These are a few quotes I jotted down in my "Book of Odd Knowledge" one day after reading an article on the subject.

"From 1999-2010, the number of opioid-related deaths in the U.S. has increased 400%." How much more since then???

"America accounts for 80% of all global prescription opioid abuse."

"Opioid painkillers kill more people in all age groups than all illegal drugs combined." That's unbelievable!!!

My sister-in-law is addicted to opioid painkillers due to 4 (screwed-up) back surgeries, and all the things that go with it.... It is horribly sad to see it happen. I've talked to her on the phone when she calls, and you thought you were talking to a "gin-soaked barroom queen in Memphis" because you can't understand her slurred speech and aren't quite sure what she says through the whole conversation. I will always ask her if she's thinking about driving anywhere any time soon, and then offer to drive her myself if she is, and will tell her I don't think it's safe for her to drive under the influence of her Rx drugs if I can't understand her slurred speech if I can't drive her. I feel horrible for having to say something, but she would feel even worse if she drove under the influence of those drugs and killed someone, so this is my way to save lives.

She has to check into the hospital every few months to "adjust her medications" and get a roto-rooter job due to the constipation...... But the chronic constipation was a health issue for her LONG before taking pain medication. Living on Mac & Cheese, avoiding anything containing fiber, never moving more than 300-steps throughout the whole day will do that for you..... (even before having back issues). So if constipation was an issue before taking the pain killers, it will certainly be a bigger problem after - at least in her case.

A real estate agent I know said there are a number of people who attend nearly all open houses each weekend and they are suspected of stealing Rx drugs from these homes. Who knew???

-Grainlady

In many countries outside the US narcotic pain pills are really tightly controlled and it's almost impossible to stay on them long term. I was on them for 2 months after I had a brain hemorrhage (was put on laxatives at the same time in the hospital) but when I left hospital they only gave me a month's prescription and said I had to get off them asap. It was probably just as well because I was getting to the point where I didn't really want to stop them because of the way they make you feel. After I ran out I was put on a non addictive pain pill which is much weaker and was cut off from the heavier drug and this is commonly how chronic pain is dealt with here, you get prescribed weaker non addictive medication usually because it isn't restricted.

Our govt put restrictions on prescribing xanax not long ago because it is so abused too. It seems like in the US big pharma have a lot more power than other countries.

It seems like in the US big pharma have a lot more power than other countries.

That's for sure!

I was going to say part of the blame for painkillers (and with so many other drugs, including antidepressants) being over-prescribed can go to the current mode of medical treatment practiced in the US. Instead of preventing illness, all too often it's, "Let's wait till you are sick, and then mask symptoms with pharmaceuticals."

Drug lobbyists, tobacco lobbyists, gun lobbyists...., are there any "healthy" lobbyists?

That's a serious question.

Because they're in pain?

"Because they're in pain?"

That's too simplistic imo. Narcotics/opioids etc can become very addictive very quickly and they do incapacitate people. Like I said, in countries like mine outside the US they are just not handed out very readily because they are restricted. Non addictive yet weaker pain meds are commonly used instead and while they reduce pain but not eliminate it at the same level, they don't lead to addiction and they don't incapacitate people in the same way. So is it best to use narcotics which knock dead any pain but leave people incapacitated and addicted, or is it better to use weaker pain pills which take the edge off and leave people more functional and not addicted?

Don't get me wrong, I totally get why people get addicted to these hard core pain pills, I think I was on the cusp of getting there myself if I was allowed to stay on them longer. I never understood it until I was put on them, but the way they make you feel is like nothing else, and I think once you get used to that feeling, you just don't want to give it up and it stops being about pain necessarily and more about the euphoria, which is what I was becoming very fond of.

Some people live with serious pain every day and there is no medical solution that will eliminate the pain. I hope that anyone like this can get prescription relief.

Many docs are too liberal with prescriptions in general, including heavy-duty pain meds. And just about everyone I know has been offered xanax or other anti-depressants by their PCP. It must either be because docs just want to get patients off their backs, or it's because they are deriving lots of incentives from pharma companies. Husband has remarked that just about every time he is at a doctor's office to service their equipment, there are pharmaceutical sales reps with huge sample cases in the waiting room.

It's not as easy as you think to get them if your doctor is reputable...I agree with sheilajoyce...Some people live with serious pain every day and there is no medical
solution that will eliminate the pain. I hope that anyone like this can
get prescription relief.

" How did we become a nation of legal drug addicts, driving the roads and endangering the innocent on a daily basis?"

You're right, sleeperblues, but I'd change it to say we're a nation with drug problems of many kinds, legal and illegal, that aren't addressed. Alcohol and tobacco abuse belong on the same kind of list of substances that lead to medical problems. These problems are also not adequately dealt with.

"Drug lobbyists, tobacco lobbyists, gun lobbyists...., are there any "healthy" lobbyists?

That's a serious question."

Nope. There's no money in it.

IMHO the reason is that we have not found an effective way to treat chronic pain. Instead we ply narcotics to people who suffer true ailments as well as supplying them to those who do not. Narcotics have an euphoric effect that people tend to crave. Once we find true pain medications that treat pain without giving the effect of euphoria we will be on our way to preventing narcotic addiction.

Ask your doctor if XYZ is right for you!!

The National Wildlife Federation spent $1/2 million on lobbying in 2012.

I realize it sounds simple, but I didn't mean it simply. That, and it's really easy to overlook the obvious. I too had some hardcore drugs when I was first diagnosed with my spondylolisthesis (back problems), but I told myself I was only going to take them until I got through physical therapy. I ended up making through until the PT and I was pain free from the exercises. Those pills worked instantly. Like a miracle! I had no idea how much stuff other than my back hurt. I'm getting old :( It was great to be pain free.

Make more sense?

If you have concerns that your doctor is pushing certain medications because of a drug companies involvement, use this website to search them.

It tells you who is paying them and what they are paying them for.

Imhappy&Iknowit IOWA zone 6b

Ask your doctor if XYZ is right for you!

******

It almost makes me wish for the days of cigarette ads plastered everywhere. Not really, but do parents want to explain to their kids what an erection is?

Pain, and especially chronic pain is very complex. Treating it should be multi-disciplinary.

I could never specialize in it. Too draining.

Thank you, Texas_Gem. That is a really eye-opening website.

I see a pitfall in your website Texas :( It does list my MDs, but it didn't list my Nurse Practitioner who dispenses 99.9% of my meds. Unless she takes no money? I wonder why type of "takes money" they mean? Do they mean on advisory boards? or?

ETA: now that I have poked around a bit, it shows food and beverage, lodging, advising... nothing all that outrageous! But that's on the $172 or $650 MDs. I wonder what anyone is doing making five or six figures? That would be shifty.

I agree about the problems with opioids, but also know the good they do, when used carefully. One of the traps, something that rarely is discussed clearly, is that they take away all your pain. You have to be willing to accept all your normal aches and pains and stop taking the pills when the dire pain is over. And you have to have the sense to know that the feeling the (lesser) pain is preferable to taking the pills. For chronic, extreme pain sufferers, perhaps long term use is the best thing, but I've seen how zonked it makes people I know after surgery. It screws with their memories, and changes their personalities. If there's any other way not to be screaming with pain, I'd think it would be better than losing one's faculties.

Regarding the advertisement, however, since it first appeared, I've had a giggle. I don't know the long time users, and they may actually need this countermedication, but for the post-surgical, several week users I've known, Six Weeks Muffins have been an adequate cure. :)

When docs at a convention attend a cocktail party or dinner sponsored by an exhibitor (like a drug company), they need to sign in and that's what gets reported.

Bigger dollars come from sponsored research, speaking fees, etc., Honestly, for the majority of the rank and file on these lists, attending free dinners or cocktail parties won't buy anyone's decision to do something they don't think is appropriate.

Before I had my knee replacement, I was on pain medication. I would say that I was dependent on them, but not addicted to the point that I wasn't able to quit. When I had my knee replaced, my doctor told me it was one of the worst he had ever seen. Not only was it bone on bone but I had worn grooves in my bones from them rubbing together. I have a lot to do, and I probably wouldn't have been able to keep going, if I hadn't been on the pills. However, they don't remove all pain. I still had pain but it wasn't so bad that I couldn't keep going. I didn't feel any effect from them, like being drunk. I can vouch for the slightly euphoric feeling....which, probably without that, I wouldn't have even tried to do anything. It made me feel like I could get up and get some work done. Twice before my knee operation, my knee "went out". I don't know how to describe it, except I could not get it to move at all. Very, very intense pain that came on immediately and lasted for almost a week. I was in a wheelchair. I could move my leg from my hip but not my knee. When I quit the pills, even though I never abused my prescription, and never took what was prescribed me, I still went through a month of "withdrawal". The first week was like having the flu. The other three weeks were total and absolute lethargy. I could hardly get myself out of bed. I would stay in bed for 20 minutes, make myself get up and do something for 10. Back to bed again. And get up again in a little bit. Actually, I went through withdrawals twice. The first time I quit them was before I had the knee replacement. Then when I had the knee replacement, I was back on them until I finished PT. That second time I weaned myself off....cutting out half a pill a day and staying there for three days and then dropping another half of a pill. I was taking 3 a day at that point. Anyway, I didn't have the flu-like symptoms that time, but I had a severe case of depression. I felt the most over whelming feeling of sadness that I have ever felt. Nothing I could point to in particular...just feeling worn down by it. That lasted about a week. After that, I was okay. I was taking vitamins and various supplements and I am sure that helped.

There is, of course, a place for pain meds. I know of other people who take them "recreationally" and not for pain, and buy them off the street. They are harder to get now because a lot of doctors have cracked down on them. The going price now, I was told by someone who probably knows, is $8 apiece, for 10/3.25 hydrocodone, which is up from $5. When I was quitting, I read a forum about substance abuse and addiction and they had a lot of helpful advice on quitting. I never did drugs when I was growing up. For awhile, in my late 30's, I smoked pot but only what I raised. I didn't drink until I was in my late 20's and still don't drink except rarely. I hesitate to post this because there are so many people here who would make some kind of big deal out of it. I am fortunate that I could quit. I don't have an addictive personality when it comes to stuff like that. I had to go through somewhat withdrawals and I dreaded it but I didn't have any trouble making my mind up to do it. I don't know a lot about drugs...mostly what I read on that forum and some of those people do know a lot and two drugs that are harder to quit than hydrocodone are tramadol, because it has a antidepressant effect to it, and one of the more dangerous drugs, but lots of people take it....xanax. It's funny because some doctors are hesitant to prescribe hydrocodone and prescribe tramadol instead....which is just a synthetic opiate. If I had pain issues and needed hydrocodone, I would take it again. I know I can quit it. Some people can't and it ruins their lives.

Aprile - Your post is exactly why no one, especially lay people, should cast aspersions on or make assumptions about opioid users and those who need the relief of laxatives as a result.

CRPS is very tough to deal with and can really happen to anyone. As a PT, I've treated patient who've wound up with it, usually after wrist fracture. I'm sorry you're suffering from it.

People with chronic pain diagnosis have it hard enough. Most would give anything to have life back they way it was before.

Exactly. We cannot judge what you feel Aprile. Nor should we. If one is in pain, why shouldn't they get relief?!

I haven't found it to be easy to get prescription pain killers. The only time I've needed them were during the 4 kidney stones I've had in my life. And each time, they wouldn't give me anything until they scanned me and could see the stone. Even though I was throwing up and begging them to either help me or kill me.

One time I went, and they wouldn't give me any pain medication until I had a CT scan, but the ER didn't have a CT scanner, so all they would give me was a single pain pill, which I promptly threw up. I had to go to home and suffer until I could get to a urologist.

I have found out that percocets do absolutely nothing for me and I need something anti-inflammatory like Toradol. I do get some funny looks when I start telling them what I need, but I don't mess around with kidney stones. They are pure agony without pain medication. Luckily I've figured out what causes them for me and I've been able to avoid them ever since.

I often need two Tylenol-3 to relieve back pain enough to get to sleep. I only take it at night. There is no 'euphoric' effect. Sometimes I am able to ease the pain with stretching, heating pad, ice, etc. If I've been in bed for more than an hour without relief, I have learned to take the pills that night and hope not to need them the next night.

When I use this medication, I also take stool softeners.

I *wish* I could tolerate Aspirin again! Half a tablet used to take care of any ache. I know I was younger then! As I understand it, Tylenol works in the brain, not at the site that is causing the pain -- like Aspirin.

My CRPS is what they call mirrored so I have in both feet and hands in what they call sock and glove. Imagine wearing gloves and socks just above your ankles and gloves to your wrist. That is where my pain is. The pain is so severe with out medication my legs actually shut down, I literally lost my ability to walk because the pain was so bad my brain shut them down. I also have Erthymyalgia in both feet.

I am not a suicidal person nor do I want to die. But before they got the pain under control is was so bad and so constant that nothing helped me and the only way I could think to escape the pain was to die. I have never been so helpless in my life. It is considered one of the worst pains to have on the McGill pain scale. My husband would just sit there and try to help me as I screamed and cried because I was in such terrible pain and there was nothing he could do for me.

CRPS and Pain Scale

My sister-in-law is addicted to opioid painkillers due to 4 (screwed-up)
back surgeries, and all the things that go with it.... It is horribly
sad to see it happen. I've talked to her on the phone when she calls,
and you thought you were talking to a "gin-soaked barroom queen in
Memphis" because you can't understand her slurred speech and aren't
quite sure what she says through the whole conversation.

She doesn't know she's overdosing and getting high, this is what allows the whole train wreck to continue piling up.

Aprile - No need to climb off your soap box. Thanks for the link and educating us.

People like the ones described above are the reason people like me have to suffer over a year before they can get any true help. Most people in a similar situation to mine are responsible when we take our meds, we don't drink, we don't drive because we have an understanding about our meds, we also know that they can be taken away at anytime and I could not live without them.

As far as withdrawal, I have been on and off a few narcotic pain meds. The worst withdrawal I have ever suffered was coming off of Lyrica, you know the non habit forming, non narcotic med. It took me 9 months of tapering before I got off it. Soon as I did not have it I was very very ill, to the point I had to be hospitalized. The doctors at the hospital were shocked I was having such terrible withdrawal to a med that supposedly had no dependence issues. They even put me back on and under controlled situation watched what happened, ended up putting me back on and slowing the taper. They said had they not seen with their own eyes the effect that had on me they would have never believed Lyrica had chemical dependence issues.

Yes: withdrawal = addiction. No addiction, no withdrawal.

Regarding lyrica....I don't think some doctors know that much about some of the meds they prescribe. After my knee replacement, I had a very uneventful recovery for about six weeks. Then at night, I started having terrible pain in my knee that even the hydrocodone wouldn't touch. I didn't want to take more, so my doctor prescribed Lyrica. I don't remember that it helped much, but it did allow me to go to sleep. However, the next day, I couldn't walk in a straight line. I didn't feel "drunk" but I walked like I was. That caused me enough concern that I quit taking it. On the drug addiction forum, I have seen a few people post about being addicted to Lyrica. In the list of side effects there is a warning that some people may become addicted to it.

Withdrawal means chemical dependence, chemical dependence does not mean addiction

People who abuse prescription opioids are making it very difficult for those who need them and use them appropriately. For some nothing else works, not exercise, PT, Yoga, diet, acupuncture or any one of many approaches used to ease pain. If one has chronic pain often, even opioids don't help.

Sorry for the tangent, but Chi, would you mind mentioning what you avoid to keep the kidney stones at bay? A friend's daughter keeps having this problem and it's quite debilitating.

Thanks for the responses. I do believe there are some people like Aprile that use narcotics appropriately, and there are others that don't. I do know that other countries do not have the addiction issue that we have here in the US. Last year my son's girlfriend broke her ankle and had to have 3 surgeries to fix it. She was having a lot of pain in the hospital and the medications that we give IN THE HOSPITAL here, were not available to her. They just didn't have them. Her post op pain meds were the weakest of the weak, she had a lot of pain, and that's just the way it was.

Sjerin, of course! It took me a while to figure out, but I always developed them after taking supplements with calcium. First time when I was 16 and would take those calcium chews and then a few times in my 20's when my doctor would tell me to start taking calcium. After my last one in 2010, I figured out the connection and haven't had one since.

Dairy and other calcium foods are fine but for some reason whatever they use in supplements just builds up in my kidneys. Last year I started taking a prenatal that had a tiny bit of calcium, like 7% daily value, and within a few weeks I started having kidney pains. I stopped it and they went away so now I just take folate.

Everyone's body is different but it might be worth seeing if she is taking any vitamins with calcium.

Withdrawal means chemical dependence, chemical dependence does not mean addiction

The distinction is kind of tangential in this context - the fact that there are some long term prescription opiate users who think they are managing the drugs successfully does not take away the fact that there is a very large number of Americans who aren't.

long term prescription opiate users who think they are managing the
drugs successfully does not take away the fact that there is a very
large number of Americans who aren't

So how do you protect those who truly need it? And there are many! Defining addiction is losing the point.

Did you read the links I posted? There is a clear distinction between dependence and addiction. Just because you have dependence does not mean you have an addiction. There are many differences.

Here's an article about the Big Pharma money behind the ad

Did you read the links I posted? There is a clear distinction between dependence and addiction

Defining addiction is losing the point.

I don't know what the answer is to the addictive nature of prescription opiates, other than trying to come up with a non-addictive replacement. I do know that some long term users stating they aren't dependent or addicted - or trying to make the focus on how these two levels of over involvement differ - does nothing to disprove or resolve the hugeness of the problem. The OP was about how big the problem is, that in any given instance a user may be dependent instead of addicted is a side issue - in either case an addictive drug has gotten hooks into them.

I forgot to mention above that son and his girlfriend live in Berlin, Germany. Huge factoid that I left out.

Thanks so much, Chi. I will pass on this info to my friend; I know she's always taken calcium so it's entirely possible she has urged her dd to do this too.

Thanks for the link, Sushi. Interesting article. Prescriptions for opiods have increased 300% since 1999. Wonder why.

When I began the series of radiations for prostate cancer, Jan. 6, the radiation therapists (as they call themselves _ I call them "radiators") told me that I'd likely need to be visiting the bathroom more often - and they ... were... not... kidding!

Like - about 20 times a day, some days, sometimes in rather concentrated "shots" ... so that sometimes I can have a couple of hours to myself.

Anyway ... the doc suggested some imodium to slow down the diarrhea, and I've been using it for a couple of weeks ... with little visible result.

The therapist told me the other day, on my having asked, that I could probably expect some "hangover" ...

... for a couple of weeks ... to a month ... after the radiation is completed, on Wed. Feb. 24.

Wish me luck!

ole joyfuelled ... with rather low level of usual fuelling, lately

OJ, February 24 is almost here! Just hang in there OJ.

I take hydrocodone for my back. 2 years ago I lived on it, or so it seemed. Went to the pain clinic and they helped so much, plus therapy.

My last 3 month script lasted me 13 months! Got a new script for 3 months and I'm having constipation from them. When the pain is too bad I take 1, but I try not to. Bet this new script will last 2 years at this rate!

The OP was about how big the problem is, that in any given instance a
user may be dependent instead of addicted is a side issue - in either
case an addictive drug has gotten hooks into them.

You're still missing the point. There are indeed people who truly need painkillers. You'd cut them off, and have them be in pain? To what end? I don't care if they're dependent on them, addicted to them, or any other label you want to put on them. Why do you? I'm glad I'm not dependent on them at all (yet, give my back time), and love physical therapy, but when that time comes, I won't give a fig what you or anyone else has to say about my personal pain. I don't mean to be rude, but I do mean to be quite firm.

It's not for others to judge how someone else is feeling.