For years we saw news stories and opinion columns about over prescription of opioids. Now that opioids are rarely used and people are dying in pain and from suicide, we hear almost nothing. Why the silence?
@clairezagorski
We could also accept that people like drugs and offer regulated, safer supply than what they're finding through the illicit market. We're not accomplishing any good with our approach now.
Andrew Kolodny worked hard to ruin doctors who treated pain compassionately. As a result of his efforts millions of patients suffer disabling pain that had been well treated. Their stories need to be heard.
@DoomScroling
Birth control confuses people. Here I'll explain. It allows people to prevent conception of a baby during sex. Then the couple can decide if and when they want children. Glad I could help.
@achrlh
@ChrisAlvino
Abrupt discontinuation can have people turning to street drugs. A number of patients have had their meds cut off because physicians are feeling pressured.
@ravensspirit68
Withholding opioids from people in serious pain accomplishes little other than virtue signaling. Overdoses are higher than ever. The illicit drug supply is adulterated with toxic substances. The suffering is for nothing. Do we really admire cruelty?
@ThomasKlineMD
Standards for pain treatment have often surpassed even the heartless CDC guidelines. We have some of the most cruel people running things. Dreading the day I might need surgery or get a horribly painful disease.
Journalists, we are facing a serious problem with undertreatment of pain. We hear stories of people in hospitals being denied effective pain relief. They have had major surgery and are denied opioids. Same with cancer pain. Please investigate and report on this problem.
Prohibition of alcohol was ended in December 1933. Around 90 years ago. The country was smarter then than we are now. Banning drugs that people seek ends badly. When will we see that?
@md_wallach
As a med student I saw OBs routinely reach into the uterus (after childbirth) to check for retained placental fragments. Mothers screamed in agony. I asked about analgesia. They said no. It's over quickly.
@AshleyGWinter
When I was a med student I wondered why urologists were doing so many urethral prolapse surgeries on postmenopausal women. It's not the urethra's fault. Vaginal tissue atrophies.
@AmadeaWolf
Well it's not working like that. Many are going to the illicit supply, taking big risks, others are using other high risk drugs like alcohol, and others are taking their lives. Great job there.
@ThomasKlineMD
And yet unfortunately even end stage cancer patients have been suffering due to med shortages and stingy attitudes about opioids. We need more firm palliative care protocols.
@life_is_art___
People who are suffering the most have written to the DEA and it seems have been largely dismissed. The invitation seems to be mostly a sham to fulfill a bureaucratic requirement.
@RyanMarino
The DEA has a single law enforcement focus; getting rid of psychoactive drug use. They don't offer a risk benefit analysis which could be useful. They should not be charged with education about drugs.
Safe supply and overdose prevention centers have been shown repeatedly to save lives. They're especially important now that the illegal supply is so dangerous. Prohibitionists are often opposed to anything but abstinence. That pretty much guarantees deaths.
@PAINthejournal
No! People are rewarded by effective treatment response. Can't have that. Could antiopioid people be any more cynical and patient unfriendly? Being condescending is a bad look for mental health professionals.
@CMerandi
@DrTomFrieden
@supportprop
Too many doctors were disciplined and even went to prison for prescriptions. Only a few were sued for leaving people suffering excruciating pain. No state punishment for not treating the worst, most unlivable pain.
@CMerandi
Not based on reality and very judgemental. It's not her experience to begin with so who is she to pronounce what others feel and what they deserve.
@PainNewsNetwork
The war on drugs hangs over everything like a dark, heavy shroud. More important than the worst suffering of the most helpless people.
@dawnimatrix
Don't any of the people who go along with this horrible treatment ever imagine themselves or a loved one caught up in this hellish system that exists? Finding out that unbearable pain really needs opioids.
@life_is_art___
Patients are told it's for their own good just before they go home and shoot themselves to escape the agony they suffer. What's that, one more patient to not have to care for?
@JoeAllenNewman
This is the worst time for pain treatment we've ever experienced in the US. Our founding fathers used opioids and pain has been managed fairly well until now. Dying in and from pain is a preventable tragedy. This situation is just sad.
@ravensspirit68
I can't imagine how a country has turned so far away from compassion and a desire to help people who are suffering every day from disabling pain. We have a long history of using opioids for pain treatment. They are highly effective and not problematic for the majority of people.
@ibdgirl76
Has there been an objective poll of CPPs on whether stopping opioids helped their pain? I doubt it and don't think there is any basis in reality that it would generally be effective.
@safesupplysaves
Obviously either very burned-out or a horrible person. I'm not sure how they ended up in pain medicine. Also very contemptuous of every patient. When opioids are shunned, the options are of limited benefit but the pts are supposed to be happy.
@achrlh
@ChrisAlvino
There's no question that rapid discontinuation of opioids and benzos is bad idea. That has been well documented in studies. I'm referring to community practice since opioid and benzo Rx havebeen dramatically reduced. Patients have lost docs or just been cut off.
@ChadDKollas
@PAINthejournal
Somehow pain treatment brings out the most condescending paternalism in people who are only too willing to speak for and take control of others. Unfortunately they have no clue the hell a person with severe, never ending pain lives in.
@RobertC94894966
Opioids have provided first rate pain relief over thousands of years. The human population has fared just fine. A small minority of people continue use after treating pain. We don't deny whole populations access to anything else that has minimal risk.
@CMerandi
These patient experiences should be sent to major media outlets. The news of severe suffering that has become so frequent and routine must be known widely.
@ravensspirit68
So people are against allowing relief from disabling chronic pain? They think constant suffering that ruins life is better? That just sucks. I'm sorry Arianne.
@ibdgirl76
States have been bragging about not effectively managing pain and abandoning patients. Self righteousness can feel good. A warning though. Anyone can become stricken by disabling pain. Anyone could need the effective pain relief of opioids.
@ibdgirl76
People are suffering unimaginable pain and were helped significantly by opioids. Unfortunately through a national effort those life saving meds were drastically reduced or eliminated. After many suicides, there is still a vigorous effort to reduce opioids yet more.
@Irishbrat1966
Except many of us know from experience it is not equally effective for pain. Opioids are more effective for many of us. Still I want weed to remain legal. Let's work together.
@jacobjamesrich
Why isn't the government and concerned professionals across the medical system at least as concerned about the rapid rise in deaths and disability of chronic pain patients as they were when they rushed to write the very faulty CDC guidelines for pain treatment.
@lawhern1
The current opioid restrictions are so severe that the time we live in is dystopian. Ineffective and often harmful medications are being used to treat pain. So far it is hard to say that anything but serious harm is the result.
@ChadDKollas
@CMerandi
It works well for people who are more troubled by the idea of taking drugs than being crippled by severe pain. That's sad especially because disabling pain often leads to suicide.
@achrlh
@ChrisAlvino
I wasn't referring to a particular situation. Just reporting that fairly sudden discontinuation of controlled substances has become common. Unfortunately I haven't seen studies on the outcome of this practice.
@KatMelcher
@ibdgirl76
CPPs are an inconvenient reality that opioid haters don't want to acknowledge. They just want opioids mostly gone no matter the cost.
@NuckChorris16
You could build a career around vaccine denial. Acting lessons, books, talking engagements, and advocacy efforts with membership dues. Think of the possibilities.