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Dangerous Pain Meds

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Posted 11/8/2015 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
I posted an article a long time ago about the dangers of opioids. Today's NY Times has an editorial spelling out the dangers of opioid pain medications.

For anyone interested, here is the link to the article:


www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/opinion/sunday/how-doctors-helped-drive-the-addiction-crisis.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-top-region®ion=opinion-c-col-top-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-top-region&_r=0
Posted 11/8/2015 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
These have become the entry drug for heroin. Docs must stop prescribing so many and in fact they have. I have a couple dozen left over from RP and multiple orthopedic surgeries. I got off them ASAP.
Bob
Posted 11/8/2015 11:14 PM (GMT 0)
On the flipside, doctors are now terrified to give out pain meds to some people who need them, for fear of getting in trouble. I had an incident in the hospital in September where I got caught between two departments and was essentially deprived of pain meds I needed for about 24 hours. It was miserable. Another frequent poster here had issues as well during hospitalization for a recent surgery.

Yes, there are people who divert and people who abuse. And, they make it harder for people who legitimately need pain meds to get them. With my recent second cancer diagnosis and surgery, I have to admit that my (possibly paranoid) concern about suffering great pain late in life due to an illness is at the front of my mind. There is no reason for patients who really need pain meds to suffer, yet I fear this will become more and more common.
Posted 11/9/2015 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
Of all the medical specialties, Oncologists are given a pretty free rein when it comes to prescribing opiates...
Posted 11/9/2015 3:34 AM (GMT 0)
In my limited experience with them they've not lessened any given pain so much as made it not matter so much that I hurt.

Best I stay away lol
Posted 11/9/2015 4:20 AM (GMT 0)
IT, that has also been my experience with the opioids. I think I've had them 3 times in my life:
When I had my wisdom teeth out at 18, I had tylenol with codeine, and it knocked me out for exactly 4 hours per dose.

In 2006 when I had surgery for malignant melanoma, I had Vicodin to take home, and it did OK for the pain, but it locked up my bladder. I was about 10 minutes away from getting my wife up at 2 am to take me to the ER for a catheter when I unlocked. Never again.

After RALP, I had dilaudid (hydromorphine) IV push the night after surgery. I slept for 4 hours, but somehow I knew I was still in pain the whole time. I took 1 dose of Percoset at home with the same effect. I'll avoid it as much as possible if there is a next opportunity.

Don't get me wrong, drug abuse is an awful thing. There are too many people who want a magic pill for everything however...and too many physicians who will prescribe meds without following up or checking to see what's really going on. In some percentage of the population, getting dependent on the opiates is easy, and then the need for ever increasing amounts develops. Getting off of it is supposed to be extremely painful.
Posted 11/9/2015 4:43 AM (GMT 0)
I'm a recovering addict and I think doctors get a bad rap here. it's not their responsibility to make sure you aren't abusing your meds. the information is out there. it always has been. everyone taking narcotics is at risk.

ed
Posted 11/9/2015 11:47 AM (GMT 0)
I still have some opioids left over from surgery episodes, but they nauseate me, constipate me, give me severe intestinal cramps and nightmares so I avoid them if at all possible.

Don't forget that OTC stuff like Tylenol, Advil and their like will also kill you outright with as little as 3 times recommended dosage. Manufacturers slip that stuff into cough syrup, cold meds and decongestants as well as straight up in pain meds. Then a teen with a cold takes a decongestant, some cough syrup and a pain killer for her cold and dies 3 days later from liver failure.

We are each of us responsible for our own choices, medications inclusive.
Posted 11/9/2015 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
I recognize the reality of abuse, but I fear political over-reaction that may tamper with the ability of doctors to issue needed and reasonably considered prescriptions. Case in point. I had a broken a rib last year plus two adjacent cracked ribs. There was very little pain while sitting or while laying on my back. But whenever I had to stand or walk, the pain was 11 on a scale of 10. The emergency room took x-rays - getting off the gurney and standing for which was truly awful. The ER dosed me up with Oxycodone and Motrin, which after a couple of hours made it possible for me to stand and walk with pain that was only about a 7 on the 10 scale. I went home with an Oxy prescription that got me through the next few days. After a few days I was able to get by on the just the Motrin. So everything worked out as it needed to. But I'd been sent home with nothing more than Motrin I don't know how I could have managed to even sit or stand for those few days.
Posted 11/9/2015 4:03 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't take anything other than OTC pain relievers after my prostate surgery, the pain wasn't bad at all. This past January I had both hips replaced and that was a different story in regards to pain. I've read that you heal faster if you're not in pain so I dutifully took my pain meds (Tapentadol, an opiod) for 2 1/2 weeks. They only prescribed a week at a time so I called back twice to renew it.

The first day after I stopped it wasn't bad, but then I got that achy, lack of energy feeling and I thought I was getting sick. I then started started having anxiety attacks, which is something I'm not used to. By the third day as soon as I started to relax and fall asleep I'd get a terrible anxiety attack and my brain would be racing. I couldn't sleep at all and I finally connected the dots and realized I was suffering from withdrawal.

Rereading the brochure they had given me on pain relief I found I'd missed the section on withdrawal symptoms. They recommended tapering off the meds so I did that. Cutting the pills in half, then quarters and spreading out the time between doses.

Still it was 2 or 3 months before I was back to getting a good night's sleep, and that was just 2 1/2 weeks of usage. I can't imagine what it's like for people who've been on it for years. I'll be much more careful next time.
Posted 11/10/2015 2:11 PM (GMT 0)
I just used pain meds for 8 week after an open nephrectomy. I left the hospital with dilaudid, which I had also used in the hospital. I went home with instructions to use about half as much dilaudid at home as I'd used in the hospital. I followed those directions. At my follow-up in 5 days, they dropped me to oxycodone, and I stayed on that for 2 more weeks, again in gradually lessening amounts. Then (I am terrible about surgical pain, and I tend to take pain meds longer than most patients), I switched to Vicodin, using that for about 5 more weeks, but gradually tapering at the end. I was also on oxycodone for 3 weeks before my surgery, so I spent 11 straight weeks on pain meds. I had no withdrawal symptoms at all.

I still have some discomfort, and if I still had Vicodin, I would use it. But, Tylenol seems to be acceptable so far, so there is no reason to risk taking any more opiates right now.

I certainly had enough of the medications over those 11 weeks that I could have abused them badly if I'd wanted to. I just wanted to not hurt as much, so I used them as directed. The surgeon was surprised by how long I used the meds, but he said everyone is different. The constipation is an issue, especially for the stronger meds, but with a laxative and stool softener, that can be overcome.

I'm lucky that I had docs willing to prescribe these drugs for the duration that I felt I needed them.
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