I thought this article was very encouraging. It sounds like some sense is finally being applied to the “crisis” the news keeps raving about:
Follow the links in the article to even more articles about common sense actions that are being called for going forward.
It gives me hope that those of use with chronic pain will stop being abanndoned!
azurelle
We can hope…some drs liked to throw a pill at things…
We need balance in treatment. Yes there are doctors who just say take this pill. I also know the reason I can function on a daily basis is the medication I take. The same is true of pain pills. There is a abuse and yet for those of us with chronic pain, we need the pain pills. I for one can not take take over the counter pain meds. They either tear up my stomach or they just do anything. I do have other ways I cope with pain. Yet at the same time when I am hurting, I need the Percocet I have been subscribed. They do need this study and get rid of telling people what is best for them, and finding what is best for those who experience the pain. Neither do I like when doctors or other people say do acupuncture etc. I want to say you have the extra money for that?
Well here’s a problem , and reason why pain medication is finally becoming pretty much sold in the purvue of pain management specialists. If you look at your Percocet , you will see a number after the drug name (be it name brand name of generic. It will most likely be 5:350 if prescribed by a non pain management specialist with instructions to take one or two every four hours for pain. This is a HUGE problem. You see the first number is the amount of narcotics and the second number is the amount of OTC medication that you say you can’t take and use to explain why you need that narcotic. The issue is not the narcotics but rather the second number. If you take 2 every your hours, that’s 4200 mgs of the OTC, an amount known to cause permanent kidney/liver damage and very nearly what is considered a lethal dose.
I’m not saying you don’t need analgesia by any stretch only that the traditional approach to prescribing pain medication is very wrong. This is part of the reason Tramadol is the preferred pain med for FMS.
Of course there are a lot who say “it doesn’t work!!!” Problem is it’s not the narcotics that do the work. Tramadol works the same way as the hectic in Percocet, it’s just a synthetic version. The difference is that one contains the OTC med the other does not.
So what do they do to avoid loosening from the OTC med? Look at the bottle. The numbers change. They may bow say 10:350. Twice as much narcotic but the same amount of OTC. Problem solved? Nope not even close. You are now taking 60 mg of narcotic. 80 is an overdose and sufficient to kill in some folk. Accidental overdose, becomes exponentially more likely.
This is part of the reason for the study, but also why prescribing protocols ( and who can prescribe) are changing dramatically.
TJ