# Was I on another planet while the opiates explosion occurred? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 11, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999 "2018-05-11T16:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/61 "2018-05-15T00:54:24Z")
One last thing: I was accused of being a “narcotics seeker” despite the fact that all I did was inform them of my medical condition, which was tramadol withdrawal. For those not familiar, tramadol withdrawal is the longest, most agonizing withdrawal of any opiod (with methadone maybe being the only exception). Where acute heroin withdrawal is generally less than a week, tramadol is multiple weeks, sometimes months. And it combines opiod withdrawal with SSRI withdrawal. I specifically never requested tramadol or any narcotic, I just asked for anything at all that could help me. And offensively enough, the doctor came back and asked me if I had tried Tylenol. Tylenol. For opiod withdrawal. An OTC fucking painkiller. That about says it all right there. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/62 "2018-05-16T03:01:47Z")
Ambivalid, this is one of the cases of collateral damage from the opiate crisis. It makes things so much harder for people like you who need those drugs and do not use them recreationally. The following story is NOT from the Onion. I wish it was. > **[La Crosse Ambulance Service Using Essential Oils Instead Of Opioids](https://www.wpr.org/la-crosse-ambulance-service-using-essential-oils-instead-opioids)** > > An ambulance service in the La Crosse area is using aromatherapy as a way to cut down on pain medication use. Tri-State Ambulance is equipping paramedics with six different essential oils that can help treat pain, nausea or anxiety. TL : DR - an ambulance service in La Crosse, Wisconsin is going to start using essential oils for some patients, in an effort to reduce the use of narcotics. Gee whiz, what could go wrong with this? ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2018, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/63 "2018-05-20T03:37:40Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The crisis itself has been looming for a long time but received relatively little coverage because it dealt with a legally available drug sold by established companies, and did not have the supposedly simple moral dimensions of the crack cocaine or meth crisis with its clear socioeconomic and racial lines. The resolution should not be to cut off access to opioids to people in chronic pain who need the relief opioid medications can provide and who can self-manage dependant problems with medical oversight but to deal with the fundamental socioeconomic and psychosocial problems which underlie much of the overall addiction crisis. Agreed. It seems many of the people who were abusing them are now using street drugs because they’re easier to obtain. I bet that when this has been going on long enough that the multi-year statistics begin to show a large increase in overdoses / deaths from street drugs, the response will be “Oh, those people were drug-addicted low-lifes”. Meanwhile, those of us in chronic pain\* will still be trying to find some alternative treatment method that provides pain relief without becoming the target of the next witch hunt. - Some years ago, my doctor retired and closed his practice. I switched to a different practice where some of the previous office staff had moved to. When I saw the new doctor for the first time, one of the things covered was the list of medications I was currently on. When we got to the Vicodin, the doctor said “Well, I can’t prescribe those to you until you have been my patient for some time, in case you’re an addict looking for drugs”. I said “That’s OK, I can wait. But I’m not an addict… here…” and pulled out an un-filled (but still valid) prescription for 540 Vicodin (3x / day, 30 days, 5 refills) from my valise where I keep all of my current medical information. She was quite surprised, and became even more so when I pulled out others going back several years. (I didn’t feel that I needed to take it that many times per day, so I just never filled them.) Of course, if I’d have known what the last couple of years would be like, I would have filled them and saved them. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/64 "2018-11-19T09:09:54Z")
Updating this thread: \*\*Sackler family members [owners of the Oxycontin manufacturer] face mass litigation, criminal investigations over opioids crisis \*\* > **[Sackler family members face mass litigation and criminal investigations over...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/19/sackler-family-members-face-mass-litigation-criminal-investigations-over-opioids-crisis)** > > Exclusive: Suffolk county in Long Island, New York, has recently sued family member, and Connecticut and New York are considering criminal fraud and racketeering charges against leading family members It sounds like the litigation over cancer with cigarette makers. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/65 "2018-11-19T14:24:24Z")
> [@The\_Vorlon](#): > > It could be worse. My wife is allergic to acetaminophen. > > Stop and think of that for a moment. Damm near everything has it in it, everything that ends in -cet does, the number of -dan drugs is very limited. When she drags herself into the ER with Gall Bladder flareups, or kidney stones, it’s Toradol or Morphine. > > Try educating the ER intern and not being labelled drug seeking. The number of interns that had even **heard** about acetaminophen allergy was vanishingly small Try being allergic to topical hydrocortisone cream … I always patch test anything I have never had before, and way back in 1982 I got into an argument with some poison oak and went to the doc and ended up with a scrip for it [before you could really get it OtC] and did my patch test to end up with a HUGE weal on my wrist … went back to the doc and he was amazed. He had me dab it on the other wrist and we watched as I got another huge weal there. He was baffled as he had never thought someone could be allergic to it. Documented it in my file [along with my base body temp of 94.6F] Every now and again I have to prove the damned allergy to a new office by letting them deliberately give me an allergic reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Allysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Allysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Allysium)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/66 "2018-11-19T14:43:45Z")
A lot of doctors are insanely irresponsible with opiates, even today. When I was 19 (2011) a doctor prescribed me morphine for a pulled muscle, when I had asked for a referral to physiotherapy. I threw the script out, but he really just threw opiates at a college kid… My sister is a nurse, and she told me that Tylenol and Advil ODs are actually increasing, because most doctors are extremely apprehensive about prescribing anything stronger than an NSAID. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/67 "2018-11-19T14:51:28Z")
I have an extremely addictive personality. When my snapped off wrist bone was reset, the E/R personnel were practically begging me to take an opioid prescription. I refused. I got through with aspirin and Aleve. Obviously, I didn’t need anything stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/68 "2018-11-19T15:17:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Are there drastically different reactions to opiates between different people? To pretty much any drug. And what **Chimera** described links one of the big issues of pain medication: pain doesn’t happen by itself; if we can treat whatever is causing the pain, that’s more effective than something whose only effect is “pain inhibitor”. It’s like the difference between closing a faucet and stuffing a rag in it. Part of the problem is that we don’t always know what mechanism is causing the pain, part is that some people don’t see the point, and part is an issue of patient compliance. Lots of patients would rather keep the hurtful behavior and then expect some miracle from pills than stop hitting themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999/69 "2018-11-19T20:19:43Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Doctors were assured that all of these new opioid drugs were ‘non-addictive’ by the pharmaceutical companies, which led them to believe that there was no actual danger in handing them out like candy. What’s worse is the “Evidence” they used was a single letter to the editor (not a peer reviewed study) that someone had sent to a medical journal. They knew exactly what they were doing. I hope someday Purdue Pharma gets sued into Oblivion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-i-on-another-planet-while-the-opiates-explosion-occurred/813999.md?page=3)