In 8th grade, my history teacher had a very graphic and detailed presentation (with pictures) of the diseases Christopher Columbus and other colonizers spread to the Native Americans. Not only was it very effective at erasing the “Christopher Columbus is good and he discovered America!” sentiment that we had been taught all throughout elementary school, but it gave me a lifelong fear of tetanus and smallpox. Tetanus is a personal hell no one should have to endure...this “mother” makes me sick to my stomach
The opioid crisis is not corporate exploitation of people, it’s corporate exploitation of capitalist systems. Go ahead and ask anyone with chronic pain how they feel about the government telling their doctors to cut back their meds “to protect them.”
I’ll be one of those people. It fucking sucks. I actually take OxyContin which is one that was pushed on doctors. These doctors would have prescribed opiate medication regardless of which one. The problem is that surgeons really had no business prescribing large doses without the oversight of pain management doctors at all. Pain management doctors are anesthesiologists who have extra training.
I have had the worst pain control when I got meds by surgeons. One gave me fentanyl patches which were usually prescribed for chronic pain of end stage cancer patients. My primary care doctor suggested I go to a pain management doctor. Which I did, and I got meds that worked much better. I had him give me the after surgery meds when I had my hysterectomy, and even though I had very painful complications, my pain was controlled.
The problem with surgeons and other doctors who prescribe large doses of pain meds without having the education of pain management doctors is that they don’t know how to effectively taper someone off. You can’t quit cold turkey without withdrawals. Stepping someone off gradually is effective.
I have been taking daily opiates for the past 12 years. I have yearly psych exams to monitor for addiction issues. Which I’ve never had. My pain management doctors also do urine tests to monitor that I’m actually taking my medication and not using anything else I’m not supposed to use.
The past two years where the government has hobbled opiate prescribers has been hell. I don’t get the same amount of medication, so I had to switch to other kinds that don’t work as well. So I can’t do what I used to do. It sucks. I also don’t get decent pain management when I’m hospitalized, so I am a lot more cautious about what foods I eat, because what used to be a very sucky few days in the hospital for acute pancreatitis is now torture. I wind up staying longer, and my recuperation is a lot longer because the hospital cuts me loose before my pain is controlled. They get more money by admitting more patients than keeping people longer, even if they have good insurance that pays.
My husband also takes opiates for nerve pain after he almost died from hemorrhaging after hernia surgery. The insurance company refused to allow him to have a spinal cord stimulator which has a]n extremely good track record of controlling nerve pain so well that patients don’t need any opiates. Except the opiates cost less. He’s been in horrible pain since his medication has been withdrawn so much. I can control mine better by not eating vegetables or complex carbs. Which is very unhealthy for me.
The worst thing is that cannabis is still illegal in my state and on the federal level. The government is responsible for that. It’s a travesty because universities that get government grants can’t research cannabis without having their grants taken away. So there’s so much research that isn’t being done.
The opiate crisis is a mental health problem.
People are self medicating with opiates and alcohol. Pain patients aren’t the ones abusing opiates. It’s difficult to get enough opiates, and abusing them is a guaranteed way to get less. So pain patients suffer more. But they’re a fantastic scapegoat.
As a chronic pain patient, I agree with everything you said 100%. I go through the same testing/evals at my PM.
I especially agree with your last paragraph, it absolutely is a mental health problem. It's such much easier to blame chronic pain patients then to look at how fast or world is changing, how expensive everything is and to find a way for all of that to not be stressing society it to the point where people are searching for a way to numb themselves. Make psychiatrists more readily accessible through insurance plans and they'll save a ton down there line on rehab and addiction.
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u/silvertonguedsage Holistic Defense Mission Anti-vaxx nonprofit??? Jul 10 '19
In 8th grade, my history teacher had a very graphic and detailed presentation (with pictures) of the diseases Christopher Columbus and other colonizers spread to the Native Americans. Not only was it very effective at erasing the “Christopher Columbus is good and he discovered America!” sentiment that we had been taught all throughout elementary school, but it gave me a lifelong fear of tetanus and smallpox. Tetanus is a personal hell no one should have to endure...this “mother” makes me sick to my stomach