4 ms·

This may be completely unpopular opinion, but as a temporary user of pain killers I am thankful I was prescribed them. I was experiencing chronic and hard to di

• rm_-rf_slash 7y ago
  If you’re all right with my asking, where was the pain located, and from what cause?
  • mThumbnail 7y ago
    In my own case it was in the throat, literally unable to swallow anything for days due to severe pain, cause was mono. Fun fact I discovered through the ordeal is that the very act of thinking about saliva causes saliva to secrete, so it's practically impossible once you realize you have a saliva problem to stop it, since with a problem on hand you cannot but think about it and the very act of thinking about the problem causes the very problem to worsen
• carapace 7y ago
  The problem isn't that they work to relieve pain, it's that they're addictive. Anecdotally, I once knew a fellow who "accidentally" broke his own finger to get a prescription.
  • nostromo 7y ago
    They aren't addictive to the vast majority of people. In this respect it's similar to alcohol: only harmful to a small group of people, but for them very harmful. I think the key is looking for commonalities of the people at risk of addiction and finding alternative therapies for them.
    • saiya-jin 7y ago
      Can you please show a single credible source that claims that things like heroin or opium "aren't addictive to vast majority of the people"? From everything I ever read or heard on that topic this is simply not true, I wonder what makes you say those things... And that statement about alcohol is an outright lie in the way you state it.
      • edoceo 7y ago
        Alcohol, Heroin and Nicotine. All are super addictive and after some time the body becomes chemically dependant. It's why you get "dope-sick" when you kick.
        • bromuro 7y ago
          People can drink alcohol every day without being addicted to it.
          • zentiggr 7y ago
            Maybe some very few, or 'a glass a day' type consumption, sure. I've seen alcoholic withdrawal and it's not pretty. Drying out from a real addiction can need medical attention.
          • toomanybeersies 7y ago
            Some people smoke cigarettes every day without being addicted to them, and I'm sure some people can smoke opium every day without being addicted to it (probably can't say the same for injecting heroin). Doesn't mean it's good for you (neither is drinking every day).
            • loeg 7y ago
              You don't have to inject heroin to consume it, FWIW. You're right that intravenous use is probably more addiction prone (not to mention, dangerous for all kinds of reasons).
• OnlineGladiator 7y ago
  First of all, I am not an expert on opioids nor am I a trained doctor. For what it's worth, I have lived with chronic pain, so I do know what it is like to suffer. I do not think the problem is that opioids are evil, but that they were clearly (to the point of obvious fraud) being sold in great quantities to people to abuse for recreational purposes. Obviously it can be frustrating because now people with legitimate medical pain have one less option for dealing with their suffering (although based on studies I have read, opioids are actually not the first choice for most users), and they are the victims of the flagrant corruption of the pharmaceutical companies in question. I am not saying doctors need to be perfect in diagnosing problems and always knowing what to prescribe, and magically predicting when a patient will become addicted (even if it is to treat a legitimate medical condition). I am saying the corruption of overprescribing drugs for the obvious profiteering should be stopped, and those found responsible should face legal consequences (I assume something like 20 years jailtime, plus forfeiture of all assets gained illicitly after thorough audits - when going after billions of dollars it is easy to come up with the money for audits). I am glad that opioids were able to help you and I am glad you were able to get them when you needed! I understand there is a lot of villification of opioids and in the outrage some people want them banned entirely and that would likely be a loss (similar to what happened with marijuana, ketamine, and other drugs that were always suspected to have real medical benefits and we are now getting real clinical studies to support these hypotheses). But the corruption is real, and the criminals need to be punished, and the overselling needs to be stopped.
  • deleted 7y ago
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  • vo2maxer 7y ago
    You make some excellent and sympathetic points, I assume in large part because of your own experience with chronic pain. Good doctors, who care emotionally for their patients, are more than willing to alleviate the discomfort. One of the main problems now is that States are implementing even more restrictions for opioid prescription. Many doctors feel as if they are being closely watched, and those that register as prescribing opioids, are somehow under even more scrutiny. I know many who don’t go near these substances any more, not even renewing their DEA registration.
• mattigames 7y ago
  Do you know at the top of your head statistically how likely are the people taking the drugs you are taking to overdose and die?
  • OnlineGladiator 7y ago
    In raw numbers (so this is not a probability), half as many as alcohol. https://www.caron.org/blog/2019/05/alcohol-is-killing-more-people-than-the-opioid-epidemic https://www.caron.org/blog/2019/05/alcohol-is-killing-more-p...
    • deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    • mattigames 7y ago
      Any serious research to back that up? But even then I have to ask so what? What does that have to do with anything? I never claimed that alcohol isn't killing people or that this is a problem that must reduce attention to other problems
      • OnlineGladiator 7y ago
        My source cites numbers for opioid and and alcohol deaths according to the Center for Disease Control. Anchoring opioid deaths against alcohol provides a frame of reference for many people, since alcohol is so ubiquitous in human culture. I tried googling for the odds of becoming addicted to those substances and couldn't readily find anything for either. Hopefully someone else sees this and can shed some light, because it would be interesting to me as well.
        • mattigames 7y ago
          Calculating long-term effects is a lot harder and ambiguous than thing easy to measure like ODs, for example that post includes cardiovascular diseases and cancer but did they compare how many drink alcohol and exercise vs those who don't? And afterwards compare people that don't exercise vs people that drink alcohol and exercise, and people that exercise that never drink alcohol vs people who exercise that drink it each weekend? Are there differences between people that drink pure alcohols (Vodka, Whisky) vs non-pure ones (beer), and also how much is enough drinking to notice those negative symptoms, once a year? once a month?
• WalterBright 7y ago
  > constantly wondering how people without access to these medicines continue their will to live They often don't.
• toomanybeersies 7y ago
  People who have never needed particular drugs often struggle to understand how important they are to those who actually need them. It's incredibly hard to empathise with someone's plight if you've never experienced it yourself. I have far too many people who aren't doctors telling me that I don't really need stimulant medication to manage my ADHD and I'd be fine without it. Often they'll go on to describe how, as someone without ADHD, Ritalin or dextroamphetamine gets them all wired up. Ritalin literally just straightens me out and makes me feel normal (unless I eat a handful). I can certainly manage without it, I did for over 20 years, but life is a lot easier when I have the option to use it. It's a tool in a toolbox of management strategies. I'm an adult and am capable of giving informed consent, I had a discussion with my doctor about potential side-effects and long term use, including dependance and what would happen if I stopped taking medication. I have a fairly comprehensive understanding of ADHD and stimulant medication, more than your average moon worshiping hippie, that's for sure. I've gotten the same in regards to using benzos (Xanax, Valium) for anxiety. If you need them, you need them. Breathing exercises or trying to distract yourself won't work. If you've never experienced a panic attack or had serious anxiety, you can't understand how bad it is. If you take an appropriate dose, you don't become a sleepy zombie, you become a functioning human. I have friends who are on anti-depressants and I've seen exactly the same thing happen to them. Positive thinking and yoga won't cure clinical depression. It's demeaning and condescending to assume that someone hasn't considered actually trying to solve their mental health issues without medication or drugs. It's actually incredibly insulting to have someone with no qualifications or subject knowledge tell me how I should manage my mental health and that I shouldn't be taking medication. It's like telling someone who needs glasses, which I also do, that they should try opening their eyes and looking harder (I've actually had people tell me I should try exercising my eyes), or telling someone with asthma that they should just breathe deeper. You wouldn't tell someone in a wheelchair that if they simply think about walking hard enough they'll be be able to stand.
  • r00fus 7y ago
    Very few in this discussion are asking to ban opioids. However corruption of the Doctor-patient relationship is a big problem. There’s a word for this on the street - a “pusher”. I for one don’t want to wonder if my doctor is getting kickbacks for prescribing specific meds.
• johnpowell 7y ago
  I see the oncologist every three weeks. And the radiologist every few months. They always ask if I need any pills. I haven't taken a opioid in six months. And I have a ton of oxy and hydromorphone sitting in my bathroom from when I was deep into chemo. Hundreds of pills sitting there that I have no desire to take. I found that lorazepam and a Advil helped more. And from my experience the most egregious prescribers of opioids aren't doctors, but dentists. I got 30 hydrocodone for having a tooth pulled. That is absurd.
  • Gupie 7y ago
    "I have a ton of oxy and hydromorphone sitting in my bathroom" Not a good idea to keep them, IMO.
    • johnpowell 7y ago
      I have absolutely no desire to do them. The constipation is unbearable for me when I take them. I do enjoy a hydrocodone. But it has been a year and they treat the cancer, and then another scan and there is a new spot, rinse and repeat. Another round of radiation starts next week. So not a terrible idea to keep some pills around. But this batch of radiation should be easy. 5 treatments over two weeks. Probably won't even get a sunburn from it!. And it might seem odd to be really happy about radiation. But I was thinking it would be another few months of chemo. So radiation is fantastic.
• yibg 7y ago
  I tend to agree, maybe because I have had a similar experience. Went to the ER with severe abdominal pain, but took more than 24 hours to diagnose and therefore admitted and get on morphine. Even though it was only a little more than 24 hours, it was possibly one of the most miserable 24 hours of my life. Then magically morphine goes in and things were tolerable. Over the next 10 days I was on low dose IV morphine (couldn't take anything in pill form because GI tract wasn't really working), but they wear out pretty quickly. The hour or so between the time the previous dose wears off and the next dose the morphine was definitely on my mind a lot. Although in my case it wasn't wanting to get high but rather remove the pain. Previous to this episode I held that opinion that opioids were rarely needed and people should just tough it out. e.g. when I had my wisdom teeth pulled I was prescribed opioids but didn't take any. But this episode definitely changed my mind. Not sure what I would've done in that 10 days if I wasn't on morphine.
• Akababa 7y ago
  Do you think your doctor wouldn't have prescribed them if not for aggressive pharma marketing? Was it difficult to obtain a prescription?