Pain killer epidemic.

[Dodo777]

So many of us take pain medication some for genuine pain but there are millions taking them to not feel emotional pain and who can blame us. We carry our pain and our fears it becomes who we are. We could cope without them we have for thousands of years but it'

[Dodo777]

Something is wrong here I didn't finish obviously.

Anyway why should we carry our pain and fear if by taking a few pills can help us cope. Knowing how to control it is the devil in the detail. Lol

[butterflyEi in reply to Dodo777]

We live in a very pressured and stressful world where emotion especially of grief as no time or space and no one truly listens unless they are paid to is it any wonder those whose hearts are sore need help as much as those whose bodies are sore.

[Foxgal17 in reply to Dodo777]

DoDo777'

People in your situation have caused people with real pain issues not to be able to get the medicine we need. That is the pain epidemic!

[Dodo777 in reply to Foxgal17]

What planet are you on I didn't come on here to be judged and to be made to feel like crap. I was on a completely different page. If your from America I heard the Your Doctors are handing painkillers out like Smarties making millions in America addicts that' was my point. And yea my doctor is giving Subutex out to people suffering from PTSD . I also have arthritis in my hip. People read betwee the lines and come out with something to suit themselves.

[shortandround in reply to Dodo777]

Subutex for PTSD. In the UK it is only licensed for opioid drug dependence .

[Foxgal17 in reply to Dodo777]

I am from the USA, and proud of it. It is true that our docs were over prescribing opioids, and many became addicted. Each individual chooses whether to be addicted or not. It is a choice. No doctors are prescribing opioids at all. That is unfortunate because they are the only meds that take the pain away even if just for a few hours. I am sorry for judging you. It just makes me aggravated that everyone feels sorry for the addicted and no one is addressing the fact that there are people that really need the opioids and just can't get them.

[Bananas5 in reply to Foxgal17]

You said Foxgal17....... Each individual chooses whether to be addicted or not. It is a choice.

An extraordinary statement.

No one wakes up and says..I am going to be an addict. No one wakes up with a serious genetic painful disease. No one wakes up and say today I am going to have an accident which disables me the rest of my life

We can all blame someone for our own pain or ill health. That is in our nature but not the least helpful in how to deal with those conditions. Meds are only a very small part of living with pain either emotional or physical

x

[HearYou in reply to Dodo777]

There is a huge elephant walking around this forum, and I gave a "like" Foxgal to shoot it. I live in a tropical area of the continental US.

I have had chronic pain since an accident in 1984 requiring neurosurgery.. To function physically I need medical assistance to control how very intense the pain can get. I see a pain specialist and a neuropsychiatrist every month for 15 minutes checkup.

I do not take opioids. Not strong enough to control the pain, and cannot think clearly with them. Have epidurals for years in order to practice law, while lowering the pain to a point, my mind is clear enough to practice law for years..

Even though I do not take oral meds, I am still required every month to a pain management practice, where I am handed that ridiculous clear plastic bag containing a urine testing cup.

Do not say the US is a country of pill mills. Everone who enters the doors of that pain management practice is required y law to provide that urine sample and it is tests and lab results reported.

The reason we are tested is to make certain only our RX drugs show up in the correct amounts, so the doctors know we are neither abusing nor selling our opioids. And the price of the meds keeps rising.

This came about, after the states, particularly mine, did a massive sweep of so-called "pill mills". People who wanted opioids for nonphysical use of sale came from probably half the nation.

So, DoDo, foxgal is correct that regulations regarding pain meds rx are complicated, not so easy here, because the pill mills' best customers were people with anxiety and other nonphysical pain. So many of us who may have reasons to use opiods, are watched carefully like dope dealers.

NA is very well grounded where I live to help people not needing drugs for pain, to stay clean from the very opioids to be able to work, support their families and stay healthy.....for the very reason you use pain meds to escape from PTSD or other mental and emotional, anxiety, depression, health anxiety, etc.

In sum, there are issues on both sides of the pond.. So, pain meds are available here legally if one can afford the care; people can afford the drugs you want if your healthcare system will give it to you and you can wait long enough.

More important is that a number of medications and procedures that are turned to as the care of first resort in the US, are often the ones of last recourse in England....when the drugs or procedures really are of little help because the health system cannot afford the cost of them to have been provided sooner.

So, unfortunately, England rx cheaper, affordable rx for escape from nonphysical symptoms, when a doctor might well lose her license to practice medicine for doing that in the US.

US and English have totally different types of health care systems and were possible, people on both sides of the pond may take advantage them

I pay for a highly specialized medicine that costs $3000monthly; if I can pay for it through insurance or cash I have it. "Spoke" with several women were never offered that medication until it's the rx of last resort....when it's too late to be of much help at all.

The name is Forteo in US; in England it is Forsteo. I am not crippled by osteoporosis; my English friends have had multitude of fractures and their doctors rx it after there was nothing left to try. Thought Forsteo would heal fractures.

It can't. It is designed to prevent fractures, and that is why I inject it everyday.

This was a long letter to see both of you are correct to some extent; both are not as well. This forum is not a war zone.

[Madlegs1]

Yes- interesting observation.

In Russia, grief is frowned upon and is medicated promptly - as often happened here in Ireland after family bereavements. People were drugged out of their minds and then had severe post grief depression with often very serious consequences.

Physical pain does need to be treated for an acceptable quality of life- but obviously needs careful management.

Mindfulness and distraction are useful tools with regard to this.

[grace111]

narcotis anonymous if full of people who take/took drugs to relieve emotional pain. eventually we need more and more drugs to get the original effect when we first started. This leads to many more problems than we started with.its called drug addiction.

[pata99]

I have thrown every pill in the bin and confronted my fears by embracing them. Furthermore..the key to succes is to unleash your own bodys regulators..dopamin..cortisol etc etc by beeing (in my case) a gym rat. I call my trainingregime LIFEREHAB by attacking my body from every angle during 2 hour sessions 4 days a week. The training have become my pill. Do I feel better? HELL YES..Am I cured? HELL NO. And for god sake stop eating sugar which is in everything these days.My story is long and horrible but all I am trying to say is that there are alternatives. Soon 48 year old male but looks and feels like 25😂 If I can do it so could..and must you. LOVE...

[deejames]

Not everyone can release endorphins through going to the gym or taking strenuous exercise.

[pata99 in reply to deejames]

No its a long journey and you have to adapt to your own capabilities...small steps and only competing with yourself..

[deejames in reply to pata99]

My 'long journey' has physical parameters that will never be breached. Cross the exercise line and I am crippled with pain for days.

I would love to go to a gym again, lift a weight , cycle.

I have the pills for life or no life at all

Dee

[Bananas5 in reply to deejames]

You have a life Dee....you got me!!!

x

[EvilAunt in reply to deejames]

I feel worked over after making dinner. 99% of time I can hardly stand to even look at it, I feel so wiped out. Gym? Hoo-hoo-ha, snort, funny. Glad he's got it knocked.

[Foxgal17 in reply to EvilAunt]

EvilAunt,

I felt the same

[Foxgal17 in reply to EvilAunt]

way about exercise till I got up and forced myself to exercise in my bedroom, for 25 minutes every other day. Now I work out weekly with my neighbor who has virtually the same medical issues as I do. I feel do much better, and am losing 1 lb per week. And I have a new friend in the neighborhood! I feel much better physically and emotionally!

[GRnads in reply to deejames]

I'm with you dee.

I'd love to go to gym again. I cancelled my membership last month but done well to hold it for as long as I did.

My level of pain increases each week, my mobility decreases and as much as I try I can not do physical activity through the pain.

I miss running, I miss cycling and I miss my swimming. I'd love to do it all again but unless all my conditions are magically cured I fear I never will.

[deejames in reply to GRnads]

It's hard not to look back at what used to be. I feel I got very old very quickly without time to assimilate the changes gradually. But I can walk a mile and a half on a good day provided I don't do it again the next. So there are positives

For me the important thing is to keep moving. I can't lift the 3 kilo hand weights but 1 kilo is possible with care on alternate days.

Just wish I wasn't replying to this on a ' why did I do so much this week day'!

Dee

[JoyW]

This is a very interesting topic and thought provoking.

[Bobscott]

Hermes123. (me) After suffering all the symptoms and more for over fifty years, I have just discover what is I suffer with! Myelopathy? never ever heard the word before. But your advent day report for which I'm most grateful for, sums up my situation perfectly plus more from which I suffer! All related at last I can get my head around my problem, spent years in and out of hospital. Consultants pain management clinics you name it, I have been through it over the years, coming up to 80. years old now so I doubt if there is that much longer to suffer. Hermes

[Dodo777]

We live in completely different countries with different health care so find out what country I'm from and I do have physical pain to.

[grace111 in reply to Dodo777]

no critisisims here Dodo777. i totally understand the situation.wishing you well. love grace xoxo

[shortandround in reply to Dodo777]

Aren't you in the UK, so my comment stands. Subutex and suboxone are used for drug dependence / misusers as part of a psychological package to get them off the drug they are misusing. It is not licenced for severe pain or chronic pain.

[HearYou in reply to shortandround]

Similar to methadone?