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All anecdotal, but I had severe kidney stone issues as well - I know the pain! I had several kidney stones while I lived in Sweden, and they did give me opiate

All anecdotal, but I had severe kidney stone issues as well - I know the pain! I had several kidney stones while I lived in Sweden, and they did give me opiates for it - but only at the hospital. I was prescribed Diclofenac (an NSAID) as a fast-acting suppository to take home, with instructions to take that and then go to the hospital if I had another stone. The next time I woke up with cramps, I did as told, and the meds worked quickly to reduce the pain to manageable levels until I got to hospital. Perhaps there are medical reasons to prescribe some patients a take-home opiate for this.. but I can't help but wonder if kick-back programs and so on are playing a role here for what treatment path doctors choose.

DanBC 8y ago
> Perhaps there are medical reasons to prescribe some patients a take-home opiate for this ...and to prescribe so many that the GP commenter has enough left over to be used in future.
- Broken_Hippo 8y ago
  Last time I was prescribed opiates, I got a standard prescription. There were about 20 pills, inside a box. The box had 20 bubbles, each with one pill in it. Unsure of how long the pain would last, this worked. I was able to sleep a few nights and work out the pain since I had a few things to do. I had an xray planned just in case, but it wound up being necessary. I don't see the point of taking more pills than I have needed, so they are in the cabinet. I also don't see the point of breaking up a bubble package at the pharmacy. They are made to both keep costs down and ensure pill safety. No pill miscounts, for example. Bubble packs have shown to help slow down suicides as well (people have to work harder to get the pills out, giving them time to rethink things at the last minute). I don't have a history of asking for pain medicine. The time before this was for gall bladder surgery some years ago. As soon as I didn't need the pills, I stopped taking them. This was in the US, so they were loose pills, but I*m not sure they numbered more. I did need one later when I returned to work as the first day was rough. I assume the prescription I received was standard procedure after the operation. Just because I didn't need that many doesn't mean that someone else didn't.

DanBC 8y ago

> Perhaps there are medical reasons to prescribe some patients a take-home opiate for this ...and to prescribe so many that the GP commenter has enough left over to be used in future.

Broken_Hippo 8y ago
Last time I was prescribed opiates, I got a standard prescription. There were about 20 pills, inside a box. The box had 20 bubbles, each with one pill in it. Unsure of how long the pain would last, this worked. I was able to sleep a few nights and work out the pain since I had a few things to do. I had an xray planned just in case, but it wound up being necessary. I don't see the point of taking more pills than I have needed, so they are in the cabinet. I also don't see the point of breaking up a bubble package at the pharmacy. They are made to both keep costs down and ensure pill safety. No pill miscounts, for example. Bubble packs have shown to help slow down suicides as well (people have to work harder to get the pills out, giving them time to rethink things at the last minute). I don't have a history of asking for pain medicine. The time before this was for gall bladder surgery some years ago. As soon as I didn't need the pills, I stopped taking them. This was in the US, so they were loose pills, but I*m not sure they numbered more. I did need one later when I returned to work as the first day was rough. I assume the prescription I received was standard procedure after the operation. Just because I didn't need that many doesn't mean that someone else didn't.