasound to look for blood clots, blood work, urinalysis, and suspicious questions, I was given a prescription for 5 Hydrocodon tablets and a lecture about how this wasn't a long term solution. Ya think?

They made me wait for two hours before giving me anything for the excruciating pain, and then they gave me Valium! It was the first that I heard that this is a muscle relaxant. What I do know about it is that has an incredibly long half life. When I explained that while I now feel relaxed, I was still in pain, they gave me Morphine which oddly enough makes me feel drunk and doesn't seem to give much pain relief either. I wonder if there are certain receptors in the brain that prefer Oxycodon? I usually find that about two doses of about 5 mg of Oxycodone will usually have a significant effect on my pain levels, and in a day or two I am usually back at my normal level of pain (the ones that I have learned to live with.)

It's a crazy world we live in when we are denied pain relief just because others choose to abuse drugs. I have never had addiction problems; dependency yes! And I have never used recreational drugs at all. I was too scared to, since I tend to be very sensitive to any drugs at all. Just a rant.:bang-head:
 
Messages
1,082
Location
UK
Its becoming more and more difficult as their attitudes change. I use oxycodone too, but daily, (oxynorm - the liquid variety) 4ml 3 times a day and have been on it for about 8-9 years because its good for bone pain where nothing else works.

I have a one month break occassionally to give my body a rest on the off chance it needs it and in order to save the excess into my 'spare oxy stash' in case I ever need to exit this planet in the future :whistle:

My previous doctor prescribed it for me after I tried it via a fibro friend who was on it at the time and it helped me. She was on a much higher dose than me.

My current doctor continued it with no problems after i moved house as my amounts have always stayed the same with no increase needed.

But there's another doctor at my surgery who if my doctor is off, he makes my life hell about the oxy. Trying to make me give it up for paracetamol or codeine instead. I told him to get stuffed. I'm not giving the only thing up thats ever helped me and causes no problems. It definitely does feel like a witch hunt at times :thumbdown:
 

Sandman00747

Senior Member
Messages
106
Location
United States, Kansas
Unfortunately the FDA and other agencies have scared hell out of the docs everywhere about dispensing pain medication. It's always the people and docs who have been blessed to never having chronic pain that most often get on their soap boxes condemning pain meds.

I often wish these people could be in my body for an hour or so and they would quickly change their tune. It doesn't help any of us that there are so many idiots out there killing themselves with accidental OD's! And all the kids getting high on opiates do us even more damage!

On many days those meds are the difference in my being able to go up or down stairs or even stand up!
 

Sandman00747

Senior Member
Messages
106
Location
United States, Kansas
And the worst part is how you must show your drivers license to pick up the medication, once it's been dispensed. As if you don't have a right to privacy anymore!

You are so right! I totally resent having to show my driver's license to get meds. Next they will want to check your arms for needle tracks! The whole process just stinks. And, just like with anything else like guns, the criminals will get their hands on whatever drugs they want, and they won't be standing in line at a pharmacy showing their driver's license to a pharmacist!
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
It's a crazy world we live in when we are denied pain relief just because others choose to abuse drugs. I have never had addiction problems; dependency yes! And I have never used recreational drugs at all. I was too scared to, since I tend to be very sensitive to any drugs at all. Just a rant.:bang-head:
It's not that other people purposely choose to abuse drugs - it's more a case of their doctors creating their drug addictions in the first place by over-prescribing. My sister-in-law has FM and her pain doctor was explaining to her that too many doctors in the past have handed out prescriptions for the heavy duty pain meds when they weren't necessary, which has now brought about the current problem. :thumbdown:
 

belize44

Senior Member
Messages
1,662
@ TigerLilea: that is very true! If they had given out the mildest versions of pain meds for the shortest of treatment times (for one time uses, such as post surgery or injury or tooth extraction) then perhaps this epidemic would not exist. I remember hearing a woman boast that she had tooth pain and, while awaiting surgery she had had her pain killer prescription filled twice! (This was about three years ago) This over caution is a classic example of shutting the barn door after the animals have run off. Very frustrating, indeed!
 

lansbergen

Senior Member
Messages
2,512
It's a crazy world we live in when we are denied pain relief just because others choose to abuse drugs.

During flares the combination paracetemol and Benzydaminehydrochloride cream helped me for pain. Both can be bought without a prescription. The cream usely works fast but must be smeared frequently till the pain is bearable.
 

hellytheelephant

Senior Member
Messages
1,137
Location
S W England
For lack of a better term, I will call this newest attitude towards pain meds a witch hunt. I don't often have a need for pain medication but it is getting next to impossible to obtain it because of a growing problem with abuse of these drugs. I read about it in the papers, about people overdosing and dying, etc. If you come in to your doctors office and complain of pain and ask for help, you are treated like a career drug addict! I have a bottle of Tramadol sitting around that was prescribed last summer. I find that it does very little for acute pain. The one thing that does help is Oxycodone, and in very small doses at that.

Last night I had to visit the ER because of a severe pain flare up brought about from our recent moving house activities. I was reluctant to take the Tramadol because one, it is expired as of last July and two, because it doesn't work anyway. So after a grueling four hours of contrast dye CAT scan, Ultrasound to look for blood clots, blood work, urinalysis, and suspicious questions, I was given a prescription for 5 Hydrocodon tablets and a lecture about how this wasn't a long term solution. Ya think?

They made me wait for two hours before giving me anything for the excruciating pain, and then they gave me Valium! It was the first that I heard that this is a muscle relaxant. What I do know about it is that has an incredibly long half life. When I explained that while I now feel relaxed, I was still in pain, they gave me Morphine which oddly enough makes me feel drunk and doesn't seem to give much pain relief either. I wonder if there are certain receptors in the brain that prefer Oxycodon? I usually find that about two doses of about 5 mg of Oxycodone will usually have a significant effect on my pain levels, and in a day or two I am usually back at my normal level of pain (the ones that I have learned to live with.)

It's a crazy world we live in when we are denied pain relief just because others choose to abuse drugs. I have never had addiction problems; dependency yes! And I have never used recreational drugs at all. I was too scared to, since I tend to be very sensitive to any drugs at all. Just a rant.:bang-head:


I totally agree with your rant! Doctors seem to expect Chronic Patients to put up with levels of pain that acute patients would never be expected to tolerate. If there is medication available that helps then Drs need to put their energies into educating patients how to use this drugs safely...not stigmatize us for needing help. That said, many just don't have a clue- I have learnt more on here than I have from the medication nurse at the pain clinic.

Pain creates a huge strain on mental health even with other support like talking cures, pain management etc.I know the current thing is to quote how many people die from opoid over use, but without prescription meds, how many more would die either from self medicating with alcohol, or from taking their lives out of desperation is not on record.
 

belize44

Senior Member
Messages
1,662
Pain creates a huge strain on mental health even with other support like talking cures, pain management etc.I know the current thing is to quote how many people die from opoid over use, but without prescription meds, how many more would die either from self medicating with alcohol, or from taking their lives out of desperation is not on record.
Yes, I agree. I have read the tragic stories of people who used to post here and on other forums who finally took their own lives rather than continue to live in this twilight zone of a pain filled existence!
 

barbc56

Senior Member
Messages
3,657
Don't get me started!

On the surface it may seem logical that limiting prescriptions for pain medications will reduce drug dependence and overdoses. In reality, it's a far more complex issue. Limiting prescriptions is at best only a bandaid approach.
Up to 8 million chronic pain patients are estimated to currently receive opioid prescriptions; the vast majority of them do not have addiction problems. Certainly better oversight to ensure appropriate prescribing is needed to prevent future addictions and to target opioid treatment to those who will benefit. But today, simply reducing the legal supply will only increase the illegal market.

In order to really address the opioid problem, we need to rapidly expand evidence-based maintenance treatment – and figure out why so many Americans are turning to the most dangerous drugs to self-medicate.
My bold.
Interestingly, enough and I was quite surprised about this, the UK statistics for the same issue are different.
International comparisons can also shed light on the limits of blaming pain prescriptions for opioid misuse. A study published in 2014 in the International Journal of Drug Policy compared the US to the UK and found that both countries saw opioid prescribing roughly quadruple in the last two decades. But in Great Britain, death rates stayed stable or fell when prescribing rose most sharply. In the US, meanwhile, opioid overdoes deaths increased 200% between 2000 and 2014 alone, and admissions to treatment for opioid problems skyrocketed.
More here.
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ion-drug-abuse-addiction-treatment-painkiller

Showing your license is determined by which state you live in. I'm in Illinois where you don't have to show identification. Yet when I was visiting my sister in Indiana and needed to get a refill on my pain meds, I did have to show an ID. I think this is also applies to any controlled substance such a benzodiazepines. I was also able to have someone pick up my pain medication for me here in Illinois. This inconsistency will not prevent others from crossing a state line where you don't have to show an ID. Many doctors have prescription privileges in more than one state.

I won't go into detail about other factors such as social status or how pain can actually harm your brain as well as your mental status, etc. etc. etc.
 
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belize44

Senior Member
Messages
1,662
Excellent points, barbc56! No one seems to care what long term unaddressed inflammation and pain can do to one's overall physical health. I remember the actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg whose early comic skits entailed suggesting that hangers be given out when abortion was deemed illegal. Because true addicts will go to great lengths to get their drugs, and yet persons who are in legitimate pain are skapegoated and shamed into not asking for medication. I shouldn't have to have cancer to be taken seriously, dammit! (You can probably tell that I am still fuming!) I don't need doctors to take responsibility for my drug intake. They need to expend the same dedication to finding a cure for chronic pain.