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Goverment funded drug use..

Steve

Well-known member
As I mentioned in another thread I suffer from chronic pain,.. and for the most part it is manageable.. but falling to sleep is difficult if not impossible at times. last night it was around 4;30 am..

when I took an occasional Darvon or hydro-codeine this wasn't as much of a problem..

I am seeing a new doctor this month so I am doing some research so I will understand what she is recommending and not end up hooked on some drug with awful side effects.

I see a VA doctor for pain management and she is helpful but can't prescribe what she feels would help.. (darvon or hydro codeine

I take a combination of pills to help, and four or five days a week it does help.. ( that combination is taking 4 to 7 off label prescription drugs)..
right now I am prescribed 23 pills per day.. down from 27 I was taking a few months back..

one pill could replace 11 of them,, but it is a schedule 11 drug.


I know of a few guys locally who turned to Heroin for pain relief.. I was shocked when I found out.. but not completely surprised..

one has cancer...

another was out of work for awhile for chronic pain and with the help of heroin and methadone he is now working again..

the third was hit by a drunk driver and is in chronic pain.. he has at least three or four surgeries scheduled over the next few years..

like myself they can't get vicodone or similar pain medications out of fear we might get addicted..

they turned to cheap easily available heroin... I prefer to suffer in hopes that the doctors find a better treatment plan..

so here is the deal... a guy with chronic pain can suffer..

or he can go buy an easily available illegal drug,.. and then get a pain management drug paid for that treats the abuse and the pain...

http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/mat-opiate-50-state-table-medicaid.aspx

scary isn't it... virtually ban a drugs use for fear of addiction, yet offer another worse drug as a treatment...

When used for the treatment of pain, methadone may be prescribed by any provider registered to prescribe Schedule II controlled substances.5 Over the past 20 years there has been renewed interest in using methadone as an analgesic. In fact, from 1999 to 2002 sales of methadone in the United States increased 70.7% .6 This increase was largely a result of methadone’s use outside of narcotic treatment programs. Methadone has become increasingly popular for the treatment of pain,

ironically the other treatments for heroin addiction also are being used for pain management.

Transdermal buprenorphine and Naltrexone are now being used and the focus of further studies in the management of persistent/chronic pain.

and they are covered in most states for heroin abuse treatment..


I can be prescribed methadone right now just for pain management as it has been offered for the treatment of chronic pain..
and the VA covers buprenorphine

http://www.suboxforum.com/suboxone-and-the-t3656.html
http://www.va.gov/MS/Veterans/complementary_and_alternative_medicine/Spotlight_on_Low_Dose_Naltrexone_LDN.asp


drug abuse in this country is a huge problem..

it is a problem the government is making worse by the day..

I can NOT be prescribed Vicodin for chronic pain

yet I can get Subutex, Methadone, Naltrexone, and even medical marijuana prescribed and three out of the four would be covered by the VA and my health insurance.


recreational drugs are being legalized and decriminalized, compounding the abuse..

yet legitimate pain medication is being put under lock and key by the government..


and now thanks to Obamacare... pain sufferers are encouraged to use heroin to get chronic pain treatment..


my heart goes out to OT and his daughter.. drug addition takes its toll on many great families.

One thing I have found over the years.. that many turn to drugs for pain... emotional and physical pain.. and some do it for recreational reasons and now suffer the emotional damage..

we should do everything we can to stop children from getting illegal drugs..

but we should also look at why adults are turning to drugs in huge numbers as well..

Rush Limbaugh is a great example of the damage pain medications can cause.. but the solution shouldn't be to lead chronic pain suffers to illegal drug use..
 

Steve

Well-known member
I know of two vets who served multiple tours and had some pretty bad injuries..

if my story doesn't make a person question our drug policy then thier story would make a person question our policy.

both guys went to the VA and civilian doctors for pain management..

both were considered 100% disabled in part due to the emotional cost of dealing with chronic pain..

both eventually were denied hydro-codeine and similar pain drugs..

the VA and most doctors can prescribe pain medications for recent injuries.. you fall, twist your ankle .. you get pain meds..

but get your leg half blown off as one of my friend did,, and over time they accuse you of doctor shopping and virtually cut off you access to useful pain medications...

his options were deal with the pain or lose the leg and risk phantom pain..
Phantom limb sensations usually will disappear or decrease over time; when phantom limb pain continues for more than six months, however, the prognosis for improvement is poor.

since he knew a few guys with phantom leg pain.. he opted to live with it..

he did not turn to heroin or other illegal drugs... as he didn't want to wreck his life and family any more then he already did..

instead after "BEGGING" for pain medication.. he committed suicide..

so did the other vet..

I have never thought of suicide as an option.. as I always had a few pain pills for the worst of times... I also remind myself that those times pass.. they always do and then I can get on with my life..

I also have a fantastic caring wife.

many of the vet suicides are due to drug abuse because they could no longer get pain medication and illegal drugs ruined what they had left..
(CNN) -- Every day, 22 veterans take their own lives. That's a suicide every 65 minutes. As shocking as the number is, it may actually be higher.

Experts have no doubt that people are being missed in the national counting of veteran suicides.

Part of the problem, she says, is that there is no uniform reporting system for deaths in America. It's usually up to a funeral director or a coroner to enter veteran status and suicide on a death certificate.

Who else might not be counted?

A homeless person who has no one who can vouch that he or she is a veteran, or others whose families don't want to divulge a suicide because of the stigma associated with mental illness; they may pressure a state coroner to not list the death as suicide

If a veteran intentionally crashes a car or dies of a drug overdose and leaves no note, that death may not be counted as suicide.

An investigation by the Austin American-Statesman newspaper last year revealed an alarmingly high percentage of veterans who died in this manner in Texas,

Nearly one in five suicides nationally is a veteran, even though veterans make up about 10% of the U.S. population,
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/21/us/22-veteran-suicides-a-day/

there is a lot of data on suicides ..and most know the number is much higher then reported..

what isn't being reported at all is the number of vets who went from prescribed drugs to illegal drugs or alcohol , when they could no longer get the legal drugs, let alone treatment when they were denied those drugs..

instead the vet is labeled as addicted and denied access to pain medications.. even if he only occasionally needed the pain medication..

I have seen so many specialists it isn't funny.. it took 15 years for them to figure out what was wrong.. and three years to get an effective treatment plan..

and one year to take the key medications off the treatment plan...

all I get now is a sympathetic look and an apology .. hopefully my new doctor can figure out something better..

vets do not want pity.. they want their lives back.. or at least to be able to get on with their lives..
 

iwannabeacowboy

Well-known member
I sure don't understand the idea of legalizing marijuana and making Tramadol a controlled drug. I agree, it's not that great of a pain medication anyway.

The problem I see is the over regulation of the doctor patient relationship.

Why not just punish the people caught abusing the system- selling and let the good people continue to have access to their pain management. If someone abuses the legal medications, that is their own choice. Taking the choice of a chronically painful person away because someone else chooses to ruin their life is not a good decision.

But this is the type of situation we will have with more government involvement in health care.
 

iwannabeacowboy

Well-known member
On a similar line as necessary medications being pulled from availability, anyone looked at the climb in average drug approval of the Obama FDA?

The average time to approval has grown significantly.

Maybe someone told them to take an 8 year coffee break?
 

Steve

Well-known member
I sure don't understand the idea of legalizing marijuana and making Tramadol a controlled drug. I agree, it's not that great of a pain medication anyway.

it is crazy.. but that is the nature of citizens voice over a federal nanny state..

citizens libertarianism says let them have it and if they get hooked oh well..

It took me a while to get to the point of saying that drug prohibition has failed.. but it has..
 
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