Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk?
7 years, 4 months ago

Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk?

NPR  

Is There A Way To Keep Using Opioid Painkillers And Reduce Risk? "Life wasn't going to be worth living if I couldn't get the pain under control," McHann says. In a viewpoint published last month in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, CDC officials wrote that while illicit opioids such as fentanyl seem to be driving the recent increase in opioid-related overdose deaths, "unnecessary exposure to prescription opioids must be reduced to prevent development of opioid use disorder in the first place." "I have certainly met a good number of patients who have not found better options and are now taking opioids for chronic pain," says Stefan Kertesz, a physician who is a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, certified in addiction medicine. Going forward, Kertesz says he hopes that new medications will be developed that will have less potential for addiction, "but I think human suffering is really complicated and doctors need to have the room to make professional decisions — together with their patients — about what works best for them."

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History of this topic

Removing barriers to opioid addiction treatment is critical. So why aren't we doing it?
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Removing barriers to opioid addiction treatment is critical. So why aren't we doing it?

Salon  

There’s a treatment for opioid use disorder that literally saves lives. To do so, we homed in on residential treatment centers across the state of North Carolina, where many North Carolinians living with OUD expect to receive guidance, support and – naturally – lifesaving medical treatment. After a four-month-long audit of private organizations across North Carolina advertising themselves as residential …

Opinion: Surgeons give patients too many opioids. A few simple steps could curb excess prescribing
9 months, 1 week ago

Opinion: Surgeons give patients too many opioids. A few simple steps could curb excess prescribing

LA Times  

America’s opioid epidemic is as bad as it has ever been. Some efforts to curb opioid prescribing have shown promise, including prescription drug monitoring programs, promotion of alternative analgesics, provider education and informing prescribing physicians when their patients die from opioid overdoses. Conventional strategies for curbing excessive opioid prescribing assume that surgeons are rational actors who, whenever they are informed …

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds
1 year, 7 months ago

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds

NPR  

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds Enlarge this image toggle caption Ted S. Warren/AP Ted S. Warren/AP Imagine if during a deadly public health crisis, 80% of Americans weren't able to get safe, effective medications proven to help people recover. "Failing to use safe and lifesaving medications is devastating for …

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.
1 year, 8 months ago

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.

Huff Post  

The author in the hospital in 2013 just before her high-dose chemotherapy began. I was one of the millions of Americans who needed high doses of opioids while unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies lied and encouraged doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin, while “pill mills” distributed these addictive medications far and wide, and while illegally produced Fentanyl found its way into street drugs like …

Opinion: Why are we denying people with opioid addiction the most effective treatment?
1 year, 11 months ago

Opinion: Why are we denying people with opioid addiction the most effective treatment?

LA Times  

Signs at an Oregon treatment center show where receptacles to dispense methadone should be disposed of after use. But if your diagnosis were for opioid addiction and you came to see me, an addiction specialist, federal regulations written half a century ago would bar me from prescribing the most effective treatment: methadone. If I want my patients to access this …

Chronic pain patients struggle to get opioid prescriptions filled, even as CDC eases guidelines
2 years ago

Chronic pain patients struggle to get opioid prescriptions filled, even as CDC eases guidelines

CNN  

KHN — Jessica Layman estimates she has called more than 150 doctors in the past few years in her search for someone to prescribe opioids for her chronic pain. The first CDC guidelines “put everybody on notice,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the American Medical Association’s Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force. Taking into account the perspective of …

Prescriptions for opioids ‘fall by almost half-a-million over last four years’
2 years ago

Prescriptions for opioids ‘fall by almost half-a-million over last four years’

The Independent  

GPs and pharmacists have helped slash prescriptions for potentially addictive opioid drugs by 450,000 in under four years, the latest data suggests. But the charity Versus Arthritis said the medicines could be very helpful for some people with arthritis and “in the UK, opioid addiction is fortunately rare among people with chronic pain”. We know that patients who require prescriptions …

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.
2 years, 1 month ago

I Took Oxy And Fentanyl For Years. Here's What No One Is Telling You About The Opioid Crisis.

Huff Post  

The author in the hospital in 2013 just before her high-dose chemotherapy began. I was one of the millions of Americans who needed high doses of opioids while unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies lied and encouraged doctors to over-prescribe OxyContin, while “pill mills” distributed these addictive medications far and wide, and while illegally produced Fentanyl found its way into street drugs like …

Op-Ed: Opioids don’t do enough for chronic pain sufferers
2 years, 2 months ago

Op-Ed: Opioids don’t do enough for chronic pain sufferers

LA Times  

A protester gathers bottles of pills including OxyContin at a 2019 anti-opioid demonstration in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington. A new form of cognitive therapy called pain reprocessing therapy — which according to researchers teaches people that “the brain actively constructs primary chronic pain in the absence of tissue damage and that reappraising …

Op-Ed: Finally, some promising news on opioids for patients in severe pain
2 years, 3 months ago

Op-Ed: Finally, some promising news on opioids for patients in severe pain

LA Times  

The U.S. remains in the midst of an ever-worsening drug overdose crisis. Meanwhile, physicians have had to balance the risk of criminal prosecution for prescribing opioids against their responsibility to treat patients’ pain. While some doctors were financially incentivized to overprescribe opioids, others caught scrutiny simply for providing relief to patients in debilitating pain. Tragically, recent studies found that chronic …

CDC updates opioid prescribing guidelines with new recommendations on tapering or continuing prescriptions
2 years, 4 months ago

CDC updates opioid prescribing guidelines with new recommendations on tapering or continuing prescriptions

CNN  

CNN — For the first time since 2016, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines for clinicians and patients on the use of prescription opioids to treat short-term and long-term pain. Advice for doctors and patients The guidelines recommend that when starting opioid therapy for any pain patient – acute, subacute or chronic – “clinicians …

Experts concerned about last year's sudden increase in opioid use
2 years, 9 months ago

Experts concerned about last year's sudden increase in opioid use

NL Times  

Last year, use of the heavy painkiller oxycodone increased sharply after years of decline. Loneliness from the coronavirus pandemic could also play a role in the sustained use of the painkillers, since they can also make people experiencing trauma feel better temporarily, said Kees Kramers, internist-clinical pharmacologist at Radboudumc and professor of Medicine Safety. The Appropriate Use of Opioids task …

How the Covid surgery backlog is leaving thousands of new victims addicted to opioids
3 years, 1 month ago

How the Covid surgery backlog is leaving thousands of new victims addicted to opioids

Daily Mail  

As Sheena Mason-White left hospital five days after undergoing major spinal surgery last June, a doctor handed her a paper bag full of medicines to aid her recovery. Sheena’s instructions were clear — take two tablets four times a day and once the first week’s supply was used up, simply ring her GP practice to request a repeat prescription. As …

Chronic pain sufferers should not be given opioids, says medicines watchdog
4 years, 7 months ago

Chronic pain sufferers should not be given opioids, says medicines watchdog

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In new draft guidance, Nice said most of the common medications used for chronic primary …

Doctors And Dentists Still Flooding U.S. With Opioid Prescriptions
4 years, 8 months ago

Doctors And Dentists Still Flooding U.S. With Opioid Prescriptions

NPR  

Doctors And Dentists Still Flooding U.S. With Opioid Prescriptions Enlarge this image toggle caption Tracy Lee for NPR Tracy Lee for NPR Despite widespread devastation caused by America's opioid epidemic, an investigation by NPR found that doctors and other health care providers still prescribe highly addictive pain medications at rates widely considered unsafe. Listen · 6:56 6:56 Medical Treatments NPR …

How the prescriptions doctors wrote may have helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis
5 years, 6 months ago

How the prescriptions doctors wrote may have helped fuel the U.S. opioid crisis

LA Times  

More than 75% of patients in the U.S. and Canada filled a prescription for opioids following one of four common surgeries, compared with 11% of Swedes, a new study reports. More than 75% of patients in the U.S. and Canada filled a prescription for opioids following one of four common surgeries, compared with 11% of Swedes, researchers reported Wednesday in …

Opioids offer little chronic pain benefit and wane over time, study says
6 years, 3 months ago

Opioids offer little chronic pain benefit and wane over time, study says

CNN  

CNN — For adults with chronic pain, opioids offer narrow improvements over a placebo for pain and physical functioning, on average, according to a new analysis published Tuesday. “The benefits of opioids for managing chronic pain tend to be quite modest,” said study author Jason Busse, associate professor in the department of anesthesia at McMaster University’s school of medicine in …

After a recent operation, I started taking opioid painkillers – and realised a horrible truth
6 years, 8 months ago

After a recent operation, I started taking opioid painkillers – and realised a horrible truth

The Independent  

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Since my …

There's Another Opioid Crisis We Don't Talk About And I'm Trapped In The Middle Of It
6 years, 8 months ago

There's Another Opioid Crisis We Don't Talk About And I'm Trapped In The Middle Of It

Huff Post  

Rick Lunkenheimer lying at a 45-degree angle on a wedge pillow with extra pillow for neck support, configurable desk and microphone for voice dictation. The debate on the opioid crisis often overlooks chronic pain patients who take these medications responsibly. Thus, slots with the doctor became a scarce resource, and the net result was that many chronic pain patients weren’t …

Opioid treatment gap in Medicare: methadone clinics
6 years, 11 months ago

Opioid treatment gap in Medicare: methadone clinics

Associated Press  

One in three older Americans with Medicare drug coverage is prescribed opioid painkillers, but for those who develop a dangerous addiction there is one treatment Medicare won’t cover: methadone. “Medicare beneficiaries have among the highest and fastest growing rate of opioid use disorder, but they don’t currently have coverage for the most effective treatment.” “We have a sacred responsibility to …

Chronic Pain Patients Need -- And Want -- Non-Opioid Options
7 years ago

Chronic Pain Patients Need -- And Want -- Non-Opioid Options

Huff Post  

Philip Curtis / EyeEm via Getty Images Approximately 11.5 million U.S. adults misused prescription painkillers in the past year ― and for more than half of them, the reason for the misuse was physical pain. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently said that chronic pain sufferers should “take some aspirin … and tough it out.” Unfortunately, his insensitivity and ignorance surrounding …

From America's Warriors To Victims Of Its Opioid Epidemic
7 years ago

From America's Warriors To Victims Of Its Opioid Epidemic

Huff Post  

Ji Sub Jeong/HuffPost When Cpl. Saddled with injuries that veterans from previous wars would never have survived, 60 percent of military members who fought in the Middle East were returning with chronic pain, a significantly higher rate than older veterans getting care from the VA. And their timing couldn’t have been worse: By 2005, two years into the Iraq War, …

Why better pain management techniques are essential to solving the opioid crisis
7 years, 1 month ago

Why better pain management techniques are essential to solving the opioid crisis

ABC  

Australia is facing a critical public health issue of poorly managed pain. The combination of poor health outcomes, inappropriate prescribing for pain and non-prescription use of opioids has resulted in opioid-related deaths surpassing the national annual road toll. Opioids are best used for acute pain management, to manage severe pain after surgery, injuries or burns, pain from problems such as …

Scientists develop new opioid painkiller that could help prevent lethal overdoses
7 years, 4 months ago

Scientists develop new opioid painkiller that could help prevent lethal overdoses

The Independent  

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy A new model for developing painkillers could help cut opioid related …

Op-Ed: The opioid crackdown is making life untenable for chronic pain patients like me
7 years, 5 months ago

Op-Ed: The opioid crackdown is making life untenable for chronic pain patients like me

LA Times  

President Trump recently said that he intends to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency. The rate of misuse is much lower among patients who are prescribed opioid medication for chronic pain — 21% to 29%, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. An even smaller percentage of chronic pain patients develop a disorder — between 8% and 12%. …

A guide to prescribing painkillers ethically
7 years, 6 months ago

A guide to prescribing painkillers ethically

Daily Mail  

America's opioid crisis is getting worse. As a bioethicist working on the ethical and policy issues regarding prescription opioids, I am grateful to the National Academy of Medicine for inviting me to serve on this publication's authorship team, and for taking seriously the ethical component of the prescription opioid crisis. A National Academy of Medicine researcher has written a guide …

Cutting down on opioids has made life miserable for chronic pain patients.
7 years, 7 months ago

Cutting down on opioids has made life miserable for chronic pain patients.

Slate  

On July 26, Todd Graham, 56, a well-respected rehabilitation specialist in Mishawaka, Indiana, lost his life. My doctor decided that she did not want to treat me anymore, didn’t give me a last prescription, and didn’t wait until I found another pain doctor who would help me.” For the past 30 years, Dr. R has been an advocate for better …

Don’t blame the surgeons: Long-term opioid use rarely starts with surgery, study finds
7 years, 7 months ago

Don’t blame the surgeons: Long-term opioid use rarely starts with surgery, study finds

LA Times  

Don’t blame the nation’s surgeons for an opiate-abuse crisis that now claims 142 lives daily in the United States. New research suggests that patients leaving the hospital after surgeries or inpatient procedures are rarely the ones whose long-term opioid use started with a doctor’s prescription. Instead, the patients who most frequently go on to use opioid medications for six months …

Doctors increasingly face charges for patient overdoses
7 years, 7 months ago

Doctors increasingly face charges for patient overdoses

CNN  

Story highlights Between 2011 and 2016, the number of doctors punished by the DEA jumped more than five times One challenge is whether and how to wean some patients off long-term opioids for chronic pain CNN — Doctors are increasingly being held accountable – some even facing murder charges – when their patients overdose on opioid painkillers they prescribed. “The …

How tapering off opioids can help people with chronic pain
7 years, 8 months ago

How tapering off opioids can help people with chronic pain

CNN  

Story highlights Pain management can include behavioral, occupational and physical therapies About 10 million Americans are prescribed narcotics for chronic pain CNN — Last year, when the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established new guidelines on prescribing opioids, it recommended that long-term opioid users be weaned or tapered off pain pills. A study published this week in the …

Marijuana painkillers being made to combat opioid crisis
7 years, 9 months ago

Marijuana painkillers being made to combat opioid crisis

Daily Mail  

Companies are taking their first steps toward developing marijuana-based painkillers, alternatives to opioids that have led to widespread abuse in the US. A handful of drugmakers are taking their first steps toward developing marijuana-based painkillers, alternatives to opioid painkillers that more than 100 million Americans are on Companies such as Axim Biotechnologies Inc, Nemus Bioscience Inc and Intec Pharma Ltd …

Science Says: Medications prevent opioid addiction relapse
7 years, 10 months ago

Science Says: Medications prevent opioid addiction relapse

Associated Press  

CHICAGO — Remarks by a top U.S. health official have reignited a quarrel in the world of addiction and recovery: Does treating opioid addiction with medication save lives? Price appeared to side with that camp when he said during a recent visit to Charleston, West Virginia: “If we just simply substitute buprenorphine or methadone or some other opioid-type medication for …

Painkiller prescription limits dramatically reduce drug dependence among surgery outpatients, study finds
8 years ago

Painkiller prescription limits dramatically reduce drug dependence among surgery outpatients, study finds

The Independent  

Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. …

Doctors’ opioid prescriptions vary widely, study says
8 years, 1 month ago

Doctors’ opioid prescriptions vary widely, study says

CNN  

Story highlights Within the same hospital, some doctors are three times more likely to prescribe an opioid Patients treated by high-prescribing doctors are more likely to become long-term users Which doctor a person happens to see at a local emergency room can have long-term consequences when it comes to opioid use. Within the same hospital, some doctors are three times …

Can the US end its addiction to painkillers?
8 years, 8 months ago

Can the US end its addiction to painkillers?

Al Jazeera  

Politicians are finally talking tough on an opioid abuse epidemic. “They didn’t ask me too many questions because I’ve been in three car accidents and I have extremely bad migraines due to my neck pain, so I can get Percocet whenever I want,” Kearney-Argow, 23, told Al Jazeera, referring to a strong pain reliever that can also give a high. …

Many people 'misusing' opioids for chronic pain, finds new study
8 years, 10 months ago

Many people 'misusing' opioids for chronic pain, finds new study

Firstpost  

More and more people are struggling with addiction to opioid and prescription medications, warns a study, adding that they are misusing them for chronic pain and “self-medicating” their pain. New York: More and more people are struggling with addiction to opioid and prescription medications, warns a study, adding that they are misusing them for chronic pain and “self-medicating” their pain. …

Opioid history: From ‘wonder drug’ to abuse epidemic
8 years, 10 months ago

Opioid history: From ‘wonder drug’ to abuse epidemic

CNN  

Does race impact the way we treat heroin addiction? Lisa Ling asks that question on “This Is Life” Sunday, October 16 at 10 p.m. Story highlights There's a long history of opioid addiction in the United States The FDA and CDC have started taking steps to address the opioid abuse epidemic CNN — The abuse of opioids, including prescription painkillers …

You asked, we answered: The best from our Reddit Q&A on OxyContin
8 years, 10 months ago

You asked, we answered: The best from our Reddit Q&A on OxyContin

LA Times  

The drugmaker Purdue Pharma launched OxyContin two decades ago with a bold marketing claim: One dose relieves pain for 12 hours, more than twice as long as generic medications. But our Los Angeles Times investigation found that OxyContin’s stunning success masked a fundamental problem: The drug wears off hours early in many people, exposing them to painful symptoms of withdrawal …

CDC guidelines aim to curb painkiller prescribing
9 years ago

CDC guidelines aim to curb painkiller prescribing

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Prescription painkillers should not be a first choice for treating common ailments like back pain and arthritis, according to new federal guidelines designed to reshape how doctors prescribe drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin. “We’re trying to chart a safer and more effective course for dealing with chronic pain,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, said in an interview …

Opioids are bad medicine for chronic pain, say new federal guidelines
9 years ago

Opioids are bad medicine for chronic pain, say new federal guidelines

LA Times  

Federal health officials speaking in unusually blunt terms Tuesday called on the American medical community to turn away from treating common ailments with highly addictive painkillers, saying the nation’s prescription drug epidemic was a “doctor-driven” crisis. About 250 million painkiller prescriptions were written in 2013, enough, the agency noted, “for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.” In …

CDC Has Advice For Primary Care Doctors About Opioids
9 years ago

CDC Has Advice For Primary Care Doctors About Opioids

NPR  

CDC Has Advice For Primary Care Doctors About Opioids Enlarge this image toggle caption Robin Nelson/Zumapress.com/Corbis Robin Nelson/Zumapress.com/Corbis In response to the opioid epidemic that has swept the country, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released long-anticipated guidelines on prescribing opioid painkillers such as OxyContin and Percocet. On how Houry hopes the guidelines will change the way doctors treat …

Take as Prescribed: Drug Addiction in the US
9 years, 5 months ago

Take as Prescribed: Drug Addiction in the US

Al Jazeera  

Fault Lines explores what is behind the growing number of elderly Americans becoming addicted to painkillers. by Dr Andrew Kolodny, Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing Americans “I was taking exactly what the doctor prescribed, when the doctor prescribed, how the doctor prescribed,” says Larry Moore, who calls himself an “accidental addict.” He said he wasted years of his life in …

Painkiller abuse increases risk of depression I IndiaTV News
10 years, 1 month ago

Painkiller abuse increases risk of depression I IndiaTV News

India TV News  

New York: Patients who frequently consume opioid medicines or painkillers to manage chronic pain are more likely to experience depression, says a new research. Jeffrey Scherrer, associate professor for family and community medicine at the Saint Louis University in the US, and his colleagues studied questionnaires from 355 patients who reported chronic low back pain initially and at one-year and …

GPs 'creating a nation hooked on painkillers': Addictions to codeine, morphine and other drugs have reached dangerous levels
10 years, 5 months ago

GPs 'creating a nation hooked on painkillers': Addictions to codeine, morphine and other drugs have reached dangerous levels

Daily Mail  

Strong painkillers doled out by doctors in their thousands are doing more harm than good, according to a respected medical body. Addiction to codeine, morphine and oxycodone, and other opioid drugs is reaching dangerous levels, the American Academy of Neurology has said. ‘More than 100,000 people have died from prescription opioid use since policies changed in the late 1990s to …

When A Prescription For Pain Pills Becomes A Gateway To Addiction
11 years, 1 month ago

When A Prescription For Pain Pills Becomes A Gateway To Addiction

NPR  

When A Prescription For Pain Pills Becomes A Gateway To Addiction Enlarge this image Katherine Streeter for NPR Katherine Streeter for NPR On the surface, the 39-year-old construction worker looks like any other patient with back pain. And while there may be some doctors who knowingly prescribe too many painkillers, most are like me and struggle with how to responsibly …

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