Opioid addiction happens fast. Some users can become addicted after just a few days of taking opioids. The longer you take them the higher your odds of addiction become. In my profession I know people who have been taking high strength opioids for 20 plus years and are hiding behind the pain management curtain. They wish they would have never started taking them as now they are being held hostage by their pain management doctor with extremely high cost visits and other abuses.
I have had shoulder surgeries and have taken opioids and I know how fast it transforms your body and thinking. If I had continued to take them for another week I may have become addicted.
My mother had neck pain for years and was addicted to opioids for a couple of years before we were able to get her help and get her off them (which was a miracle if you ask me)
My solution is somewhat drastic but necessary. If you are in pain after a surgery/accident I don’t think you should be able to take home weeks or months supply of opioids home like they currently prescribe. If you are in that rough of shape and have so much pain that you need longer term opioids then you should still be under hospital care. I personally would only allow a 3 day supply of opioids upon release from hospital care. Perhaps the exact dose and duration given would be standardized per situation and the extent of injury. High strength Tylenol/ibuprofen and perhaps even medical marijuana could be used as alternatives to help once your 3 days are up.
Solutions would need to be implement to scale down dosages/wheen off for patients currently addicted. This would be a challenge and would require a patient by patient approach. Addiction therapy and counseling would likely be needed.
As the opioid epidemic continues to rampage our country we need drastic and well thought solutions if we want to make positive changes. All thoughts are welcome to further discussion.
Please take a moment to review my proposal and vote if you agree. I think your idea is excellent for managing short-term prescriptions following surgeries or injuries, and I fully support the need for regulation in that context. I believe my approach, when combined with your proposal, could significantly address the broader crisis.
It seems illogical to hand out weeks or even months’ worth of addictive substances and then simply tell people, “Don’t abuse these.” My approach focuses on the long-term needs of chronic pain sufferers, as well as individuals who rely on other addictive medications like amphetamines or benzodiazepines.
Through my research, I’ve found that access to large quantities of these medications over time often leads to the temptation to take extra doses when someone is seeking more focus or experiencing increased pain. This is when addictive neural pathways are activated, and the cycle of misuse and dependence begins. By addressing this issue from both a regulatory and a long-term care perspective, I believe we can make a meaningful impact in curbing the crisis.
Tell me you know nothing about chronic pain without telling me you know… this is insane. People are suffering in pain because of people thinking the way you do. No one is taking home months of pain meds. You have to jump through hoops to get a monthly supply and you are “branded” for doing so I’m sorry you felt this from a 3 day supply but this is not the norm. Pain management needs to be reformed. It started out with good intentions and then got out of hand. Stop the opioid hysteria!
Chronic pain is a medical condition that leads to depression, suicide, anger, frustration, ect. People being treated for chronic pain are subject to judgment and treated harshly for simply being on pain medications. Most people who are addicted to opioids, weren’t prescribed opioids prior to sticking a needle in their arms, toes, where ever. When the CDC and all these other policy makers wanted to blame someone besides the actual addict, they started blaming the doctors. Now everyone blames the doctors. People have to take responsibility for their own actions. There needs to be less restrictions for people being treated with chronic pain, NOT more.
You are confusing the term “addicted” with “dependent”. Diabetics depend on their medication, just as chronic pain patients depend on theirs. Your personal experience is not the experience of the chronic pain population. Many depend on pain medications so they can continue to work and have some quality of life. We have diagnoses of conditions that have NO CURE, so they must be treated with certain medications. Stop treating chronic pain patients like addicts!
First do no harm! People are needlessly suffering because of this policy.
Every person I know that has chronic pain are not living they are just surviving and some have committed suicide!
No one patient is the same.
Not every patient will become an addict
Doctors are offering Tylenol TYLENOL for post op!
Dr are actually being arrested for doing their job! If a Dr is over prescribing then arrest him, but not all Drs and they are afraid. Afraid to practice. Leaving in droves!
The only people that should be involved is the Patient and their Doctors
You will force patients to look to the streets. They already are and look at the deaths from fentanyl !
That’s where you should be spending the time & resources is getting that off the street.
You already have a tsunami of chronic pain patients that are unable to be productive Americans!! This will be catastrophic!
Pain happens from more than just an injury. Your comment seems so ignorant. Many illnesses with no cure leave patients in chronic pain. It’s already very difficult to get prescriptions for chronic pain. This isnt the place we need to start in reforming healthcare.
I don’t think that the federal government (non-medical license holding officials) should be dictating the treatment that physicians prescribe especially when it comes to issues regarding chronic pain (one size does not fit all and pain varies greatly on an individual basis). I see your point (addiction is a huge issue in our society), but I think funding rehabilitation programs and mental health programs would work better than dictating (essentially practicing medicine without a medical license) what physicians can and cannot do.
Keep in mind, the harder it is for physicians to prescribe drugs, the more likely people are to seek drugs on the street (as evidenced by the war on drugs) and the more people are likely to either OD or consume unsafe substances.
There is a huge difference between addition and dependence. Chronic pain suffers are left with no option other than no life out of their beds, suicide or street drugs.
It’s clear this medical professional does not understand the difference between dependency and addiction. Not every chronic pain patient is addicted. This one size fits all is just damaging to patients.
I appreciate the thought and research you’ve put into this proposal—it’s so important to consider different angles in managing the prescription crisis. I’m sorry to hear about the struggles you’ve observed with addiction and medication management; it’s a difficult and complex issue.
While I understand the need for caution with potentially addictive medications, I also think it’s essential to consider patients who rely on these prescriptions for chronic conditions. Many individuals living with severe pain or terminal illnesses are now suffering due to restrictive policies that can leave them without relief. There are people with conditions like sickle cell, cancer, and post-surgical pain who truly need these medications for any quality of life, and unfortunately, some doctors who try to help these patients risk their licenses.
A well-balanced approach would ideally allow doctors the discretion to make case-by-case decisions for their patients’ best care. Expanding access to mental health support for individuals with addiction and providing more resources to manage long-term pain thoughtfully would also be incredibly valuable. Thank you for fostering this conversation; it’s a challenging issue, and I think with more awareness and nuanced understanding, we can find ways to help both those at risk of addiction and those in need of pain relief.
Addiction is a disorder of choice; choice to seek, purchase, ingest and repeat or choice to quit. It’s a choice to commit crimes. I can’t quit my EDS, RA, CRPS. Dependence does not equal addiction. I’ve been managed for 30 years on opiates, never filling early, lost, misused my pain medication or increased my dose. To paint me as an addict because you are or know someone who has chosen to misuse is assuming I’m guilty without any knowledge of me. I’m not in danger of becoming addicted. More people die in swimming pools per year than become addicted to opiates. How does this help people with other addictions? How dare you suggest our bravest US citizens, military Veterans, should suffer catastrophic injury then be denied opiate based pain management relegating them to a second chance to die for country by suicide by despair. We live in a free country. If you don’t benefit from legitimate opioid use then don’t use them, but don’t relegate the rest of us to a lifetime of suffering without treatment because of your experience.
Im 61 and have been on the same dose for over 15 years. Guess what? If you are on HBP meds you need to taper off of them if your BP gets better. Why? Because your body becomes "dependant " on that medication. Same with anti depressants. Have you had an injury or disease that cant be cured or an injury that didn’t heal properly? My mother was a diabetic. She had to take insulin until the day she passed. Was she addicted? No. Every medication has side effects. Now the chronic pain community has to jump through hoops to get any treatment. Forced expensive injections. IF YOU had pain that is 24/7 ypu would need pain care. Im a grand mother and it is not right that my doctor csnnot use his expertise to treat me so i can play with my grand daughter . I pray you never have an injury that causes chronic pain. Because if you do you will see why suicide is up over 500%in the CPP community. Its thinking like what ypu are proposing that are killing injured veterans and people with unrelenting pain. If you are afraid of addiction then no one is forcing you to take opioids. Yet there are people who need them for any quality of life. I invite you to look up the AMA the NIHand CDC who have finally admitted that prescription opioids were never thefactor in the overdose crisis. It was fake news. Andrew Kolondy of PROP who spreadthis nonsense did not disclose his conflicts of interest. Wonder how much $$$%he made by causing the torture and suicides of people in pain.
You do know that there is a difference between addiction and dependence. You can be dependent on a drug and not an addict . I don’t know of anyone who lives in severe pain that went from taking a prescribed opiate to street drugs , I do know drug addicts that went to the doctor and lied to get a prescription to sell to buy their drug of choice, There will always be drug addicts, meth, cocaine, fentanyl, heroine, punishing chronic pain patients And giving them no access for relief , because druggies learned they could go to the doctor and lie for a RX to get high is ridiculous and has got to stop.
Omg some of these ppl have no clue I’m been on two strong opioids for 30 years s never became addicted u need to learn the difference in addition and dependent …only one percent of pain patients become addicted.snd addiction does not start with the drugs it’s already there . .here is the difference a person who is dependent there meds can last them all month long addiction there meds only last them a few days . people need to stop spreading miss information…unless u been in my shoes a sick person who has lost both legs to sugar than people don’t speak on something u know nothing about
I Disagree, so many people in terrible chronic pain and making them jump through hoops is terrible to get relief. We are sending hip replacement elderly home with Tylenol and Advil or Ibuprofen. Leading to GI bleeds. You get your leg sawed through and try to go without proper pain relief. It’s madness.
I wrote this to RFK on Twitter: “Addiction gets disproportionate attention, because the people who don’t get attention, their essential needs are being met quietly, but jeopardized now in a futile attempt to solve addiction with prohibition and to stigmatize opioids. Most of us don’t have problems with opioids, but a lot of us have problems without them.”
Alcohol prohibition led to more alcohol deaths, and discontinuing opioid prescription for the minority who are addicted or irresponsible, leads them to the black market where they can be poisoned or killed from products that have an unknown dose, toxic contaminants, and lead to crime to support that habit. There are also promising treatments for dependency for those who want to get off of them, but these receive little attention, because the opioid crisis is good for increasing police budgets, powers, getting people elected, & populating prisons and rehab centers.