Chronic Pain Patients Must Get Organized To Lobby For Their Rights. (Page 19)

People with chronic, intractable pain are being discriminated against and it is imperative that we join forces to fight for our civil rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Please send information on existing associations and organizations that can help or how to establish one that can help pain patients fight for their rights with petitions, letters; emails to send to these state and federal politicians that are determined use prescription drugs, doctors and pharmacies to further their political careers. Drug abuse is not the same as opiate dependent because of chronic pain management and there are over 100 million people living with pain and many of us are unable to live without medication. If the deaths from abuse seems high, the suicides from pain patients that are unable to get relief will be significantly higher. If we do not fight these governors (Colorado's Hickenlooper is a perfect example) and federal agencies that are discriminating pain patients we will be even more victimized. Obviously these politicians no little about pain and they are not aware that chronic pain patients are voters. The statistics used to support their claims regarding deaths from prescription medications are seriously skewed and lacking in additional factors that contributed to the deaths. Compromising the doctor/pharmacy and patient relations is not the government's job; as John Boehner stated government needs to stay out of healthcare and let the trained healthcare professionals make decisions regarding their patients not some politician looking for recognition.

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REPORT

Opioids

As you will soon learn, it's not exactly uncommon to see people nodding off or shooting up in doorways around here. All around the city, there are visible human reminders that drugs are bad and opioids are the worst. This message is reinforced when you hear about the "opioid crisis," which, according to every news network and semi-elected president in America, has swept up the nation in a wave of addiction.

Despite the near-constant news of this epidemic, some experts say that the hysteria around opioids is a lot of hype. According to Carl Hart, a drug researcher at Columbia University, the vast majority of opioid users don't get hooked. In fact, one comprehensive review of the research found that the number of people who develop an addiction after being prescribed opioids for pain relief is actually less than 1 percent.
At the same time, it's important to note that overdose deaths have, according to the CDC, quadrupled since the late 1990s, and today around 91 Americans die every day from opioid overdose. As Hart points out, most of those overdoses occur after mixing drugs. In 2016, for instance, a study conducted by the Department of Health found that 90 percent of fentanyl-related deaths in Washington State involved at least one other drug. Nearly 75 percent of heroin deaths involve more than one substance as well, including alcohol or benzodiazepines like Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, or Ativan. [1]

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Re: madashell (# 361)

You have perfectly described "DRUG ABUSE", which is different from the intent of calling all of it an "opioid crisis". We've had a "drug abuse crisis" in America for a couple hundred years. In every instance where I have asked politicians or people to give me an example of the "opioid crisis", they give me examples of "drug abuse". For one thing, the proper use of opioid medications in legal pain management has nothing to do with "drug abuse" or any phony made up crisis. What I do see is politicians going around to events with huge cardboard checks supposedly for funds to fight the "opioid crisis" which some how magically includes patients using opioid medications to control pain. It all comes back to the old axiom "Follow the Money". That's what its all about, nothing more. Another way to waste taxpayer dollars, make cronies wealthy.

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Opiophobia: The Irrational Fear of Opioids
By Dr. Jeffrey Grolig.

The irrational fear of opioids, opiophobia, has plagued our country before. Prior to 2000, especially in the 1980s and 1990s, opiophobia ruled the medical community. Physicians and pharmacists alike reserved opioids for only cancer and surgery. The fear was that opioids used for more than a short time would cause overdose, death and addiction. The War on Drugs from the Nixon era caused non-opiophobic doctors to be targeted, arrested and disciplined.

But then Dr. Russell Portenoy conducted research showing that chronic pain patients actually did well on these opioids, achieving an excellent quality of life with vanishingly few developing problems. Study after study was published supporting this viewpoint. Dr. David Fishbain found that opioids prescribed to non-addicts rarely resulted in addiction.

Finally the government and the medical community realized that science and not fear should dictate proper prescribing policy. The American Pain Society spoke out and decried that a national epidemic of untreated pain existed in our nation’s hospitals. This led to the adoption of “Pain as the 5th Vital Sign”. In 2001, the Joint Commission mandated that hospitals across the country assess pain in each patient. The Veteran’s Hospital System did the same. Soon the government came fully on board to eliminate the scourge of opiophobia.

The Federation of State Medical Boards, the agency that sets national standards for state medical boards across the country, adopted the 2004 policy on controlled substances. This policy was so opioid friendly that it required all physicians to adequately treat chronic pain, or else risk license discipline. The DEA was unofficially told to “leave them alone” regarding opioid prescribing doctors unless there was blatant drug trafficking.

The pharmaceutical companies jumped on the train as well. They developed potent long-acting opioids that pain patients could conveniently dose at once per day. Over the next two decades, opioid prescriptions skyrocketed by 400%. High schoolers started stealing, using and in some cases selling their parent’s or grandparent’s pills. Greedy physicians built multi-million-dollar pill mills by trading cash for opioid scripts.

And then the music stopped...

Continued on the National Pain Report blog.

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Re: BiggerBrat (# 335)

Methadone is definitely addictive majorly addictive

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Please send your story to JUDICIAL WATCH, it is a Government Watchdog group. If you are a caretaker with some one fighting their right to proper pain management, if you are suffering, if you know of anyone who has committed suicide due to the CDC guideline that is being taken as law and not a guideline...

I sent them a email begging for their help before anymore people take their lives. I shared of a Government sponsored and policy backed doctor patient agenda to rid Government of the worthless eaters as Gov calls us who can not function without pain treatment... I know of 5 suicides in my area of untreated chronic pain patients, 1 a disabled best friend with MD bed ridden, a cousin with brain cancer, a vet... there were actually 5 successful suicides and 1 car crash of a pain patient (who not sure if suicide or not). All these but 2 person gets disability also. Another point, 1 was crippled with Lyme, worked with my husband, and had been unable to return to work. He never made it through the disability process. With all the comments on this thread Please contact Judicial Watch and beg for help. Thank You.

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Re: sandy (# 347)

I'm just curious will you let us know what type of pain you have and how and what are the problems that you having this pain

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Re: HOUSE (# 338)

Yeah, I've been on methadone maintenance because the pain management wasn't working at the time, and while I was on the methadone maintenance 70 mg daily I didn't even feel euphoric from it. I just felt normal. But when things happen - like a major car accident happened, I broke many bones cuz I have osteoporosis... I basically didn't feel the pain unless someone was injecting me with the morphine or or any other type of injectable medication from the hospital like Dilaudid.

Yeah, you don't need a jacket right into your vein ,it's probably going to get rid of your pain at the time but in pill form the highest I got was 300 mg of morphine sulfate a day which seemed to help me. Once they cut to 30 mg three times a day of MS Contin, that is a joke, so I tried to go back on the methadone maintenance program. They will not take me because they said I'm not an addict. I'm getting 30 mg a day three times a day. The problem is where I go in New York for pain management, they keep switching my doctor twice so far and eight / nine years, I'm afraid of eventually just want to get me off and I whatever I have loads of metal throughout my bones and my spine is all messed up w/ scoliosis + what not. It's ridiculous, so I don't know what the hell to do with that.

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Re: marin5 (# 336)

S*** I'm only 52. If I was 85 I would just sign myself into a hospice and let them know if I can't get any medication. I'd just kill myself, simple as that. I would never make it to 85 and I think if I live another 10 years like this, the result will be killing myself cuz I couldn't deal with life anymore. Read my other messages, anything that says dead on my name, for this access this site and see her problems I have.

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Re: Dead (# 364)

Why so much crap about it not being addictive?? I do believe it is addictive. But what about the high, do people still get high taking methadone?

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Re: HOUSE (# 169)

Yeah, house, tell that to me somebody taking 90 mg of MS Contin daily and it doesn't do a f****** thing for my pain. I know what I need but I'm going to stop that and go looking for another doctor. You should stop posting anything on this site. I should be lucky I'm getting that or just killing myself is easier than looking for another doctor. You're so smart, you should know not to give other people advice unless you will take it yourself.

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Re: Renee in pain (# 128)

Renee, what I would do and I'm telling you cuz I've been through it all, I would go to your local methadone maintenance clinic. You must go there with an opiate in your system. When they ask for a urine it's going to be a supervised urine so you're going to have to make sure every time you go there you have it in your system before they put you on methadone, I guess the only way out of the pain management game. I was going there for 5 years. You don't feel high off methadone but you do not feel no pain with it. I now take morphine and it's like nowhere near what methadone was, nowhere near it. Just think about what I said cuz I would like to do it but I already know I went there and then I left to go to pain management and they will not put me back on it. I'm taking 90 mg of morphine daily and it's not cutting it (osteoporosis). I have metal in my legs, both of them. I broke them and other parts, broken ribs and a major spine problem (scoliosis), cement in broken disc... Once I went to pain management I was on 300 mg of morphine daily. Now it's cut down to 90 days as of January 2019 and it doesn't help. I was on 70 mg daily of methadone and that blew away the 300 mg morphine so now I'm already on 90 daily morphine sulfate which is garbage, total garbage. I think Percocet is better. Percocet is much better than morphine and I know oxy yeah and also oxycodone is much better than morphine, much better, but I would do with the methadone center. Try it. If anybody tells you anything different they're just lying or don't know that methadone is the last resort but do not tell them you are on pain management and do not tell them you're in any pain because they would not take you. It's only for addicts. They give Methadone in pain management but pain management is going down, so you can take my advice or leave, it's up to you, but I hope everything works out.

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Re: Dead (# 366)

Man I’m freaking out my PM doctor just retired. And I am told that there are new laws in Florida that limit what and how much medicine that can be prescribed also many do not take my medicare. Melbourne Florida

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Re: Dead (# 370)

Hey genius, that was a link to an article that I read that was advocating to stop forced taper's and to let doctors decide what is best for patients in pain!

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Re: HOUSE (# 338)

And if that's the case you must be on a water high high opiate drugs I'm talking about high potent opiate drugs and methadone doesn't work for you because methadone if you took methadone you wouldn't need anything else so I can say so if it's like a sugar pill and you might as well give up give up at all the joke is just lying everything you say is a lie cuz I know all about methadone later

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Re: BiggerBrat (# 369)

The only High you get on methadone is when you first start taking it but it gradually diminishes and then there's no high but you feel the high everyday but you don't realize it gives you energy whatever like any opiate withdrawal but you just don't realize it it's much stronger than most any other opiates look it up just look it up Google it see what I'm talking about

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Re: Dead (# 372)

Hey slick, I never said anything about methadone.... not sure what you're talking about and from reading your text it looks like whatever you are on you might want to think about cutting back. You make no sense what so ever. Have a great life and go away...

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Re: HOUSE (# 376)

You all are bashing everyone for no reason. It all depends on the person taking the drug. I was put on methodone several years ago & it didn’t do anything for my chronic pain. After going to pain management classes, it depends on the person. What works for some people may not work for others. The whole idea is to find the medication that works for you. I understand why some say it’s like taking a sugar pill. In my case, methadone did help my pain so my doctor tried other meds till he found the right one for me. No one should be knocking the ones that it doesn’t work for the,. It depends on th person, their kind of pain th y have & hat medication work best for that individual. Stop bashing people who are suffering. They just want something th

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Re: Linda (# 2)

I’m so sorry about the situation u are in. I don’t understand why ur doctor didn’t referred u to another doctor before he retired. After all, he would have been the best person to refer u to a doctor that understands your needs.

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Re: BL (# 7)

Yeah whatever medication you got especially if it's an opiate just put it under your tongue and just suck on it keep it under your tongue and don't suck it just keep it under your tongue it work the best

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Re: Terry (# 372)

Yeah unfortunately that's right even in New York it's basically whatever equal to 90 mg of morphine daily is the maximum dose for any doctor will naturally destroy probably less than that or nothing at all the opiate matter orbit or probably something very minimal at. But with the problems I got I still get 90 mg of morphine daily cut down from 300 so

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