Has the War On Opioids Become a War on Pain?

[DrDeth]

@Kearsen

Why can’t you just take 4 advil?

Interesting question. Three MD’s now all agree that the way the 800mg pill is buffered makes it easier on your stomach, and in several blind tests & anecdotally, relieved pain better.

[Painfor30years]

@RitterSport

I’m not a doctor either, but my understanding is that, for most people, opioids don’t work for chronic pain anyway, so those prescriptions shouldn’t happen anyway (most of the time).

From personal experience opiods do work for chronic pain that results from real damage to your body, as in spine damage. Opiods stop the pain sensors in the brain so the brain does not realize you have pain. Result being you can walk. For long term real pain the trick is to consistently take the same amount of opioids each day. CBD does not work for this kind of pain. Phantom pain, as from a missing arm? I think CBD would work, as does killing the nerve endings sending the pain message to the brain. Back to the first thought on this Thread. Yes, there is a war on Pain, at least according to my Pain Management Doctor, the medical establishment in CA, the Pharmacists who refuse to fill my opioid prescriptions, and other people who have long term bad pain that only an opiod will control. We are being told to “take an aspirin”. How about 50 per day?

[nelliebly]

@Darkon

Part of the problem seems to be America’s addiction to magic pills. Whatever the condition, we want instant relief that involves little to no effort on our part. For awhile many doctors were willing to indulge this with large quantities of opioids for relatively minor pain. Lots of these drugs became available for recreational use, and as we’ve seen before in depressed areas with very limited work opportunities for many residents, people use these things to escape the miserable lives they lead.

Just as individuals want quick fixes with little effort, our governments want the same. It’s really easy to make it harder to get an opioid prescription, but it’s way harder to fix systemic social inequalities or to put the opioid-addiction genie back in its bottle since there are so many alternative means of getting one’s fix (as if it fixes anything).

If you think people in severe, acute pain are moral wimps who demand “quick fixes with little effort,” you’ve obviously never been in severe, unremitting, acute pain. Shame on you for denigrating people with debilitating pain.

[SigMan]

@Rebo

I am a chronic pain patient. I see a pain specialist. I have two compressed/herniated discs in my lower back. My insurance only pays for a portion of my meds, so I pay out of pocket. I also get periodic steroid injections. At this point, I am not a candidate for surgery.

I don’t think I’m addicted. Sometimes I forget to take my pills, and my back pain will tell me I forgot. I don’t get withdrawal symptoms - hot flashes, anxiety, whatever. I also do stretches for the sciatica.

You are wrong, sir.

Same here except I have neck pains as well as chronic pains. Whiplash injury from being Tboned by a speeding jerk at a blind corner. I’ve took Vicodin for decades and I never felt addicted to them, only relief. I also get injections as the pains gets severe but my INS only allow 2x a year for Radio Freq Ablation injections.

I also take CBD oil for severe episodes and it helps. IBUs as well.

[Wesley_Clark]

@Darkon

Part of the problem seems to be America’s addiction to magic pills. Whatever the condition, we want instant relief that involves little to no effort on our part. For awhile many doctors were willing to indulge this with large quantities of opioids for relatively minor pain. Lots of these drugs became available for recreational use, and as we’ve seen before in depressed areas with very limited work opportunities for many residents, people use these things to escape the miserable lives they lead.

Just as individuals want quick fixes with little effort, our governments want the same. It’s really easy to make it harder to get an opioid prescription, but it’s way harder to fix systemic social inequalities or to put the opioid-addiction genie back in its bottle since there are so many alternative means of getting one’s fix (as if it fixes anything).

The real issue is that we have a chronic pain epidemic that is only going to get worse. Injuries that in the past would lead to death now just lead to chronic pain. And as society becomes older, the % in chronic pain keeps growing. 50 million Americans have chronic pain now, almost 1 in 6. About 20 million are constantly limited on what they can do at work or at home due to pain. Thats not a magic pill, thats an epidemic.

They need treatments that work.

I would hope this war on opiates results in increased funding for more effective anti-pain therapies.

[SigMan]

I’m all for it but for now it’s the best I can get. I have 6 weeks before my next injections and I am hurting. I told my doc that I need more pain meds til then and he said all druggies say that.

That pissed me off.

[obbn]

Long term opiod user and chronic pain patient here. I had a severe back injury 15 years ago and underwent three back surgeries resulting in back fusions L3 to S1. The injury and surgeries have left me in severe chronic pain. They call the condition Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.

For me opiods are a necessary part of my life as without therm I am in debilitating pain. The biggest problem here is that until recently doctors have offered no solution to the pain other than drugs. Essentially looking at the years of CT scans, MRIs and Xrays and basically shaking their heads and going “duh, I don’t see anything”. So what we’re my alternatives? None.

So over the last 15 years I’ve taken everything from Vicodin to Fentynal. Currently I’m taking morohine with oxycodone and they sometimes don’t work well. It isn’t unusual for me during the evening (when the pain is the worst) to take 30mg of morphine, 20mg of oxycodone, 2 Tylenol and 800mg of ibprophen and STILL BE IN PAIN. I’m actually taking less now than I have in the past because of difficulty in getting doctors to write for opiods.

Thankfully I found a new pain management doctor who is going to perform a RF Ablation procedure on me Wednesday. Essentially the are going to stick a very large needle into my back and use radio frequency to burn away some nerves. I’m very hopeful that this will relieve my pain, but if it doesn’t I’ll have to continue that opiods as I don’t have another option.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes opiods are the answer for long term chronic pain that isn’t cancer related because no other options are offered. If this procedure works I’ll walk away from opiods and never touch another. But I do worry everyday that because of the opiod crisis that getting the pain medication I need will become increasingly difficult if not impossible. Legitimate pain patients shouldn’t be punished because there are those who choose to abuse opiods.

[SigMan]

That’s the injections I get and they work but it’ll take weeks to effect.