Taking the Fun Out of Popping Pain Pills

[snopes]

In a 2008 federal survey, an estimated 4.7 million Americans were found to have used prescription pain relievers for nonmedical reasons in the previous month. The abuse of opioids now costs at least $11 billion annually in excess medical care including overdoses by adults and accidental ingestion by children.

Corporate America loves a void, and now some pharmaceutical companies are developing innovative opioids intended to deter tampering and meet the market’s need.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/bu.../20stream.html

[mags]

I guess everyone reacts differently, but when I was given an opiod for pain it made me feel bad enough that I chose not to even use it. Advil was better.

[SplishFish]

Originally Posted by mags

I guess everyone reacts differently, but when I was given an opiod for pain it made me feel bad enough that I chose not to even use it. Advil was better.

My mother is a nurse and her experience concurs with yours. She's told me many times that some people will get more relief with Tylenol than with a morphine drip.

But nobody knows what to do with unused pills because pharmacies won’t take them back. Flushing them down the toilet is a bad idea because the chemicals can pollute the water system. Some experts recommend mixing the pills with used kitty litter or coffee grounds and throwing them in the garbage.

After reading this I had visions of junkies dumpster diving kitty litter for the high...

Splish "That's not a pill" Fish

[Canuckistan]

Originally Posted by SplishFish

My mother is a nurse and her experience concurs with yours. She's told me many times that some people will get more relief with Tylenol than with a morphine drip.

That was definitely me after my surgery. I hated the morphine.

[franjava]

Morphine didn't seem to do anything for me either. I kept pressing the button on the IV drip, but seemed to get more relief from the Tylenol they gave me. I expected it to mess with my brain a little too, but I was disappointed.

[Lainie]

Not only do opiod pain meds not work well for everyone, some people have terrible reactions to them -- vomiting, for example, and one can imagine how much fun that must be when one is already in extreme pain.

My mom finds opioids effective, and has no adverse physical reaction, but does not like the feeling of being "high" that she gets from them. This leads her to do stupid things like lying to the ICU nurse about her pain levels following surgery (I ratted her out). Other people, of course, enjoy that feeling to one degree or another, sometimes to the extent of becoming dependent on the drugs.

DD and I seem to be in a pretty good place: opioids are effective when we need them, they cause no adverse reactions, we enjoy the "high" feeling while it lasts, but we don't crave it when it goes away.

When DD injured her arm last year, she was on summer break from school, so I just let her continue the percocet until it was gone (while she was in the hospital, she was on dilaudid, which pretty much knocked her out). Why have her in pain, or even discomfort, if there's no need? Then, when I took her in to register for classes, we learned she was going to be taking a computerized math test. Oops. Fortunately, she had an opportunity to retake it later.

[erwins]

Originally Posted by Lainie

DD and I seem to be in a pretty good place: opioids are effective when we need them, they cause no adverse reactions, we enjoy the "high" feeling while it lasts, but we don't crave it when it goes away.

Same for me. Vicoden does not give me any "high" feeling at all, but works pretty well. Percocet makes all the pain go away, and gives a pleasant very relaxed feeling as well. But I don't crave it or have a problem stopping taking it.

I was interested in what they meant by "nonmedical reasons" in the article, so I took a look at the study itself. It actually doesn't say "nonmedical reasons" in the study, it says "nonmedical use," which is defined as a) taking the medication just for the way it makes you feel, or b) taking a medication that has not been prescribed for you. I would argue that reason (b) without reason (a) being applicable does not add up to nonmedical reasons. That is, some people take drugs that have not been prescribed for them because they are in pain and cannot or won't go to the doctor. The way the question was worded, it would count a person who took a colleague's prescription strength Motrin for menstrual cramps.

Granted, one is not supposed to take prescription drugs that are prescribed to someone else, but it does seem distinct to me from the prescription drug abuse being suggested.

Which all leads me to one of my pet peeves. The study shows that something like 1.5% of the population admits using prescription pain killers in a way that they are defining as nonmedical. So now they are thinking about how to further restrict access to these pain meds for the rest of us. I already think that people are permitted to suffer from pain that could be managed with prescription meds because doctors are afraid to prescribe them, and patients are afraid to ask for them. And when patients do ask for them, they are sometimes treated as drug seekers.

I think it is shameful that the government is so worried about a few people getting an illicit high that it is willing to make a far greater number of people suffer sometimes debilitating pain to prevent it.

erwins

[Mama Duck]

Originally Posted by erwins

Granted, one is not supposed to take prescription drugs that are prescribed to someone else, but it does seem distinct to me from the prescription drug abuse being suggested.

True, you're not. However, it isn't terribly uncommon for a doctor to prescribe something knowing or even telling patients to share it. For example, writing one cough suppressant prescription for both sick kids.

I think it is shameful that the government is so worried about a few people getting an illicit high that it is willing to make a far greater number of people suffer sometimes debilitating pain to prevent it.

Agreed in spades.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by erwins

I think it is shameful that the government is so worried about a few people getting an illicit high that it is willing to make a far greater number of people suffer sometimes debilitating pain to prevent it.

I agree, and I imagine doctors who specialize in pain management have the same concern. I can't cite anything offhand, but I'm sure I've read articles to that effect.

[Beachlife!]

When I was in the hospital after my open heart surgey, they had me on a Dilaudid (thanks to my mother). It didn't make me 'high', but is sure did take the pain away. I had a drip of that going until a couple hours before the released me.

In the evenings they would give me a tranquilizer. I'm not sure what it was or whether it was just the tranquilizer or the combination of that and the Dilaudid, but it made everything right with the world. When they ask me my pain level at night I'd say -2.

[Mama Duck]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I agree, and I imagine doctors who specialize in pain management have the same concern. I can't cite anything offhand, but I'm sure I've read articles to that effect.

I do know that pain managment specialists are always looking over their sholders to see if any over-reaching DEA agents are going to start practicing medicine. It was an issue when Fowl had to see a pain management specialist years ago. Apparently, it has not gotten better.

[LizzyBean]

They never seem to bother me; they seem to help the pain.

You'd think if I was going to get hooked it would have been after my surgery. I had percoset, oxicodone and flexeral. I can understand why people can abuse them though. All three of those and you are floating!

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I agree, and I imagine doctors who specialize in pain management have the same concern. I can't cite anything offhand, but I'm sure I've read articles to that effect.

My mother is a pain management specialist and from my experience she isn't under-prescribing to avoid legal concerns. She spends a lot of time pushing other doctors to loosen up their controls on such drugs. I don't know that it's fear of the DEA so much as a culture in the medical field which pushes way to hard to get paitents off pain medine too soon.

My own recovery from surgery was so much easier and quicker because of a more liberal use of pain medications. If the hospital had their way I would have been off of the Diladid and onto Vicadin while I was still in intensive care.

[Zorro]

Originally Posted by Beachlife!

My mother is a pain management specialist and from my experience she isn't under-prescribing to avoid legal concerns. She spends a lot of time pushing other doctors to loosen up their controls on such drugs. I don't know that it's fear of the DEA so much as a culture in the medical field which pushes way to hard to get paitents off pain medine too soon.

This. I am pretty sure I've told this story here before, but when my grandfather was dying of metastasized bone cancer, and under Hospice care at home, he was still in a great deal of pain. Mommy (an RN for 30 years; she worked in geriatrics) spoke with the doctor, and requested that he prescribe morphine for the pain. The doctor said, "I can't prescribe him pain medication any stronger than he has now- he might become addicted to it." Mommy snapped, "Who gives a rat's ass if he becomes addicted?? He's NFBSKing DYING!"

Pop-pop got the morphine, and died relatively pain-free three weeks later.

[kajerayn]

I've got some back problems and (TMI) I have almost debilitating menstrual cramps. One Darvocet works wonders for either issue, while to get the same amount of pain relief from OTC pain killers I have to take several times the DAILY recommended dosage at one time. Obviously, this is not a good situation.

I still get questioned anytime I ask for a refill on my pills, even though my doctors are fully aware of this issue, and I have orders from my gastroenterologist to not take acetaminophen or ibuprofen unless I have no other choice. He believes that my current stomach issues are related to taking 24-30 Advil a day because of the aforementioned pain issues.

If I were a drug addict, I think I'd be going through a lot more than 2 refills a year.

[Keket]

I've been trying to get opioids for years for my menstrual headaches. It's 24 hours a month that I'm totally debilitated. I have talked to doctors, pharmacists, done everything they suggested, but the only thing that works is acetaminophen with codeine, and I only discovered that it worked when I had Tylenol 3 after my wisdom teeth removal and it coincided with my monthly headache. Lo and behold, the headache didn't totally go away, but it was dulled to a minor ache. I could function, I could sleep... I'm currently using a friend's perscription when I need it, because she got them after her wisdom teeth were taken out and had a terrible reaction to the codeine, so she gave the rest of them to me. I'm trying to get my own perscription, but I'm having a hard time getting taken seriously.

[Ms. K]

I just hate taking them.

Vicodin gives me nightmares. And I mean terrifying nightmares that have me waking myself up because I'm screaming.

Morphine makes me feel like my skin is on fire, and makes me break out in hives.

Demerol takes away the pain....and makes me feel drunk off my ass.

I wouldn't mind the pain removal, but I do mind the drunk feeling. I also got that drunk/world is swimming by me feeling with morphine. I felt no pain, but I didn't like feeling like I was underwater and trying to talk to people. Not so cool.

But you know, I'd like the pain relief, without the high feeling. Kinda like taking super strength Advil or something like that.

[Keket]

Originally Posted by Ms. K

Demerol takes away the pain....and makes me feel drunk off my ass.

I'm that way with codeine, but it's a trade off. I can take two T3s before I go to bed and it almost totally eliminates the headache, but pretty much means all I can do is sleep. In the morning, I take one, which dulls the pain to a bearable level and still keeps me somewhat stable.

[Beachlife!]

Originally Posted by Ms. K

...Morphine makes me feel like my skin is on fire, and makes me break out in hives.....

Maybe a stupid question, but do you realize this means you are alergic to it?

[Lainie]

DD was on Dilaudid while waiting for surgery after her accident (put her arm through a pane of glass). She was definitely "drunk" from it; she could barely stay awake, and her attempts to answer questions were incomprehensible to everyone but her. Neither of us minded, though, considering the pain and fear that were the alternative.

Heck, if I hadn't known I'd be driving us home in a few hours, I would have asked for a Valium for me.