The U.S. CDC, doctors and organizations who, directly or indirectly, inhumanely reduced and/or cut people off from opioids for pain or RLS now have a chance to redeem their cruel decisions based on new CDC guidelines (link below) released 11/03/22. It can be shown that the medical community’s response to the opioid epidemic has predictively and indirectly lead to the deaths of thousands (or more) around the globe.
wsj.com/articles/doctors-sh...
Patients also have a chance too. A chance to seek monetary damages for pain and suffering. Since RLS is known to be caused by detox, reductions and/or cold-turkey withdrawal from opioids, alcohol and other classes of medications, such as some anti-depressants (my sit), I think that there is a legal case to made by individuals or through class-action. They’ve already escaped most accountability for their role in the opioid epidemic - not being trained in how quickly people can develop dependence and withdrawal symptoms or, knowing this and doing it anyway due to political or social pressure, not for us as patients.
I am *not* a lawyer (but do accept tips :)). However, having taken opioids long-term and voluntarily discontinued 3 times over 20 years, I have shed tears for the people who have posted online over the last 10 years that their physician refused to increase, decreased or discontinued prescribing opioids without a clinical rationale. My own pain doctor almost cut me off until I got very assertive with him. He said he was concerned that I could become addicted. I asked him if there was some behavior or clinical finding that put me at a higher risk - after 20 years and not taking more than prescribed even once. He then pointed to a number of studies that basically stated that most of the pain was “in my head” and that Acetaminophen was as good, or better (lol ) at controlling pain. Wow, that’s great news for Tylenol since not even they knew this was the case (I wasn’t that snarky I hoped). I told him I thought the studies were BS - poorly done and, since all were 2015 or later, politically motivated. He added that “I wouldn’t seek a second opinion if I were you”. I reluctantly saw an addiction “specialist” who looked at my prescribed medications and said, “ohh, yea…you're on a lot of uppers and downers”. I told her the medications were for depression, RLS/PLMD and chronic pain, then walked out. My physician got the message and I’m on the same dose today. I feel lucky but know that there are many who weren’t.
The pain medicine community even came up with a new clinical diagnosis - Opioid Use Disorder - which per my reading, has no basis in fact. It is a diagnosis that is given when a patient develops tolerance and dependence to opioids, which are known characteristics of using opioids (and most other medications as well), not a description of a disease process. What it is though, is a faux-clinical diagnosis INVENTED & INTENDED as legal cover for physicians who reduce or cut patients off of opioids.
I think that the CDC, physicians and organizations who made these clinical decisions, decisions that they knew would entail considerable suffering and increase the chance of patients resorting to illegally obtained opioids, need to be held accountable as they, in most cases, knowingly “did harm”. It does appear that the health-care organizations they worked for pressured physicians through policy changes. That’s no excuse. I wonder how many people were forced to suicide, sought opioids illegally (and maybe face legal troubles), developed new mental or physical conditions and/or accidentally overdosed on opioids, alcohol or fentanyl-laced illicit drugs? Did you know that people with RLS are 3-4X more likely to end their lives compared to cancer patients? No wonder. Based on experience and from what I’ve heard from others, we’re treated mostly with presumption and condescension, then at times, contempt.
Withdrawal symptoms from opioids, even after a 7-10 day course depending on dosage, are very difficult to cope with for most people. I knew this 20 years ago. Did your doctor know? Did they mention the possibility of withdrawal symptoms, offer bare minimum information on how to cope with them, ask you to call if you’re having a hard time, or offer a tapering schedule? I bet it’s mostly “Yes” and “No, no, no” respectively. In my opinion, that’s negligence, depraved indifference or, in some cases, manslaughter e.g. diagnoses of RLS + depression.
There’s been a lot of patient pain, suffering and death and most of it is not our fault. The primary cause appears to be that physicians initially minimized the high potential for patients to quickly develop dependence (and therefore withdrawal symptoms) and, therefore, didn’t warn patients who were new to using opioids. Then, once the opioid epidemic was exploding, when what was known would happen, happened (people became dependent after 7-10 days), they hurt people even more by supporting a new, bogus diagnosis in order to inhumanely restrict opioids from patients who needed them. Healthcare organizations seem to be fine with the placement of all of the blame on pharmaceutical companies and patients - another insult.
This has been a disgrace! The healthcare system needs to learn that this will never be allowed to happen again.
I would love to hear people’s thoughts, experiences or questions.