Now that’s just sad. Were those drug abusers, or people who couldn’t get legitimate pain relief? Those seem awfully small potatoes to be risking forgery charges for.
I had an issue a while back with a patient who didn’t want the Norco or Vicodin her doctors had been prescribing. She wanted her old Tylenol #3, because (she said) they worked better. Now, this women was not a pain med abuser (although her daughter was a pain med thief; she’s in jail now. You’re welcome.) but due to a rousing game of phone tag with her doctor’s office, her scrip was delayed because the right guy to write it had never actually seen her as a patient. Or something. But it turned into a two week farce…over Tylenol #3. Finally in frustration, I exclaimed to the Assistant to the Assistant Secretary, “My goodness, it’s Tylenol #3! Don’t you think if she was drug seeking she’d ask for something a little more fun?!” The doctor called me back laughing his butt off, and I finally got the scrip.
Drug abusers, this was before Tramadol was controlled, and Hydrocodone was CII. They forge the best they think they can get away with, and /or what will sell on the street.
Good for you. I’ve notice at times legitimate pain patients not being able to get the drug that works for them. Like you, I’ve had some patients who want a weaker drug then the doctor wants to prescribe, because they don’t want the negative side effects of the stronger ones, and have trouble convincing their pain docs to prescribe it. At times I think it is just because the docs are so used to people wanting the “good stuff” that they forget what is available, and that some people aren’t “drug seekers”.
I haven’t touched opiates in years. I was prescribed Oxy after a car accident. At first, it felt amazing, but then I needed more to get the same pain relief. Opiates are extremely addictive. I could never see myself shooting someone over drugs, but some people lose their shit. Those people are probably taking like 20+ pills/day. When you start taking that much, you get REALLY sick when you start to come down. Sick like vomiting/diarrhea sick. You get chills/nausea like heroin addicts do. I never got to that point, but know a few people who have. They all had to go to detox centers and quit completely. Mixing alcohol with Vicodin and Oxy is probably one of the main reasons people od’. The combination is extremely unpredictable. I think that most people aren’t using opiates for pain relief. They may have had pain in the past, but mainly use it for its euphoric effect. It ruins your liver/kidneys. I also remember craving sweets like crazy. In ONE YEAR, I had 5 new cavities. Disgusting. I can take or leave many pills, but one thing I’ll never touch is opiates. Anything that can make you feel that high can potentially make you feel that low.
Ideally, when controlling pain you don’t give the patient enough to get high. Of course, getting the dose exactly right takes some work.
I’ve had opiates for pain a couple times in my life and never had any problem stopping my use of them. Then again, I never liked the fuzzy way they made me feel, sure the pain relief was wonderful but disliked the “euphoria” for the same reason I dislike being drunk - I don’t like being muddle brained even if the rest of me is feeling wonderful. Of course, this is very much an area where YMMV.
Well, you’re one of the lucky ones I loved the ‘‘euphoria’’ it gave me, but also hated that I craved it, so I just ended up stopping it. I know people like you who also don’t like that fuzzy feeling, but I personally liked it because it felt like an escape from my anxiety. I think that many doctors have the intention of giving opiates to patients for pain-relief, but that doesn’t mean that the patient is going to heed the recommended dose on the bottle. Many doctors nowadays prescribe opiates with acetaminophen to prevent people from taking too much, but acetaminophen is pretty toxic if taken regularly. Taking opiates once in a while is probably not that bad for people who don’t have addiction issues. For me, it’s like crack lol
<shudder> I made the mistake of googling it … holy shit.
Though uncrushable sounds like fun, next time I end up with a scrip for it I will take a hammer to one for the fun of it. I wonder what would happen if mrAru took one to work and dropped his model L cecostamp down on one.
The thing about krokodil is no one wants to use it, it is a move of desperation by addicts who can’t get anything else.
Even is all drugs were legalized the drug store isn’t going to sell krokodil, they would sell pure pharmaceutical grade desomorphine(the active ingredient in krododil).
I have doubts about the story about krokodil even being desomorphine, every media article gave different reagents and synthesis. Made me wonder if people were just injecting codeine with crap mixed in, and the story was mostly an invention. Not that some people have rotted their limbs off injecting trash, but that krokodil was sweeping Russia etc. There were articles about it being in the USA, and the DEA said they have never seen a sample.
I have little experience of illicit drugs - marijuana, uppers and downers when I was at university a few times. All of them “worked” as one-off experiences.
Recently I was prescribed Oxycontin after a bad motorcycle accident and to be honest could have popped them like lollies. They seemed to have no appreciable affect in the sense of getting high. They did muffle the pain which of course is the point.
My GP wasn’t surprised and said that for some people opiates aren’t powerful.
On the other hand I had just spent a few days on intravenous morphine and that was a soft blissful time. Puppies in the corner of my hospital room and a friendly purple spider running across the ceiling. So maybe Oxycontin was bland after that.
One would think, wouldn’t one? I’m not so sure. There’s always going to be that guy who has to chase the next, better, bigger, higher high.
We had perfectly good synthetic pot there for a bit. Nice stuff, not illegal, got you about as high as actual pot without adverse events. Then people kept pushing it. Stronger, faster, longer, higher. Before it was effectively withdrawn from the market in my state, it was some scary shit. And I don’t say that as a fearmonger or from reading news reports. I say that because I very nearly got lost in my own brain using it*, and my heart rate went up north of 150.
I don’t know that I trust people any longer to stay content with manufacturing or pursuing safe moderate highs, even when they are legal and available.
*I became absolutely obsessed with language, and writing, and how fucking amazing it was that these little squiggles on screen or paper could transmit ideas, feelings and states of mind from one person’s brain to another. I can’t (ironically) put into words how disorienting and overwhelming that awareness was, and I couldn’t get out. It was actually terrifying, and unlike a weed or mushroom high, there was nothing I could do to change it or make it go away or even sleep through it. Meanwhile and unbeknownst to me, my husband was taking my blood pressure and pulse every few minutes and trying to decide if we needed an ambulance. I was lucky to have a health professional at my side; others weren’t so lucky, and died.
For me, the real question is, does it do enough harm to people to offset the good of people in terrible pain? And the answer is no.
Once you’ve seen someone go from pretty non-functional due to pain, to able to move around and have a bit of a social life with Oxycontin, it’s obvious.
I’m sorry people become addicted, but FFS, we have people becoming addicted to Robitussin and fast food and sex and shopping.
Exactly. I’ve been taking opioid pain medication for over ten years now due to chronic pain from failed back surgeries. I take quite a large dose (tolerance had pushed the amount up over the years) and in never get a high off the stuff. I have asked here before about getting high off of opiods because I just don’t get it. If you are prescribed correctly, your pain is relieved and you don’t get a buzz.
The OP is actually mis-citing the data. Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death, beating out motor vehicle traffic crashes, but that data includes more than just the opioids. See this CDC link.
Heck, I remember being a pharmacy technician and having a conversation with the Purdue drug rep and the pharmacist, where they were considering embedding naloxone beads in Oxycontin tablets which would only break if you tried to crush it/dissolve it. I think the polymer solution is probably a more elegant approach, though, personally.
Yup, to all of the above, in my experience. It’s the reason every single pharmacist at my current location agrees we aren’t carrying Zohydro. We’ll wait until Purdue’s long-acting formulation (based on the above mentioned safety mechanism for Oxycontin, iirc) comes out to carry a hydrocodone only product, particularly since Hydrocodone doesn’t actually have a lot of efficacy data anyways (at least, according to some of the more recent guidelines).
I loved the ‘‘euphoria’’ it gave me, but also hated that I craved it, so I just ended up stopping it. I know people like you who also don’t like that fuzzy feeling, but I personally liked it because it felt like an escape from my anxiety. I think that many doctors have the intention of giving opiates to patients for pain-relief, but that doesn’t mean that the patient is going to heed the recommended dose on the bottle. Many doctors nowadays prescribe opiates with acetaminophen to prevent people from taking too much, but acetaminophen is pretty toxic if taken regularly. Taking opiates once in a while is probably not that bad for people who don’t have addiction issues. For me, it’s like crack lol