Wired: Unseen Victims of Opioid Crisis are Starting to Rebel...

[drusso]

The Unseen Victims of the Opioid Crisis Are Starting to Rebel

The push to end opioid abuse has ended up hurting the people who use the drugs legitimately. Now those chronic pain patients are starting a movement of their own.

www.wired.com

“Pain patients have been abused,” says Schatman, who advocates for a middle ground on the use of opioids. “I believe that it’s genocide of people with chronic pain.”

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[kstarm]

Its the same issue with all the articles advocating for chronic opioid use, that somehow they are magically able to relieve pain and we as physicians are gatekeepers of the miracle treatment and refusing to provide it. There are risks and benefits to all treatments. The evidence today is that the risks outweighs the benefits for nearly everyone. If those advocating for chronic opioid use can please provide one well performed study that shows chronic opioid use in chronic non-cancer pain leads to improvement in anything meaningful, and that the benefits outweigh the risks I will listen. Until then, I will continue not to start opioids in chronic non-cancer pain, and continue to offer tapering to those who have not shown benefit so that they can actually start to feel better.

 

[Aether2000]

wired.com is a liberal mouthpiece that advocates uncontrolled use of drugs.

 

[hyperalgesia]

"Halting opioids suddenly also can lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, according to Michael Schatman, director of research and network development at Boston Pain Care and editor in chief of the Journal of Pain Research."

Is this true?

 

[deleted131481]

"Halting opioids suddenly also can lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attacks, according to Michael Schatman, director of research and network development at Boston Pain Care and editor in chief of the Journal of Pain Research."

Is this true?

If you stop high dose opioid and put them in severe withdrawal and they have some cardiac susceptibility - then yes probably with the sympathetic surge. No one including the CDC guidelines/FDA is advocating sudden stoppage though. Even a relatively rapid taper over a few weeks should not cause cardiac issues.

 

[Aether2000]

If a person has pre-existing CAD, then sudden cessation of chronic moderate to high dose opioids can precipitate cardiac events. This clearly applies primarily to older patients.

 

[drusso]

Oregon Does U-Turn On Opioid Tapering

Two years after trying to taper opioid users off the drug, Oregon has ended the policy.

www.opb.org

“We’re stigmatized,” said Howard. “We’re accused of being addicts, of just wanting to get high, which we don’t. With causing all of the problems of illegal drugs, which is completely not true. We are vilified.”

 

[raptor5]

Oregon Does U-Turn On Opioid Tapering

Two years after trying to taper opioid users off the drug, Oregon has ended the policy.

www.opb.org

Pain Reliever Use Disorder? Interesting. I hear similar arguments every day.

 

[epidural man]

Patients needs education. They need a physician to sit with them and discuss MANY things, and do it MANY times.

Not sure how that will ever happen when I keep hearing pain physicians see 60 patients a day.