Don't mess with my pain meds until you have something better!!

[white eagle]

if it weren't for my surgeries I would not need pain meds
but as a result of my bodies reaction to metal implants I
am in pain as a result but only when I stand or walk
and as another benefit from years of heavy lifting my back
has a degenerative disease (forget the formal name) and that
rears its ugly head when I am not walking or standing mostly
lying in bed or sitting

[GhostHawk]

Well partly as a result of this thread my wife is switching from the Gabby to a new drug.

We can only hope it is better. Turned out some research showed she was suffereing from a majority of the listed side effects, including loss of balance, forgetting words, short term memory loss, etc.

Time will tell from here.

Thanks all for the help to at least make us dig into it and think about making a change.

[Tracy]

I think this is bad news for those of us who use opioids wisely and judiciously and in accordance with our doctor's orders.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare...emic-on-monday

The scariest part is that they plan to let the Feds monitor who really needs them. How would they know better than my doctor, who has years of personal experience in monitoring my pain and needs?

Well, I don't really NEED "numerous prescriptions", but since they won't give me more than a one month supply and they can't give refills, then I do need at least one prescription per month.

And I have read about the studies that show that opioids are not the best thing for long term chronic pain. I might agree with that, due to a tolerance build-up if you don't follow the directions and take breaks. But I don't have chronic pain. I have acute pain. It isn't like a burn or a sore muscle or even a big cut, where the pain is fairly constant and ongoing. It's like a midget with a knife has jumped me and is stabbing me in the leg. (vascular problems) It comes on fast and it needs to be knocked out fast, so it needs a strong, rapidly-acting drug, which currently is only available as an opioid. I don't need to take two pills of something every 8 hours, three times a day, because I don't hurt all day, and sometimes it might skip a couple of days. But when it hits, it hits hard and fast and my Percodan is the answer for it.

I agree. I'm always hearing about the "opioid crisis," but based on a few things I have observed I think that crisis has been artificially created by the DEA and the states by making it more difficult for people to get the pain meds they need.

[GhostHawk]

Opiod Crisis is 99% in the big cities, and they are going to have troubles no matter WHAT you perscribe. Cause if they can't get it from established medicine they'll get coke, crack, Herion from the drug dealer on the corner.

Get out of the big cities and there IS no opiod crisis. There is just policy makers screwing up people's lives.

[snowwolfe]

Opiod Crisis is 99% in the big cities, and they are going to have troubles no matter WHAT you perscribe. Cause if they can't get it from established medicine they'll get coke, crack, Herion from the drug dealer on the corner.

Get out of the big cities and there IS no opiod crisis. There is just policy makers screwing up people's lives.

You can't be serious? Some of the biggest issues with opioid issues are in rural areas. Just ask people who live in WV, TN, etc.

[MaryB]

Rural is more meth than opioids...

[Rick N Bama]

Mary my wife was on Lyrica for Fibromyalgia for 2 or 3 years. While on it she couldn't keep her mind on the task at hand and came close to burning the house down on more than one occasion. It was a proud day in our lives when she decided to go off of it.

[Lloyd Smale]

have to agree. If you think your child is safe because you live on a country road or a small town you've got a set of blinders on. If you think theres not opiate crisis in this country then I think you've been hitting the crack pipe a bit to much yourself. Drug abuse isn't just a young persons problem and its not just a big city problem a problem that effects just welfare bums or just a black problem you might want to turn you local news on some night. It has hit familys everywhere at every income level. Opiate addiction has effected my own family and it was an adult and they lived in a town of about 1500 people in one of the most rural areas in the country. It was responsible for a family member loosing there home, job and 2 kids. Luckily that family member got clean and its been over 2 years now buy they will never get back what they lost and it all started with an operation and a perfectly legal prescription. Because a drunk driver never killed one of your family members doesn't mean drunk driving is some fabricated problem to take your beer away.

You can't be serious? Some of the biggest issues with opioid issues are in rural areas. Just ask people who live in WV, TN, etc.

[Thundarstick]

I would also mention that this whole opioid crisis is nothing new. Is been going on for literally centuries.
I'll share a story about a time in my life, a short time, maby twenty minutes in all of my time. I was in my late teens helping my Grandfather on his farm one day. We where in the process of selling off his feeder steers and it took about an hour between loads for the transport to make a trip for the each load. While we where waiting between loading we talked about many things. He was leaning on the fence looking out over the farm, when he asked, "did I ever tell you how I got this farm? ". I had no idea, so he told me the story. It seems there was a farmer there before him worse wife was a school teacher, but that she was addicted to Laudanum. (An interesting read https://museumofhealthcare.wordpress...-of-addiction/ on it in a historical setting) Because of her addiction she eventually became unable to work,then her husband spent the farm into foreclosure trying to keep her supplied with drugs, and the farm was auctioned. This is the same story more families than could ever count could tell. About the losses that go with the addiction, or even the treatment. I posted back when this thread started and have followed it all along, still with no answers, no solutions. One thing remains, there is no other drug known to man to release suffers from pain like opioids, but the price of addiction and ruin are still a reality for many users, if prescribed by a MD or bought on the street.

[MrWolf]

You can't be serious? Some of the biggest issues with opioid issues are in rural areas. Just ask people who live in WV, TN, etc.

Because of this whether it is real or perceived when I moved out here almost two years ago it was quite a shock with the hoops I have to jump through each month for the same prescription I had in NJ.