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> as someone who deals with chronic pain, doctors don’t seem to be aware that people feel pain _in general_. I don't know your situation, but I wonder if it se

> as someone who deals with chronic pain, doctors don’t seem to be aware that people feel pain _in general_. I don't know your situation, but I wonder if it seems this way because doctors don't have many options for treating chronic pain. There are medications for acute pain, but when you use them chronically over many years—well, that's how we ended up with the Opioid epidemic.

whatshisface 4y ago
That's not how we ended up with the opioid epidemic. We ended up with the opioid epidemic when doctors working in concert with drug companies engaged in criminal fraud to prescribe medication far beyond its normal dosages and in cases where it was not necessary.
- Wowfunhappy 4y ago
  It was all of the above. Some doctors were prescribing them at higher doses than necessary; others were prescribing them in normal doses for longer than is safe. I am sure that at least some of these doctors were driven by compassion for their patients.
- junofan 4y ago
  There was a massive push, “pain is the fifth vital sign” and all that. You were made to feel like a bad doctor if you weren’t in on it.
asdff 4y ago
At least its changing these days now that THC is increasingly legal. Boomers have proved you can take it for six decades straight and be fine. Pro sports players are using it after getting beat up in games or practices too.
- saiya-jin 4y ago
  I am taking it for cca 25 years and I am fine too... sort of. It can still become addictive, after tremendous amounts consumed over long time that don't make sense unless you just want to fuckup yourself as much as possible. But plenty of folks still end up there. But its one of the easiest addictions to shed off, compared to say cigarettes, alcohol or well anything else (I would say even sugar is more difficult to wean off since its everywhere, joints not so much for now). It has positive effects - pain management I guess especially with edibles, but for me its change of perspective/mindset on life matters, much higher creativity, michelin star level of taste experience even from relatively cheap food, and that sweet sweet high that is just so relaxing. But it will make you overall less patient, which sucks. For parenting, for work, for life in general. Also, morning after is much better than alcohol binge night, but mental gears running on 20% isn't something that helps produce quality in your work. Plus most consumption methods mess up your lungs pretty badly, but quality vaping is I think cca good enough to not shorten your life considerably.
jnovek 4y ago
I think you are correct, and that behavior is to the patients’ detriment. Personally, I worked myself into the ground trying to both advance my career and to manage increasingly alarming health issues. I would have benefitted from some “real talk” but that’s not baked into the contemporary western transactional model of medicine outside of those areas that routinely deal with terminal illness.

whatshisface 4y ago

That's not how we ended up with the opioid epidemic. We ended up with the opioid epidemic when doctors working in concert with drug companies engaged in criminal fraud to prescribe medication far beyond its normal dosages and in cases where it was not necessary.

Wowfunhappy 4y ago
It was all of the above. Some doctors were prescribing them at higher doses than necessary; others were prescribing them in normal doses for longer than is safe. I am sure that at least some of these doctors were driven by compassion for their patients.
junofan 4y ago
There was a massive push, “pain is the fifth vital sign” and all that. You were made to feel like a bad doctor if you weren’t in on it.

asdff 4y ago

At least its changing these days now that THC is increasingly legal. Boomers have proved you can take it for six decades straight and be fine. Pro sports players are using it after getting beat up in games or practices too.

saiya-jin 4y ago
I am taking it for cca 25 years and I am fine too... sort of. It can still become addictive, after tremendous amounts consumed over long time that don't make sense unless you just want to fuckup yourself as much as possible. But plenty of folks still end up there. But its one of the easiest addictions to shed off, compared to say cigarettes, alcohol or well anything else (I would say even sugar is more difficult to wean off since its everywhere, joints not so much for now). It has positive effects - pain management I guess especially with edibles, but for me its change of perspective/mindset on life matters, much higher creativity, michelin star level of taste experience even from relatively cheap food, and that sweet sweet high that is just so relaxing. But it will make you overall less patient, which sucks. For parenting, for work, for life in general. Also, morning after is much better than alcohol binge night, but mental gears running on 20% isn't something that helps produce quality in your work. Plus most consumption methods mess up your lungs pretty badly, but quality vaping is I think cca good enough to not shorten your life considerably.

jnovek 4y ago

I think you are correct, and that behavior is to the patients’ detriment. Personally, I worked myself into the ground trying to both advance my career and to manage increasingly alarming health issues. I would have benefitted from some “real talk” but that’s not baked into the contemporary western transactional model of medicine outside of those areas that routinely deal with terminal illness.