How responsible medication use can help
I am dismayed at how many of the threads in this forum have to do with drugs, their use, tapering, etc. I thought the American medical community had learned its lesson with opoids. We seem to have the same overprescribing problem with anti-depression medicine as well. When I was first diagnosed (mostly as a result of diabetes), I went to my doctor and expected her to prescribe some magic pill that would take care of me. She explained to me that drugs weren't a panacea and some create more problems than they solve. I was surprised at her hesitancy to prescribe. Now I realize she was ahead of the times in her approach. She eventually did prescribe a small dose of Sertraline, which was helpful, but every time I would ask her about the latest greatest anti-depressant, she would give me the same answer. No. "Let's try something more wholistic first." After reading the threads here, I am so glad she practiced "tough love." I feel for people who are now hooked on these drugs and struggle to get free and am thankful I was spared the trauma.
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Nice if you can afford it! Most health insurances won’t pay for expensive alternative healing modalities. So……..for the rest of us medication can be a viable option
Being able to afford treatment is a major consideration for many people. There are often potential medications or therapies that are not in the budget for me, and I'm certainly not alone.
I have finally been able to convince my pain doctor that the only medication that works for me is morphine or Dilaudid, and I started Dilaudid a few days ago. I don't take it BID unless I'm really hurting. This morning I took one because it was going to be a long morning and afternoon using my walker, walking on two boots, going to church and lunch. I spent several hours in bed when we got home, so my feet aren't hurting any more than usual, so no pill tonight. I know that our bodies demand more after taking opioids for a long time, so I want to start out low so I can increase it when the time comes.
The Oregon Medical Association decided that the medical world had over reacted to the opioid crisis, and did harm to many people by abruptly decreasing their dosage or stopping them altogether. So they are now giving the prescribers the ability to prescribe higher therapeutic doses for long term chronic pain. That was good news for me, as an Oregon resident.
I was one of the victims of the opioid scare. My doctor cut my prescription in half, so it was no longer a therapeutic dose. Now, 5 years later, I can get what I need to make pain manageable.
Jim
Hello @jimhd
What a great post about the responsible use of pain medications! I am so pleased to hear that Oregon Medical Association has reconsidered the use of opioid medications after the national scare of opioid use that led to the prohibition for so many people. There are so many who will use medications responsibly and who have chronic pain disorders and their needs need to be respected.