Politics of Pain

After reading the information about limiting pain meds to a 3 day, it appears to me that it's dealing with acute post op pain, not chronic pain. Unfortunately, government seems to ignore the statistics that show that prescription opioid abuse accounts for 1% of the cases. The problem is that this doesn't address the fact that the other 99% are heroin and meth and cocaine addictions/abuse, so it's confusing and concerning that the focus seems to be on a medication that has been treating chronic pain effectively for centuries. Jeff Sessions said recently that if Tylenol isn't enough for acute pain post op, patients need to tough it out. An ignorant, insensitive, uneducated, ill informed statement,if ever there was one.
Jim

After reading the information about limiting pain meds to a 3 day, it appears to me that it's dealing with acute post op pain, not chronic pain. Unfortunately, government seems to ignore the statistics that show that prescription opioid abuse accounts for 1% of the cases. The problem is that this doesn't address the fact that the other 99% are heroin and meth and cocaine addictions/abuse, so it's confusing and concerning that the focus seems to be on a medication that has been treating chronic pain effectively for centuries. Jeff Sessions said recently that if Tylenol isn't enough for acute pain post op, patients need to tough it out. An ignorant, insensitive, uneducated, ill informed statement,if ever there was one.
Jim

@wsh66, @19lin thank you both for the posts and website info provided. I too have been researching this very topic in an attempt to help with a family member. This is going to snowball and yet again, it happens over and over people who follow the rules and really need help and rely on prescriptions to make it through the day will be punished for those who are out there abusing the system. And for a senator to use a platform such as this for political gain makes me sick. In the last 3-4 months I have really had to become active in the care of my mom even more so with the dr. and pain management clinic she is being treated by. It's taken me a full month to put the pieces together as to why her treatment has changed so drastically. Around November, December 2017 he seriously began changing her medication, rather than treating her pain. She has been diagnosed with facial neuralgia and has suffered greatly due to a dental procedure gone wrong about 15 years ago. Sometime in 2016 she was assigned to a new pain clinic and I have a feeling her PCP was unable to assist in pain mgt. Things seemed as though we might have a turn around and someone might actually understand and put in some time to find a combination of meds to help ease the day to day pain. Then mid 2017 the attitude of the Dr. shifted - rather than mgt. of pain, the focus seemed to be reduction of medication, as I listened to my mom for months tell me each time she left the Dr. she felt he wasn't listening. By December 2017 the reduction of her medication was so apparent in her ability to function on a daily basis, I begged for help and began calling her PCP and her pain mgt. Dr. We have made several trips to the ER and now are on an every 7 to 14 dr. visit to the pain clinic because the reduction of medication has been too great and she is in a physical and emotional state like I have never seen before. After 2 trips to the ER she is now terrified to go to a hospital to seek help, it was a nightmare for her and for myself and my dad. So I started researching why the change in her care all of sudden.... Since the CARA bill was signed by President OBAMA in July 22, 2016 it took time for it to be implemented and put in place and for the public to actually see the effects. In addition to the funding that has been provided https://www.samhsa.gov provides grant funding for the "opiod crisis" by state and has other interesting information as well. It also came to my attention my state has received a huge grant dedicated to this very purpose and it outlines goals set forth by medical community within your state. I also read within the CARA bill opiod is defined as any drug with highly addictive tendancies and when you research further the answer to reduction of opiods is to replace with narcotics, go figure. Now the DEA is involved and telling Dr.s what they can and can't do with their patients and I realize this was in an attempt to rid the medical community of the those who write prescriptions to those who abuse them and are dealing them out on the streets. Yes I get it, with that being said it has scared Dr.'s and changed the mind set from being in the best interest of their patient to being reduction of medication and keeping my clinic off of DEA's radar. Now I ask who within the DEA has taken the medical doctors Hippocratic oath and/or where would we find the american medical associations code of ethics within the realm of the DEA and on the HILL? FDA should be slapped and pharmaceutical companies should have stricter testing and analyzing I personally have people within my immediate family who were saved in a drug trial at MD Anderson so I am all for new drugs etc...., what I am having a problem with is the polictics that has creeped its way into the dr's office and hospitals across America. If you look on the DEA's website at the most wanted in America I ask you to find a Dr. or patient with chronic pain condition listed with posession or intent to distribute, the majority are hispanic and the drugs listed are cocaine and marijuana, their is 1 Asian and the drug is heroin, there is 1 fellow from Louisiana and the drug is meth. All of which are not manufactured in a pharmaceutical lab well with the exception of marijuana which I personally would like to see legalized in all states, as the benefits would far out weigh the risks. Now I feel as though I am having to take time away from the care of my mom in order to research this new law and CRISIS that has been deemed as EPEDEMIC in order to get her somewhere else for treatment but where?
Below is the current version of the medical oath for dr.'s, I think a bill should be passed to reinforce the oath below.
American Medical Association Code of Ethics (post- 1980)

Preamble: The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. As a member of this profession, a physician must recognize responsibility not only to patients, but also to society, to other health professionals, and to self. The following Principles adopted by the [AMA] are not laws, but standards of conduct which define the essentials of honorable behavior for the physician. II. A physician shall deal honestly with patients and colleagues, and strive to expose those physicians deficient in character or competence, or who engage in fraud or deception.

III. A physician shall respect the law and also recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient.

IV. A physician shall respect the rights of patients, of colleagues, and of other health professionals, and shall safeguard patient confidences within the constraints of the law.

V. A physician shall continue to study, apply and advance scientific knowledge, make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public, obtain consultation, and use the talents of other health professionals when indicated.

VI. A physician shall, in the provision of appropriate patient care, except in emergencies, be free to choose whom to serve, with whom to associate, and the environment in which to provide medical services. VII. A physician shall recognize a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to an improved community.

I am left with the overwhelming fear of not being able to make a difference and sub par medical care for those who actually need it. The CARA 2.0 which is now being pushed by 8 senators who have really made this their mission really scares me as to what effects it will have for medical care. I came to this website and joined in an attempt to help find answers but all I am seeing is other people who are frustrated and their pain is not being managed either. Very disheartened

The problem I believe is Jeff Sessions. It literally makes me crazy, this ignorant man not only wants our drugs but marijuana too. I have had this disease for twenty years and in the last 5 years it was joined by arthritis and two back surgeries. AND NOW when I finally agreed to pain relief they want to take it away.

The problem I believe is Jeff Sessions. It literally makes me crazy, this ignorant man not only wants our drugs but marijuana too. I have had this disease for twenty years and in the last 5 years it was joined by arthritis and two back surgeries. AND NOW when I finally agreed to pain relief they want to take it away.

The problem I believe is Jeff Sessions. It literally makes me crazy, this ignorant man not only wants our drugs but marijuana too. I have had this disease for twenty years and in the last 5 years it was joined by arthritis and two back surgeries. AND NOW when I finally agreed to pain relief they want to take it away.

@wsh66, @19lin thank you both for the posts and website info provided. I too have been researching this very topic in an attempt to help with a family member. This is going to snowball and yet again, it happens over and over people who follow the rules and really need help and rely on prescriptions to make it through the day will be punished for those who are out there abusing the system. And for a senator to use a platform such as this for political gain makes me sick. In the last 3-4 months I have really had to become active in the care of my mom even more so with the dr. and pain management clinic she is being treated by. It's taken me a full month to put the pieces together as to why her treatment has changed so drastically. Around November, December 2017 he seriously began changing her medication, rather than treating her pain. She has been diagnosed with facial neuralgia and has suffered greatly due to a dental procedure gone wrong about 15 years ago. Sometime in 2016 she was assigned to a new pain clinic and I have a feeling her PCP was unable to assist in pain mgt. Things seemed as though we might have a turn around and someone might actually understand and put in some time to find a combination of meds to help ease the day to day pain. Then mid 2017 the attitude of the Dr. shifted - rather than mgt. of pain, the focus seemed to be reduction of medication, as I listened to my mom for months tell me each time she left the Dr. she felt he wasn't listening. By December 2017 the reduction of her medication was so apparent in her ability to function on a daily basis, I begged for help and began calling her PCP and her pain mgt. Dr. We have made several trips to the ER and now are on an every 7 to 14 dr. visit to the pain clinic because the reduction of medication has been too great and she is in a physical and emotional state like I have never seen before. After 2 trips to the ER she is now terrified to go to a hospital to seek help, it was a nightmare for her and for myself and my dad. So I started researching why the change in her care all of sudden.... Since the CARA bill was signed by President OBAMA in July 22, 2016 it took time for it to be implemented and put in place and for the public to actually see the effects. In addition to the funding that has been provided https://www.samhsa.gov provides grant funding for the "opiod crisis" by state and has other interesting information as well. It also came to my attention my state has received a huge grant dedicated to this very purpose and it outlines goals set forth by medical community within your state. I also read within the CARA bill opiod is defined as any drug with highly addictive tendancies and when you research further the answer to reduction of opiods is to replace with narcotics, go figure. Now the DEA is involved and telling Dr.s what they can and can't do with their patients and I realize this was in an attempt to rid the medical community of the those who write prescriptions to those who abuse them and are dealing them out on the streets. Yes I get it, with that being said it has scared Dr.'s and changed the mind set from being in the best interest of their patient to being reduction of medication and keeping my clinic off of DEA's radar. Now I ask who within the DEA has taken the medical doctors Hippocratic oath and/or where would we find the american medical associations code of ethics within the realm of the DEA and on the HILL? FDA should be slapped and pharmaceutical companies should have stricter testing and analyzing I personally have people within my immediate family who were saved in a drug trial at MD Anderson so I am all for new drugs etc...., what I am having a problem with is the polictics that has creeped its way into the dr's office and hospitals across America. If you look on the DEA's website at the most wanted in America I ask you to find a Dr. or patient with chronic pain condition listed with posession or intent to distribute, the majority are hispanic and the drugs listed are cocaine and marijuana, their is 1 Asian and the drug is heroin, there is 1 fellow from Louisiana and the drug is meth. All of which are not manufactured in a pharmaceutical lab well with the exception of marijuana which I personally would like to see legalized in all states, as the benefits would far out weigh the risks. Now I feel as though I am having to take time away from the care of my mom in order to research this new law and CRISIS that has been deemed as EPEDEMIC in order to get her somewhere else for treatment but where?
Below is the current version of the medical oath for dr.'s, I think a bill should be passed to reinforce the oath below.
American Medical Association Code of Ethics (post- 1980)

Preamble: The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. As a member of this profession, a physician must recognize responsibility not only to patients, but also to society, to other health professionals, and to self. The following Principles adopted by the [AMA] are not laws, but standards of conduct which define the essentials of honorable behavior for the physician. II. A physician shall deal honestly with patients and colleagues, and strive to expose those physicians deficient in character or competence, or who engage in fraud or deception.

III. A physician shall respect the law and also recognize a responsibility to seek changes in those requirements which are contrary to the best interests of the patient.

IV. A physician shall respect the rights of patients, of colleagues, and of other health professionals, and shall safeguard patient confidences within the constraints of the law.

V. A physician shall continue to study, apply and advance scientific knowledge, make relevant information available to patients, colleagues, and the public, obtain consultation, and use the talents of other health professionals when indicated.

VI. A physician shall, in the provision of appropriate patient care, except in emergencies, be free to choose whom to serve, with whom to associate, and the environment in which to provide medical services. VII. A physician shall recognize a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to an improved community.

I am left with the overwhelming fear of not being able to make a difference and sub par medical care for those who actually need it. The CARA 2.0 which is now being pushed by 8 senators who have really made this their mission really scares me as to what effects it will have for medical care. I came to this website and joined in an attempt to help find answers but all I am seeing is other people who are frustrated and their pain is not being managed either. Very disheartened