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I am appalled that he was given those drugs for cancer pain. I was given Lyrica for the tingling in my feet caused by large doses of chemo. I was in a very compromised situation when this happened, not thinking clearly and definitely experiencing "chemo brain". Lyrica is really expensive and they know damn well it doesn't do much for pain. Lyrica is no better than gabapentin but costs much more. What is really insidious about the scam is that if you take 25 mgs. per day and I take 1200 mgs. per day, which was my actual dose,m we both pay the same price. There is no relationship between how much you use and what you pay. You pay for the privilege of using the drug. Lyrica was instrumental in inspiring the now common term among honest Doctors and Pharmacists, "There are no new drugs, just new names. The thing with pain is that it can really vary in intensity from day to day based on your activity, your mood and the amount of stress you are experiencing due to Medical personnel treating you like a drug addict. It's one thing to pull this smoke and mirrors game on someone with a bad back but to do it to someone with cancer is absolutely unconscionable. Most things like off label uses for drugs that don't work for pain, CBD oil, stretching, meditation, back braces and all forms of electrical stimulation are mostly snake oil and lies that at best will trigger a placebo effect, which can be very helpful but there are better, more effective and cheaper ways to use the placebo effect to improve your health. I am treated for chronic and persistent pain resulting from cancer by one of this countries most respected authorities on pain treatment and deep brain stimulation. According to him, implanted stimulation works for some people with back pain, the rest of it is a bunch of b.s. I saw him yesterday to have my intrathecal pain pump refilled. A little ritual we repeat every 12 weeks. I get the miniscule dose of 3.5 mgs. per day of hydromorphone. It has the effect of about 1000 mgs. taken orally. It has the side effects of 3.5 mgs. or no side effects at all. No sleepiness, no constipation and certainly doesn't get me high. The patient is beyond the suspicion of half assed doctors and nurses who think anyone on pain meds is a drug abuser. That's the best part right there. The availability of these pumps is increasing and just about all insurance and medicare pay for them. I don't think the availability will continue to increase as the number of Medical students pursuing the field of pain management is dropping. When the truth is known about the opioid crisis it will be revealed that the manufacturers were selling these drugs out the back door to organized crime and that well meaning doctors were not the cause. That's what we learned about Quaaludes in the 1970's. If you don't use opioids to get high, you don't experience the euphoria they can create and you do not get addicted. Truth, Love and Blessings
Replies to "I am appalled that he was given those drugs for cancer pain. I was given Lyrica..."
You spoke the truth. Thank you!
Wow...succinct, passionate with a lot of truth. I'm a psych RN and Hypnotist. Be careful about your put down of alternative treatments. They deserve to be a choice for clients/ patients. Hypnosis is a way to "re-process" how we experience pain and can be very powerful ( as our minds are powerful) it is not a be all, end all cure but can help. As a nurse who worked with many clients with pain, I never pre-judged that they were drug seeking addicts. But I know people with chronic pain are often mistreated. Thank you for your strong post. My best friend, my mom, has experienced a great deal of pain. It has been a journey to find relief for her. She uses hypnosis as well. ( I am about to create general hypnosis audios for pain mgmt) we all know we'd take a "placebo" every day if it helps. Also, addressing anxiety/ grief/ anticipation of pain/ anger/ stressors etc can help with the actual pain. Best, Jan
Thanks for making this known re: real chronic pain patients are the one’s who have been left to suffer needlessly by the opioid drug crisis. Opioids have been on the market for decades and have worked very well to control pain for those who do not have an addictive personality. The “crisis” arose when many of the MD’s themselves started popping an opioid so they could still stand at an operating table to crank patients “needing” bank surgeries, shoulder pain, knee and hip replacements and even dentists were rx’ing it for simple extraction procedures and giving pts scripts for 50 or 100 tabs! Mom left hers in the medicine cabinet and kids began taking them like candy because their friends told them they’d get a nice high. If you don’t have 7 plus scale pain or you have an addictive personality, you will get high....no REAL PAIN.....no opioids. The phara companies lied to their reps who lied to their physicians so they would Rx it in greater quantities and at the end of the day, big pharma made billions of dollars, doc’s were told the drugs were safe and could easily be titrated up to keep their patients pain free and patients could go about their lives, working, playing sports, working out, doing carpentry, waxing the hardwood floors, biking with the grandchildren and living a fairly normal life despite chronic painful surgeries, accidents that would have made them disabled otherwise. Once the pharma folks began reining money out of their ears and their stock prices went thru the roof, not only did the cartels begin illegally selling, but unscrupulous doc’s set up pain “shops” all over the country and the “customer” would go down to the famous drug docs and pay big time cash to them for scripts under the table and unscrupulous pharmacists, with stores next to the drug doctors place set up shop next door. No one seemed to care much about “the druggies” that we’re the result of this $$$$ crime UNTIL the affluent realized their kids had become addicts and started stealing from the folks to get their fix and parents started screaming at their Congressional leaders to “do something to save our kids, cash donations poured into their representatives campaign accounts......well you know how it all went down the tubes for people who were suffering with ligit pain that no more surgery could fix. Yes, even hospitals and surgeons are afraid of giving a monthly script for their
Chronic pain suffering patients. The docs who know and regularly follow these patients have come up with a good idea to continue their patient’s prescriptions and allow honest patients to live a Fairly normal life despite their pain. The patient, hospital, pharmacists and honest pain mgmt doc,s have a legally binding agreement that is signed by all every three months to take only as prescribed and keep their quarterly doctors appointments to continue treatment. Most pain management physicians even run unannounced drug screening tests on their patients which protects both parties. But it is abhorrent that the corporations, physicians, parents, schools, etc did not stop this behavior from the beginning. The old saying “where are your kids and what are they doing tonight?” Ad campaigns of the 60’s and 70’s needs revitalization!
Gabapentin puts weight on big time so if you dont want to gain weight I would go for something else.. Also it is bad for causing cavities ...
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My husband also had an intrathecal pain medicine delivery pump implanted, with morphine as the medicine of choice. That also failed to give him relief from his cancer pain. We were told how helpful it would be, with lower side effects from less medicine and maximum benefit. Nothing worked. The surgery to implant the pump left him even worse off and he never really recovered from what was an outpatient procedure. His last two months following the pain pump surgery were not worth living. It was as bad of an outcome as could have been scripted. I am deeply regretful of the entire experience, and we went to two of the country's top experts in his form of cancer.