Abuse of Opioids takes away from all the good it can do

Absolutely, I’ve been successfully utilizing “OPIOIDS” for 30 years now. It’s the only thing that’s kept me alive and enabling me to enjoy some quality of life. The entire
“Opioid Crisis” is greatly over reported and mis reported to the detriment of genuine and authentic patients who relay upon them as their “ONLY” viable source of effective pain management. Legitimate pain patients rarely if ever s Ouse their medication. There’s nothing to abuse. It’s not like the opioids take all of their pain away and they attain some kind of ethereal state of mind or sense of ecstasy! Rarely is all my pain ever gone! At best, most of my pain is managed where I am not in a state of horrific and uncomfortable pain beyond tolerance. The “street epidemic” and abuse of opioids has absolutely nothing to do with this self invented drug crisis and or drug war which can’t be fought or neutralized. It’s like blaming astronaut for not getting off the launch pad because the booster rockets didn’t fire propetly!

@budreaux Thanks for your post and to anyone else reading - is there a brand of R-ALA that seems to work best? I've been taking for a year with no change.

Absolutely, little if anything is ever discussed regarding the multitude of benefits provided or expounded upon the miraculous and extraordinary outcomes for patients utilizing the “ONLY” pain alternative and in many cases, “lifesaving” treatments for them to survive an otherwise “unsurvivable” life sentence!

Hi,

My heart goes out to those who are suffering due to the new laws. I too, benefit from limited use of an opiate, which I take on a very limited basis.

I'm also a nurse (don't take the opiate before work clearly). And every day I see patient's who's pain is under or untreated. And it's patients who are truly suffering. Not much tops watching an elderly person with a broken hip laying on a bed in the hallway and being told to give 650mg of Tylenol and 5mg of oxycodone. Or watching someone who's essentially nonverbal suffer and being told when you ask the team about it "there's no indication" for putting them on a patch or something. Though admittedly, I can't be sure if that's the new laws or my patients have a mental illness. But the under-treated and un-treated pain makes me completely crazy.

I think we've gone from one extreme to another. The way I hear (and see) providers react to the idea of pain meds for patients, it's as if they don't think anyone benefits. After all, people are human beings. No one deserves to suffer because of someone else's mistakes. Knowing this, I am very careful with my own medication.

Here is news you have all been waiting for!
A new CDC Clinical Guideline is being issued, instructing doctors that the earlier instructions are not a "rule" per se, and there is leeway in prescribing opioids. I have not seen the full document yet, but her is the earliest article about it:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2211040

As always, it will take a bit for the full (100+ page) document to filter down to providers, be vetted by clinics, hospitals & insurance companies, and be put into new clinical guidance for front-line docs.
But there is light at the ent of the tunnel for some chronic pain sufferers.
Sue

My husband could have written this. His pain doctor has lowered his prescription so much, that he can no longer function in a normal way. Doctors are now so threatened that they can't do what is best for their patients. I am sorry for your suffering.

I agree completly !!!
It's a war on pain patients.

You are so correct. “PAIN” is a very personal and subjective thing. This entire concept of “Rate your level of pain now at this moment on a scale of 1 to 10, what is it?”
Firstly, the type location and severity of pain vacillates during the day and night.
Some patients have several different pain sites or areas of pain occurring concurrently! An ensemble of moderate to severe pain in various sites can be worse than one area of moderate to severe pain.
Another misnomer is that “Moderate to Severe” Pain are perceived to be the worst possible pain you’ve ever had or could imagine.
I suggest they add a measurement of “EXTREME PAIN” to the list.
Even more misleading is the fact that whatever a person considers to be experienced as a level of “10” is solely predicated on whatever their experience is at that point of time in their life,
The first time I reached a level of “10” I didn’t even think it was possible to get that painful. Then, over time, I experienced an even greater level of “10.” Then, another. So, my experience of a level “10” of pain has changed over time with more experience of having them.
The bottom line. Physicians should treat pain, regardless of so called “perceived levels” based on whether the patient is no longer suffering enormously but has reached a level of pain management which is no longer tortuous!
If my level of pain in any given moment is totally dominating my existence than I am being grossly under medicated. Once I am sufficiently relaxed and out of too much suffering I’ve been adequately medicated.
For example, following surgery out of recovery and into my room, if I am squeezing the bed rails in intractable pain without getting any kind of measurable relief I am being horribly under medicated! If I can’t get to sleep because the pain is too severe than I am being under medicated! It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out!!!!
Most patients in “EXTREME” pain are not enjoying some kind of euphoric feelings of bliss under their pain meds. There’s usually too much ongoing pain to continually deal with to have any kind of possibility like that occurring.

I can understand. I’ve been taking it for 3 years for chronic pain. I’m contracted w/my PCP. I don’t take any more than I’m supposed to, I don’t sell them or give any away. I’ve managed to cut back some. My dr is happy with that. You can’t just stop. As some people think. You have to wean off of it slowly. My dr is a hour away since I moved. I was going to switch dr to someone closer to me. They won’t prescribe them and a couple of other meds I take. If you’re on a controlled substance forget it. Nobody will give them to you. I tried to wean down once, I got to a point where I felt so bad and a lot of pain. I’m 60 years old and if helps me function and keep a job then so be it. I don’t get high off of them. I’m 60 years old, just leave me alone and let me have what I need so I can have a better quality of life. There are doctors out there that do believe it has its place and will prescribe it. But you’re going to look a long time. I have occipital neuralgia also, which is very painful. They tell me to take ibuprofen and Tylenol and I have a migraine med. I asked one dr I went to see and said “which is it? Kill my liver with all that or just let me have my hydrocodone. They both have side effects after using a long time. Like I said, I’m 60 so leave me alone. So I will continue to drive an hour to my dr I’ve had for years. Good luck to you. Personally I see nothing wrong taking it at my age if I have quality of life. Drug dealers ruined it for everybody ( hugs)

I also was in the hospital for a broken hip recently and underwent a partial hip replacement, and it's no walk in the park. I was originally given that same low dose Oxycodone and it had no effect on me, so the doctor switched me to Norco 50/50 (Tylenol, Hydrocodone) now that worked. I can only hope that lady spoke up and said that this dose just isn't working.