opioid crises

[1964dodge]

i am ranting because people keep talking about the opioid crises. well i want to tell the truth about the opioid crises. the cdc which not only the states use as a guideline created this crises out of misrepresentation of numbers. most real doctors and professional pain clinics keep a close eye on thier patients that use opioids and almost all patients use thier pain meds responsibly, they do not abuse or sell thier opioid meds. there are some pain clinics that are pill mills and anyone can get opioids. i agree these places should be shut down.

but they are putting pain meds on the face of this so called crises but it also includes illegal fentanyl and heroin plus other drugs. and when the cdc reports they report a death in each column. if subject a died of an accidental overdose they record it on every list. in other words if he took heroin, fentanyl, and pain meds it would be recorded 3 times, in other words 3 deaths, the cdc finally admitted to this overreporting. now doctors and legitimate pain clinics are afraid to prescribe adequate pain meds. if they do they can lose thier licence and be arrested. there are a lot of doctors and pain clinics fighting to get relief for pain patients. of course the cdc said it never intended pain patients to suffer. and what makes it worse is when people talk about the opioid crises and don't know the real facts. we are not pill poppers that want a high, most of us don't get any kind of high, we get relief from pain.

so please don't go blindly promoting the need to cure the opioid crises. learn the facts learn what should be stopped. i agree stop illegal drugs, stop these pill factories that you just say you sprained your thumb and you get opioids.put tight control and reporting for pain meds. do research on a way to make opioid pain meds effective but useless for an abuser. i am a lucky one i do get some pain meds, i get between 20% and 25% of what i used to get. i went from fairly active to in bed most of the time. please don't spread or allow to be spread these lies and half truths. i suffer pain spikes every single night. my average is 5 or 6 during the day and at night i spike to between 7 and 9 and sometimes 10. so obviously i have to fight suicidal thoughts every single night for usually 1 or 2 hours sometimes longer. we wouldn't let an animal suffer this bad but we have to. and suicides are on the rise for pain patients with no or inaequate pain relief. so please educate yourself and your friends before you talk about the opioid crises...mike

 

[1964dodge]

@Bbear82

 

[Bbear82]

i agree not all of us are abusing opiods. i also take opoids and also benzos. i know i see my doctor every month and get UA every time to make sure that im not taking to many or not taking them at all. so good for you for speaking up about this.

 

[Walker]

Hi Mike

You know that I feel this post. While I don't seem to have as much pain day to day as I used to I still really feel this. I find the "opioid crisis" to be a big kick in the balls. Do I want young people to become hooked on meds because they had oral surgery? Fuck no. (This is cited as a very large reason that younger people become pill junkies - broken bones and oral surgery) But damn, do we have to keep everyone away from medication that they rightfully need? It's really quite messed up.

Doctors now are trying to get away from prescribing SO MANY meds but seriously, I used to have a doctor giving me 200 **EACH** of vicodin and oxy. I knew in the moment that was a lot but in retrospect that shit is practically criminal. In fact, same doctor was prescribing my mother medication numbers into like a thousand a month. Bottles and bottles of pills - countless fucking pills. And, well, we know how that ended....

I know that you are doing medicinal MJ for the pain you're in currently. Are you able to do anything else? I'm sorry if you find it offensive (because I have) but studies show that meditation and CBT (is it CBT?) are also effective in lowering pain. I'm not advocating you ditch your meds and just meditate, man. I'm saying maybe you could use these things in conjunction with your current therapies since your pain level is still so very high. I hate seeing it like that. No one should have to die over the pain they're experiencing.

Anyway, I really just wanted to extend some love here. I feel you - I see you - I hear you. I get this.

 

[1964dodge]

i agree not all of us are abusing opiods. i also take opoids and also benzos. i know i see my doctor every month and get UA every time to make sure that im not taking to many or not taking them at all. so good for you for speaking up about this.

thank you. i think the thing that hurts us the most is the term "opioid crises"

 

[1964dodge]

Hi Mike

You know that I feel this post. While I don't seem to have as much pain day to day as I used to I still really feel this. I find the "opioid crisis" to be a big kick in the balls. Do I want young people to become hooked on meds because they had oral surgery? Fuck no. (This is cited as a very large reason that younger people become pill junkies - broken bones and oral surgery) But damn, do we have to keep everyone away from medication that they rightfully need? It's really quite messed up.

Doctors now are trying to get away from prescribing SO MANY meds but seriously, I used to have a doctor giving me 200 **EACH** of vicodin and oxy. I knew in the moment that was a lot but in retrospect that shit is practically criminal. In fact, same doctor was prescribing my mother medication numbers into like a thousand a month. Bottles and bottles of pills - countless fucking pills. And, well, we know how that ended....

I know that you are doing medicinal MJ for the pain you're in currently. Are you able to do anything else? I'm sorry if you find it offensive (because I have) but studies show that meditation and CBT (is it CBT?) are also effective in lowering pain. I'm not advocating you ditch your meds and just meditate, man. I'm saying maybe you could use these things in conjunction with your current therapies since your pain level is still so very high. I hate seeing it like that. No one should have to die over the pain they're experiencing.

Anyway, I really just wanted to extend some love here. I feel you - I see you - I hear you. I get this.

thank you @Walker that means more than you could know. there are a lot of advocates trying to revese this problem but it will take a long time, years maybe decades. i had to stop for 30 days as an experiment to see if i still need them. the actual withdrawl was bad but not as bad as the pain i was in. i slept very little. and the only thing that prevented my suicide was my wife holding my hand every night and counting how many days left until i got my pain meds back. i would 100% go by suicide if i lost my pain meds. i'm not good at meditation but i'm good at redirecting my thoughts most nights. and medical mj is a god send. i use edibles once or twice a week if i need to and salve can bring that spike down faster. and doctors that over prescribe like you mentioned should be retrained...mike....

 

[Walker]

i had to stop for 30 days as an experiment to see if i still need them

Sorry but what the actual mother fucking shit is that?? I've never heard such bullshit in all my life. I'm speechless.
I'll be back when I can form words to reply to this asinine shit storm of a sentence.

 

[1964dodge]

try not to laugh to hard at this one @Walker . they figured that a lot of people on opioids don't need them anymore if they suffered from pain or not. the test was go without for 30 days and if you still need them then you could go back on. i can see this if it's because of surgery or something temporary but if you were on opioids due to chronic pain odds are you need them. this idea came from the cdc by the way

well i was at a pain clinic that didn't like pain meds, yes i'm serious lol. so after i made it through thier little test they put me back on low doses of opioids. after he put me back on he said something that really scared me. he said 30 days may not have been enough we may have to try 6 months of no opioids, really. well i begged my doctor to start prescribing again, i am fortunate that he gave me something. yea hair brained schemes that didn't make sense lol...mike

 

[DrownedFishOnFire]

Just curious if you know any addict personally yourself IRL @1964dodge or experience working with addicts

Reason why im asking:

A good percentage of people on any meds for any kind of reason DO NOT FOLLOW DRIECTIONS. Lol

Thats the basic workup leading to my next response after you respond 👍

 

[Aurelia]

Fentanyl is the main problem as far as overdoses go. Percocet, oxy, and pure heroin barely even exist on the streets anymore. Suboxone is being overprescribed, and is everywhere, but you can't exactly OD on it. But "pill factories" aren't the issue here either. Most doctors are underprescribing, as you're already well aware. Most of our Fentanyl is smuggled in from other countries. And they're able to do it because our government is in their pocket.

 

[1964dodge]

yes i have known addicts and i know i'll get in trouble for this but i'll tell you how i feel about any addict especially drugs. if a person is addicted to drugs give as much info as posibble so they know their options. and if they want help to get off the drugs then give them whatever they need to get clean, but only when they ask. if they aren't ready it won't help. and this includes any drug legal or not. and yes i have taken an extra pill here and there just like most people but i don't take anything i'm not prescribed i use my meds responsibly. i'm not perfect. by abusing meds especially pain meds i mean selling them or crushing them to get high. and as for addicts i'm pretty sure nobody wanted to become an addict. don't get me wrong i don't blame addicts but what i'm saying is that pain meds used responsibly should be treated differently. and as i said i had to kick the opioids for 30 days so i know it's not easy to quit. and any person that gets clean is a very courageous person from any drug including alcohol. if i sound insensitive i'm sorry it came out that way...mike

 

[1964dodge]

Fentanyl is the main problem as far as overdoses go. Percocet, oxy, and pure heroin barely even exist on the streets anymore. Suboxone is being overprescribed, and is everywhere, but you can't exactly OD on it. But "pill factories" aren't the issue here either. Most doctors are underprescribing, as you're already well aware. Most of our Fentanyl is smuggled in from other countries. And they're able to do it because our government is in their pocket.

thank you for understanding what i was trying to say. i think any meds should be prescribed as needed including but not limited to pain meds, benzos, and mental health meds. and i'm sorry to sound extra bitchy about this.

and that illegal fentanyl kills any possibility of me getting what i really need. before this mess i was on the fentanyl patch. what was good about that is it's a 3 day med. so i had no or very minor pain spikes. if i could have that back i would still have some pain but it's the spikes that get to me. i have said it before and i know it's cruel but i truly wish everyone involved with these limits would have to suffer moderate to severe chronic pain for a year and not be able to get the meds they need...mike...

 

[Aurelia]

thank you for understanding what i was trying to say. i think any meds should be prescribed as needed including but not limited to pain meds, benzos, and mental health meds. and i'm sorry to sound extra bitchy about this.

and that illegal fentanyl kills any possibility of me getting what i really need. before this mess i was on the fentanyl patch. what was good about that is it's a 3 day med. so i had no or very minor pain spikes. if i could have that back i would still have some pain but it's the spikes that get to me. i have said it before and i know it's cruel but i truly wish everyone involved with these limits would have to suffer moderate to severe chronic pain for a year and not be able to get the meds they need...mike...

I had to cry and plead before I got a doctor to give me a benzo for my panic attacks. And I think I honestly just got lucky. Were it any other doctor, they probably wouldn't have given a shit even then. And when I take them, I don't take more than I'm prescribed (except on one or two occasions because I was practically hysterical.) That being said, my suboxone doctor is now telling me I have to choose one or the other because she's afraid I'm going to overdose, which is bullshit because I would have to take a handful of them for that to happen, which I don't do. Nevertheless, I now have to find a new suboxone doctor because I'm not giving up something I need because of this bitch, who continues to insult my intelligence by telling me to try other methods that I've already tried about 10 times over. If anything, it's much more dangerous for her to take my subs away from me than it is for me to take both together because for all she knows I could end up back on the streets using because of it and OD from that (I won't do that, but again, she doesn't know that).

 

[1964dodge]

I had to cry and plead before I got a doctor to give me a benzo for my panic attacks. And I think I honestly just got lucky. Were it any other doctor, they probably wouldn't have given a shit even then. And when I take them, I don't take more than I'm prescribed (except on one or two occasions because I was practically hysterical.) That being said, my suboxone doctor is now telling me I have to choose one or the other because she's afraid I'm going to overdose, which is bullshit because I would have to take a handful of them for that to happen, which I don't do. Nevertheless, I now have to find a new suboxone doctor because I'm not giving up something I need because of this bitch, who continues to insult my intelligence by telling me to try other methods that I've already tried about 10 times over. If anything, it's much more dangerous for her to take my subs away from me than it is for me to take both together because for all she knows I could end up back on the streets using because of it and OD from that (I won't do that, but again, she doesn't know that).

it's kind of like my doctor refusing to give me lorazepam because i take opioids for pain because they both repress breathing and i have severe copd. after he realized he almost lost me because of a severe anxiety attack we negotiated a safe way to do it.

and no insult intended for any recovering addict but if there is a chance of adiction with any new med a doctor should be cautious. but they should prescribe the meds that are needed. they can be cautious and still prescribe what's needed. and as far as active addiction there are plenty of ways to safely make sure people get these much needed meds.i may be wrong but it seems as if a med can be addictive they don't care and don't want to prescribe if someone is or was an addict....mike...

 

[Aurelia]

it's kind of like my doctor refusing to give me lorazepam because i take opioids for pain because they both repress breathing and i have severe copd. after he realized he almost lost me because of a severe anxiety attack we negotiated a safe way to do it.

and no insult intended for any recovering addict but if there is a chance of adiction with any new med a doctor should be cautious. but they should prescribe the meds that are needed. they can be cautious and still prescribe what's needed. and as far as active addiction there are plenty of ways to safely make sure people get these much needed meds.i may be wrong but it seems as if a med can be addictive they don't care and don't want to prescribe if someone is or was an addict....mike...

Yeah. They act like taking both, even as prescribed, is automatically going to kill you. It's really not. I've already been taking both for about 8 months, and clearly, I'm still here. The real issue is that they don't want to risk their job on the off-chance that you'll decide to eat the entire bottle. But they sure as hell have no problem risking your life and your health in the process.

 

[1964dodge]

Yeah. They act like taking both, even as prescribed, is automatically going to kill you. It's really not. I've already been taking both for about 8 months, and clearly, I'm still here. The real issue is that they don't want to risk their job on the off-chance that you'll decide to eat the entire bottle. But they sure as hell have no problem risking your life and your health in the process.

and they should realize that you are a lot safer now because you aren't using anymore. keep trying to get the meds you need. i'm sorry for my ignorance but i thought recovering heroin addicts had to have sub to stay clean. if that's the case then suggesting you stop makes her incompetent...mike...

 

[DrownedFishOnFire]

My response is there will always be 1 out of 4 people that dont follow the fking driections. Common sense is never there for a good percentage of the population. Knowing a good number from my side of the world started out due to sport injuries etc or an injury and it spun out of control... from prescribed meds they did not follow the prescribed driections and easily doubled up n one dose led to other dose etc....

Why do we have laws and constsantly having to tell people to wear their seatbelt... some people are plainly dumb enough if theyre not told numerous of times to wear one. People seriously lack the common sense

 

[1964dodge]

My response is there will always be 1 out of 4 people that dont follow the fking driections. Common sense is never there for a good percentage of the population. Knowing a good number from my side of the world started out due to sport injuries etc or an injury and it spun out of control... from prescribed meds they did not follow the prescribed driections and easily doubled up n one dose led to other dose etc....

Why do we have laws and constsantly having to tell people to wear their seatbelt... some people are plainly dumb enough if theyre not told numerous of times to wear one. People seriously lack the common sense

i feel especially bad for those people because it was supposed to be temporary. i don't know if it's possible but maybe there could be a way to monitor temporary patients after they start to come off of the opioids. it seems like some doctors prescribe and forget. like i said i take a little more sometimes than what's in the directions but i have my doctors permission, and i've passed every drug test so far. people like that do get trapped and it's sad....mike...

 

[Aurelia]

and they should realize that you are a lot safer now because you aren't using anymore. keep trying to get the meds you need. i'm sorry for my ignorance but i thought recovering heroin addicts had to have sub to stay clean. if that's the case then suggesting you stop makes her incompetent...mike...

Well, in all fairness, they don't know for a fact that I'm clean because we haven't had any drug tests since covid; it's been strictly teleconferences ever since. But it wouldn't have mattered. She's not going to budge either way. Technically, addicts can take sub, methadone, or go cold turkey. But sub is safer than methadone and cold turkey is something I'm just not ready for. Especially now that I have school to worry about. But as far as her being incompetent, in reality, that's exactly what she is. But legally, it won't be seen that way because she gave me 90 days' notice to make other arrangements. Which I will. I already know where I want to go instead that will let me take both, I just have to make the appointment.

 

[Sane Man]

Sorry but what the actual mother fucking shit is that?? I've never heard such bullshit in all my life. I'm speechless.
I'll be back when I can form words to reply to this asinine shit storm of a sentence.

Ya that seems not right