5 ms·

>My involvement in the story started simply. An editor asked me to check out a tip that OxyContin, despite its manufacturer’s claims, was finding its way onto t

>My involvement in the story started simply. An editor asked me to check out a tip that OxyContin, despite its manufacturer’s claims, was finding its way onto the streets of small towns throughout Appalachia. I think its scandalous that medical experts are still not able to quantify pain when visiting a GP. They dont know if I'm eating a grain rich diet which is high in chromium and thus makes me feel pain more, or consuming large amounts of tryptophan or nicotinic acid/niacin which dulls the nociceptors in the brain. They dont even do a saliva test for the stress hormones! With GP's not reviewing our diets, can they really claim to be experts, or do they recognise some of their drugs are such blunt instruments, they make sledgehammers look positively appropriate for chiselling Ming dynasty porcelain! Govts are just legalised drug dealers!

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
AtlasBarfed 3y ago
What is truly scandalous is the medical establishment playing utterly dumb about how they were pushing opiates and similar addictive drugs and pretending a brochure from some drug company (which every highly educated medical professional knows perfectly well isn't a reliable source of information) gave them carte blanche to prescribe. It really shows how morally bankrupt our medical system is. How many people died while medical professionals took kickbacks and golf trips and steak dinners while rampantly overprescribing this stuff? There was rampant defrauding of medicaid, huge surges of overdose deaths. I broke (in seven places) my collarbone about 7 years ago and the number of different people (ambulance EMT, first nurse, doctor, radiologist) who kept offering me painkillers was frankly bizarre. Yes I was in pain, but I was fine with OTC acetominophen and ibuprofen, certainly not in pain to risk a lifelong addiction. They of course sent me home from surgery with a bottle of the stuff, and I didn't need it. But the weird thing was that I was given some in postsurgery, and there was a bizarre faint desire to use them, such that I felt compelled to get rid of them and not have them in my residence. The attitude of doctors saying "we didn't know they were addictive" is absolutely outrageous. There were 100,000+ people dying per year of opioids, and who knows if the stats are undercounts. A million Americans may have died from opioid overpresciption. Perhaps opioid deaths replaced heroin deaths. Perhaps heroin deaths were exacerbated by opioid overprescription. Nevertheless, the medical establishment adopted the same "gee whiz I had no idea that was happening" as the CEO of Purdue Pharma. Except the medical establishment is full of ... medical experts. It really shows how bankrupt our for-profit medical system is, how you can't take any advice from a doctor without considering how they are being manipulated by drug/device company incentives or insurance company limitations, how their medical opinion is fundamentally compromised. There is no longer trust.
- codeTired 3y ago
  I had the pleasure of going to a pain clinic. It was filled with patients and filled with young attractive sales reps. Even back then in my 20s I felt uneasy. I then entered the office described that I was having pain for a few months, no more than 3 minutes later I was given a few days supply of cymbalta and a prescription for said drug. 0 warnings about possible side effects and felt like my medical needs were not addressed at all. This was after they were cracking down on opiates so cymbalta became the next big thing. Now, there are issues coming about those drugs too. I don’t think it’s as bad as opiates though. I have learned that many doctors just plainly don’t care. I have some in my family and they don’t see an issue with getting free shit from sales reps.
  - darkclouds 3y ago
    USAF prescribe 500mg-1gram of nicotinic acid for bad backs with ibuprofen. Take on an empty stomach 30mins before hitting the gym and that was an actual prescription and instruction from a USAF doctor! It works, I've done 3grams over the course of a day and shifted 15 tonnes of soil using a spade with a bad back. Its better than any painkiller I've ever taken.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

AtlasBarfed 3y ago

What is truly scandalous is the medical establishment playing utterly dumb about how they were pushing opiates and similar addictive drugs and pretending a brochure from some drug company (which every highly educated medical professional knows perfectly well isn't a reliable source of information) gave them carte blanche to prescribe. It really shows how morally bankrupt our medical system is. How many people died while medical professionals took kickbacks and golf trips and steak dinners while rampantly overprescribing this stuff? There was rampant defrauding of medicaid, huge surges of overdose deaths. I broke (in seven places) my collarbone about 7 years ago and the number of different people (ambulance EMT, first nurse, doctor, radiologist) who kept offering me painkillers was frankly bizarre. Yes I was in pain, but I was fine with OTC acetominophen and ibuprofen, certainly not in pain to risk a lifelong addiction. They of course sent me home from surgery with a bottle of the stuff, and I didn't need it. But the weird thing was that I was given some in postsurgery, and there was a bizarre faint desire to use them, such that I felt compelled to get rid of them and not have them in my residence. The attitude of doctors saying "we didn't know they were addictive" is absolutely outrageous. There were 100,000+ people dying per year of opioids, and who knows if the stats are undercounts. A million Americans may have died from opioid overpresciption. Perhaps opioid deaths replaced heroin deaths. Perhaps heroin deaths were exacerbated by opioid overprescription. Nevertheless, the medical establishment adopted the same "gee whiz I had no idea that was happening" as the CEO of Purdue Pharma. Except the medical establishment is full of ... medical experts. It really shows how bankrupt our for-profit medical system is, how you can't take any advice from a doctor without considering how they are being manipulated by drug/device company incentives or insurance company limitations, how their medical opinion is fundamentally compromised. There is no longer trust.

codeTired 3y ago
I had the pleasure of going to a pain clinic. It was filled with patients and filled with young attractive sales reps. Even back then in my 20s I felt uneasy. I then entered the office described that I was having pain for a few months, no more than 3 minutes later I was given a few days supply of cymbalta and a prescription for said drug. 0 warnings about possible side effects and felt like my medical needs were not addressed at all. This was after they were cracking down on opiates so cymbalta became the next big thing. Now, there are issues coming about those drugs too. I don’t think it’s as bad as opiates though. I have learned that many doctors just plainly don’t care. I have some in my family and they don’t see an issue with getting free shit from sales reps.
- darkclouds 3y ago
  USAF prescribe 500mg-1gram of nicotinic acid for bad backs with ibuprofen. Take on an empty stomach 30mins before hitting the gym and that was an actual prescription and instruction from a USAF doctor! It works, I've done 3grams over the course of a day and shifted 15 tonnes of soil using a spade with a bad back. Its better than any painkiller I've ever taken.