Interesting idea, but it remains to be seen if it truly improves treatment for opioid addiction.
to quote that article:
We see the core problem: The idea that treatment for opioid addiction must include continuous opioid use.
I’ve been opioid-free for over 25 years (save for carefully controlled use during/after medical procedures), after being physically dependent off and on over 7 years. I see opioid maintenance as a crutch (and crutches are tools, and are quite useful, even absolutely necessary at times), to assist in progression towards an opioid-free life, not as a final goal in itself.
Also, a prediction: It won’t be long before someone with the implants will have them cut out the better to abuse the drug. Either by another addict that wants a fix, or by the implantee him/herself, to try to get a better high out of the drug.
heh I was on all of that when my gallbladder was removed and spent a few days in loopy pain before my brother told my dad who lived back east what I was taking and he personally called the hospital in ca and had them switch me to Demerol
tho I had morphiene given to me for sleeping… I have this weird thing where I can not fall asleep for 2 or 3 days although once or twice it was 5 to 6 and they gave me a shot …id sleep so soundly that the er put a depends on me because well you don’t get up for notning at that point …
Now whats scary is fentanyl patches … my now deceased nephew needed those and he had a15 day patch …and my god hed be floating when they put a new one on and we could always tell when it was running out …
I feel the same way, but right now in public discourse there’s a lot of attention being given to users failing over and over again in getting clean with abstinence (i.e., no maintenance). The conclusions that a lot of journalists are implying is that indefinite maintenance is the only “scientific” way to treat addiction. What they fail to see, however, is that these cases are by a vast majority very young people (under 25), and that makes a great difference.
I also think that, ironically, when the general public and journalists insist upon using only medications to treat addiction, they are kind of demonstrating the same impulses that originally drove the addict: they want a “quick fix.”
I still have a bottle of Tylenol 3 in the cabinet left over from when I broke my wrist 1-1/2 years ago. It’s the strongest narcotic my doctor will prescribe outpatient. I can see how and why people can get hooked, given my reaction to Tylenol 3. Ergo, the bottle is still mostly full. It’s also probably out of date.
My husband, OTOH, reacts badly to any narcotic: They either don’t affect him or he literally gets sick from them. His root canal a few years ago was an absolute horror show.
After I had surgery for a hernia, I was prescribed Lortabs. The directions were to take one every 4-6 hours as needed for pain. After a couple of days post op, I was concerned because I was constipated after belly surgery. So, going the Occam’s Razor approach, I googled Lortab. The first hit told me what I wanted to know; one of the side effects was constipation. The next 19 hits were for facilities where I could go to get unaddicted to Lortab (hydrocodone). So I decided rather than going the every 4 hour rule, I’d switch to as needed. I think it worked out to every 8 hours to take the edge off. It only hurt really badly when I was going from sitting to standing or the other way around. And unlike my usual method with prescriptions, I didn’t continue until the bottle was empty.
Maybe my recovery would have been less painful, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I guess it worked.
