The Opioid Crisis!~!~!

[TheNomad]

David Horn said:

Abject poverty has been suppressed, not solved.  Other countries have actually created real solutions that lift people up, not merely subsidize them in their misery.  There's a reason we have a massive opioid crisis.

I would like to hear the context of this.  I will offer I deal with scheduled medications and have ppl in my life who deal with them also.  There has seemed to be a crackdown since this administration... ppl dying, overdosing, stop breathing, etc. 

I believe there may be an opioid crisis with youth sucking on glass pipes and cross-using prescription drugs wrongly and it now is much easier to obtain opioids than heroin and smash it to snort or even shoot.  But who is NOT to blame and is suffering are older people, people with legitimate pain management issues, those who do not have advocates to speak for them (those in poverty). 

Recently, a friend with Crohn's disease had to have another portion of his body removed and the pain management was so insufficient, they had to delay the surgery until the doctor could be reasonable with pain meds.  People are not having needed surgery because doctors are being bullied by some unknown force bombarding them with warnings about deaths from prescription drugs.

If you do not have a PAIN MANAGEMENT doctor and something happens to you, they will give you aspirin and tell you to pray in the ER.  Even a pain management doctor will get the sweats.

I would go so far as to say there is some twisted punishment involved here.  With the infliction of pain.  Just sick... and right in line with something the current rulers would do as a punitive recompense for "Obamacare".  That we dare to have medical care.... we should feel the pain tho.

There is no "opioid crisis".  It's a made up name for those who abuse drugs.... only now, instead of street drugs, it is prescription form.  So the doctor is now the dealer and the dealer is owned by the feds.  The feds want a story that works for them "ppl are dying, we are saving them" so no legislation has changed, nothing has been officially altered but doctors nationwide are shitting themselves to prescribe xanax to PTSD survivors now.

If you take any form of benzodiazepine, get ready to get yanked.  I put the exclamation point in the title because this is is real 411. GET READY.

[pbrower2a]

The right use for opioids us typically either terminal pain (as with some cancers) or with traumatic pain. The idea is to give the person in pain as normal a life as possible. Chronic pain? Deal with the cause!

[David Horn]

(09-16-2018, 05:15 AM)TheNomad Wrote: If you do not have a PAIN MANAGEMENT doctor and something happens to you, they will give you aspirin and tell you to pray in the ER.  Even a pain management doctor will get the sweats...

There is no "opioid crisis".  It's a made up name for those who abuse drugs.... only now, instead of street drugs, it is prescription form.  So the doctor is now the dealer and the dealer is owned by the feds.  The feds want a story that works for them "ppl are dying, we are saving them" so no legislation has changed, nothing has been officially altered but doctors nationwide are shitting themselves to prescribe xanax to PTSD survivors now.

If you take any form of benzodiazepine, get ready to get yanked.  I put the exclamation point in the title because this is is real 411. GET READY.

Here in Virginia, we had, what may be the first prosecution for pill-pushing n the nation.   It bankrupted the doctor, who later exited the practice of medicine entirely … yet he was never convicted of anything.

This is a very tough issue, because the patients are often in dire need of help -- typically due to employment-based ailments that were never treated properly.  We do know that Big Pharma was all-in for OxyContin and most of the other opioids that are the pharmaceutical basis of the crisis.  Of course, the drug companies were shielded by their political "allies".

[pbrower2a]

"Pain management" sounds like the low end of medical practice. There are basic rules, and one of them is to seek treatment of the cause of pain if such is possible. It is up to standard physicians to prescribe such painkillers as are necessary and appropriate for a patient, especially for short-term pain or for terminal pain so that the patient can live as normally as possible. The regular physician can say no to a patient who is abusing the painkillers.

I am getting treatment for back pain so bad that it imitated a heart attack, and I am starting with physical therapy. I have yet to receive any prescription painkillers. It would be easy for a physician to prescribe them. I would rather resort to chiropractic treatment) physicians may joke about it as "chiroquactic", but if it numbs the pain that can't otherwise be met, I will be satisfied. For me, opioids are a last resort. I am the sort of patient who decides to use fewer than might be appropriate so that I am reminded that I have a problem.

Pain is a symptom, and not the cause.It is the body's way of saying that something is terribly wrong.

[TheNomad]

UPDATE: Senate passes bipartisan opioid package

https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/17/politics/...index.html

The package has provisions that would give the US Food and Drug Administration the authority to require specific packaging for opioids, as well as a push for research on non-addictive pain killers, according to a previous statement from Alexander.

In 2016, more than 63,600 people died from an overdose in the United States -- and 42,249 of those deaths involved an opioid, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The legislation also includes the "STOP Act," which would attempt to help stop the flow of illegal drugs coming into the United States.

FIRST - 42,249 deaths in 2006 involved "an opioid".

I'm not doing independent research on this I refuse.  I would love to know the exact breakdown of these random figures.  I want to know how many people died in the United States that same year with "alcohol in their body".  Or anything else.  A frakking opioid in conjunction with other medication (or not) combined with irresponsible users = death.  I also want to know how many of those deaths were suicides (we can never know that truthfully) or the age of the people who died (because I would BET many were young party people).

Yet, those who really need these medications are facing the crackdown.

If you don't think ppl need opioids or there is no need in our civilization for such medication, no one is forcing you to respond to this post.  Don't irritate.  

Everything I hear is about suppressed breathing and "passing away in sleep" while using too much medication or using in conjunction with other suppressants LIKE ALCOHOL.  Alcohol is THE number one suppressant/depressant which does not require the frakking postal service or a prescription, just go find a 7-Eleven near you with ca$h.

Yet the legislation wants to govern packages from outside the U.S. to see if someone is mail-ordering oxycodone.  Let's just say you need to trust when people say it is way easier to get a prescription than to learn the dark net and order it online.

And yes, all these companies got millions of people hooked on the same villainous drugs and they are fully shielded while the bodies and brains of human beings might really be helped by things like benzodiazepines which have nothing to do with OPIUM yet are under more attack than most drugs except maybe fentanyl.  

If this narrative is real, WHY are whole LOW INCOME CLINICS shutting their entire mental health facilities over the idea they don't want to be on the hook for dead patients who overdose?

Do you know doctors are now handing out STINTS for patients who use these drugs which is meant for you when you are overdosing you can rush to find the stint which has some flushing agent and nullifies the toxin thus keeps you alive.  But really, it's about the doctor not wanting to have a death on their record.  So they actually give patients now a stint with this drug (to save yourself when you are overdosing) and you sign a document noting that you exonerate the doctor of any wrongdoing basically saying you know you may die from said drug and you assume responsibility.

America?

If you have the cash, you can get a real psychiatrist and get what you know works for you.  If you is po, like they say GOOD LUCK TO YOU.

This is being called "the nation's worst public health crisis, and there is a bipartisan sense of urgency to send the bill to the President quickly."

THE WORST PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS?  There is no other crisis of public concern which needs immediate bi-partisan support rushed through right quick even when nothing else is being accomplished?  Fear is always the best story.  I still want to know the specifics on those numbers.  No, doctors don't even know.  Ask one.  Ask one for where do they get their information, from whom, do they have a breakdown and what do THEY actually think of it?  If their licenses are not at risk (say, ask an endocrinologist) and they will smirk at you in a wink nod that it's all bullshit.

[TheNomad]

(09-17-2018, 02:24 PM)David Horn Wrote:

(09-16-2018, 05:15 AM)TheNomad Wrote: If you do not have a PAIN MANAGEMENT doctor and something happens to you, they will give you aspirin and tell you to pray in the ER.  Even a pain management doctor will get the sweats...

There is no "opioid crisis".  It's a made up name for those who abuse drugs.... only now, instead of street drugs, it is prescription form.  So the doctor is now the dealer and the dealer is owned by the feds.  The feds want a story that works for them "ppl are dying, we are saving them" so no legislation has changed, nothing has been officially altered but doctors nationwide are shitting themselves to prescribe xanax to PTSD survivors now.

If you take any form of benzodiazepine, get ready to get yanked.  I put the exclamation point in the title because this is is real 411. GET READY.

Here in Virginia, we had, what may be the first prosecution for pill-pushing n the nation.   It bankrupted the doctor, who later exited the practice of medicine entirely … yet he was never convicted of anything.

This is a very tough issue, because the patients are often in dire need of help -- typically due to employment-based ailments that were never treated properly.  We do know that Big Pharma was all-in for OxyContin and most of the other opioids that are the pharmaceutical basis of the crisis.  Of course, the drug companies were shielded by their political "allies".

There have always been doctors and human beings that abuse. 

I really don't want to hear ppl's ignorance when they are not even involved in the situation. 

We - above most anyone - here should know and understand CYCLES right?  But not with this.  We had a whole generation of people who lost everything about 10 years ago.  I want to know how many of those people simply gave up, never returned to the workforce, and moved in with this children and grandchildren, then said "fuck it" and swallowed a jar of oxycodone and xanax?  It's a reality, no?  Instead of generalities and comments made in ignorance, I can say I know people who killed themselves in the last decade.  Yes.  More than a few.  The common thread is we all got really screwed and our lives sunk to a level we were not prepared to endure.

I CAN UNDERSTAND.

How many of the unemployed millennial generation saw no hope and overdosed?

How many of that 42,000 figure was comprised of elderly who died of cancer yet had oxycodone as part of their scheduled drugs?

How many of that figure was party kids who found out it was easier to oxy and benzos by lying to physicians and then snorting it with their friends with lots of booze and died?

How many of that figure had not just an opioid "in their system" but also 7 or 10 OTHER potent intoxicants in their body when they died?

How many of that number died during a crime? (drug deal wrong, illegal usage, shared usage, etc)

How many of that number had ALCOHOL in their system along with the opioid?  Do you know pain management doctors do not screen actively for alcohol?  Even though ALCOHOL is probably the number one cross-indicator that would cause someone to die in this scenario.

It paints a very different picture, right?

If we have that data, we can make a more informed decision on what this is about that simply saying with such ignorance "42,000 PEOPLE DIED FROM OPIOIDS SO LET'S YANK THEM OFF THE DRUGS THEY NEED AND/OR GIVE THEM HOME MEDICATION TO SAVE THEMSELVES AS THEY ARE SUPPOSEDLY OVERDOSING".

Really?  It's not a fake that doctors are making patients sign these agreements they have received a stint and know how to use it.

Really?  A patient is going to ACCIDENTALLY overdose but yet they will get to that stint to save themselves in time.

Was I giving ppl in this forum too much credit for critical thinking skills?

[TheNomad]

I couldn't help myself and looked at just a few numbers.

Annually in America there are (adjusted for expected age-related deceased) 2M deaths.

According to this article, 63,000 of those were from overdoses and 42,000 had "opioids in their system" (totally vague and unconvincing definition to pass a bi-partisan bill in the current climate, something else is behind it, please someone offer what it may be?).

MATH

The overdose number is 3% of annual deaths in America.  If you want to specify the "opioids in their system" it is 2% of annual deaths.

Even the term "overdose" is a misnomer.  It simply implies someone died "with opiates in their system".  We have no reasonable understanding of what other factors were happening to say what KIND of overdose it was.

Now, connect that to the idea millions of people are receiving a fist in the face with mental health right now.  This is not just about opiates at all.  Benzodiazepines are being attacked.  People who have experienced real treatment are under literal assault.  It is not good to fuck with a person's mental health regime.  If you don't have one of those, just stfu and be lucky you don't have that.  

If ppl cannot talk about what may be behind this high-profile "salvage of life" by this bill seeking to scan the mail for Chinese postage containing oxy, just stay out of it.  The bill basically says it wants to stop ppl from importing drugs from other countries.  Po people don't do things like that.  They barely have obamacare and that is under high assault.  We all know why.

I continue to say there may in fact be an opioid problem but it's not at all what the news keeps saying.

The sludge of congress moves with unilateral bipartisanship to save 2% of Americans classified as "overdosing with opioids in their system"?  Does this seem right?  In this climate where nothing is possible, no one is communicating, but something like this unites everyone?  Please cynics, come forward.

IN AMERICA: CAUSE OF DEATH

1) Heart disease: 633,842 (30%)
2) Cancer: 595,930 (about 30%)
3) Chronic Lower-Respiratory Diseases: 155,041 (10%)
4) Accidents (unintentional injuries): 146,571 (7%)
5) Stroke: 140,323 (about 7%)

Guess what?  Any of those TOP 5 KILLERS IN AMERICA could have opioids in them when they died.  Thus, possibly transferring them into the CROSS-SECTIONAL data where someone "overdosed".  I am astonished it lists right here "Accidents (unintentional)" as a real thing!  So, unless you left a suicide note you will NOT be in this category! 

This is to show everyone how LOW 2% is (and just trust everyone the data is not false - RIGHT).  People's lives are being interrupted, treatment denied, medication withheld.  I explained earlier it isn't just a news story for me.  A friend of mine just last week went for surgery to remove part of his bowel due to crohn's disease and they would not agree to reasonable pain management.  I know others who are NOT HAVING SURGERY BY CHOICE because doctors are out-of-control with wanting to give people a fucking TYLENOL for SURGERIES.

It the reader cannot stand behind that as BARBARIC I am sure you simply have no personal experience with these matters - and should think before you speak.

Again, racing around with loud bipartisan support in a time when congress is doing nothing, the bill targets IMPORTS FROM CHINA FOR PEOPLE IMPORTING OPIUM PRODUCTS.  And that is translating into scaring the hell out of doctors to such a level where patients are experiencing barbarism.

[pbrower2a]

If someone overdoses on opiates under the pain of terminal cancer, then put the blame on cancer. Opiates in the bodies of those who die of accidents? Opiates are not suitable for people using heavy equipment, including motor vehicles.

Suicides? Look for the cause of distress. I see an social order that honors only material indulgence and that ridicules any economic failure. But if the economic order fails people, then can we expect people to put an end to their misery?

We have economic problems to address, including the intensification of economic inequality. The right-wing suggestion that people work longer and harder for less means that people will be poorer even if they work longer and harder, so that is no solution. Our political system finally elevated an incompetent demagogue to the Presidency, and all that is beautiful is priced out of the reach of many of us.

The hardest-hit parts of America are the Ozarks and Appalachia, places never prosperous except where there might be an active coal mine and the United Mine Workers Union (once powerful but now weak) -- or the old industrial base of America (now known as the Rust Belt) and where pro-labor politicians used to be the norm. Now such people face politicians who have nothing to offer the common man except suffering on behalf of economic elites who see workers as livestock at best and vermin at worst.

That is where the opiate crisis is. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the opiate crisis was street drugs, typically heroin, among people in the ghetto. In those same places, people now old who remember the time are able to warn children very effectively to stay clear of opiates of any kind. The heroin epidemic was not in mining country or among the white working class in the 1960s and 1970s.

On the importation of drugs -- that is Big Pharma trying to protect its monopoly position in America from competition whatsoever. In other countries such a monopoly is unconscionable because some national healthcare system must control costs. The politicians that we have see monopoly as a means of maximizing profits -- and they would do much the same for anything from consumer electronics to motor vehicles. The idea is to make people pay more for what they get.